AI receptionist vs answering service: what's the difference?

The words in this market overlap, so it helps to pin down 3 of them.

• Answering service, call answering service or telephone answering service: a company whose staff answer your calls in your business name and pass on messages or inquiry details.
• Virtual receptionist: usually the same thing, a person answering remotely. Some phone systems also use "virtual receptionist" for an automated call menu, and some providers use it for AI. Check which one you're being offered.
• AI receptionist: software that answers your calls, talks with callers in natural conversation and captures what they need. We explain how it works in what is an AI receptionist?.

In this guide, "answering service" means people, and "AI receptionist" means software. Live services often call their people virtual receptionists. Our virtual receptionist guide compares both kinds on price.

An answering service does 3 things: a person picks up your calls when you can't, takes the caller's details and passes them to you. Many also follow a script to qualify callers, take simple bookings or put urgent calls through to you. An AI receptionist does the same job with software instead of a person.

Here are 8 differences side by side.

Both vary a lot between providers, so treat this as a starting point and check the details of any service you're considering.

Example call. This is an illustration, not a real conversation.

It's 6:30 p.m. and a homeowner calls a contractor about a kitchen remodel. The contractor is still on a job site.

With a live answering service, a receptionist answers in the contractor's name, follows the agreed script, takes the caller's name, number and a note of what they want, and sends the message on. How much detail is captured depends on the script and the person who answers.

With an AI receptionist, the call is answered in the contractor's name and the caller is told it's an automated receptionist. It asks the contractor's set questions, such as the address, the size of the job and when they'd like to start, and the contractor gets a summary of the inquiry. Depending on the service, the recording and transcript are there too.

Either way, the contractor can call back that evening with the details in hand. The difference is in how the conversation is handled, what the contractor receives and what each call costs.

A live service is often the better choice in 4 situations:

• Many of your calls are sensitive or emotional, and a caller needs a person to listen and reassure.
• Calls regularly need judgment that's hard to write down as rules.
• Your callers strongly expect to speak to a person, and that matters more to your business than anything else.
• You want someone who can deal with a situation you haven't planned for, rather than take a message about it.

If that describes most of your calls, a good live answering service is worth paying for.

An AI receptionist tends to suit you in 5 situations:

• Most of your calls follow a pattern: new inquiries, bookings, quotes, messages and routine questions.
• You want the same questions asked on every call, so the details arrive in a consistent format.
• You want a full record of each call, not just a message. Depending on the service, that means a recording, a transcript and a summary.
• You want it to act on the call as well as answer it, for example booking an appointment where the service connects to your calendar.
• You get enough calls that paying per call adds up, and you'd rather pay one predictable monthly price.

It still needs clear limits. It shouldn't give professional advice, pretend to be a person or guess an answer. If you need to rely on it, check how it handles calls it can't help with.

A live answering service usually costs several times more per call than an AI receptionist. Smith.ai sells both, so it makes a fair comparison: its live receptionists start at $300 a month for 30 calls, with extra calls at $11.50 each, while its AI Receptionist Pro plan is $150 a month for 75 calls. Ringzel is $99 a month with unlimited calls.

At 60 calls a month, that's $645 on Smith.ai's live service, $105 on its free AI plan with per-call charges, and $99 on Ringzel. Our AI receptionist cost guide works out nine AI providers at 60 and 200 calls.

Questions to ask any provider:

• What counts as a call, and are very short calls or spam calls charged?
• Is there a different rate for evenings, weekends or holidays?
• What happens in a busy month? Is there a limit, and what does going over it cost?
• Are transfers, bookings or messages charged separately?
• Is there a contract, a setup fee or a notice period?

Work out what a quiet month and a busy month would cost you under each option. The cheaper choice depends on how many calls you get and how long they last.

Yes, and 1 provider in our comparison sells both: Smith.ai's AI Receptionist can pass a complex call to its live receptionists. You can also split calls yourself: an AI receptionist for routine inquiries and after-hours calls, with sensitive calls transferred to a person on your team.

If your calls divide cleanly into routine and sensitive, a mix gives you the strengths of each. Just make sure it's clear which calls go where, so nothing falls between the two.

A demo shows a provider at its best. These 5 test calls show how a service copes with your real calls, whichever type you're considering:

1. 1A routine inquiry. Does it capture everything you'd need to call back?
2. 2An urgent call. Does it follow your instructions and alert you the way you've asked?
3. 3A question it can't answer. Does it say so honestly and take a message, or does it guess?
4. 4A caller who asks for a person. What happens next?
5. 5A caller with a strong accent, speaking fast. Are the details still right?

Then look at what you receive afterward for each call, and ask where call data is stored and for how long.

Ringzel is an AI receptionist, not a live answering service, and it costs $99, $179 or $299 a month with unlimited calls. You keep your existing number and forward the calls you can't take. Your receptionist answers in your business name, 24/7, tells callers it's automated and asks the questions you've set. If it can't help, it says so and takes a message, and urgent calls follow the escalation rules you set.

After every call, you get the recording, the transcript, a summary and a check report from a separate review of the call. On Professional and Premium, it can book appointments into your calendar and transfer callers to people on your team. There's no charge per call or per minute.

If you need a person to answer every call, a live answering service will suit you better. If an AI receptionist sounds right, you can hear Ringzel answer for your business before starting a 14-day free trial with no card.