How much does an answering service cost? It depends on how you pay (per call, per minute or a monthly plan), how many calls you receive, when you need cover and how much you want handled. Entry-level plans start low, while busier or more complex services cost more. At Message Direct, plans start from £19.20 a month, which works out at around £0.64 a day, with no setup fees and no long contracts. This guide explains how answering service pricing works, what can push the bill up, which questions to ask any provider, and how it compares with hiring a receptionist, so you can see what telephone answering service cost really means for your business.
What Is the Average Cost of a Telephone Answering Service?
There is no single average price for a telephone answering service, and any guide that gives you one should be read with care. What you will find instead are a few common ways of pricing: entry-level monthly plans for businesses with fewer calls, mid-level plans with a call or message allowance, and tailored quotes for high-volume or more complex needs. A “from” price is where a plan begins, not necessarily what you will pay, so it helps to know what moves a bill up from there.
Our own plans start from £19.20 a month, around £0.64 a day. From there, the price moves with the number of calls you want handled, the hours you want covered and how much you ask us to do on each call, such as taking a message, transferring a call or booking an appointment.
Rather than quote a neat average that may not suit you, we think it is more useful to show you how pricing works. The sections below take you through the ways providers charge, what makes a bill go up or down, and what to ask before you sign up. Any figures you see elsewhere are worth checking against the provider’s own current pricing page.
How Do Telephone Answering Services Price Their Plans?
The way a provider charges changes how predictable your bill is, which can matter as much as the headline price. There are four common models, and each suits a different kind of business.
Per-Call Pricing
With per-call pricing you pay a set fee for every call answered, however long it lasts. It tends to suit businesses that receive lots of short calls, such as simple message taking. The thing to check is what counts as a call. With some providers, hang-ups, wrong numbers and sales calls can all be billed, so it is worth asking before you sign up. That makes it easy to understand, though the total depends on how many calls you receive in a month.
Per-Minute Pricing
Per-minute pricing charges for the time an agent spends on your call. It can work well for short, simple calls, but the cost climbs when callers need longer conversations or more detailed questions. Ask how the minutes are rounded. If every call is rounded up to the next full minute, a handful of short calls can add up faster than you might expect. It is worth asking for a few example call lengths so you can see how it works out in practice.
Bundled Monthly Plans
A bundled plan gives you a monthly fee that covers a set allowance of calls or minutes, with an extra charge if you go over. For steady call volumes it is usually the easiest to budget for. When comparing, look at the size of the allowance, the cost of going over it and whether you can move up or down a plan as your business changes. It is a good fit when you can predict roughly how many calls you will get.
Flat-Rate Packages
A flat-rate package is a fixed monthly fee with no charge for usage. It suits businesses with low call volumes or a clearly defined need. Check what the fee actually covers, because extra features or services outside the package may still be priced separately, and a fixed fee only stays fixed if the package fits how you really use it. It is worth asking how a fixed price copes if your call volume suddenly rises.
What Factors Affect the Cost of a Telephone Answering Service?
Two businesses on the same plan can end up paying quite different amounts, because what we are asked to do on their calls is rarely the same. These are the main things that shape the price.
Call Volume
The more calls you want us to answer, the more your service costs, and it is the biggest single factor. If your calls rise and fall through the year, a plan that lets you upgrade or downgrade is worth more than one that locks you in. That flexibility means you pay for the cover you need rather than the cover you guessed at. It also helps to look back at a typical month of calls before you ask for a price.
Hours of Cover: Business Hours vs 24/7
Cover for standard office hours is a different proposition from cover around the clock. Out-of-hours calls need people in place at the quietest times, which is why some providers charge more for them. If you only need evenings, weekends or holidays covered, say so. If you do need round-the-clock cover, our 24/7 call answering service is built for it. Being clear about this early helps you get a quote that fits.
Level of Call Handling: Message Taking vs Virtual Receptionist
Taking a message and passing it on is the simplest service, and usually the lowest cost. A virtual receptionist does more: following your scripts, transferring calls and taking orders. The more you ask an agent to do on each call, the more the service is worth to you, and the more it is likely to cost. It is worth deciding which of these you actually need before you compare providers.
