What is a virtual receptionist? Types, costs, and how they work

Your business is growing, and the phone is ringing off the hook. If your team is missing calls, you’re losing out on potential sales.

In this guide, we’ll cover the costs and benefits of different types of virtual receptionists so you can choose the right option for your business.

What is a virtual receptionist?

A virtual receptionist answers the phone and handles simple tasks after hours or when your team is busy. The term may be confusing because it covers both human and AI tools that work remotely or through a software system, rather than in-house like traditional receptionists.

What does a virtual receptionist do?

Hiring a virtual receptionist or using an automated receptionist takes many tasks off your team’s plate, including:

• Screening spam and telemarketing calls since they can’t answer the virtual receptionist’s questions
• Message taking during or after hours
• Routing calls to the right departments
• Capturing and saving customer details
• Scheduling appointments
• Processing or assisting with orders
• Taking payments or updating payment information
• Answering FAQs
• Providing basic customer service
• Offering bilingual services

With this extra help, you don’t have to worry about missing calls or losing leads, even with high call volume.

3 different types of virtual receptionists

There are three options for virtual receptionist services: AI integrated within your phone system, AI from an external provider, and human-operated.

Here’s how each one compares:

	Built-in AI	Third-party AI	Human service
What it is	AI answering inside your phone system	AI answering calls forwarded from your system	Trained people answering remotely
Setup time	Minutes	Hours to days	Days to weeks
Pricing structure	Usage-based tiers	Per minute or per interaction	Per minute or monthly retainer
Cost range*	$25-$200+ per month	$49-$800+ per month	$200-$3,000+ per month
Availability	24/7	24/7	Business hours or 24/7 at a premium
Consistency	Identical every call	Identical every call	Varies by who answers
Best for	Overflow, after hours, FAQs, routing	Routine questions	Nuanced, emotional, high-value calls
Downsides	Can’t handle complex or unusual requests	Disconnected systems + can’t handle complex calls	Cost, and scaling with volume

*Pricing is based on well-known virtual receptionist providers. Quo’s Sona gives you your first 10 calls free, then starts at $25 per month for around 40 AI-answered calls. Smith.ai gives you your first 25 calls free, then starts at $150 per month for around 75 AI-answered calls. Ruby starts at $250 per month for 50 minutes of live answering. 

Get the full breakdown in our guide to the best answering services for small businesses.

Let’s take a look at these options in detail.

1. AI voice agents built into virtual phone systems

Some phone communication software comes with a built-in AI voice agent, such as Quo’s Sona. An AI receptionist like Sona is a cost-effective way to ensure calls are answered 24/7. Urgent calls are transferred to the right person, and details are captured directly into your business phone system for quick follow-up. Sona can also send SMS for lead capture.

A built-in option like Sona is useful if you want a comprehensive phone system to handle increased call volumes as your business grows. You can try Sona out for free for seven days — it takes just minutes to get started.

Related: Compare the best AI phone answering services for your business to see how Sona stacks up.

2. Third-party AI voice agents that integrate with virtual phone systems

If your current communication software doesn’t offer a remote receptionist, you can add a standalone AI agent. These third-party voice agents integrate with your existing phone system through call forwarding. 

When incoming calls are forwarded to the AI answering service, it makes it difficult to maintain oversight. Conversations live in different apps, so your team will have to spend extra time switching between platforms to find important details.

3. Traditional human-powered virtual receptionist services

Hiring a real receptionist gives you a person to answer calls and do things like plan appointments, process payments, and take in new clients. They can also filter calls and qualify leads to save your team time.

But there are trade-offs. Human remote receptionists cost more and take longer to onboard than AI solutions. Also, many services only send call details by email or text, not directly into your CRM.

A good solution is using both AI and human virtual receptionists. ER Fukuda, CEO and Co-Founder of Rainbow Road Transport, said: 

“We used Quo for incoming calls, with live agents answering calls directly. This worked well during business hours, but we struggled to manage the overflow. Sona has been instrumental in filling those gaps. It collects key information from the caller, so when our agents return in the morning, they have a queue of qualified leads to process, which speeds up our response time and improves booking conversion.”

What a virtual receptionist is not: Comparing common alternatives

Virtual receptionists go by many names — call answering services, auto-attendants, virtual assistants — but each type serves different needs. Here’s the breakdown:

System	What it does	Availability	Handles complex requests?	Human interaction?
In-house receptionist	Handles calls plus in-person walk-ins and appointments	Business hours, one location	Yes	Yes — in person
Answering service (call center)	Takes messages and forwards calls at high volume	Often 24/7	Limited	Yes, but less personalized
Auto-attendant	Fixed phone menu; routes calls by keypad ("press 1")	24/7	No — routing only	No
IVR	Menu by keypad or voice; some self-service for balances, payments	24/7	No — basic tasks only	No
Virtual assistant	Phone plus broader tasks (projects, travel, bookkeeping)	Varies	Yes	Yes

Virtual receptionist vs in-house receptionist

Traditional receptionists are there to handle walk-in customers or appointments in person. But some drawbacks mean they’re not right for every business:

• Cost: Traditional receptionists cost more than virtual ones and require investing in in-office equipment.
• Flexibility: Front desk receptionists can only work during business hours, whereas virtual help can answer the phone and provide solutions 24/7.
• Limited location: In-house staff establish a human presence for local businesses, but they’re limited to one area or region. Virtual receptionists can work remotely from anywhere and serve customers around the world.

Virtual receptionist vs answering service call centers

A virtual answering service based in a call center typically offers limited, basic help, like taking messages and forwarding calls. Because they focus on efficiency and volume, answering service call centers may not feel as personalized or friendly as virtual receptionists. They may also require more training to handle screening calls as a receptionist.

