How much does an AI receptionist actually cost?

A survey of fifty agencies selling AI receptionists, missed call text back and chatbots to small businesses found the commodity end sitting around US$97 to US$200 a month, with a more hands-on, watched setup running US$1,500 to US$3,500 a month. Dental practices specifically get quoted closer to US$100 to US$1,000 a month for the same kind of tool, because the sales pitch changes by trade even when the underlying work does not.

Anyone who quotes you a price before understanding your business is guessing, and anyone who tells you it is cheap because AI did the work is selling. The number that matters is not the subscription, it is what it replaces: an AI phone helper that answers after hours is covering shifts you would otherwise pay a person for, or lose the call entirely. If the saving does not clearly beat the cost, it is not worth buying.

Two other things worth asking before you sign anything: what happens to the accounts and the data if you ever leave the agency, and what month two costs once the setup work is finished. A fair operator answers both without flinching, in plain numbers, before any money moves. A vague answer to either question is usually a preview of how the relationship goes once you are locked in, so it is worth asking early rather than reading it in the contract later.

The price also depends heavily on what you are actually buying: a subscription to a shared, generic tool is a different purchase to a build set up and watched specifically for your business, and the two get marketed with almost identical language. Ask which one you are being quoted, because the gap between them is most of the difference between the low end and the high end of the range above.

A Three Fixes report costs A$99 once and names practical steps that fit your week, with the words to run them and recorded examples of what agencies charge, so you can judge the options before paying for tools or help.