Updated 4 November 2026 · Prices in AUD, ex GST
The short answer
An AI receptionist in Australia costs between about $60 and $500 a month, depending on how it is billed. There are three billing models on the market, and the right one depends on how many minutes of calls you actually get:
- Per minute, no plan. Around 27.5¢ a minute. Cheapest at low volume, hard to budget at high volume.
- Monthly plan with minutes included. $149 to $299 a month for 200 to 600 minutes, then a per-minute rate. This is how BE Voice is priced.
- Add-on to a phone system you already pay for. From about $62 a month on top of a per-seat plan, with a small minute allowance.
Whichever model you pick, work out your minutes first. A business taking 15 calls a day at 2 minutes each uses about 650 minutes a month. A sole trader taking 4 calls a day uses about 170.
What BE Voice charges
| Plan | Per month | Included | After that | Suits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Receptionist Starter | $149 | 200 AI minutes | 45¢ a minute | Sole operators, after-hours cover |
| Receptionist Business | $299 | 600 AI minutes | 40¢ a minute | Clinics, trades, small offices |
Both plans are month to month, with no contract. The receptionist works on the number you already have: you forward calls to it, so there is no port and no new number to publish. You do not need our phone system to use it. Connectors to business systems such as SAP Business One are quoted separately. Full detail is on the BE Voice pricing page.
What a minute buys: the call answered in an Australian voice, the caller's reason worked out, a transfer to the right person or a message taken, and every call written up and sent to your team. The AI receptionist page walks through a call.
What other Australian providers charge
Checked on 4 November 2026 against each provider's own website. Where a provider does not publish a price, we say so rather than guess.
| Provider | Published price | Setup | Model |
|---|---|---|---|
| BE Voice | $149 or $299 a month, 200 or 600 minutes included | None listed; integrations quoted separately | Monthly plan |
| Siptalk | 27.5¢ a minute; their page gives about $400 a month as a typical spend | None, no contract | Per minute |
| RingCentral AI Receptionist | No Australian price on the product page; reported at launch as from AUD $62 a month with 100 minutes | Not stated | Add-on to a RingEX plan |
| Sophiie | Not published. Demo and quote | Not published | Quote |
Prices change. Confirm with each provider before you decide.
Cost per minute, by volume
The per-minute model wins at low volume and loses as calls grow. Here is the maths at three volumes, using BE Voice plans and a 27.5¢ per-minute rate:
| Minutes a month | Per minute at 27.5¢ | BE Voice Starter | BE Voice Business |
|---|---|---|---|
| 150 | $41 | $149 | $299 |
| 400 | $110 | $239 | $299 |
| 800 | $220 | $419 | $379 |
| 1,500 | $413 | $734 | $659 |
On minutes alone, pay-as-you-go is cheaper at every volume in this table. The difference is what sits behind the minute: whether the receptionist can put a caller through to a ring group or a queue, screen a transfer to a mobile, take the call when your office doesn't answer in 20 seconds, and write the call up. If you only need a message taken after hours, buy minutes. If the receptionist is the front door of the business during the day, buy the plan and the phone system under it.
Against a person on the desk
A full-time receptionist in Australia costs roughly $60,000 to $75,000 a year once superannuation (12% from July 2025), leave and on-costs are added to a $50,000 to $60,000 salary. A part-timer on 20 hours is about half that. An AI receptionist on the Business plan is $3,588 a year at 600 minutes a month.
That is not a like-for-like swap. A person on the desk does more than answer the phone. The honest comparison is the calls that currently go to voicemail: after hours, lunch, when everyone is on another call, when the one person who answers is away. Those are the calls an AI receptionist is paid to catch, and they are the ones that turn into jobs you would otherwise not have.
Costs people forget
- Overage. A plan with 200 minutes at 45¢ after is $194 at 300 minutes, not $149. Check your call history before choosing a tier.
- A phone system under it. Transfers to extensions, ring groups and queues need a phone system. Ours starts at $79 a month; you can also keep the one you have and forward to the receptionist.
- Integrations. Booking, CRM and ERP connections are usually quoted separately, by everyone.
- Setup fees elsewhere. Some providers charge several hundred dollars to configure the receptionist. Ask before you sign.
- GST. Most Australian providers quote ex GST. Add 10%.
How to choose
- Count your inbound calls for a fortnight and multiply by the average length. That is your monthly minutes.
- Decide whether the receptionist answers everything, or only what your team misses. Overflow call handling explains the second option.
- List what it must be able to do on a call: transfer, book, take a message, answer from your own records.
- Run a pilot on your own number before paying. We offer one free, and we'd expect any provider to.
Questions people ask
How much does an AI receptionist cost per month in Australia?
Between about $60 and $500 a month. Per-minute services cost around 27.5¢ a minute with no monthly fee. Plans with minutes included run $149 to $299 a month. Add-ons to an existing phone system start around $62 a month with a small allowance.
Is there a setup fee?
It varies. BE Voice lists no setup fee for the receptionist itself; integrations are quoted separately. Some providers charge several hundred dollars; some publish no price at all. Ask.
Do I need to change my phone number?
No. You forward your existing number to the receptionist. Keep your number, your phones and your provider if you want to.
Is an AI receptionist cheaper than hiring one?
On the phone-answering part of the job, yes, by a wide margin: a few hundred dollars a month against $60,000 or more a year. It does not replace the rest of what a person on the desk does.
What happens when I use all my minutes?
On BE Voice you pay the per-minute rate shown on the plan, 45¢ on Starter and 40¢ on Business, and the receptionist keeps answering. Nothing stops.