How much does an AI receptionist actually cost?
A plain-English breakdown of what an AI phone agent costs to run for a trades business — setup, monthly, and the per-minute usage nobody explains.
If you've looked into an AI receptionist for your business, you've probably noticed something: nobody wants to give you a straight number. This is the straight number.
The three parts of the cost
Every AI phone agent has the same three cost layers. Once you see them, the pricing stops being mysterious.
1. Setup. A one-time fee to build the agent — writing its script, teaching it your services, connecting it to your calendar and dispatch software, and testing it against real call scenarios. For a trades business this typically runs $1,500 to $3,500 depending on how many call types you handle.
2. Monthly. A flat fee that covers hosting, monitoring, and ongoing tweaks. Usually $500 to $1,500 a month. This is what keeps the agent running and improving.
3. Usage. This is the part most companies hide. Every minute the agent is on a call costs money — for the phone line, the AI, and the voice. All-in, that's about $0.09 to $0.16 per minute.
What usage actually adds up to
Here's where people panic unnecessarily. Let's do the math for a busy plumber.
- Say you get 150 calls a month that the agent handles
- Average call: 3 minutes
- That's 450 minutes
- At $0.13/minute, that's about $59 a month in usage
So even a busy trades business is usually spending $20 to $60 a month in usage on top of the flat fee. Not the scary number people imagine.
The comparison that matters
A part-time receptionist costs $2,000–3,500 a month and works 40 hours a week. An answering service costs $200–600 a month and just takes messages — it doesn't book the job.
An AI receptionist works 168 hours a week, books the job, and costs less than the part-timer. That's the whole pitch.
The honest caveat
AI voice agents are good now, not perfect. For most trades calls — "my heater's out, can someone come Tuesday?" — they're excellent. For genuinely complex or emotional calls, a good agent knows to take a message or transfer to you. The trick is setting it up so it handles the 80% it's great at and hands you the 20% that needs a human.
That 80% is the difference between a missed call and a booked job.