If you’re a small business owner thinking about your phone coverage options, you’ve probably considered hiring a receptionist. It seems straightforward — hire someone, they answer the phone, problem solved.
But once you dig into the actual numbers, the picture gets more complicated. Here’s an honest breakdown.
The True Cost of a Human Receptionist
Let’s say you hire a part-time receptionist at $15/hour, 20 hours a week. That’s $1,200/month in wages before you account for:
– Payroll taxes (roughly 7.65% employer share): +$92/month
– Workers’ comp insurance: +$30–60/month
– Paid time off and sick days
– Training time (typically 2–4 weeks before they’re fully productive)
– Turnover costs — the average receptionist stays 1–2 years, and replacing them costs 50–100% of their annual salary
Realistic all-in cost for a part-time receptionist: **$1,400–$1,800/month**.
And that’s part-time. A full-time receptionist at $35,000–$45,000/year works out to $3,000–$4,000/month total cost.
What do you get for that? Coverage during business hours, Monday through Friday. Evenings, weekends, and holidays? You’re still on your own.
The Cost of an AI Receptionist
HelloBiz AI’s plans start at $196/month for the Basic plan. Even the Premium plan at $996/month costs less than one full-time minimum wage employee.
For that monthly fee, you get:
– 24/7 call coverage, 365 days a year
– Instant answer on every call (no hold times)
– Consistent, trained responses to your FAQs
– Lead capture and appointment booking
– No sick days, no turnover, no training time
Where AI Falls Short (Being Honest)
An AI receptionist isn’t perfect for every situation. Complex customer complaints that require judgment and empathy, in-person greeting of walk-in clients, and tasks that go beyond phone handling (filing, scheduling in complex systems, etc.) still benefit from a human touch.
For straightforward call answering, FAQ handling, lead capture, and appointment booking — which is the majority of what most small business receptionists do — AI performs as well or better than a human, at a fraction of the cost.
The Hybrid Approach Many Businesses Use
Many small businesses use Izzy from HelloBiz AI to handle all incoming calls and after-hours coverage, while a part-time human employee focuses on in-person customer service, admin tasks, and more complex interactions.
This gives you the best of both worlds: no missed calls, no missed leads, and a human presence when it matters — at a total cost far below a full-time receptionist.
The Hidden Cost Nobody Talks About: Missed Calls
The real financial comparison isn’t just AI cost vs. human cost. It’s AI cost vs. human cost vs. the cost of missed calls.
Studies show that 62% of calls to small businesses go unanswered. Each unanswered call is a potential customer who called your competitor instead. If your average customer is worth $500 over their lifetime and you’re missing 20 calls a month, that’s potentially $10,000 in lost revenue every month.
An AI receptionist at $196/month that eliminates missed calls is one of the highest-ROI investments a small business can make.
The Bottom Line
Human receptionists are valuable — but they’re expensive, limited to business hours, and come with HR overhead most small businesses don’t want to deal with.
AI receptionists like Izzy offer round-the-clock coverage at a predictable monthly cost, with no HR headaches.
For most small businesses, the math isn’t close.
See for yourself with a free 14-day trial at hellobizai.com/free-trial/.
