How much does an answering service cost?

How answering services charge

Three models, and the model matters more than the rate.

1. Per minute. A monthly plan with a block of minutes, then a rate for every minute above it. The most common model for live human services. Good when your calls are short. The catch is that proper intake takes minutes, so the better the service does its job, the more it costs.
2. Per call. A fixed price per answered call. Good when your calls are long and you want the operator to take their time. The catch is that a telemarketer and a customer cost the same.
3. Flat monthly. One price with an allowance and a stated rule for going over. Good when you want a number you can budget. The catch is the quiet month, when you pay for cover you did not use.

Whichever model a provider uses, get it in writing along with the rate above the allowance. That second number is the one that decides your busy month.

The line items people miss

Owners who post their bills online tend to be surprised by the same lines.

• Setup, sometimes billed as "account activation".
• After-hours, weekend and holiday rates, which can be higher than the daytime rate.
• Patching: transferring a live call through to you, billed as minutes on both calls.
• Texting or emailing the caller, per message.
• Wrap-up time: the minutes the operator spends after the call typing the message.
• A dedicated number, if the service issues one instead of forwarding yours.
• Rate increases, which arrive as a letter and then as a bigger bill.

That last one is real. An attorney on r/Lawyertalk, on a service he had used for years: "The bill has also been creeping up out of nowhere to close to double the historical rate for the last ~5 years."

Why the bill rises in your busiest month

Per-minute and per-call pricing have one shape: the bill goes up when the phone rings more. Your busiest month is the one with the most calls, so it is also the one with the biggest overage.

A solo attorney on r/LawFirm described it exactly: "They are pricey, IMO, I pay about $1,200 a month for 400 minutes and go over every month. This last month I went over by about $700." Over every month means the plan is the wrong size; over by that much means the overage rate is doing the real pricing.

Per call has the same shape from a different angle. An electrician on ElectricianTalk: "I like the service but it got very expensive since we were being charged per call. On top of that it left me hours of messages to sift through." The bill went up with the calls, and the work of calling back did not go away.

Answering service vs receptionist vs AI

A receptionist is a wage, and the right answer if your business needs a person at a desk during the day. An answering service is a per-minute or per-call bill for a person on the phone, usually in the hours your desk is empty. An AI receptionist is a monthly software line that answers any hour, takes the details and texts you a summary.

The price comparison is only half of it. Our comparison of an AI receptionist against an answering service covers who answers, when, and what happens with an upset caller, and the cost page for an AI receptionist goes through those bills the same way this one does. For what an answering service gets you over voicemail, start there.

For the record, the plan of ours that includes the phone line is Everything + Voice: flat $597 a month with 500 voice minutes included, extra minutes off unless you turn them on, no setup fee and no contract. The plans are side by side on pricing, and the after-hours-only version is after-hours call answering.

Estimate yours from your call log

You can price any service in ten minutes with three numbers from your own phone system.

1. Calls a month. Count only the ones you would want a service to answer: the missed ones, plus the after-hours ones.
2. Minutes per call. If you do not know, time five real calls and take the average; intake calls run longer than you think.
3. After-hours share. The fraction of those calls outside your normal hours, because many services rate them higher.

Per minute: calls times minutes, less the plan's allowance, times the overage rate, plus the plan. Per call: calls times the rate, plus the plan. Flat: the plan, and a note of the month you would go over. Then price your busiest month, not your average one, because that is the bill you will remember.

Set the result beside what the missed calls are costing you now. Our pillar on what missed calls cost a service business walks through that number and the missed call calculator does the arithmetic.

Questions to ask a provider

1. Per minute, per call or flat, and what is the rate above the allowance?
2. Do you round minutes up, and from what length?
3. Is wrap-up time billed?
4. What are the after-hours, weekend and holiday rates?
5. What does patching a call through to me cost?
6. Is there a setup fee, a contract, or a notice period?
7. Can you show me a sample invoice for a business my size in a busy month?
8. How often have you raised rates in the last three years?

A provider who answers all eight plainly is one you can budget for. One who cannot is telling you what the first real bill will feel like.