💡Related: Is an answering service better than voicemail? Find out here: Voicemail vs answering service

Virtual receptionist vs auto-attendants vs IVR

An auto-attendant and IVR answer and route calls automatically, but they’re different systems. 

• An auto-attendant is a fixed phone menu. Callers hear a set list of options and press a number to get where they’re going. There’s no AI or speech recognition behind it.
• An interactive voice response is a digital system that automatically routes calls when customers press a number or say an option. Some IVR systems can handle simple self-service tasks on their own, like checking an account balance or taking a payment.

The difference between a virtual receptionist vs automated answering is that receptionists can handle complex requests. Auto-attendants and IVRs can only give basic information and do call transfers to make call handling more efficient for your receptionist or team.

Virtual receptionist vs virtual assistant

A virtual receptionist focuses on answering calls and providing customer service.

A virtual assistant does more than just answer the phone. They can do things like manage projects, plan trips, and do basic administrative tasks.

Who uses a virtual receptionist

The industries that use virtual receptionists the most are: 

Industry	The specific problem
Home services	Techs are on jobs, calls arrive during work hours, and an unanswered call goes to the next contractor
Property management	Tenant issues arrive at all hours and have to be triaged by urgency
Real estate	Lead response time decides who wins the listing
Accounting and professional services	Client intake needs to be captured accurately the first time
Salon and personal services	Staff are with clients and cannot break to answer, but every missed call is a missed booking

In these industries, the first business to pick up usually wins the job. A missed call is rarely a call you get back.

Is a live virtual receptionist worth it?

Consider some of the benefits you get when you invest in a human receptionist or AI voice agent:

• Never miss a call again. With 24/7 availability, virtual receptionist services can answer calls after hours, on weekends, and on holidays. And you’ll always have someone available to cover for employees when they call in sick or go on vacation.
• Cost-effective solution for growing businesses. Hiring an in-house receptionist can cost around $41,000 per year when you factor in benefits and bonuses. Virtual receptionists offer flexible monthly pricing to meet changing needs.
• Scale up or down based on demand. You can easily scale up or reduce virtual receptionist services as your business grows or has seasonal changes in customer inquiries. This means you don’t have to hire temporary onsite help.
• Flexible service tailored to your business. Both human and AI receptionists can use custom scripts and call handling preferences to give customers a consistent, professional experience. Some services also let you add options like outbound calling as your business needs change.
• Professional service without the overhead. Human virtual receptionists likely have customer service skills and don’t require expensive training or weeks of paid onboarding. An AI agent can be even more cost-effective because it needs only a few minutes of setup to start providing missed call services.

Here’s what one customer said: 

“Prior to adopting Sona, we struggled with consistently capturing after-hours communications, resulting in missed opportunities. We now have absolute assurance that every incoming call is handled promptly.” Jon Christensen, Co-founder, Bidmii

How much does a virtual receptionist cost?

Using an AI voice receptionist costs from $25 to over $200 per month. Pricing depends on the number of minutes or calls you need and includes features like integrations and bilingual support. Quo’s Sona is available on tiered, usage-based plans that start at $25 per month — and you get 10 free monthly calls on every plan.

Human receptionists typically cost much more, from $200 to over $3,000 per month. Some services offer less-expensive basic packages, but you may not get features like appointment scheduling or basic customer service.

How to set up a virtual receptionist

The general process for setting up a virtual receptionist looks like this: 

1. Define your business hours and call routing rules.
2. Write your greeting and FAQ answers, and compile knowledge bases for training receptionists. 
3. Choose your provider.
4. Connect your calendar, CRM, business phone, and other tools. 
5. Test a few calls and adjust as needed before rolling it out to your customers. 

Here’s what setup looks like in Quo:

Quo’s AI agent, Sona, is integrated directly into the Quo platform, where it’s available to answer calls, take messages, and capture leads 24/7. Your team can quickly set up and customize Sona to help your customers when no one is available to take calls. Sona’s automatic call summaries and transcripts make it easy to follow up so you never miss another important connection.

Here’s how to get started with Sona:

1. ‍Add Sona to your call flows in minutes with our call flow builder. You can use it as a backup option when your team is busy during business hours, or you can automatically route inbound calls to Sona after hours.
2. ‍Customize Sona to your business needs. Train Sona on your business policies and answers to FAQs so it can give callers fast, accurate responses. Provide instructions on what information you’d like Sona to capture so your team has context when they follow up. Add instructions for actions, like sending SMS for lead capture. 
3. ‍Review Sona’s performance in your call views. Filter calls to only show AI phone calls handled by Sona. This gives your team clear oversight into Sona’s performance, and you can use these insights to adjust how it handles customer interactions.

Don’t just take our word for it. Here’s what Kendall Carameros, co-founder and COO of Nutiliti said after using Sona: 

“Sona ensures that no calls go completely unanswered. Having someone available to take their information — even after hours — gives customers a better impression of Nutiliti.”

And a better impression is exactly what you want to keep customers coming back.And a better impression is exactly what you want to keep customers coming back.

Verdict: Which type of virtual receptionist should you choose?

Most small businesses don’t need to choose between a person and software. They need to stop missing calls. 

If your calls are mostly routine, arrive outside business hours, or come in faster than your team can pick up, an AI receptionist built into your business phone system is the cheapest way to catch them. Platforms like Quo include AI answering on every plan. 

If your calls are high-value, emotionally loaded, or need real judgment, pay for a human service and route only those calls to it. 

Running both human and AI receptionists is usually cheaper than staffing a front desk, and it’s the setup most growing businesses land on.

FAQs