Add-Ons: Appointment Booking, Call Transfers, Emergency Callouts and Integrations
Some providers price extras separately, including diary booking, call transfers, emergency callouts and connections to the tools you already use, such as Slack, WhatsApp, a helpdesk or a CRM. If you need appointment booking or emergency callouts, ask for them to be included in your quote from the start, so there are no surprises later. Listing everything you need up front makes quotes much easier to compare.
What Hidden Costs Should You Watch For?
Price comparisons can hide the details that make a bill grow. These are questions to put to any provider, including us, before you commit.
Setup Fees
Some providers charge to set up your account. Ask for the total cost of your first month, not just the monthly price. We do not charge setup fees, and our free 14 day trial is set up without one, but not every provider works the same way. Asking the question early costs nothing and can save an unwelcome surprise.
Minimum Contract Terms
Long tie-ins can make a service expensive even when the monthly price looks low. Ask about minimum terms, notice periods and cancellation. You should also be able to change plan or pause cover when your business changes. We do not tie customers in for long periods, and you can upgrade, downgrade or pause at any time. Flexibility matters most when your business is still growing or has quiet seasons.
What Counts as a Billable Call or Minute
Ask what the provider counts as billable. Are wrong numbers, spam calls and hang-ups charged? Are minutes rounded up? Is billing based on calendar months or on shorter cycles that could mean extra payments across a year? Clear answers make it much easier to compare like with like. It is a short list of questions, but the answers can change a bill.
Overage and Out-of-Hours Surcharges
Check what happens when you go over your allowance, and whether evenings, weekends or bank holidays cost extra. If you expect to need cover while you are away, our holiday and temporary cover is flexible and ad-hoc, so you can add it when you need it. Surcharges are easy to miss, so ask for them in writing.
How Much Does a Telephone Answering Service Cost for Different Businesses?
The right plan, and the cost that goes with it, depends on the size of your business and the pattern of your calls. Here is how it tends to look for three common types of business.
Sole traders and small businesses. If you are a sole trader or run a small business, you will often want calls taken while you are on a job, with the message passed straight to you. That is usually a lower-volume, message-taking need. Our plans start from £19.20 a month, so a cheap answering service for a small business does not have to mean a poor one.
Growing businesses. As a business grows, calls tend to come in more often and need more than a message. Appointment booking, call transfers and a consistent greeting become more useful, and the price reflects the extra work involved.
High-volume and emergency call-out businesses. Some businesses need calls answered at all hours, or need an urgent call acted on straight away, such as an emergency call-out. Trades, property businesses, IT helpdesks and clinics often need this level of cover. We give tailored quotes for these needs, because the handling instructions matter as much as the number of calls. If that sounds like you, take a look at our answering service for tradesmen or ask for a tailored quote.
Telephone Answering Service vs In-House Receptionist: Cost Comparison
The fair comparison is not a monthly fee against a salary. It is the full cost of employing someone against what you would pay a service for the calls you actually need answered.
Cost of Employing a Full-Time Receptionist
A salary is only the start. You also need to think about employer National Insurance, pension contributions, holiday and sickness cover, recruitment, equipment and the time spent managing the role. Taken together, these costs mean the true price of a receptionist is more than the salary on the contract, so it is worth adding them up before you compare. Pay for receptionists varies by region and experience, and the Office for National Statistics publishes earnings by occupation. Whatever you pay, it has to be at least the legal minimum, which you can check on the GOV.UK National Minimum Wage rates page. We have also written before about whether you can afford a receptionist.
Cost of Outsourcing Your Calls
When you outsource, your cost follows your calls. There is no employer cost on top of the fee, and cover carries on through holidays, sickness and out-of-hours periods, because you are not relying on one person being in. If your call volume changes, you can change your plan rather than your headcount. That makes the cost easier to plan, because you can see what you are paying for and change it when your needs change.
When Each Option Makes Sense
An in-house receptionist suits a business with a busy front desk, where visitors need greeting as well as calls answered. Outsourcing tends to suit businesses whose needs are mostly on the phone, who need cover outside office hours, or who want a safety net when the phone gets busy. Some businesses use both, with a service picking up the overflow. The right answer depends on what your callers actually need from you.
Is a Telephone Answering Service Worth the Cost?
The cost of a service is easier to judge when you set it against what an unanswered call costs. Every call that goes to a busy tone or an answerphone is a customer who may call someone else, and for many businesses a missed call can mean a lost job or a lost sale.
