This article is published by AI Frontdesk (myaifrontdesk.com). Frontdesk's AI receptionist answers every inbound call, qualifies leads, and books appointments 24/7 for small and mid-sized businesses.
For most small businesses an AI receptionist is the cheapest way to answer every call: Frontdesk starts at $99 a month, a live answering service at typical volumes runs from several hundred to a few thousand dollars a month, and a full-time receptionist earns a median of $38,010 a year before benefits. The return comes less from the savings than from the calls that currently go unanswered at night, on weekends and during rushes, because each one that turns into a booking pays for part of the month.
Below are the three cost baselines, a side-by-side table, two worked scenarios with every assumption stated, and a formula you can run on your own numbers.
The three ways to answer a business phone#
An in-house receptionist is an employee. You pay a salary whether the phone rings or not, and you get judgment, in-person presence and someone who can handle walk-ins. Coverage is limited to their working hours, and one person can take one call at a time.
A live answering service is a team of remote agents who pick up on your behalf. Most bill a monthly base fee plus a charge for every minute an agent spends on your calls, so the bill grows with call volume and call length.
An AI receptionist is software that answers the phone in your business name, answers questions from your own content, books appointments and hands off to a person when your rules say so. You pay a flat plan with included minutes and a usage charge beyond them. For a full explanation of how it handles a call, see how the Frontdesk AI receptionist works.
Cost baseline: what each option actually costs#
In-house receptionist#
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median pay for receptionists at $38,010 a year, or $18.27 an hour. That works out to about $3,168 a month in wages alone. Payroll taxes, benefits, paid time off, cover for sick days, recruiting and training all sit on top. Covering evenings or weekends means a second person or overtime.
Live answering service#
Pricing varies by vendor, but the shape is consistent: a base fee plus a per-minute rate in the $2 to $3 range. In Nextiva's roundup of answering services, Posh is listed from $65 a month plus $2.25 a minute, and AnswerConnect at $325 a month for 100 minutes plus $2.95 for each additional minute. Get a written quote, because minute rounding, holiday surcharges and per-call fees differ between providers.
Frontdesk AI receptionist#
Plans that answer phone calls start at $99 per month, or $79 per month billed annually, with 200 voice minutes included. Business-in-a-Box starts with a 7-day free trial and has no contract. The plan also includes a pool of 1,000 overage credits each month. A voice minute beyond the included allowance uses 25 credits, so the pool covers roughly 40 more minutes. If you run past that, auto-reload adds 1,000 credits for $10, which works out to about $0.25 per extra voice minute. Partner and Enterprise plans are priced on volume. Current details are on the Frontdesk pricing page.
AI receptionist vs in-house receptionist vs answering service#
| What you are comparing | Frontdesk AI receptionist | In-house receptionist | Live answering service |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | $99/mo, or $79/mo billed annually | About $3,168 in median wages, before benefits | $65 to $325+ base fee plus per-minute charges |
| What usage costs | 200 voice minutes included, then credits (about $0.25/min on auto-reload) | Fixed salary regardless of volume | Roughly $2 to $3 per agent minute |
| Hours covered | 24/7, including nights, weekends and holidays | Their scheduled shift | Varies by vendor and plan |
| Calls at once | Answers simultaneous inbound calls | One | One per available agent |
| Books appointments | Yes, live on Google Calendar, Outlook or Calendly | Yes | Sometimes, depending on the service |
| Transfers to a person | Yes, under rules you set | Yes, by hand | Varies by vendor and plan |
| Languages | 20+ | Whatever the hire speaks | Varies by vendor |
| Time to start | Under 5 minutes to set up | A hiring and training cycle | Vendor onboarding and scripting |
| Contract | None; 7-day free trial | Employment | Varies by vendor |
Frontdesk figures come from the current plan. Receptionist pay is the BLS median. Answering-service rates are vendor list prices as reported by Nextiva. For a deeper look at each pairing, read AI receptionist vs answering service and AI receptionist vs human receptionist.
Worked example 1: cost at two call volumes#
Assumptions for both scenarios:
- Minutes are connected talk time per month, inbound only.
- Frontdesk is billed month to month (annual billing lowers the base to $79). Minutes past the included 200 first draw on the 1,000-credit pool, then auto-reload in $10 blocks.
- Answering-service figures use Posh's and AnswerConnect's list rates as reported by Nextiva, with no extra per-call or holiday fees.
- The receptionist figure is BLS median wages only, with no benefits or taxes.
Scenario A: 300 minutes a month (a small office)#
- Frontdesk: 240 minutes are covered by the plan and credit pool. The remaining 60 minutes need 2 auto-reloads, for a total of about $119.
- Posh: $65 + 300 × $2.25 = $740.
- AnswerConnect: $325 + 200 × $2.95 = $915.
- In-house receptionist: about $3,168, for business hours only.
Scenario B: 1,000 minutes a month (a busy service business)#
- Frontdesk: 760 minutes beyond plan and pool need 19 reloads, for about $289. At this volume, ask about Partner or Enterprise pricing, where voice minutes cost fewer credits.
- Posh: $65 + 1,000 × $2.25 = $2,315.
