A receptionist in the US earns a median of $18.27 an hour according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (May 2025 data), which works out to roughly $54,000 a year once you add the benefits and payroll costs employers typically pay. An AI receptionist costs about $29 to $500 a month on self-serve plans as of November 2026, and it answers at night and on weekends too.
That doesn’t make the AI the obvious winner. A good front-desk person greets customers, handles the awkward calls, notices problems and does a dozen jobs no software does. The useful question for most service businesses isn’t "AI or a person". It is which calls each one should be handling.
How much does a receptionist cost in 2026?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median hourly wage for receptionists at $18.27, from its May 2025 wage survey (the latest in its Occupational Outlook Handbook as of November 2026). At 2,080 paid hours a year, that is about $38,000 in wages. Pay varies a lot by city and industry, so check your local rate.
Wages are not the whole cost. In private industry, wages and salaries made up 70.0% of what employers spent on compensation in June 2026, and benefits (paid leave, insurance, retirement, legally required payroll taxes) made up the other 30.0%, per the BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation release.
The $54,000 figure is our estimate: $18.27 divided by 0.70 is about $26.10 an hour of total cost, times 2,080 hours. Your real number depends on your benefits, overtime and turnover. Hiring and training a replacement when someone leaves costs extra on top.
What does an AI receptionist cost instead?
Self-serve AI receptionist plans run about $29 to $500 a month as of November 2026. Dialzara starts at $29 for 60 minutes, Goodcall at $79 for 100 unique callers, and Smith.ai has paid plans from $150 a month. Usage platforms charge about $0.10 to $0.20 a minute for voice AI plus phone charges. The full breakdown, including the costs that don’t show on pricing pages, is in How much does an AI receptionist cost in 2026?.
Done-for-you setups cost more because someone builds the scripts, connects your calendar and CRM and reviews the calls every week. Even then, the yearly cost is usually a fraction of a full-time salary.
How many hours does each one actually cover?
A week has 168 hours. A full-time receptionist covers about 40 of them, minus lunch, breaks, sick days and vacation. The calls that come in at 7 p.m. on a Tuesday or Saturday morning go to voicemail, and for a lot of service businesses those are the urgent ones: the furnace that quit, the leak under the sink, the tenant locked out.
Even during the day, one person can only take one call at a time. When three people call in the same minute, two of them hear ringing or hold music.
- One full-time receptionistabout 40 hours
- AI receptionist168 hours
What does a human receptionist do that AI can’t?
Quite a lot, and it is worth being clear about it before you cut anyone:
- Walk-ins. Greeting customers, taking payments at the counter, handing over keys.
- Upset and emotional callers. A person can calm someone down. AI should hand these off.
- Judgement. Fitting in a regular customer, spotting that a "small" job is actually urgent, knowing when to get the owner.
- Everything else on the desk. Filing, ordering supplies, chasing a vendor, fixing the printer.
What does an AI receptionist do better than a person?
That last point matters more than it sounds. When we built for a roofing and remodelling company, the sales team was spending 18 hours a week on admin. After automating the paperwork and follow-up it was 3.5 hours (the roofing, kitchen and bath remodelling, exterior renovation case study). Taking the repetitive work off people is usually worth more than replacing them.
- It answers every call, at any hour, including the fifth caller in a busy minute.
- It says the same thing every time: the right prices, the right questions, the right booking rules.
- It doesn’t forget the follow-up. Confirmation texts, reminders and missed-call text backs go out every time.
- It logs everything in your CRM, so nothing lives in someone’s head.
Should you hire a receptionist, use AI, or both?
For most service businesses with steady call volume, both. Keep a person for the counter, the hard calls and the judgement, and let AI answer after hours, on weekends and whenever the line is busy. If you are a small team where nobody can be at the phone, start with AI and add a person when walk-ins or complex calls justify it.
If you are deciding whether to hire, look at your missed calls first. If most of them are after hours, a second person won’t fix that and AI will. How the AI side compares with a live answering service is in AI receptionist vs answering service: which one should you use?, and what we build is on our AI Receptionist page.
Questions people ask
How much does a receptionist make an hour in 2026?
The median wage for receptionists in the US is $18.27 an hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2025 data published in its Occupational Outlook Handbook. Pay varies by location and industry.
How much does it cost to employ a full-time receptionist?
At the US median of $18.27 an hour, wages are about $38,000 a year for 2,080 hours. If benefits make up about 30% of total compensation, as BLS reported for private industry in June 2026, the total is roughly $54,000 a year, before hiring and training costs.
Is an AI receptionist cheaper than hiring a receptionist?
Yes, for answering calls. Self-serve AI receptionist plans cost about $29 to $500 a month as of November 2026, compared with roughly $54,000 a year for a full-time employee at the median wage with benefits. But a person also handles walk-ins, payments and judgement calls that AI can’t.
Can an AI receptionist replace my front desk?
It can replace the phone part for routine calls, especially after hours and on overflow. It can’t greet walk-ins, take payments at the counter or handle emotional calls well. Most businesses keep a person and use AI to cover the hours and calls the person can’t.
What hours does an AI receptionist work?
All of them. An AI receptionist answers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including holidays, and can take several calls at the same time. A full-time person covers about 40 of the 168 hours in a week.
Sources
Facts and prices checked on Nov 6, 2026. Prices change, so confirm on the source before you buy.
- BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Receptionists. Median hourly wage of $18.27 ($38,010 a year) for receptionists, May 2025 data, page last modified Oct 29, 2026. Read Nov 6, 2026.
- BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation. Private industry, June 2026 (released Sep 9, 2026): wages and salaries 70.0% and benefits 30.0% of employer compensation costs. Read Nov 6, 2026.
- Dialzara pricing. AI receptionist plans from $29 a month. Read Nov 6, 2026.
- Goodcall FAQ. AI plans from $79 a month for 100 unique callers. Read Nov 6, 2026.
- Smith.ai AI Receptionist. Paid AI plans from $150 a month (Pro) to $500 (Enterprise). Read Nov 6, 2026.