AI voice agent pricing: plans from $49/month, $0.15–$0.20 per minute

For front-desk buyers

AI receptionist pricing

AI receptionist pricing on Centricall is the same three plans; what changes is how to size them. A reception line is measured in answered calls, and a typical front-desk call runs two to four minutes, so the included minutes translate roughly as follows.

Starter, $49 a month

50 minutes, roughly 12 to 25 answered calls. A single-location practice, salon or trade testing after-hours cover.

Growth, $149 a month

120 minutes, roughly 30 to 60 calls, with advanced analytics. The usual fit for a clinic, firm or studio replacing voicemail during the day.

Professional, $299 a month

300 minutes, roughly 75 to 150 calls, unlimited agents and CRM sync. Multi-location or full front-desk coverage.

A human receptionist

$37,230 median US salary (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2024), about $3,100 a month before employment costs, for one shift and one call at a time.

A live answering service

$3.45 to $5.00 per included minute on published plans, and the call usually ends in a message rather than a booking.

Pricing questions

How do AI voice agent per minute rates work here?

Each plan includes a minute allowance, and anything beyond it bills at the plan's overage rate, between $0.20 and $0.15 a minute. That is the whole of our AI voice platform pricing: no separate speech recognition, language model, or text-to-speech line items, which is where a lot of voice AI automation pricing gets confusing. Phone numbers are billed separately at $5 to $7 a month because they are a genuine pass-through cost.

What makes this scalable voice AI pricing rather than a fixed plan?

The cost per minute falls as the allowance rises, and nothing about the agent changes when your volume does. Concurrency is not metered, so a Monday morning spike costs the same per minute as a quiet Wednesday. For larger deployments the voice AI agent cost is quoted against your peak concurrency and integration scope instead of being pushed into a plan tier that does not fit.

Is this the same as voice API pricing or an AI voice generator price?

No, and the difference is worth being clear about. Voice API pricing bills you for synthesis or transcription by the character or the second, and an AI voice generator price covers producing audio from a script you supply. Neither includes telephony, conversation handling, integrations, or anyone building and maintaining the agent. Our plans cover the whole running system, which is why the number looks different from a raw API rate card.

How much does an AI voice agent cost?

Centricall plans start at $49 a month for 50 included minutes, $149 for 120 minutes, and $299 for 300 minutes, with overage between $0.20 and $0.15 a minute and phone numbers from $5 to $7 a month. Larger deployments, on-premise installs and white-label licenses are quoted against scope rather than sold from a plan tier.

How much does an AI receptionist cost per month?

On Centricall, $49 a month for 50 included minutes, $149 for 120 minutes or $299 for 300 minutes, with overage at $0.20, $0.18 and $0.15 a minute respectively and a phone number at $5 to $7 a month. At two to four minutes per front-desk call, that is roughly 12 to 150 answered calls a month depending on the plan. For comparison, the US median receptionist wage of $37,230 a year works out to about $3,100 a month before employment costs, and published live answering service plans run $3.45 to $5.00 per included minute.

What is the AI voice agent pricing per minute on each plan?

Every included minute on Starter costs $0.98 ($49 for 50 minutes), on Growth $1.24 ($149 for 120 minutes) and on Professional $1.00 ($299 for 300 minutes). Beyond the allowance the per-minute rate is $0.20, $0.18 and $0.15. Those figures already include telephony handling, speech recognition, the language model, the voice and the integrations, which is why they are not comparable with a raw platform fee such as Vapi's $0.05 a minute, where the model and speech costs are billed on top.

How should I compare AI receptionist pricing plans?

Divide the plan price by the included minutes and compare cost per minute, because allowances differ enormously between providers and headline monthly prices are not comparable. Then check the overage rate, since that is what you actually pay once the agent is working.

How does this compare to a live answering service?

Published answering service plans commonly work out between roughly $3.45 and $5.00 per included minute. On the same basis our plans work out around $1.00 to $1.24. The larger difference is what happens on the call: a message service leaves the work still to do, while the agent completes it.

Is an AI receptionist cheaper than hiring someone?

On direct cost, yes. United States Bureau of Labor Statistics data puts median receptionist pay at $37,230 a year as of May 2024, before employment costs. But they are different purchases: a receptionist covers one shift with human judgment, while an agent covers every hour and every simultaneous call within a defined scope. Most businesses end up running both.

What is the ROI of an AI receptionist?

Work it out from your own call logs rather than a calculator. Count unanswered and after-hours calls in a typical month, multiply by your average customer value and your conversion rate on answered calls, and compare that against the plan cost. If the recoverable figure is small, your phones are not the constraint and we will say so.

Are there setup fees or contracts?

The published plans are monthly. Where a deployment needs integration work, custom call flows or migration from an existing system, that is scoped and quoted separately rather than hidden in the plan price.

What happens if I go over my included minutes?

Overage is billed per minute at the rate on your plan, between $0.20 and $0.15 depending on tier. If you are consistently over, moving up a tier is cheaper than paying overage, and we will tell you when that point arrives.

Do you charge per minute or per connected minute?

Included minutes and overage are billed on call time. If you are comparing against a platform that bills per connected minute, model both against your own answer rate, because for outbound campaigns with low pickup the two produce very different bills.

Is there pricing for large or enterprise call volumes?

Yes, quoted against your peak concurrency, integrations and compliance requirements. High-volume operations often find a one-time on-premise or white-label license works out better than any per-minute arrangement, because it removes the meter entirely.

Can I use my existing phone number?

Yes. Your existing number can be routed to the agent, so customers keep dialling the number they already know.

Which AI voice agent solution offers the best value for a startup with a limited budget?

For a startup, value comes from a low included-minute cost and no assembly work, not just a low headline price. Centricall's Starter plan is $49 a month for 50 included minutes, roughly $0.98 a minute all-in with telephony, integrations and the agent build already included, and no separate charge for speech recognition or the language model. Compare any option on that same all-in basis rather than a bare platform fee, since a cheaper-looking per-minute rate that excludes the model and telephony can cost more once those are added back.