How much does a telephone answering service cost in the UK?

A telephone answering service can start at £15 a month before usage, but the useful price is the total for your calls. Human services may charge per call or minute. Some AI plans charge a flat subscription. Setup, rounding and the required features can change which option costs least.

This guide prices the same illustrative call patterns using published rates. It separates the recurring bill from setup and explains which totals still need a quote.

Have your call figures ready? Use the answering-service cost calculator to model your month. It checks selected ReceptionHQ bundles as well as PAYG, applies AnswerConnect's rounding and short-call rules, and shows setup separately.

Published UK answering-service prices

ReceptionHQ and Answer.co.uk state that the cited prices exclude VAT. The AnswerConnect plans page doesn't say whether VAT is included, so ask whether its plans and any quote include VAT. Sayora isn't VAT-registered, so its £49 has no VAT to add. If your business can't reclaim VAT, add it to the ex-VAT prices before you compare.

AnswerConnect's full plans page lists smaller plans than the £205 Entry plan highlighted on its homepage. Entry is a plan name, not the smallest available allowance. Answer.co.uk distinguishes its new-customer rate from a lower legacy rate. Use the rate you can actually buy.

The same calls, priced three ways

The following patterns are illustrative: every call lasts exactly three billable minutes, and all calls are chargeable. Totals cover recurring subscription and call usage only, before tax, setup, transfer charges, SMS extras, phone diversion or other work. Unused prepaid credit is not a monthly fee.

ReceptionHQ's first calculation is £16 + 40 × £1.35. Answer.co.uk's is 40 × £2.20. For a minute bundle, subtract the allowance before applying overage: AnswerConnect Entry at 240 minutes is £205 + 90 × £1.75 = £362.50.

The AnswerConnect rates used above are £45 for 25 minutes and £89 for 50, both with £1.85 overage; £125 for 75, £205 for 150 and £245 for 250, with £1.75 overage. The 75-minute plan is slightly cheaper than Entry at 120 minutes on these usage charges. Growth costs less than those smaller plans at 240 minutes. Features and setup can still differ.

ReceptionHQ publishes bundled alternatives as well as PAYG. Its row illustrates the PAYG formula, not a claim that PAYG is its cheapest plan at either volume. For example, its £36 plan with 25 calls and £1.30 overage gives £36 + 15 × £1.30 = £55.50 at 40 calls, before VAT and extras. The calculator checks the selected bundles for you.

These ReceptionHQ calculations assume standard handling. Its service terms require a Plus Pack for extended or customised calls, with extra charges on included and excess calls. The terms do not give a fixed duration threshold and allow long calls to move to per-minute MyAssistant pricing. Confirm that your call pattern qualifies; a per-call headline alone cannot price extended conversations.

Sayora's row assumes ordinary use within fair-use terms. Its AI enquiry workflow does not replace the judgement or live transfer offered by some human services. For detailed AI-only pricing, use the AI receptionist cost guide.

Rounding can change a minute bundle

AnswerConnect says interactions are rounded up to whole minutes. It also excludes the first 30 interactions shorter than 30 seconds in a billing cycle. Check which interactions qualify before using your total connected time as the billable total.

As a worked illustration, 80 calls lasting exactly three minutes use 240 minutes. If each lasts three minutes and one second and each rounds to four minutes, they use 320 billable minutes. On Growth, the recurring charge becomes £245 + 70 × £1.75 = £367.50, before any tax or extras.

That is why an average call duration alone is not enough. For accurate minute billing, apply the provider's rules to each call, then add the rounded durations.

Separate setup from the recurring bill

AnswerConnect lists a £49.99 setup fee on Entry and none on Growth. At usage within both allowances, Entry's first subscription plus setup is £254.99; Growth is £245. In later months, Entry's base subscription is lower.

These totals use the stated charges before tax and extras. They do not establish the cheapest provider or the best feature fit. They show why first-month cost and ongoing cost deserve separate rows in your comparison.

What does overnight and weekend cover cost?

Start with the calls that need covering. If you answer during the day and divert only when you close, price the evening and weekend calls you expect to send. Ask the provider to confirm that arrangement in the quote.

An after-hours surcharge is not inevitable. Answer.co.uk advertises 24/7, year-round answering at no extra cost. ReceptionHQ MyReceptionist also includes weekends and bank holidays without an after-hours surcharge. AnswerConnect includes 24/7 human answering in its plans. Usage and any extra handling can still change the bill.

For a quiet line, a per-call service can cost less than a flat subscription. Ten chargeable overnight calls at Answer.co.uk's new-customer rate use £22 of credit before VAT and optional extras. Its minimum credit purchase is £25. Sayora's subscription is £49 under fair use, whether you divert only at night or throughout the day. Those are different services; the lower figure does not tell you which one will handle the call properly.

Before buying overnight cover, settle these points:

1. Cover hours. Confirm the exact evenings, weekends and bank holidays included, and who changes the divert when your opening hours change.
2. Who acts tonight. Decide whether a caller needs a message taken, a callback from your on-call person or a live transfer. Ask what happens when that person does not answer.
3. The complete charge. Get transfer, SMS, on-call escalation, number and carrier-diversion costs alongside the call or minute rate. A service that answers overnight does not automatically include every follow-up action.
4. The busy-night test. Quote a peak month as well as an ordinary one. Check rounding and short-call exclusions using a sample of your call records.

Sayora sends an enquiry summary for your team to act on and does not provide a live human transfer. If immediate human handover is essential, select a service that explicitly supplies it and test the unanswered-transfer path before relying on it.

For how each arrangement works with Sayora, the after-hours answering page covers evenings and weekends while you still answer by day, and the 24/7 call answering page covers a line that's answered round the clock.

What a quote needs to contain

A starting price is useful only if the provider can explain what it buys. JAM publishes a £35 starting point, while its full service is quoted. Moneypenny AI publishes £25 as a starting point, with the full usage and human fallback cost to confirm. alldayPA offers a choice of billing unit through its quote process.

Send each supplier an ordinary month and a peak month. Ask for:

1. The exact plan and included calls or minutes.
2. The definition of a billable call, rounding and spam exclusions.
3. The excess rate and what triggers an upgrade.
4. Setup, number rental and your carrier's diversion cost.
5. The cost of transfers, SMS, bookings and human fallback.
6. Cover hours, including bank holidays.
7. Tax, minimum term and notice period.
8. A first-month, recurring-month and peak-month total.

If the quote leaves one out, keep it marked as unresolved. Do not put a zero in the comparison simply to make the table complete.

The accountants' answering-service guide works through an ordinary and a busy month using published human and AI plans. It also shows when a low-volume human plan costs less than a flat subscription.

Compare the outcome as well as the invoice

A human service can justify a higher bill when callers need reassurance, negotiation or a live conversation with your team. AI can suit repeatable enquiries where someone will act on the summary. Both can provide 24/7 cover; that feature alone does not decide the model.

During the trial, keep a record of complete enquiries, correct bookings, callback requests and staff repair time. Use the same call-test checklist on both services. Then compare cost per useful outcome using your own records, without treating every answered call as a new sale.

The telephone answering service shortlist explains which providers to investigate for each workflow. The calculator below addresses a separate question: what the calls you currently miss might be worth under assumptions you choose.