£249 a month: the AI receptionist cost at Show Up 24/7, with a website and booking included.

AI receptionist cost is hard to pin down, because providers price in different ways and some keep the number out of sight. I'm Serhat, and this is a plain guide to what you are choosing between, with my own price stated in full. An AI receptionist from me is part of Show Up 24/7: £249 a month plus a £149 setup fee, with 600 call minutes a month included, alongside your website, Google profile and online booking.

I do not quote other providers' prices here. They change, and a number from someone selling a rival is not much use to you. I compare the kinds of option instead, so you know what to ask whoever you speak to.

AI receptionist cost per month: what Show Up 24/7 includes

The price is £249 a month plus a one-off £149 setup fee, paid up front. There is no minimum term, you can cancel any time, and I add no VAT because I am not VAT registered. In pilot. Message me and I will confirm a start date before you pay.

It is a bundle, not a standalone phone service, so you cannot buy the receptionist on its own. The plan includes:

• The Show Up website, hosting and security, and your Google Business Profile.
• Online booking with deposits and reminders, a WhatsApp chat button, click-to-call, missed call text back (coming soon) and review requests.
• The AI receptionist itself, with call minutes included.

If you only need the website, Show Up is £79 a month. Everything is on the pricing page.

Virtual receptionist for small business: four kinds of option

"Virtual receptionist" covers quite different things. Here they are side by side, without prices:

• A receptionist on staff. A person who knows your business and can judge a tricky call. You pay for their time whether the phone is busy or quiet, and you need cover for holidays and sickness.
• A human virtual receptionist or answering service. People answer for several businesses at once, often charged per call or per minute, so the bill moves with how busy you are. Quality depends on how well they learn your business.
• AI receptionist software you set up yourself. A subscription tool you configure and maintain: your information, your call routing, your fixes. It suits you if you enjoy that sort of job.
• A done-for-you AI receptionist, such as Show Up 24/7. I set it up with your information and look after it, and you get an emailed summary of every call.

None is best for everyone. It depends on how many calls you get, how complicated they are and how much you want to manage.

AI receptionist vs answering service: where they differ

The practical differences show up in four places.

• Who answers. An answering service uses people. An AI receptionist is software, and mine says plainly on the call that it is an AI assistant.
• Hours. Human services have set hours, so check what is covered at night and at weekends. Mine answers around the clock.
• How the bill behaves. Per-call pricing rises in a busy month. A monthly price with minutes included is easier to plan around, but check what happens when the minutes run out.
• What you get afterwards. Ask how messages reach you. With Show Up 24/7 you receive an email summary of every call.

When you compare any AI receptionist UK providers offer, put those same four questions to each of them.

What call minutes really cost

A call minute is time a caller spends talking to the receptionist. Providers count them differently, and that is where surprises come from. Ask whether minutes are rounded up, whether ringing time counts and what happens when the allowance runs out.

With Show Up 24/7, 600 call minutes a month are included. As arithmetic only, that is 200 calls of three minutes or 120 calls of five. Your own calls will differ, so plan around a busy month rather than an average one. What happens beyond the included minutes is set out on the pricing page, so it only has to be kept right in one place.

What the receptionist does on a call

It picks up, says plainly that it is an AI assistant and answers common questions from your own information, such as opening hours, prices, parking and services. If the caller needs you, it takes a message with their name, number, what it is about and the best time to call back. Then it emails you a summary of every call.

That is deliberately modest. It will not replace a person on every call, and I would not pretend otherwise. The AI receptionist page has a fuller description.

Who it suits, and who it does not

It suits owners who cannot answer while they work: trades on a job, salons and clinics mid-appointment, and one-person firms. It also suits businesses with a closing time, where an enquiry at 9pm would otherwise go unheard until morning.

It does not suit everyone:

• If you want every call answered by a person, choose a human service or hire someone.
• If your phone rarely rings when you cannot answer, a cheaper step is likely enough.
• If you only need a website, Show Up at £79 a month does that.

Check your own numbers first

Before paying for any receptionist, see what missed calls might be worth to you. The free missed call calculator lets you enter your own figures and change the assumptions. It shows gross revenue before costs, and it is a scenario, not a prediction.

A smaller step will be missed call text back: coming soon for Show Up & Book clients (£149 a month plus a £99 setup fee) and included at no extra cost from the day it goes live. The caller gets a text instead of an answer. If you are unsure, run the free business check or book a free 15-minute call.

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