An AI phone assistant costs anywhere from a few dozen to a few hundred euros a month, depending on the provider. The range is wide because the pricing models differ so much: per minute, per call or a flat monthly fee. This guide walks through the models, what drives the price, the fees in the small print, and a calculation you can repeat with your own numbers.
AI receptionist pricing: the three models on the market
Almost every provider bills one of three ways. Per-minute pricing charges for each minute of conversation, often with no base fee. Per-call pricing charges a fixed amount for every call answered, however long it runs. Flat pricing charges a set monthly fee that includes a certain number of minutes, with a per-minute rate beyond that.
Then there is the phone number. Some providers bill it separately, some fold it into the flat fee. It sounds like small change, but it is a fixed line on every monthly invoice and belongs in any comparison.
Which model is cheaper for you depends on your volume. A few long conversations favour per-call pricing. Many short calls favour minutes or a flat fee. A flat fee is the easiest to plan around, because the invoice looks roughly the same every month.
- Per minute: no base fee, but every minute counts, including the quick question about parking.
- Per call: a fixed amount per conversation, regardless of length.
- Flat: a monthly fee with included minutes, then a per-minute rate.
- Phone number: either included or a separate monthly line item.
What drives the price of a phone assistant up?
The biggest lever is minutes. An assistant that answers every call needs several times the minutes of one that only steps in when nobody picks up. Before you compare prices, decide when it should answer: always, only when nobody picks up, or only outside opening hours.
Then come the extras. A second language costs more with some providers. Calendar integration is sometimes included, sometimes a separate package, sometimes not available at all, in which case the assistant books nothing and only takes notes. Several locations or several phone numbers are usually billed individually.
Check these five points in every offer and you will have the price that actually lands on the invoice.
- Minutes: how many are included, and what does each extra one cost?
- Phone number: is a local number included or billed separately?
- Languages: is your main language with accents standard, does a second language cost extra?
- Calendar: does the assistant book straight into your calendar or just into a list?
- Locations: what do you pay for the second shop or the second number?
Hidden costs of AI phone assistants
The monthly fee is rarely the whole story. Some providers charge a setup fee that sits in the small print of the quote. Others have a twelve-month minimum term, which turns an attractive monthly price into a year-long commitment before you know whether the assistant suits you.
One item almost everyone forgets: call forwarding. The assistant only gets calls because your phone forwards them. Depending on your mobile or landline tariff, that forwarding can eat minutes from your plan or cost extra. It shows up with your phone carrier, not with the assistant.
Then there are messages. If the assistant sends a confirmation by SMS or WhatsApp after the call, some providers bill each message individually. terminio.ai has no per-message fee for WhatsApp, reminders run inside the plan. Ask other providers specifically.
- Setup fee: one-off, often visible only in the quote.
- Minimum term: cancel monthly, or locked in for twelve months?
- Call forwarding: check the cost in your own phone tariff.
- Messages: are SMS or WhatsApp confirmations billed per message or included?
How to estimate your minutes per month
The number that decides everything is one you probably do not know exactly: your minutes of conversation. You do not need to know it exactly. An estimate from your own figures is enough to compare the models, and it takes less than ten minutes.
Count the calls that come in over one week, and the ones you miss. The call log on your phone is enough. A booking call usually takes two to three minutes once service, time and name are settled. Questions about directions or prices are shorter.
- Count calls per week, answered and missed separately.
- Decide which ones the assistant should take: all of them, or only the missed ones.
- Multiply by 2.5 minutes per call, a realistic average.
- Scale up with 4.3 weeks per month, not 4.
- Hold the result against the included minutes in each offer.
Worked example: a shop with 60 calls a week
A hair salon gets 60 calls a week. The team answers two thirds themselves, one third goes unanswered because someone is at the chair or the shop is closed. The assistant should only take the missed calls. That is 20 a week, around 86 a month.
At 2.5 minutes per call that is around 215 minutes of conversation a month. The flat model in terminio.ai Pro Voice includes 200 minutes and the German phone number. The 15 minutes above that cost 0.25 € each, so under 4 € on top of the monthly price. There is no setup fee.
If the assistant is to answer every call, the sum looks different: 60 calls a week is around 260 a month and roughly 650 minutes. The 450 minutes above the flat allowance then cost around 112 € extra. That is exactly why it pays to let the assistant step in only when nobody picks up, at least to start with.
How does the AI phone assistant cost compare?
The counter-calculation is the missed calls. People who cannot get through often book with the next salon on the list. What a missed appointment is worth, you know best: your average ticket. If in the example only one in five of the 86 missed calls would have become an appointment, that is 17 appointments a month happening somewhere else.
The second comparison is an answering service with real people. Such services usually bill a base fee plus an amount per call or per minute, and they are tied to office hours. In the evening and at the weekend, when many customers want to book, nobody there picks up. The price per call is, depending on the provider, well above that of an AI assistant.
An AI assistant is not better in every case. For complex requests, complaints or consultations, a person still has the edge. For booking, moving and cancelling appointments and the question about directions, it is enough, and those are usually exactly the calls that get lost.
