# AI receptionist vs human answering service: which is cheaper?

At 200 calls/mo (3 min each), the cheapest AI receptionist runs about $30/mo and the AI median is $159.95/mo, while the cheapest priceable human answering service (ReceptionHQ) starts at $423/mo. Human services bill per receptionist-minute, so their cost climbs steeply with volume where AI stays flat.

## The data behind this answer

| Vendor | Cost @ 200 calls/mo | Source | Verified |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Vapi (AI — cheapest) | $30 (Build (Pay As You Go)) | vapi.ai | 2026-06-27 |
| ReceptionHQ (human) | $423 (MessageExpress) | receptionhq.com | 2026-06-27 |
| PATLive (human) | $1,170 (Pro) | patlive.com | 2026-06-10 |

## Related questions

### How much cheaper is an AI receptionist than a human service?

At 200 calls/mo the cheapest AI option ($30/mo) is well below the cheapest priceable human service (ReceptionHQ, $423/mo). The gap widens as call volume rises because human plans bill per minute while many AI plans are flat.

### Do human answering services do anything AI can't?

Live human services handle nuance, escalation and warm empathy that current AI can miss, and several offer bilingual live agents. The trade-off is cost: per-minute human billing makes high call volume expensive, which is the pricing reality this comparison captures — not a quality verdict.

### Are these prices comparable across the two models?

We normalize every vendor to 200 calls of 3 minutes so flat AI plans and per-minute human plans land on one scale. Human overage above the plan minutes is often higher and sometimes unpublished; where it is unpublished we price only the included bucket and say so.

Canonical: https://frontdeskreview.com/ai-receptionists/answers/ai-receptionist-vs-human-answering-service-cost/
Cite: Per The Front Desk Review, "AI vs human cost" — https://frontdeskreview.com/ai-receptionists/answers/ai-receptionist-vs-human-answering-service-cost/
License: CC BY 4.0. Price history: https://frontdeskreview.com/data/price-history.jsonl