AI vs a part-time receptionist: what should answering your phone cost?
What does it really cost to answer your phone — a receptionist, an answering service, or AI? The honest maths for Irish SMBs.
If you're weighing up the cost of getting your phone answered, it usually comes down to three options: hire someone, pay an answering service, or let an AI do it. Here's the honest maths on what each one actually costs — and what you get for the money.
What a part-time or full-time receptionist costs in Ireland
A receptionist is more than just an hourly rate. Once you add everything up, the real cost climbs quickly:
- Salary: a full-time receptionist in Ireland is typically €28,000–€34,000 a year. Even a part-timer at, say, 20 hours a week works out around €14,000–€17,000.
- Employer's PRSI: add roughly 11% on top of the wage.
- Holidays and bank holidays: paid leave you're covering whether the phone rings or not.
- Cover for the gaps: sick days, lunch breaks, the school run, the dentist — someone still has to answer the phone while they're away, or it goes unanswered.
Even doing it part-time, you're realistically looking at €1,200–€1,500+ a month all-in. And here's the catch nobody mentions: they go home at 5pm. Every call after hours, at the weekend, or on a bank holiday still goes to voicemail. For a lot of trades and service businesses, that's exactly when customers are ringing.
The cost of doing nothing
Plenty of owners decide the phone will just have to ring out when they're busy. It feels free. It isn't. A missed call is a customer who rings the next name on the list — and you never even know it happened.
Think about what one job is worth to you. A plumber's callout, a booked table for six, a new client on retainer — that's easily €100, €300, even €1,000+ in your pocket. Miss a couple of those a month and the "free" option is quietly the most expensive one you've got. Missed calls don't show up on any invoice, which is exactly why they're so easy to ignore.
Answering service vs AI: two very different bills
A traditional answering service uses real people in a call centre, and you pay for their time. That usually means a monthly retainer plus a per-minute or per-call charge on top. Your bill goes up exactly when you're busiest — a good month for calls is an expensive month. And because they don't know your business, they're often just taking a message.
AI answering flips that. There's no per-minute meter running. You pay a flat monthly fee, it answers every call the same way, and it doesn't cost more because you had a good week. It knows your services, your prices and your hours because you set it up that way.
PhoneBot's pricing, in plain terms
No retainers, no per-call surprises. Just two flat monthly plans:
- Starter — €99/month. Your AI receptionist answers calls you can't get to, captures the lead and sends it to you straight away.
- Professional — €199/month. More of everything for busier businesses.
- First 3 hours of calls free — and no per-call charges after that.
- Answers nights, weekends and bank holidays — the hours a receptionist isn't there.
You keep your own number and simply forward calls to PhoneBot when you can't pick up. Have a look at how it works or the full pricing.
The break-even maths
This is the part that makes the decision easy. At €99 a month, PhoneBot pays for itself the moment it catches one job or booking you'd otherwise have missed.
- One plumbing callout at €120? Covered, with change left over.
- One table of four that would've rung elsewhere? Covered.
- One new client off a Saturday-night enquiry? You're well ahead.
Set against a receptionist at €1,200+ a month — who still clocks off at 5pm — a flat €99 that answers around the clock isn't really a cost. It's the cheapest insurance you'll buy against lost work.
Who each option actually suits
To be fair, a human receptionist earns their keep in the right setting. If you've got high call volume all day that needs a personal touch — front-of-house at a clinic, a busy salon, a practice where every caller expects a familiar voice — a person on the desk is hard to beat.
But for most Irish small businesses — trades, service providers, single-owner outfits — the problem isn't a packed reception all day. It's the calls you miss because you're on a job, on the road, or it's gone 6pm. For that, AI does the one thing a part-timer can't: it never goes home.
So the real question isn't "AI or a receptionist?" — it's whether you want to keep paying for missed calls. If recovering one job a month sounds like a fair trade for €99, the maths has already answered it for you.