- AnswerConnect: $325 + 900 × $2.95 = $2,980.
- In-house receptionist: still about $3,168, but one person now has more calls than they can take during peaks, and none after hours.
The pattern holds at most small-business volumes: per-minute billing makes answering services scale with every call, a salary is a fixed cost tied to fixed hours, and the AI plan adds cents rather than dollars per extra minute.
Worked example 2: the revenue side of ROI#
Cost savings are only half of the return. The larger number is usually revenue from calls that nobody answers today. This example uses the default inputs of the missed-call calculator on the AI receptionist page, which you should replace with your own:
- Missed calls: 15 a week, or about 65 a month.
- Share of those callers who would have booked: 30%, which is about 20 bookings.
- Value of one booked customer: $250.
- Gross margin on that work: 40% (our assumption for this example; use your own).
Answering those calls would recover about $5,000 in monthly revenue, or $2,000 in gross profit, against a $99 plan. Even if only a fraction of that materializes, the plan pays for itself well before the end of the month.
A break-even formula you can reuse#
Break-even jobs per month = (monthly plan cost + expected usage charges) ÷ gross margin per job.
With the assumptions above, each job is worth $250 × 40% = $100 in margin. $99 ÷ $100 = 0.99, so 1 job a month breaks even. A business that books one or two extra customers from calls it used to miss covers the cost. To compare against your current setup, run the same formula for your answering-service bill or receptionist cost and subtract.
Usage charges, estimated: (monthly voice minutes − 200 included − about 40 from the credit pool) × about $0.25. If the result is negative, there is no usage charge.
Where the return comes from#
- After-hours calls. A receptionist leaves at the end of the shift. The AI keeps answering evenings, weekends and holidays, and you can give it separate after-hours booking and transfer rules.
- Peak overflow. When three people call at once during a lunch rush, a storm or a marketing push, a single receptionist answers one. Frontdesk answers simultaneous inbound calls, so nobody hears a busy tone.
- Booking on the call. A message taken for a callback can go cold. The AI checks real availability and books the slot while the caller is still on the line.
- No per-minute penalty for long calls. A caller with detailed questions costs an answering service more with every minute. On the AI plan, extra minutes cost credits at a much lower rate.
- Follow-up for calls that still slip. Pair the receptionist with missed-call text back so a hang-up gets an immediate SMS instead of silence.
When a human still earns the cost#
An AI receptionist will not greet a walk-in, sign for a delivery or read a regular's mood. It should not decide refunds, give legal or medical advice or negotiate terms. If the role is mostly in-person, or most calls need judgment rather than information and scheduling, a person is still the right hire.
The setup that tends to return the most is a hybrid: staff handle the front desk and the calls that need them, and the AI covers nights, weekends and overflow, transferring urgent or VIP callers to the person you name. That keeps the receptionist off the phone queue without leaving any call unanswered.
How to realize the ROI after you switch#
- Pick a billing cadence. Annual billing lowers the base price from $99 to $79 a month.
- Forward your existing number. Send every call to Frontdesk, or only the ones nobody picks up, after hours or on weekends.
- Load your knowledge base. Add your services, prices, hours and policies. The AI is only as accurate as what you give it, so keep it current.
- Connect your calendar and tools. Link Google Calendar, Outlook or Calendly for live booking, and use Zapier (included on Business-in-a-Box) for other apps. See the full list of Frontdesk integrations.
- Set transfer and after-hours rules. Decide who gets live transfers and what happens outside business hours.
- Review transcripts for two weeks. Fix gaps in your training content early, then track booked appointments from calls and missed-call counts each month to measure payback.
FAQ#
How much does an AI receptionist cost compared with a human receptionist?#
Frontdesk starts at $99 a month, or $79 a month billed annually, with 200 voice minutes included. The BLS median pay for a receptionist is $38,010 a year, about $3,168 a month, before benefits and payroll taxes, and it covers only one shift.
Is an AI receptionist cheaper than a live answering service?#
At most small-business volumes, yes. Answering services typically charge a base fee plus $2 to $3 per agent minute, so 300 minutes a month runs from about $740 to $915 at the list rates Nextiva reports. The same 300 minutes on Frontdesk comes to about $119.
How do I calculate the ROI of an AI receptionist?#
Add the revenue from calls you currently miss (missed calls × share that would book × value per customer) to any cost you stop paying, then subtract the plan cost. For break-even, divide the monthly cost by your gross margin per job. The calculator on the AI receptionist page runs the revenue half for you.
What happens if I use more minutes than my plan includes?#
Extra voice minutes draw on the monthly pool of 1,000 overage credits at 25 credits a minute. After that, auto-reload adds 1,000 credits for $10, and purchased credits do not expire. Pool credits expire at the end of each month.
Can an AI receptionist handle several calls at the same time?#
Yes. Frontdesk answers simultaneous inbound calls, so a spike in volume does not produce busy signals or a hold queue. A human receptionist or an individual answering-service agent takes one call at a time.
Should I replace my receptionist entirely?#
Not necessarily. If your receptionist also runs the front desk, keep them and let the AI cover after-hours and overflow calls. The cost case for full replacement is strongest when the role is almost entirely phone work.
