2026 Price Comparison: What It Costs to Answer Your Business Phone

Answering a business phone can cost €40 a month or €5,000. But price is only part of it: what changes most is who answers, at what hours, whether they also handle WhatsApp and whether they connect to the systems you already use. We've gathered the options available in Spain, plus one Latin American provider, so you can compare them at a glance.

The comparison in one table

In-house receptionist: around €1,950 a month

With a collective-agreement salary of around €18,000 gross a year and the employer's social security contributions, roughly 30% on top, the real cost is about €23,500 a year: around €1,950 a month, before holidays or sick leave.

But that person doesn't just answer the phone: they also serve at the counter, advise and sell. The fair comparison is the part of their day spent on calls. If it's a couple of hours a day, that share of their salary is already around €500 a month, and it still doesn't cover the calls that come in while they're with someone or when the business is closed.

Outsourced call centre: €4,000 to €5,000 per agent

In Spain, an agent hour costs around €25–30 for standard services. Eight-hour weekday cover comes to €4,000–5,000 a month, and extending it to weekends or 24/7 can double the price.

It makes sense with high volume and well-defined processes. For a business that gets a few dozen calls a day, it's too big a tool.

Virtual secretary with operators: from around €50 a month

Virtual secretary services charge by the number of calls, so the bill grows with volume, and 24/7 cover usually comes with the more expensive plans. Typically the operator takes a message and passes it on, without resolving the query or booking the appointment.

AI receptionists: from around €40 to over €500 a month

An AI assistant answers at any hour for a fixed fee. Between providers, the difference isn't just price but what they do: whether they also handle WhatsApp, how many calls they take at once and whether they connect to your systems or only to a calendar.

• Secretaría IA: one of the cheapest options, from €39.90 a month with 24/7 cover. It books appointments in Google Calendar and sends you a summary of each call on WhatsApp, but it doesn't answer your customers on that channel and only mentions a Google Calendar integration.
• Arsys (IONOS group): from €45 a month with 30 calls included; after that you pay per call. Calendar connections come with the higher plans, you set it up yourself and it doesn't handle WhatsApp.
• fonio: from €119 a month. The basic plan handles one call at a time, and WhatsApp is a separate product paid for separately.
• Vukia: voice agent from €297 a month, plus a setup fee. WhatsApp only comes with its top plan.
• Kosmo (Mexico): WhatsApp agent with CRM for over €550 a month; voice is contracted separately.
• Repplia: answers calls and WhatsApp with the same assistant, books appointments, sends reminders and handles several calls at once. We set it up with you and it integrates with what your business already uses: calendar, CRM or management software, with custom integrations and automations if you need them. It costs €59 a month after hours and €159 a month 24/7, and both plans include call transfer to your team.

How to choose

• Count your calls. Your phone provider can give you the log: how many come in each month and at what times. With that number, per-call or per-minute prices stop being abstract.
• Look at when people call. If most missed calls come in when you're closed, an office-hours service won't help.
• Ask what gets resolved on the call. Taking a message isn't the same as booking an appointment. Whatever isn't resolved on the call lands back on you the next day.
• Ask what it connects to. If your calendar or CRM isn't one the provider supports, you'll end up copying data by hand.
• Read the small print. Setup fees, products charged separately and minimum terms change the final price a lot.

Conclusion

A person brings judgement and a personal touch, but only covers their own hours and one call at a time. Operator services take messages and charge more the more people call. Among AI assistants, what makes the difference is what they do: whether they also handle WhatsApp, whether they connect to your systems and whether someone sets them up with you.

With Repplia you can try it free for 15 days, no card and no commitment. By the end of the trial you'll know how many calls you get, at what times and how many are resolved on their own, which is what you need to decide. See what each plan includes on our pricing page.

* Approximate prices, taken from each provider's website in October 2026. They may change: check them before signing up.