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

A UK telephone answering service can start with a base fee around £15, but that is not the same as the final bill. Human services commonly add a per-call or per-minute charge, and a staffed 24/7 bundle can cost more than £200 a month. AI plans can be flatter: Sayora is £49 a month with unlimited minutes.

The honest answer is a range because providers use different meters. To compare them, calculate the price of your real monthly calls, include setup and after-hours charges, and test the service before signing.

The short answer

Current published examples checked on 12 August 2026 include:

• ReceptionHQ services from £15 a month before VAT and usage.
• Moneypenny AI advertised from £25 a month, with the complete price quote-based.
• Sayora at £49 a month flat with unlimited minutes, no setup fee and no contract.
• AnswerConnect at £205 a month for 150 human-receptionist minutes, plus a £49.99 setup fee and £1.75 per extra minute.
• JAM's buyer guidance says UK answering services generally cost about £0.90 to £2 per minute.

A low monthly base fee can still produce a large bill. Compare the complete cost at your usual volume and at your busiest credible month.

The pricing models explained

Monthly base fee plus per call

You pay a small subscription to keep the service active, then a fee for each answered call. This can work well when calls are brief and predictable. It becomes less attractive when nuisance calls, wrong numbers or long conversations all trigger the same charge.

Ask what counts as a billable call. Some suppliers exclude very short calls or spam, while others count every completed answer. Also ask whether transfers, messages or diary work carry separate charges.

Monthly base fee plus per minute

The provider charges for receptionist time. Some plans include a bundle, then apply an overage rate. AnswerConnect currently publishes £1.75 per extra minute, while JAM says the broader UK market commonly falls around £0.90 to £2 per minute.

Minute billing rewards short calls and punishes long ones. Check whether time is billed by the second, rounded to the next minute, or measured from pickup through after-call work.

Included call or minute bundles

A bundle makes the headline easier to understand, but only if your use fits inside it. AnswerConnect's current entry plan includes 150 minutes for £205. IONOS uses call bundles for its AI receptionist, with lower tiers based on call count rather than call duration.

Use at least three months of call logs if your business is seasonal. The quiet month rarely tells you what the service will cost when it matters most.

Flat-price AI

A flat AI plan charges one subscription rather than staffing time. Sayora is £49 a month with unlimited minutes under fair use. The bill remains the same if calls run longer or several arrive together.

Flat cost does not remove the need to test quality. An AI receptionist should identify itself, capture accurate details, avoid inventing answers and leave a usable callback when it cannot complete a task.

Quote-based managed service

Moneypenny, JAM and alldayPA all use a sales or quote path for at least part of their service. A quote can fit a complex call flow more accurately, but it makes comparison slower.

Ask for a written breakdown of the monthly fee, included calls or minutes, overage, setup, 24/7 cover, transfers, bookings, minimum term and notice. Compare like with like before accepting a discount.

Current UK price examples

ReceptionHQ

ReceptionHQ advertises MessageExpress from £15 a month, MyReceptionist from £16, and MyAssistant or MyDiary from £30, all before VAT. It offers per-call and per-minute options, includes 24/7 coverage without an after-hours surcharge, has no lock-in contract and offers a seven-day free trial.

Those starting fees do not show the usage charge, so ask for a quote at your call count and average duration. ReceptionHQ is a useful low-entry benchmark, not proof that a staffed service will cost only £15 in practice.

Moneypenny

Moneypenny advertises its AI Receptionist from £25 a month. The public page does not give a complete rate card, and managed human reception is quote-based. Its distinctive value is access to both AI and human answering within a large established supplier.

Confirm the included usage, human handoff cost, setup, contract and total at your volume. Do not compare the £25 starting figure directly with a complete flat subscription.

Sayora

Sayora publishes one £49 monthly early-access plan with unlimited minutes, 24/7 answering, a dedicated UK number, recordings, transcripts, SMS lead summaries, calendar integrations, no setup fee and no contract. A seven-day trial begins when you claim the receptionist after building and calling the demo.

Sayora is our product. Its cost advantage is predictability, while the trade-off is that callers speak to AI rather than a staffed receptionist team.

