AI receptionist vs answering service: what a virtual receptionist costs in Australia

What each option does on a call

A human answering service puts a trained receptionist on your line. OfficeHQ's receptionists take a message or put the caller through to you, and capture 3 details a call on Message Express and 5 on MyReceptionist.

An AI receptionist answers with a voice agent that reads from your own material. Ours books into a calendar, texts the caller, transfers the call to a person, and keeps a recording and transcript of every call.

Published prices for a human virtual receptionist

OfficeHQ and Virtual Headquarters publish full price lists, both before GST. Virtual Reception publishes the same list as Virtual Headquarters, line for line. Oracle CMS publishes no price on its virtual receptionist page.

Message Express plans take messages for one recipient. MyReceptionist and Virtual Receptionist plans take messages and transfer calls to your staff.

What 50 to 400 calls a month cost

The table adds 10 per cent GST to the human plans so every column compares the same way. Our column assumes a 3-minute average call. Your own call log gives the real figure.

A person who transfers calls costs less than our Starter plan up to 71 calls a month. A message-only plan costs less up to 114 calls. Our price holds at A$299 until 166 three-minute calls, while the human plans keep charging by the call.

Where a human answering service is the better choice

Choose a person if your line takes fewer than 72 calls a month and the receptionist has to transfer them. Virtual Headquarters' Virtual Receptionist 50 costs A$203.50 a month with GST, against our A$299.

Choose a person if the job is taking messages and your line takes fewer than 115 calls a month. Message Express 50 costs A$126.50 with GST for 50 calls.

Choose a person when your callers are distressed or confused, or the call needs judgement you cannot write down. Our agent follows the knowledge and call flow you give it, and passes anything outside them to your team. OfficeHQ and Virtual Headquarters both offer a 7-day free trial.

Where an AI receptionist is the better choice

Choose an AI receptionist from 72 calls a month. At 200 calls, OfficeHQ's MyReceptionist 200 costs A$715 with GST, and our Starter plan plus 100 extra minutes costs A$339.

Choose an AI receptionist when calls land at the same moment. Our Starter plan answers 2 calls at once and Growth answers 6. OfficeHQ says its Australian receptionists answer most calls, and that overflow teams in New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States take calls during an unexpected peak.

Choose an AI receptionist when the call has to change a record. Our agent books into a calendar during the call, texts the caller a confirmation, and keeps a recording and transcript you can search.

Where the call and the caller's details go

OfficeHQ says most calls are answered by its receptionists in Australia. For MyAssistant and MyDiary plans, its UK team covers overflow after hours.

Our agent runs on call servers in Sydney, and we store recordings and transcripts there. Speech recognition runs in the United States by default, the default voice runs in the United States, and Telnyx, the phone carrier, is a United States company. The full list is on /security.