A UK phone answering service costs a salon from £2.20 a call with no monthly fee, or from £50 a month plus a per-minute charge, on published prices. Most human services take a message; a few book into Fresha, Timely or Phorest. An AI receptionist that books into the live diary is a flat monthly price. Voicemail is free, but loses callers.
Superscripts link to the sources at the foot of the page. Prices marked plus VAT add 20%.
| Price | What happens to the booking | Hours and contract | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Voicemail | Free | Takes a message if the caller leaves one. Nothing is booked. | Always on |
| Answer.co.uk | No monthly fee; £2.20 a call plus VAT for new customers4 | UK receptionists answer in your business name4 | 24 hours, 365 days; no contract4 |
| SinglePoint Calls | From £33 a month plus VAT for 20 calls; £160 for 100 calls; £465 for 300 calls5 | A named UK PA; messages by email and SMS. Booking into a diary is offered, and takes longer per call5 | 24/7 with no out-of-hours surcharge; 30-day rolling under £100 a month, 12-month minimum from £1005 |
| Moneypenny | Price on request; charged per minute3 | Message taking3 | 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday; 24/7 from an extra £35 a month. Smaller plans have a three-month minimum3 |
| Posh | From £50 a month plus VAT with no minutes included, then £1.50 a minute; £74 for 50 minutes; £128 for 100 minutes1 | Appointment scheduling through Calendly, Setmore, Google Calendar and Zapier2 | 24/7; month to month; free trial1 |
| Ansacom | Price on request; free trial6 | Books into Fresha, Timely and Phorest6 | 24/7 if needed6 |
| Virtual Salon Services | Telephone answering from £13 a week7 | Salon-only service: answers, books clients in and takes messages7 | Hours not published; free trial7 |
| Daviana AI receptionist (Aria) | £60 a month including VAT, plus Daviana Diary from £25 a month | Books the whole visit into the live Daviana diary; takes a message on anything to do with money | Day and night; first month free; cancel any month |
We counted 1,844 inbound calls on the shared line of our own London salon group. In the fortnight before an AI receptionist went live, 49% of calls reached nobody. The worst hour was 10am, when a person answered only 45% of calls, and the worst day was Monday. Only about 10% of calls came before 9am, after 6pm or on a Sunday. The full call data breaks it down by hour and day.
So the calls a salon loses are mostly daytime calls, while the desk is busy with a client at the till. That matters when you compare services. A plan that only answers from 9am to 5pm on weekdays covers most of the problem. A plan that only answers at night covers very little of it. Our post on after-hours salon calls covers the rest.
You need two numbers from your own phone log: how many calls a month the desk misses, and how long an average call lasts. Use your own. As an example, say the desk misses 60 calls a month and each one lasts 3 minutes, so 180 minutes in all.
| Working | A month, before VAT | A month, including VAT | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Answer.co.uk, pay as you go | 60 calls × £2.20 | £132.00 | £158.40 |
| Posh, 100-minute plan | £128 + 80 extra minutes × £1.35 | £236.00 | £283.20 |
| SinglePoint Calls | Between its 20-call and 100-call bands, so ask for a quote; at its lowest published rate of £1.65 a call, 60 calls is at least £99 | £99.00 or more | £118.80 or more |
| Daviana AI receptionist | Flat monthly price | £50.00 | £60.00 |
Posh's 100-minute plan is its cheapest for 180 minutes: the 50-minute plan comes to £262.50 before VAT. If you are not on Daviana already, add the diary from £25 a month including VAT for one person, which makes £85. A VAT-registered salon can usually reclaim the VAT, so compare the before-VAT column.
Then weigh that against what the missed calls are worth. Our free missed call calculator works it out from your average bill and how many callers book.
On published prices checked on 21 October 2026: Answer.co.uk charges £2.20 a call plus VAT with no monthly fee. SinglePoint Calls starts at £33 a month plus VAT for 20 calls. Posh starts at £50 a month plus VAT and £1.50 a minute, with bundles from £74 a month for 50 minutes. Moneypenny and Ansacom give prices on request. Daviana's AI receptionist is £60 a month including VAT.
Some can. Ansacom says it books into Fresha, Timely and Phorest. Posh lists Calendly, Setmore, Google Calendar and Zapier. Daviana's AI receptionist books straight into the live Daviana diary, and only that diary. Before you sign, ask any service to make a test booking in your own system while you watch.
Usually not. In our own salon group's data, only about 10% of calls came before 9am, after 6pm or on a Sunday. Most missed calls happened during opening hours, when the desk was busy with clients. Cover for the busy daytime hours matters more than cover at night.
It depends on the calls. A person copes better with complaints and unusual requests, and a human service can work with almost any booking system. An AI receptionist that books into the live diary has a flat published monthly price and never puts a caller on hold. Daviana's takes a message for the team on anything to do with money.
It is free, but many callers do not leave a message. In our data, 15% of callers who reached nobody were neither called back nor got through on a second try within 24 hours.
Aria reads your salon's website for about thirty seconds, then rings your mobile and answers as your receptionist. Play the caller and see if it holds up.
Have Aria ring mePosh, Moneypenny, Answer.co.uk, SinglePoint Calls, Ansacom and Virtual Salon Services are trademarks of their owners. We are not affiliated with any of them. Prices and terms change, so check with each company before deciding.