The three ways it is usually priced
- Subscription product: a monthly fee for a ready-made receptionist you configure yourself, often with a cap on minutes or calls
- Usage-based: you pay for the minutes the AI spends on calls, plus the phone line
- Custom build: a one-time fee to design and build it around your business, then a monthly fee to run and maintain it
What moves the price
Whichever model you choose, the same factors decide the total.
- Call volume and length: more minutes cost more under almost every model
- What it has to do: answering questions is simpler than booking, taking payments or routing by department
- Connections: linking to your calendar, CRM or industry software adds setup work
- Hours of cover: after-hours only is cheaper than every call
- Who maintains it: doing it yourself is cheaper in fees and more expensive in your time
Costs people forget
- Setup time, if you are configuring a product yourself
- Overage charges when you pass the plan's minute limit
- Phone numbers and call forwarding from your carrier
- Changes later: new services, new hours, new staff
What to compare it against
The useful comparison is not only the wage of a receptionist. It is the calls you currently miss. If unanswered calls are costing you jobs, the question is how many recovered customers it takes to cover the monthly cost.
Count your missed calls for two weeks before you ask for quotes. It is the number every honest provider will ask you for.
How DGP prices it
We build each receptionist around the business, so we quote after a discovery call: a fixed price for the build and a monthly figure to run it, both in writing before work starts.