How Much Does a Virtual Receptionist Cost in the UK? (2026 Prices)

Published prices from six UK providers, the charges that sit behind the headline rates, and how the numbers compare with employing a receptionist or using AI.

A clinic weighing up a virtual receptionist usually wants one number: what it will cost each month. Some providers charge per call, some per minute, some sell bundles, and two of the UK's best-known names publish no prices at all.

This guide sets out what UK answering services actually charge in 2026, by name, as published on each pricing page. It works through what a typical clinic would pay at realistic call volumes, what an employed receptionist really costs once the on-costs are counted, and where AI pricing fits.

How Virtual Receptionist Pricing Works

A virtual receptionist service answers a clinic's calls remotely, takes messages, and in some cases books appointments. The industry prices this three ways.

Per call. A flat rate for each answered call, either billed as calls happen or as a bundle of call credits. Simple to audit, though longer calls cost the provider more, so per-call plans often carry fair-use limits on duration.

Per minute. A rate for each minute an operator spends on the line. LiveLink, a UK answering service for clinics, puts the market at £1.20 to £2.50 per minute. Basic scripted calls start from £3 each, with complex calls rising to £12 or £15. Costs scale directly with talk time, and medical calls can often run long.

Monthly bundles. A set number of calls for a fixed monthly fee, with an overage rate beyond it. Predictable while call volume stays inside the bundle, less so in a busy month.

The structure matters more than the headline number. A clinic handling 400 three-minute calls a month is buying 1,200 minutes, and the same volume can cost £300 or £3,000 depending on which model it lands on.

What UK Providers Publish in 2026

The table below shows six of the most visible UK virtual receptionist and call answering providers, with their published pricing as of 4 September 2026. Where a provider publishes no prices, the table says exactly that; it is a finding, not a gap.

Two things stand out. First, a third of the market's best-known names publish no prices, so a clinic cannot compare them without booking a sales call. Second, among those that do publish, the models barely overlap: a base fee plus usage, a call bundle with overage, and usage-only pricing with no base fee. Comparing quotes means converting each one into cost per call at the clinic's own volume.

The Costs That Do Not Appear on the Headline Rate

The advertised price is rarely the invoice. Five things move it.

• Overage. Bundle plans charge for every call beyond the allowance, at £2.99 a call on the published example above. A busy January can cost double a quiet June.
• Hours of coverage. Some providers include 24/7 answering in the standard price. Others cover extended business hours only, so evenings and weekends either go unanswered or need a second arrangement. A clinic that wants out-of-hours cover should confirm it is in the quoted price, not assumed. The after-hours options guide covers this in detail.
• Call complexity. LiveLink's own guidance prices complex calls at £12 to £15. Clinic calls are often exactly that: triage questions, insurance queries, cancellations with rebooking. Quotes based on simple message-taking understate what a medical reception call involves.
• Per-message extras. Small delivery fees, such as 10p per relayed SMS, are trivial alone and add up across a month of messages.
• VAT. Published rates are usually quoted excluding VAT.

None of this is sharp practice. It is how human answering time has to be priced. It does mean the only honest comparison is a worked example.

What That Means for a Clinic: Two Worked Examples

Both examples use a three-minute average call, in line with the assumptions in the AI receptionist vs virtual receptionist comparison.

A solo practitioner taking 100 calls a month

One hundred calls is 300 operator minutes. Per minute at £1.20 to £2.50, that is £360 to £750 a month. Per call at £2.20 to £2.99, it is £220 to £299. On a published bundle, 100 calls lands on a £230 plan. A realistic budget is therefore £220 to £750 a month, or £2,600 to £9,000 a year, for phone cover during answered hours. Solo practitioners weighing the options can also see the answering services for solo practitioners guide.

A multi-practitioner clinic taking 400 calls a month

Four hundred calls is 1,200 minutes. Per minute, £1,440 to £3,000 a month. Per call, £880 to £1,196. On the published bundles, the largest plan covers 300 calls at £635 and the next 100 calls add £299, so around £934. A realistic budget is £900 to £3,000 a month, or £11,000 to £36,000 a year, depending on model and call length. At this volume the pricing model chosen matters more than the provider.

Missed calls sit outside these numbers entirely: every unanswered enquiry is a booking that may go elsewhere, which is its own cost.

Virtual Receptionist vs Employing a Receptionist

The comparison many clinics actually run is against hiring. The floor for that decision is set by law, not by the job market.

From April 2026 the National Living Wage is £12.71 an hour for workers aged 21 and over. A full-time receptionist on 37.5 hours a week therefore costs at least £24,785 a year in salary. The employer then pays Class 1 National Insurance at 15% on earnings above £5,000, around £2,970 at this salary. A minimum 3% pension contribution on qualifying earnings adds roughly £550 more.

