Quick Answer
Hire a person if customers walk in all day and need greeting, paperwork or payment at a counter. Use AI if the job is mostly phones: it answers every call 24/7, books and texts for a fraction of a salary. Many businesses do both: a person for the counter, AI for overflow and after-hours calls.
A full-time receptionist in the US costs roughly $3,000–$4,000 a month once payroll taxes are added, and works about 40 of the 168 hours in a week. The question is which of those hours your customers actually call in.
Question 1: do people walk in?
If yes, and often, you need a person at the counter whatever you do about the phone. AI can still take the calls that ring while that person is helping someone in front of them.
Question 2: when do calls come in?
Look at your phone log. Service businesses often get a large share of new-customer calls before 8 a.m., after 5 p.m. and on weekends, the hours a hire doesn't cover.
Question 3: how many calls, and what kind?
Under about five calls a day, a person is underused and AI is cheaper. Above that, AI still costs less per call; a person earns their salary only when the calls need judgment AI can't give.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will AI replace my receptionist?
It replaces the phone part. Most owners keep their person and stop asking them to answer the phone while serving someone at the desk.
What does an AI receptionist cost?
Self-serve AI tools start under $100 a month; done-for-you services like Sockly are $997 a month for up to 500 calls with $0 setup.
Pull last month's call log before you decide. The hours your calls arrive in usually make the decision for you.
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Published: November 4, 2026
Last Updated: November 4, 2026