Receptionist Salary vs. AI Receptionist Cost: Build Your Own Model

It's tempting to look up an average receptionist salary and compare it straight to a software price. That comparison is misleading in both directions. The honest way to decide is to build a cost model using your own numbers, because wages, benefits and coverage gaps vary enormously by region and business.

What a wage figure doesn't include

A posted hourly or salary figure is the starting point, not the total. On top of it, a fully loaded employee typically costs you employer payroll taxes, workers' compensation insurance, any health or retirement benefits you offer, equipment, and the time spent recruiting and training. None of these show up in a job posting, but all of them show up on your books.

Build your own number, step by step

1. Pull the actual or target hourly wage for your area from your own postings or payroll — don't rely on a national average.
2. Add your employer share of payroll taxes and any state-specific charges.
3. Add workers' comp and any benefits you'd offer, converted to an hourly or monthly rate.
4. Multiply by the hours you actually need covered, not a standard 40-hour week, if your call volume is uneven.
5. Add the cost of coverage during PTO, sick days and lunch breaks — hours when a single employee can't answer the phone at all.
6. Add one-time costs like recruiting, onboarding and a phone or desk setup, amortized over the time you expect the hire to stay.

What an AI receptionist subscription actually costs

Get Assistant is priced as a flat monthly plan with included minutes: Starter at $49/mo (75 minutes), Professional at $109/mo (200), Business at $249/mo (450), and Scale at $499/mo (1,000), with overage at $0.40 per minute if you go over. Annual billing gives two months free. There's no payroll tax, no benefits, and it covers nights, weekends and lunch breaks by default, all under a 7-day free trial that requires a card up front.

Where the comparison isn't apples to apples

A human receptionist can do things an AI receptionist can't: greet walk-ins, handle in-person tasks, manage physical mail, and take on other office work between calls. An AI receptionist answers calls, captures details, and creates a written record, but it doesn't replace every front-desk task. If you need both phone coverage and in-person duties, the honest comparison may be one role covering both versus phone coverage handled separately.

• Use your own wage, tax and benefit numbers — not an average.
• Count the hours nobody is covering the phone today: nights, lunch, PTO.
• Compare total loaded cost to a flat monthly plan, not wage-to-wage.
• Decide separately whether you need in-person office coverage too.

See virtual receptionist cost for a breakdown of plan pricing, or do you need a full-time receptionist to think through the staffing question first.