That is around £28,300 a year, or £2,360 a month. The figure sits before recruitment, training, software, holiday and sickness cover, and before paying above the minimum, which most clinics do. It buys 37.5 hours of cover a week from one person who also greets patients, manages the diary and runs the front desk. The phone does not stop when that person is on lunch, on leave, or already on a call. That is why many clinics with an employed receptionist still pay for overflow answering on top.

An employed receptionist is not a line-for-line alternative to an answering service. The fair comparison is cost per hour of phone cover: roughly £14.50 an hour employed at the minimum, against £1.20 to £2.50 a minute outsourced. Neither covers the 6pm call without more money.

Is an AI Receptionist a Cheaper Alternative?

AI receptionists answer with a conversational voice system rather than a human operator. That changes the cost base: software does not cost more per extra minute, so pricing does not have to scale with talk time. Not all vendors pass that on. Some AI receptionists still price per minute or per interaction, which behaves exactly like the per-call models above as volume grows. The AI receptionist cost guide breaks down the pricing models across the category.

BookedSolid's pricing starts at £49 a month for a solo practitioner, and £99 a month for clinics with two to four practitioners, with unlimited calls and messages, no setup fees and no contract on either plan. Against the worked examples above: the solo practitioner's £220 to £750 a month becomes £49. The 400-call clinic's £900 to £3,000 becomes £99, with 24/7 answering included rather than priced as an extra. Unlimited usage at a fixed price is specific to BookedSolid rather than a property of AI receptionists in general. Clinics comparing AI vendors should check the usage terms carefully.

Cost is not the only axis. A human service brings judgement and familiarity; an AI service brings capacity and hours. The AI receptionist vs virtual receptionist guide covers how clinics choose between the two models, and where a hybrid of both fits.

How to Compare Quotes

Six questions turn any quote into a comparable number.

• What is the effective cost per call at the clinic's real monthly volume, including the base fee?
• What happens beyond the included calls or minutes, and at what rate?
• Are evenings, weekends and bank holidays included, extra, or unavailable?
• Is there a minimum term, a setup fee, or a notice period?
• What counts as an answered call, and is there a duration cap before charges step up?
• Are the quoted figures inclusive or exclusive of VAT?

A provider that answers all six in writing is quoting properly. A provider that will not is asking the clinic to budget blind.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does a virtual receptionist cost in the UK?

Published UK rates in 2026 run from around £2.20 to £2.99 per call, £1.20 to £2.50 per minute, or monthly bundles from £75 for 30 calls to £635 for 300. Several major providers publish no prices and quote individually. For a clinic taking 100 calls a month, a realistic budget is £220 to £750 a month.

Is a virtual receptionist cheaper than hiring a receptionist?

At most clinic call volumes, yes. A full-time employed receptionist costs at least £28,300 a year from April 2026 once employer National Insurance and pension contributions are added to the National Living Wage. Outsourced answering for 100 calls a month costs £2,600 to £9,000 a year. The employed receptionist does far more than answer calls, though, so many clinics compare the options on phone cover alone and staff the front desk separately.

What is included in a virtual receptionist's monthly fee?

It varies by model. Bundle plans include a set number of answered calls with message relay. Usage plans charge per call or minute, and include nothing. Base fees often cover account setup and a dashboard rather than any calls. Appointment booking, diary access and CRM updates are frequently higher-tier features, so clinics should confirm the quoted plan actually books patients rather than just taking messages.

Does out-of-hours call answering cost extra?

It depends on the provider. Some include 24/7 answering in the standard rate, others cover extended business hours only, and some price evenings and weekends as a premium. Clinics that want full cover should get the hours in writing. AI-based services typically include 24/7 answering because the marginal cost of an overnight call is near zero.

How much does an AI receptionist cost compared with a virtual receptionist?

Answering the same 100 calls a month, an AI receptionist like BookedSolid costs £49, while a human virtual receptionist costs £220 to £750. BookedSolid's pricing is flat: £49 a month for a solo practitioner, £99 for clinics with two to four practitioners, with unlimited calls and messages, so the bill does not move in a busy month. Some AI services still charge per minute or per interaction, and those climb with volume just like a human service's. The full breakdown is in the AI receptionist cost guide.

Do virtual receptionist services work for medical clinics?

Yes, and healthcare is one of the largest sectors using them. The caveats are cost and depth: medical calls run longer and more complex than average, which raises per-minute bills, and generalist operators work from scripts rather than clinical context. Clinics comparing services should test how each handles a triage-style call, an insurance query and a cancellation with rebooking, since those are the calls that decide the real monthly cost.