What does a telephone answering service cost in the UK?
The short answer
A typical UK human answering service works out at £40–£100+ a month for a small business: usually a base fee plus roughly £1–£1.50 per call or a per-minute rate, with 24/7 cover sometimes priced higher. An AI receptionist like OnTheBlower is £5 a month plus 50p per answered minute, or £20 a month with an hour of calls included, with 24/7 cover in the price and no contract.
🔊 Hear it:A demo call with the assistant's actual voice,
the caller is played for the demo.
A worked example: 40 calls a month
Say you miss 40 calls a month, averaging 2 minutes each.
Typical agency: a plan covering ~40 calls generally lands somewhere around £50–£90/month once base fee and per-call rates are added up.
OnTheBlower Starter: £20 for the first 60 minutes + 20 extra minutes at 40p = £28/month, 24/7 included.
And the AI answers every question you've given it, instead of taking a message about it.
The costs worth checking before you sign
Setup fees, minimum terms, per-message relay charges, out-of-hours rates, holiday surcharges. Our pricing has one extra of any kind: optional texts at 5p each, off unless you turn them on. Everything else is the plan price.
What OnTheBlower costs
£5/moPay as you go, 50p per answered minute
£20/moStarter, 60 minutes included, then 40p
£45/moBusy, 150 minutes included, then 40p
Plus a £10 one-off admin fee when your number
goes live. Optional texts 5p each. No contract, full details on the
pricing page.
Quick questions
Are there any hidden costs?
A £10 one-off admin fee when your number goes live, and optional texts at 5p each. That's the entire list.
What if I go over my included minutes?
Extra minutes are 40p on bundles, 50p on pay-as-you-go, and a busy month means the assistant is winning you work.
Hear yours before you pay a penny.
Build your assistant and talk to it in your browser, free, no card, two minutes.