UK pricing guide 2026
The cheapest call answering service in the UK isn’t always the cheapest.
An honest breakdown of UK call answering pricing in 2026, per-call, per-minute, monthly, and bespoke. Which model is actually cheapest depends on something you might not be tracking.
A warning before you price-shop.
Headline price ≠ actual monthly cost. A “£14.99 a month” plan can become £80 once you factor in calls over quota, wrong-number charges, or CRM integration as an add-on. Always model the cheapest plan against your actual call volume.
Pricing models
The 4 ways UK call answering is priced.
Per-call
Very low call volume, unpredictable months
Quickly outscales monthly pricing as call volume grows. A "wrong number" can still cost you in some plans.
Per-minute
Short, simple calls, message-taking only
Bills can balloon on complex calls. A 7-minute property enquiry at £2/min costs £14, for one call.
Monthly fixed tier
Predictable budget, mid-volume businesses
Locked in to call quotas. Going over usually triggers surcharges or forced upgrades.
Bespoke (HiyaCalls)
SMBs with variable volume who don’t fit a fixed tier
You can’t price-shop us in 30 seconds, you need a 15-minute demo for a quote.
UK provider pricing 2026
What the main UK call answering services charge.
Public, published or widely reported pricing as of 2026. Verify on each provider’s site before deciding.
| Provider | Pricing model | Entry price | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Connect Communications | Monthly | from £14.99/mo | Don’t pay for wrong numbers/sales calls. Human team. |
| Pocket Receptionist | Monthly | ~£24.99/mo | Human team, UK-based. |
| Face For Business | Monthly | ~£24.50/mo | 700+ Trustpilot reviews, human team. |
| AllDayPA | Monthly | ~£29.99/mo | Manchester human team, 24/7 included. |
| Orca | Per-call / per-min | from £1.60/call or £1/min | 7-day free trial, sector specialism. |
| JAM | Per-minute | £0.90–£2/min | UK’s longest-running, ISO 9001. |
| AnswerConnect UK | Monthly | from £45/mo | International group, Edinburgh UK office. |
| Moneypenny | Gated | Quote on application | UK premium named-PA service. |
| AVAI | Monthly (AI) | from £500/mo | Inbound + outbound AI. |
Prices are taken from publicly published rates or widely reported entry pricing as of 2026. Some are gated and shown as “quote on application”. Verify with each provider for your specific call volume.
The honest answer
The genuinely cheapest answer for your business.
We’d be lying if we said HiyaCalls is the cheapest UK call answering service on a headline price. Connect Communications’ £14.99/month is hard to beat if your call volume is under 20 a month.
But headline isn’t real. Once your business takes off and you’re fielding 100+ calls a month, the per-minute and per-call services start adding up unpredictably. The £14.99 entry plans bolt on surcharges. The £24.50 plans top out and force an upgrade. The cheapest-on-the-tin plan often becomes the most expensive in practice.
What we offer instead: bespoke pricing built around your actual call volume, plus the AI capability that means no human-cost ceiling. For most UK SMBs handling 50+ calls a month, the maths work out cheaper than the equivalent human plan, plus you get auto-summaries you’d be paying extra for elsewhere.
We’ll quote you specifically on a 15-minute demo. If we’re not the cheapest option for your specific volume, we’ll tell you and point you at the one that is.
Common questions
FAQ.
- What’s the cheapest call answering service in the UK?
- The cheapest pure-headline price in 2026 is around £14.99/month (Connect Communications, human team). But cheapest-on-paper isn’t always cheapest in practice, fixed tiers often add call surcharges and you might be paying for capacity you don’t use. Genuinely cheapest depends on your volume and what gets included.
- Is AI call answering cheaper than human?
- At scale, yes, usually. Pure AI has near-zero marginal cost per extra call, while a human service charges per call or per minute. For 50+ calls a month, AI typically wins. For 10 calls a month, the cheapest fixed-tier human plans can still be cheaper.
- What hidden costs should I watch for?
- Setup fees (one-off, sometimes hundreds of pounds). Call surcharges over your quota. Wrong-number charges (some plans charge, some don’t). Out-of-hours surcharges (most modern plans don’t, but verify). Minimum contract length and exit fees. CRM integration as a paid add-on.
- Why doesn’t HiyaCalls publish prices?
- Because the honest answer varies 5× between clients depending on call volume, hours of coverage, script complexity and integrations. A public price tag would either over-charge most of you or under-deliver. The bespoke quote takes 15 minutes on a demo.
- How much should I budget for a UK SMB receptionist service?
- Most UK SMBs end up paying £100–£500/month for a serious service that handles their full call volume well. Below £100/mo you’re usually getting message-taking only or a very low call quota; above £500/mo you’re into premium named-PA or enterprise territory.