As an illustration only, suppose a new customer is worth £300 to your business and 5 calls a month go unanswered. If just 2 of those callers would have become customers, that is £600 of lost income in a month, compared with a plan from £19.20 a month. Your own numbers will differ, so it is worth doing this sum with real figures from your business. It is a simple sum, but it shows why the monthly price is only half of the story.
Reputation matters too. A call answered promptly by a real person tells customers you are reliable. We have written before about missing business calls and what they can mean for a business.
How Much Does Message Direct Cost?
We believe in being open about price. Our pricing is based on the service levels we deliver, and our plans start from £19.20 a month. We have been answering calls for businesses since 1994, we now work with 3,000+ clients, and we are ISO 9001:2015 certified.
Plans From £19.20 a Month
Our entry price is £19.20 a month, which comes to around £0.64 a day. It is where a plan starts, and your final price depends on your call volume, the hours you need and how much you want handled. To get a figure for your own business, request a call back and tell us a few details about your calls. We will give you a tailored quote, and it will not be a sales pitch. You can read more about our 24/7 call answering service.
No Setup Fees, No Long Contracts
We do not believe businesses should be penalised with long tie-ins, setup fees or expensive monthly subscriptions. There is no long contract to sign, and you can upgrade, downgrade or pause your cover at any time. That means you can start small and change your plan as your business does. We would rather you judge us on the service than be held to a contract, and it also means you can try a plan, see how it works for your business, and adjust it with no penalty.
Free 14-Day Trial
You can try the service before you commit with a free 14 day trial. We set it up without a fee, and in the majority of cases your account is up and running the same day. You divert your calls to us when you choose, and we send your messages straight back to you by email, call patching, callout, message relay or SMS. It is the simplest way to see how the service works before you decide.
How to Choose a Telephone Answering Service for Your Budget
Price matters, but the lowest price is not always the best value. Before you sign up with any provider, ask:
- How do you charge: per call, per minute or a monthly plan?
- What counts as a billable call, and are wrong numbers charged?
- What does the allowance include, and what does going over it cost?
- Which hours are covered, and do evenings, weekends or bank holidays cost extra?
- Are there setup fees or a minimum contract?
- Can I try the service first?
- Can it connect to the tools I already use?
Beyond price, look at how quickly calls are answered, whether you have a named contact, and what other customers say. We aim to answer every call within 3 rings, and every client has a dedicated account manager. You can read what our clients say in our customer reviews.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is VAT added to telephone answering service prices?
Some providers quote prices without VAT, so check whether the price you are given includes it. If your business is VAT registered, you can usually reclaim VAT on business purchases, but ask your accountant to confirm your own position. See the GOV.UK guide to charging, reclaiming and recording VAT.
Do I need to change my phone number to use a telephone answering service?
No. You keep your existing number and divert your calls to us when you want us to answer them. You can divert as little or as often as you like, so you stay in control of when we pick up, whether that is all day, out of hours or only when you are busy.
Can I use an answering service only for overflow or holidays?
Yes. You can use us just for busy periods, staff absence or time away, rather than for every call. Our overflow call handling and holiday cover are flexible, so you can use them when you need them and step back when you do not.
What information does a provider need from me to get started?
You will normally need to share your business details, how you would like calls greeted and handled, and where messages should be sent. With us, you complete a short form and we call you to learn more about your business, so we can set up the service around how you work.
Get a Tailored Quote
The best way to find out what a telephone answering service will cost your business is to talk about your calls. Tell us a few details and we will give you a tailored quote, with no setup fees and no long contract. You can also try us first with a free 14 day trial, set up without a fee and usually running the same day. To speak to us now, call 0800 151 2994. We will not turn it into a sales pitch, we will simply learn more about your business and how we can help.
Summary and Key Takeaways
Telephone answering service cost depends on how you pay, how many calls you receive, when you need cover and how much you ask us to do. The monthly price is only part of the picture, because setup fees, contract terms and billing rules matter just as much when you compare answering service pricing.
- Pricing models differ: per call, per minute, bundled monthly plans and flat-rate packages.
- Call volume, hours of cover and call handling drive the price.
- Compare the full cost of employing a receptionist with a service.
- Our plans start from £19.20 a month, with no long contracts and a free 14 day trial.