The short answer
If someone has to greet people at your front desk anyway, hire the person. The phone is a side job for them. If the phone is the only reason you are thinking about a hire, especially for calls that land at lunch, after five or on weekends, a virtual receptionist usually fits better, and an AI receptionist fits best when most of those calls are routine.
The two cost different things. Payroll buys you a person's time, whether the phone rings or not. A virtual receptionist buys you answered calls. That is why a flat sticker comparison misleads, and why the rest of this guide looks at how each option charges before it looks at what each costs.
What a receptionist on payroll costs
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the median hourly wage for receptionists was $18.27 in May 2025, which its Quick Facts list as $38,010 per year. That is the pay, and it is not the cost.
Across all private industry, BLS employer cost data for June 2026 shows wages and salaries at 70.0 percent of what employers pay for an employee, and benefits at the other 30.0 percent. That figure covers every private-sector job, not receptionists alone, so read it as a reminder that the wage on a job post is not the bill. Add recruiting, training, and the days a person is out sick or on vacation, when the phone goes unanswered anyway.
What you get for the money is real: someone who knows your regulars, can walk a customer to the right room and handles the odd call that no script covers. What you do not get is coverage outside that person's shift.
What a virtual receptionist costs
Virtual receptionists come in two kinds. Live services put a trained person on your calls. AI services answer with software. Both bill by volume, but each one counts volume differently, and that is where bills drift from what you expected.
| Option | Who answers | Billed by | Price as listed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Receptionist on payroll | One employee | Hours worked | Median wage $18.27 an hour (BLS), before benefits and other costs |
| Ruby | People | Receptionist minutes | $250 a month for 50 minutes, $395 for 100, $720 for 200, $1,725 for 500 |
| Smith.ai | People (human-first plans) | Calls | $300 a month for 30 calls, $810 for 90, $2,100 for 300; $11.50 per call over 30 on the first plan |
| Talkroute | AI | AI minutes | $59 a month for 100 AI minutes, $99 for 250, $199 for 750; $0.35 per additional minute on the first plan |
| Goodcall | AI | Unique customers | $79 a month for 100 unique customers, $129 for 500, $299 for 2,000 |
Three different units show up in that table: minutes, calls and unique customers. A caller who talks for four minutes costs a minute-billed plan four times what a one-minute call does. A call-billed plan charges the same for both. A customer-billed plan charges once per person, however many times they ring. None of these is better on its own. It depends on whether your calls are short and many, or long and few.
Coverage is the real difference
Price is only half of it. The other half is how many calls get answered at all. An Invoca report on business services companies found that 56% of calls are answered by a person. Of the calls a person answered, 38% were leads, and 44% of those leads converted on the call.
So the question is not only what each option costs per month. It is what a missed call costs you. For a business where one booked customer is worth a lot, a plan that answers every call can pay for itself with very few extra bookings. For a business where a missed call is a minor loss, the cheapest coverage wins.
How to choose with your own phone log
You do not need a sales call to decide. Pull a week of your phone's call history and write down three things: how many calls came in, how many went unanswered, and how many of the answered calls were the same few questions. Then use this table.
| What your log shows | What usually fits |
|---|---|
| Someone is at the front desk all day anyway, and calls are a side job for them | Keep or hire the person. A virtual service covers lunch and after hours. |
| Most missed calls land after closing, at lunch or on weekends | A virtual receptionist, live or AI, set to cover those hours. |
| Most calls ask the same few things: hours, price, an appointment | An AI receptionist that books and confirms by text. |
| Callers are often upset, confused or in an emergency | A person, either on payroll or from a live service, with a clear rule for what gets handed off. |
| Calls vary a lot from week to week | A usage-billed plan, not a salary. Check what happens when you go over the included amount. |
Many businesses end up with both. A person handles the desk and the hard calls, and a virtual receptionist takes the rest. That blend is often cheaper than extending one employee's hours.
What to ask a vendor before you sign
- How is a call counted: by minute, by call, or by unique customer, and what is the unit above the included amount?
- What does it cost when you go over? Ask for the overage price in writing. Some pricing pages list it and some do not.
- Does it book into your real calendar, or only take a message that you must act on?
- Does the caller get a text confirmation, and who sends it?
- What happens on a hard call: does it improvise, or hand off to a person with a summary?
- Can you cancel monthly, and do you get call recordings and transcripts?
Where Cinemora fits
Cinemora is one remote studio for video editing, AI video, websites and AI automations. On the calls side, Ava is our AI receptionist. She answers every call day and night, books it and texts the confirmation. We sell her as one package with the website booking flow, and we tune her every month.
Like everything we do, it starts free: we map the automation for your business first. If a person fits better than software, that map will say so.
Questions
How much does a virtual receptionist cost per month?
On the price pages we read, live services start at $250 a month for 50 minutes at Ruby and $300 a month for 30 calls at Smith.ai. AI services start lower: $59 a month for 100 AI minutes at Talkroute and $79 a month for 100 unique customers at Goodcall. What you pay depends on how the plan counts volume.
Is a virtual receptionist cheaper than hiring one?
It depends on volume and hours. Payroll covers one person's shift whether the phone rings or not, and the wage is not the whole cost. A virtual service bills by use, so it tends to win when calls are few or arrive outside normal hours. If calls are constant and someone is at the desk anyway, a person can be the better value.
Can an AI receptionist replace a human receptionist?
For routine calls such as hours, pricing questions and bookings, it can take the load. It should not improvise on hard calls. A good setup books what it can, texts the confirmation, and passes anything unusual to a person.
What is the hidden cost of a virtual receptionist?
Overage. Plans include a set number of minutes, calls or customers, and the price above that is set by the provider. Read the overage line before you sign, because some pricing pages list it and some leave it out.
Sources
How this guide was madeDrafted with AI assistance at Cinemora from the sources linked in this guide, read on 2026-10-23. Every number appears on its source; prices change, so check the source before you decide.