AI receptionist
The AI receptionist forUK small businesses
Maeby answers your phone in a natural British voice, books appointments into your calendar, takes messages you can act on, and logs every call to your CRM. 24 hours a day, from £39 a month.
What is an AI receptionist?
An AI receptionist is software that answers a business's phone calls with a natural synthetic voice. It holds a real conversation: answering questions from the business's own knowledge base, booking appointments into the calendar, taking messages, and transferring callers to a person when needed. Unlike a human answering service, it works 24/7, handles several calls at once, and costs a monthly subscription — Maeby starts at £39 a month — rather than a per-call fee.
In short
- Answers every call in seconds, day or night — no queue, no voicemail
- Books appointments, takes messages, and writes back to your CRM
- From £39/month with 400 minutes included, billed on connected call time only
- Set up in about 10 minutes; test it in your browser before it touches a real number
Everything a receptionist doeswithout the desk
Answers every enquiry
Opening hours, prices, availability — answered from the knowledge base you upload, in your wording, not a script.
Books appointments
Reads real availability from Google or Outlook Calendar, offers slots, and confirms before the caller hangs up.
Takes proper messages
Name, number, and reason for calling captured as a structured record — not a voicemail you have to decipher later.
Transfers when it matters
Warm transfer to a number you nominate, with the caller's details already gathered so nobody repeats themselves.
Recognises returning callers
Matches the caller's number against your CRM and logs every call summary and outcome against the right contact.
Covers nights and overflow
Answers at 2am, on bank holidays, and on the third ring when your team is already on the other line.
What answering the phone actually costs
Three ways to make sure a call gets picked up, and what each one costs a UK small business.
| Option | Typical cost | Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| Employed receptionist | Around £24,000 a year before overheads | Office hours, one call at a time, holidays and sick days uncovered |
| Human answering service | A monthly fee plus per-call or per-minute charges; out-of-hours usually costs extra | Shared operators reading from your script |
| Maeby AI receptionist | From £39/month with 400 minutes included, then £0.11/min | 24/7, several calls at once, answers from your own knowledge base |
See AI receptionist pricing for plan details, or compare UK telephone answering service costs across human and AI providers. Prices exclude VAT.
AI receptionist questions
Is an AI receptionist suitable for a small business?
An AI receptionist can help a small business handle routine enquiries, bookings and messages when the owner or team can't pick up. You can start by forwarding only missed or out-of-hours calls, keep your existing UK number, and test it with your own questions before going live. Calls that need your judgement can become a message or transfer to your team.
How much does an AI receptionist cost in the UK?
Maeby starts at £39 a month with 400 minutes of call time included, then £0.11 a minute beyond that. There are no per-call fees and no setup charge — you pay for connected call time only, not for the hours the agent spends waiting for the phone to ring.
What's the difference between an AI receptionist and a call answering service?
A traditional call answering service puts a human on your line and charges per call or per message taken. An AI receptionist answers with a natural synthetic voice, costs a fraction of the price, never queues callers behind other clients, and is available around the clock without out-of-hours surcharges.
Can an AI receptionist book appointments?
Yes. Maeby connects to Google Calendar and Outlook, reads your real availability, offers the caller a slot, and confirms the booking during the call.
Will callers know they're talking to an AI?
The voices are natural, with British accents, and callers can interrupt mid-sentence the way they would with a person. We recommend disclosing the AI in your greeting — it's your call, and you control the greeting word for word.
Can I keep my existing phone number?
Yes. Forward your existing number to your agent, or take a new UK number from the dashboard. Nothing about your number changes from your customers' point of view.
What happens when it can't answer a question?
It says so. A platform-level guardrail stops the agent inventing answers — anything outside its knowledge becomes a message with a callback number, or a warm transfer to your team.
Hear it answeryour phone.
Build your receptionist, talk to it in your browser for free, and put it on a real number when it sounds right.