What is the best AI receptionist for a UK small business?

Here's how the seven compare. Prices are the cheapest published plan. Bookings and call transfers show the cheapest plan that includes them. All seven say they answer calls 24/7.

Prices alone don't tell you which is best. The sections below cover what each one does well and what to watch out for.

We looked at AI receptionists that publish prices for UK businesses, and checked each one on:

1. 1Price, including VAT and any charge per call.
2. 2How calls are counted: per call, a set number of calls, or unlimited.
3. 3Whether it can book callers into your calendar, and on which plan.
4. 4Whether it can transfer urgent calls to you or your team.
5. 5What you get after each call, such as a summary, recording or transcript.
6. 6Whether you can try it free, and whether you need a card to start.

Everything comes from each provider's own pricing and product pages on 23 October 2026. We haven't ranked providers on call quality, because the only fair test of that is ringing it yourself during a free trial.

Ringzel answers every call you forward to it, 24/7, including evenings, weekends and bank holidays. It answers in your business name, asks the questions you've set and saves a summary of every call to your Ringzel account. Plans are £99, £179 or £299 a month, all with unlimited calls and no per-call charges. Ringzel does not currently charge VAT, and paying yearly gets you 12 months for the price of 10.

Why pick it: Every call comes with the recording, the transcript, a summary and a check report, so you can see exactly how each caller was handled. You can follow leads up on WhatsApp from your Ringzel account, where available. Professional adds website chat, bookings into your calendar, call transfers and team routing. Premium adds integrations and reputation management. You keep your own number and forward the calls you can't take, and the trial is 14 days with no card.

Watch out for: Ringzel isn't the cheapest. Bookings and call transfers start on the £179 Professional plan, so if you need those on a budget, Hey Jodie and IONOS include them for less. The Ringzel app is on Google Play for Android; the iPhone app is coming soon, so iPhone users manage everything from their Ringzel account online for now.

Hey Jodie's plans are £49, £99 and £199 a month, with Enterprise from £500. Prices exclude applicable taxes. Every plan includes unlimited minutes, call recordings and email notifications.

Why pick it: It's one of the cheapest ways to get unlimited minutes. There's an iPhone and Android app on every plan, and you keep your number by forwarding calls. The 7-day trial doesn't need a card.

Watch out for: Bookings, call transfers and team members start on the £99 Professional plan, and integrations, through Zapier, are only on the £199 Premium plan. The £49 Basic plan answers and takes messages.

Sayora's Pro plan is £49 a month for early-bird customers, then £79, with no VAT added. Early-bird customers get unlimited minutes. Enterprise is priced to suit.

Why pick it: Pro includes a lot for the price: bookings into Google Calendar or Cal.com, text and email alerts for each lead, recordings and transcripts, and your own local or 03 number. You can also keep your existing number and divert it. There's no contract.

Watch out for: The £49 price is an early-bird offer for a limited number of accounts, so check what you'd pay. Call audio is deleted 90 days after the call, though transcripts and summaries stay. Call transfers aren't listed on the pricing page. The trial is 7 days.

Trade Receptionist is built for UK tradespeople. Plans are £49 a month for 50 calls, £89 for 150, £159 for 350 and £249 for 600, with no VAT added and no setup fee.

Why pick it: Every plan includes text and email job summaries, call transcripts and a Google Calendar diary link, and calendar booking starts on the £89 Pro plan. You keep your existing number and divert the calls you can't answer, and a setup call is included.

Watch out for: Plans are priced by the number of calls, so a busy month can push you onto a bigger plan. The 14-day trial needs a card at checkout. Call transfers aren't listed on the pricing page.

IONOS, the web hosting company, sells three plans: Flex at £39 a month for 30 calls, then 49p a call; Flex Pro at £69 for 100 calls, then 39p a call; and Unlimited at £99. All prices exclude VAT.

Why pick it: The first month is free. Every plan includes a dedicated number, call forwarding and email summaries after each call. Flex Pro and Unlimited add bookings with Google Calendar, Outlook, Cal.com or Calendly. If your website is already with IONOS, it's simple to add.

Watch out for: Bookings aren't on the £39 Flex plan, and per-call charges add up once you go past your allowance. Add 20% VAT to compare it with prices that include VAT or don't charge it.

Answer.co.uk's Lite plan is £10 a month plus 85p a call, plus VAT, with a £25 deposit to start. Bigger plans include calls: £30 a month for 50, £120 for 200 and £300 for 500, with extra calls at 85p.

Why pick it: If you only get a handful of calls a month, it has the lowest monthly fee we found. Answer.co.uk also runs a human answering service, so you can have calls passed to a person, for an extra charge.

Watch out for: Bookings are on the Plus and Advanced plans, and transferring calls to a live agent costs extra. Per-call pricing gets expensive if your call volume grows. Monthly plans, with no long contract.

Moneypenny is one of the best-known UK answering services. Its AI Receptionist starts from £49 a month, priced by quote.

Why pick it: It can take bookings, transfer calls to you or your team and send call summaries by email, text or both. Moneypenny also has human receptionists, so you can mix AI and people as you grow, and it offers integrations with your CRM.

Watch out for: Prices aren't published beyond the starting price, so you'll need a quote to compare it properly, and no free trial is listed.

Whichever you pick, ring it yourself during the free trial. Ask it what your customers ask, then check what you get after the call.

Trades miss calls because they're on a job, up a ladder or driving. What matters most is that the receptionist gets the caller's name, number, address and what the job is, and gets it to you quickly so you can call back before they ring someone else.

Trade Receptionist is built only for trades, with plans priced by the number of calls. Ringzel works for trades and other small businesses, with unlimited calls, so a busy week doesn't cost more. Our guides for plumbers and on what a missed call costs a UK trade go into more detail.

An AI answering service and an AI receptionist are the same thing. A human answering service uses real receptionists and usually charges per call: Answer.co.uk's is £2.20 a call plus VAT, and ReceptionHQ is £60 a month plus VAT for 50 calls.

A person can handle calls that need judgement, and some callers prefer it. An AI receptionist costs less per call and answers every call at once, however many come in. Our guide to AI receptionists vs answering services covers when each one fits, and our AI receptionist cost guide compares prices in more detail.

1. 1How it sounds. Ring it yourself. If it sounds robotic or talks over you, your callers will notice.
2. 2What it asks. It should get the details you need, such as name, number, address and what they want, without you having to call back for them.
3. 3What you get after the call. A summary, recording and transcript let you check what was said.
4. 4Bookings and transfers. Check which plan includes them, not just whether the provider offers them.
5. 5How calls are counted. Unlimited, a set number of calls or minutes, or pay per call.
6. 6Keeping your number. You should be able to forward your existing number, so customers ring the number they know.
7. 7Contract and trial. Look for monthly plans and a free trial, ideally without a card.