An answering service takes a message, so you still ring back to book the job. It suits lower call volumes, at about A$2.45 to A$3.99 a call. LeadGenie’s AI receptionist answers and books the job on the call, for bookable work. Growth is A$499 a month plus A$1,999 set-up and calls at A$0.03 a minute, ex GST.
Say the phone rang out three times in a week, so you signed up for an answering service. Now the line is covered and nobody hears a voicemail beep. But you collect messages instead: eleven last week. You rang three back the same day, four the next morning and two on Friday. Two you never got to.
The operators aren’t the problem. They’re trained, polite at ten at night, and they take an accurate message. The trouble is that a message is a second phone call that hasn’t happened yet, and it lands on you.
Example business: Glenwood Air. This is the hour an answering service is paid to cover, so the comparison is fair. The right column says what a service would do.
Example call for an example business, not a recording. The A$120 is the kind of rate a business gives us at set-up, not a LeadGenie price. How the AI receptionist handles a call → · How it tells callers it’s AI →
You don’t have to cancel anything to start. Point your after-hours divert here and leave the daytime with your service, or the other way round. Then count two things: calls that ended in a booking, and messages you were still returning at six o’clock.
An answering service or virtual receptionist does eight jobs. The highlighted side does each one better, and each row says who should choose it.
Some customers will always prefer a person, and an operator slows down for an elderly or upset caller. If most of your callers want a human, keep the service.
A service ends with a message, and you book the job later. Diary access is usually an add-on, from about A$49 a month. Choose the AI if your work is bookable and you’re ringing back at six o’clock. Count last week’s messages.
The lost driver, the solicitor, someone ringing for their father. A person improvises. The AI takes a message and requests a call-back from you.
An operator works from a short script for dozens of businesses. The AI is set up on your rates, area and exclusions. Choose it if your prices are settled enough to say out loud.
A good operator hears the change in a caller’s voice and marks it urgent. The AI flags it and requests an urgent call-back. Not the same job.
A message ends at the message. On Growth, the booking, the confirmation text and the customer record happen on the call. Choose the AI if your follow-ups never happen: quotes go quiet and confirmations don’t get sent. Custom workflows are on Pro.
A service can be live in a day. We take 10 to 14 business days to set up your rates, calendar and questions. If you need cover this week, choose the service.
Web forms, Facebook messages and emails never reach a phone service. Growth answers those in seconds too. Choose it if half your enquiries arrive typed.
The four on the left are real: a human voice, the unscripted call, hearing real anger, and being live tomorrow. If that’s your shortage, keep a service. The four on the right sit outside what a message service sells. A per-call bill also grows with every busy month, while ours moves by a few cents a call; past about 130 calls a month, the service costs more than Growth. What the AI receptionist does → · How it compares with hiring someone →
Australian answering services publish their rate cards, so this is easy to check. Here’s an ordinary month for a trades business with two vans: 120 calls, priced from their cards and ours. A per-call bill counts every call, including wrong numbers and hang-ups, and it rises in a good month, which is why some owners cap it and let calls roll to voicemail. None of this says the operators are bad at their job.
Read that as a worked example, not a claim. At 120 calls a month the service is cheaper, by about A$1,400 in year one. The crossover is roughly 150 calls a month in year one, with the set-up fee counted. Below that, and at every volume on a message-taking plan, they win on price. The table puts no dollar value on the four jobs the service wins, or on your own time returning 1,440 messages: at three or four minutes each, that’s six or seven hours a month.
Where these come from, so you can check them rather than trust us. Every figure above is taken from the published pricing pages of established Australian answering services as at September 2026: message-taking from A$25 a month with per-call rates of A$2.45 to A$2.50; live virtual reception from A$33 a month at A$3.89 to A$3.99 a call, or A$185 for a fifty-call bundle; appointment and diary products from A$49 a month with per-minute charging around A$2.99; complex scripting from A$49; diversion from A$20; numbers from A$5. We have deliberately not named the services, because the point is the model rather than any one company, and because their prices change. Get a written quote at your own call volume before you decide anything. Two things are deliberately excluded and both understate their column: the per-minute charge on diary time, which we have left out entirely and carried the diary at its base rate, and any set-up fee.
