AI Receptionist UK: How They Work, What They Cost, and How to Choose One
By the Porter team · Updated 30 October 2026 · 9 min read
An AI receptionist answers your customers when nobody in the office can. It replies to the questions you hear every day, takes the details of anyone who wants a quote, a booking, or a call back, and passes them to you straight away.
UK businesses are searching for one because the enquiry nearly always turns up at the wrong moment. A buyer asks about a viewing at 9pm. A patient wants a price on a Sunday. By Monday morning they have already called someone else.
This guide covers the two main types of AI receptionist, what each one costs in the UK, which businesses get the most out of them, and the questions to ask before you sign anything.
What is an AI receptionist?
An AI receptionist is software that handles the first conversation with a customer for you. It uses a language model to understand what someone is asking, answers from information about your business, and collects contact details when a person needs to follow up.
There are two kinds, and the difference matters more than any feature list:
- Phone AI receptionists answer calls with a synthetic voice. They suit businesses where most enquiries arrive by phone, such as trades and busy surgeries.
- Website AI receptionists answer in a chat window on your website. They suit businesses where people research online first, such as estate agents, clinics, recruiters, solicitors, and accountants.
Many small businesses need the website version more than they realise. People now look up prices, opening hours, and areas covered before they ever pick up the phone. If the site cannot answer them at 10pm, they go back to Google and try the next result.
AI receptionist vs virtual receptionist vs call answering service
These terms get mixed up a lot. Here is how they compare for a typical UK small business.
| Website AI receptionist | Phone AI receptionist | Human call answering service | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where it works | Chat on your website | Your phone line | Your phone line |
| Hours | 24 hours, every day | 24 hours, every day | Depends on the plan |
| Answers real questions | Yes, from your own pages | Yes, from a script or knowledge base | Usually takes a message |
| How you are charged | Monthly fee, chat allowance | Usually per minute or per call | Usually per call or per minute |
| Best for | People who research online first | Phone-heavy trades | Businesses that want a human voice |
A human call answering service, sometimes called a virtual receptionist, is a team of real people who answer your line using your company name. They are friendly and reliable, but most take a message rather than answer detailed questions, and the cost goes up with every call.
A phone AI receptionist can answer questions as well as take messages, which is a big step up from voicemail. The voice quality has improved a lot, but some callers still hang up when they realise it is not a person.
A website AI receptionist has the least friction for the customer. Nobody has to make a call, and the answer arrives in seconds. The trade-off is that it only helps people who visit your site.
How much does an AI receptionist cost in the UK?
Prices vary more by pricing model than by provider, so it helps to know what you are comparing.
- Website AI receptionists are usually a flat monthly fee with a chat allowance. Porter, for example, is £99 a month for up to 500 chats, plus a one-off £650 setup that covers training the bot on your site and installing it. See our pricing.
- Phone AI receptionists usually charge per minute or per call on top of a base fee. A busy month can cost far more than a quiet one, so ask what happens when you go over the allowance.
- Human call answering services usually charge per call or per minute, often with a monthly minimum.
- A part-time or full-time receptionist is the most expensive option. A full-time role at the National Living Wage is roughly £25,000 a year in wages alone, before employer's National Insurance, pension, holiday cover, and sick days. And they still go home at 5.30pm.
A quick way to judge the cost: work out what one new customer is worth to you. If an AI receptionist catches one extra valuation, one new patient, or one new client a month, it has usually paid for itself.
Which businesses get the most from an AI receptionist?
The pattern is the same in every trade that does well with one: high-value enquiries, the same questions over and over, and a team that is often busy with customers.
Estate and letting agents
Viewing requests, valuation bookings, and questions about fees and areas covered come in all evening and all weekend. An AI receptionist answers the routine ones and sends you the valuation leads straight away, while they are still warm.
Dental and private clinics
Patients want to know prices, whether you offer finance, and when the next appointment is. Reception is often on the phone or with a patient. A website AI receptionist can answer from your price list and take a booking request when nobody is free.
Recruitment agencies
Candidates ask about roles and how to apply, and clients ask about terms. An AI receptionist can point candidates to the right page and flag hiring managers who want a call, so consultants spend their time on the conversations that make money.
Solicitors, accountants, and B2B teams
Most first enquiries are about what you do, what it costs, and whether you are the right fit. An AI receptionist can explain your services and fixed fees, then book a call back with the right person.
How to choose the best AI receptionist for a small business
Most providers will show you a slick demo. These are the things that decide whether it actually works for you:
- It answers only from your information. It should use your pages and your notes, not general knowledge from the internet. Ask what it does when it does not know an answer. The right reply is that it says so and takes the customer's details.
- It never makes up prices. This is the most common problem with cheap AI chatbots. Test it yourself by asking for a price that is not on your site.
- You hear about leads fast. You want an email or alert the moment someone leaves their details, with their question and the page they were on.
- You can read every conversation. You should be able to see what the bot said and fix anything it got wrong.
- You approve it before it goes live. A good provider lets you read sample answers first.
- It is clear about data. Ask where conversations are stored, who can see them, and how long they are kept. Under UK GDPR you need to be able to explain this to your customers.
- The cost is predictable. Check what happens when you go over the allowance and how long the contract runs.
Questions to ask before you sign
- Can I try it on my own website before I pay the monthly fee?
- What does it say when it does not know the answer?
- How quickly will I be told about a new lead, and how?
- Where is the conversation data stored, and when is it deleted?
- What does a busy month cost compared with a quiet one?
- Can I change what it says without paying for a new setup?
- What is the notice period if it does not work for us?
Where Porter fits
Porter is a website AI receptionist built for UK small businesses. We train it on your own pages, install it in about 48 hours, and you approve the answers before it goes live. When someone wants a quote, a booking, or a call back, you get an email with their name, contact details, question, and the page they were on.
It does not answer phone calls. If most of your enquiries come by phone, a phone AI receptionist or a call answering service may suit you better. Plenty of businesses use both: the phone service for callers, and Porter for the people who research online first and never ring.
You can try it the way a customer would on our homepage, or send us your website and we will reply with a short plan and a date for a draft.
Frequently asked questions
Is an AI receptionist worth it for a small business?
It usually is if you get enquiries outside office hours or your team is often too busy to reply quickly. Compare the monthly cost with the value of one new customer. If it catches one extra lead a month, it has normally paid for itself.
Can an AI receptionist answer phone calls?
Some can. Phone AI receptionists answer calls with a synthetic voice. Website AI receptionists, like Porter, answer in a chat window on your site and take call back requests instead.
Is an AI receptionist GDPR compliant?
That depends on the provider and how you set it up. Ask where conversations are stored, who can access them, and how long they are kept, and make sure your privacy notice covers the chat.
Will an AI receptionist replace my receptionist?
For most small businesses, no. It handles the repeat questions and the out-of-hours enquiries so your team can spend their time on the customers in front of them.
How long does it take to set up?
Porter takes about 48 hours once we have your website, the email address for alerts, and the pages the bot may use. Phone systems can take longer because they need call forwarding and voice testing.