AI Receptionist for UK Small Businesses: Costs and Options Compared (2026)

How we put this together

Disclosure: Zapx Labs makes Pickuply, one of the options below. Every price and feature in this post comes from each provider's own website as we read it on 8 November 2026, linked at the end. Some providers quote prices excluding VAT and some don't say, so check before you compare like for like. We have left out review scores, customer numbers and outcome claims because we could not verify them.

What you are actually paying for

Call answering in the UK is sold in three ways: per call (you pay for every call answered, however short), per minute (you pay for talk time), or a monthly bundle of calls or minutes with a rate for anything over. The headline price matters less than how it lines up with your own calls.

Before comparing, look at a normal month on your phone: how many calls went unanswered, and roughly how long a typical enquiry lasts. If you divert only the calls you miss, those are the only calls you pay for.

Then decide what you need on the other end. A message is the basic product. Some services also book the job into a calendar, answer questions about prices and hours, or flag urgent calls. That is usually where plans differ.

Live answering services (a person picks up)

Staffed services suit businesses whose callers need judgement or reassurance. They usually cost more per call and some only cover office hours unless you pay for more.

• Answer.co.uk pay-as-you-go: £2.20 + VAT per call for new customers, no monthly fee, a minimum credit purchase of £25, answered 24/7 with no extra charge for after-hours calls, and no contract.
• Mail Boxes Etc Premium live: £47.94 + VAT a month including 20 calls, then £1.50 a call for calls 21 to 50, £1.20 to 100 and £1.10 to 200. Live answering runs Monday to Friday 8am to 7pm and Saturday 9am to 3pm. Three-month minimum term, then 30 days' notice.
• Moneypenny: prices are not published; you get a quote based on call volume and hours of cover. It says its receptionists are UK-based, standard cover is 8:30am to 6pm with evening, weekend and 24/7 options, and smaller schemes (150 minutes or fewer) have a three-month minimum contract. It also offers its own AI receptionist alongside its staff.

AI receptionists (software picks up)

AI receptionists answer every call at the same price whatever the hour. They differ most in how they charge, how long set-up takes, and whether they can book a job or only take a message.

• Answer.co.uk AI Virtual Receptionist: £10 a month plus 85p a call, in a pricing table headed as excluding VAT.
• Fasthosts AI Receptionist: Lite £39 a month for 30 calls then 49p a call; Plus £69 a month for 100 calls then 39p a call, with appointment scheduling; Unlimited £99 a month. Each includes a dedicated phone number and a one-month free trial. Its package page also showed lower discounted figures, and its VAT wording was unclear when we checked.
• Pickuply: Starter £39 a month for 150 call minutes, then 30p a minute, with bookings into one calendar and an email summary after every call; Pro £89 a month for 400 call minutes, several calendars and staff, urgent calls flagged in the summary, and CRM and Slack connections. 14 days free on either plan, no contract.
• US-priced services such as Smith.ai (a free plan with 25 calls a month, then Pro from $150 a month for 75 calls) and Goodcall (Starter $79 a month, billed by unique customer) price in dollars. The Smith.ai pricing page we read lists a US phone number and does not say whether it serves UK numbers, so check UK number support before signing up to any US service.

A worked example: 40 missed calls a month

Say a plumber misses 40 calls a month and each lasts about two minutes, so 80 minutes in total. Using the list prices above, before VAT where a provider quotes it that way, this is our own arithmetic, not a quote from any provider:

• Voicemail: £0, but callers decide whether to leave a message, and you still have to ring them back.
• Answer.co.uk live answering: 40 × £2.20 = £88 + VAT.
• Mail Boxes Etc Premium live: £47.94 + 20 extra calls × £1.50 = £77.94 + VAT, and only within its live-answering hours.
• Answer.co.uk AI receptionist: £10 + 40 × 85p = £44.
• Fasthosts Lite: £39 + 10 extra calls × 49p = £43.90; Plus, which adds appointment scheduling, is £69.
• Pickuply Starter: £39, using 80 of the 150 included minutes.

How Pickuply works

Pickuply is a self-serve AI receptionist for UK small businesses such as trades, garages and letting agents. You paste your website or Google Business listing, and it writes a knowledge card from your hours, services and prices, which you check. Then you call it yourself in the browser to hear how it answers. Trying it takes about two minutes and needs no card or sign-up.

To go live, you either divert the calls you don't answer to Pickuply and keep your own number, or take a new UK local number. Your phone still rings first. Lines are checked under UK rules before they go live.

On a call it answers in your business's name, answers questions from your details, takes a message, and pencils in bookings for you to confirm. Bookings go into Google Calendar or Outlook, and it also works without a calendar, including for a paper diary through a diary photo reader. You get an email summary after every call. Call audio isn't recorded, and transcripts are deleted after 30 days.

What to check before you choose

• VAT: is the price you're comparing with or without it?
• Hours: does the price cover evenings, weekends and bank holidays, or only office hours?
• Contract: is there a minimum term or notice period?
• Your number: can you keep it and divert only unanswered calls, or do you have to publish a new one?
• Bookings: can it put jobs in your calendar (or diary), or only pass on a message?
• Recording and retention: is call audio recorded, and how long are transcripts kept?
• Testing: can you hear it answer as your business before you pay?

When a person is still the better choice

If your callers are often distressed, need careful judgement, or expect a human by default, a staffed service may be worth the higher price per call. If most of your missed calls are routine enquiries about prices, availability and bookings, an AI receptionist covers them around the clock at a fixed or low per-call cost. A low-risk way to start is to divert only the calls you miss and read the summaries for a few weeks before deciding.