Work out what missed calls cost you → · Check your reply speed free → · What our side costs, in full →
An answering service answers a ringing phone, so the fair comparison is a plan that answers one. That’s Growth, at A$499 a month plus A$1,999 set-up, ex GST.
Divert your number to it, the same way you divert to a service now, or use the Australian mobile number we include. It answers on the first ring, asks your questions, quotes your rates, books the job and texts the customer. If a caller wants you, it takes a message and requests a call-back. Unlimited calls and messages, fair use applies. Calls A$0.03 a minute and texts billed by use; most businesses spend about A$30 to A$70 a month on those (an estimate).
Some businesses paying for an answering service really have an inbox problem: the work arrives typed. Starter, at A$199 a month plus A$999 set-up, answers web chat, Facebook, Instagram and email with AI. Get Connected, at A$89, puts them in one inbox for you to answer. Neither has a phone line, and alerts on both reach you by email. AI chat assistant →
See how fast your business replies to a new enquiry today, before you change anything. Run the free speed test →
Prices in AUD, ex GST. Plans below Growth have no phone line, so no calls, no texts and no call charges: Get Found A$29, Get Organised A$59 and Get Connected A$89 a month, and Starter A$199. Their alerts and follow-ups go by email. Growth at A$499 includes an Australian mobile number, with calls at A$0.03 a minute and texts at A$0.11 sent and A$0.02 received, billed by use: a few cents a call rather than A$3.99. Most businesses spend about A$30 to A$70 a month on those (an estimate). Pro is from A$799 a month. Set-up fees: Starter A$999, Growth A$1,999, Pro from A$2,499, charged on signing; the monthly plan starts the day the AI goes live. Growth takes 10 to 14 business days from the onboarding call; Starter 7 to 10 and Smart Tools 3 to 8. Prices locked in for your first 12 months. Month to month, no lock-in, 30 days’ notice to cancel. Do you need a phone number? → · Full pricing →
If most of this list sounds like your business, an answering service is the right product. Get a quote at your call volume. We’ll say the same on a demo.
Under about 130 calls a month. At 120 calls, a live service with a diary is around A$580 a month all in, and message-taking is under A$350, or around A$90 at twenty calls.
Your callers would rather have a person, and you know it: older customers, distressed customers, anything delicate.
These aren’t either-or. Plenty of businesses run Growth on the phone all day and send call-back requests to a service or a person. Not sure which suits you? Book a free demo and tell us how many calls you got last month. We’ll tell you honestly. Book a free demo → · How we set it up for you →
Published prices as at September 2026: message-taking from around A$25 a month plus A$2.45 to A$2.50 a call. Live virtual reception from around A$33 a month plus A$3.89 to A$3.99 a call, or bundles such as A$185 for fifty calls. Diary access to book appointments is a separate product from about A$49 a month, at around A$2.99 a minute. Extra scripting is commonly another A$49, and call diversion about A$20. At 120 calls a month that’s near A$580 a month, or about A$4.85 for every call answered. Work out your own numbers →
Not at 120 calls a month: the service is about A$1,400 cheaper in year one. The crossover is roughly 150 calls a month in year one, with the set-up fee counted. The difference buys the booked job, your rates, the work after the call and the typed enquiries. Growth is A$499 a month plus A$1,999 set-up, and call costs are usually A$30 to A$70 a month.
Not the way a trained operator can. Ours takes a message and requests a call-back for anyone who asks for you, anyone upset, and anything it hasn’t been set up to answer. It doesn’t guess. You decide where that line sits, and changes are included. What it handles →
Some will, and the service wins that job. Ours says it’s an AI assistant in its first sentence, so nobody is tricked. A caller who gets a price and a booked time at half past seven may prefer that to “someone will get back to you”. How we use AI →
Not on day one. Run both for a fortnight: after hours here and daytime with them, or the other way round. Then count the bookings, and the messages you still returned at six o’clock. Plenty of businesses keep both, with call-back requests going to the service. Check your service’s notice period first.
10 to 14 business days from the onboarding call, tested with you before it takes a real call. A service can cover you this afternoon, so keep it running while we build. The divert moves in a minute when you’re ready. Our plans are month to month, with 30 days’ notice to cancel. How we set it up for you →
A thirty-minute video call, no obligation. Nothing is built until you say go. Tell us how many calls your service took last month and how many could have been a booking, and we’ll tell you honestly whether moving is worth it.