AnswerConnect

AnswerConnect's current entry plan is £205 a month for 150 minutes with a £49.99 setup fee. Additional minutes cost £1.75. The £245 Growth plan includes 250 minutes and no setup fee, while the £395 Standard plan includes 350 minutes plus a £49.99 setup fee. All use UK human receptionists and include 24/7 answering.

For a business already expecting 150 minutes, the entry plan is clear. For 250 minutes, the £245 plan is much better than paying entry-plan overage. This is why the correct bundle matters more than the smallest headline.

JAM

JAM provides bespoke 24/7 human answering and quotes its own service to the business. Its buyer guidance says UK answering services generally cost between £0.90 and £2 per minute. JAM uses 30-day rolling agreements as standard.

That market range is useful for rough maths but not a substitute for a JAM quote. Ask whether message handling, transfer time and after-call work are part of the billed minute.

alldayPA

alldayPA offers telephone answering, virtual receptionist and wider outsourced communication support. Its public package page lets a buyer choose per-call or per-minute billing but asks for call volume before providing a quote.

This suits a business that wants calls, bookings, email, live chat or social handling from one operation. The broader the scope, the less useful a simple "from" figure becomes.

Worked examples

Forty calls averaging three minutes

Forty calls at three minutes each equals 120 minutes a month. At the wider £0.90 to £2 market range cited by JAM, usage alone represents £108 to £240 before a base fee, setup or extras.

AnswerConnect's £205 plan includes enough time for that pattern. Sayora remains £49 because it does not meter minutes. The two services are not identical: one uses people, the other AI.

Eighty calls averaging three minutes

Eighty calls at three minutes equals 240 minutes. AnswerConnect's £245 Growth plan includes 250 minutes and no setup fee. Trying to remain on its £205 plan would add 90 overage minutes at £1.75, making the month £362.50 before the entry-plan setup fee.

A plan that looks more expensive can be cheaper at the right volume. Always compare the appropriate tier.

Ten short calls

At very low volume, a small base fee plus per-call billing may beat a larger bundle. ReceptionHQ is designed to offer that sort of entry point. Ask for the exact per-call price and minimum monthly commitment.

Flat AI can still make sense if out-of-hours cover, simultaneous calls and predictable cost matter more than the lowest possible bill.

What else changes the bill?

• Setup fees: AnswerConnect lists £49.99 on some plans, while Sayora lists no setup fee.
• After-hours cover: ReceptionHQ and AnswerConnect include 24/7 service; other quotes may separate evenings or weekends.
• Rounding: a provider billing each started minute can cost more than one billing by the second.
• Transfers and bookings: more involved outcomes can require a higher package.
• Minimum terms and notice: a discounted monthly price can hide a longer commitment.
• VAT: provider pages do not always display prices on the same VAT basis.
• Seasonal peaks: the busiest month can force overage or a higher bundle.
• Currency: overseas services can add exchange-rate movement to the meter.

How to compare a quote

Take one representative month and one peak month from your phone logs. Record:

1. Total answered and missed calls.
2. Total call minutes.
3. Average and longest call duration.
4. Calls outside ordinary hours.
5. Calls needing transfer, booking or order-taking.
6. Spam, wrong numbers and calls that should not be billable.

Ask each supplier to price both months in writing. Include setup, VAT, overage and any 24/7 surcharge. Then divide the total by useful outcomes, not just calls. A £150 service that returns 30 complete lead messages can be better value than a £90 service that leaves owners chasing incomplete notes.

When is AI cheaper than human answering?

AI is usually cheaper when volume is moderate or high because the provider is not billing receptionist time. It is also more predictable when several calls arrive at once or conversations run long.

Human answering can be worth the premium when judgement, empathy, complaints or unusual requests are central to the call. The right answer may be a staffed service, an AI receptionist with a safe transfer, or different handling for different call types.

Do not decide on price alone. Make real test calls, compare the message or booking left at the end and inspect what happens when the receptionist cannot help.

Our verdict

The cheapest visible starting point is not necessarily the cheapest telephone answering service. Base fees, usage, setup and after-hours rules can turn a small headline into a much larger monthly bill.

For human answering, ReceptionHQ offers low starting fees and billing flexibility, while AnswerConnect publishes clear 24/7 minute bundles. Moneypenny, JAM and alldayPA need a complete quote. For flat-price AI, Sayora is £49 a month with unlimited minutes. That is our product, and the declared trade-off is AI rather than a person on every call.