5 best virtual receptionist services for modern businesses in 2025

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Virtual receptionist services, especially those powered by AI, are redefining how companies handle inbound communication.

These tools do more than just answer calls, they act as the front line of customer interaction by using automation and smart workflows to manage calls, schedule appointments, qualify leads, and sync information across your existing systems.

By combining AI-powered assistance with seamless integrations into CRMs, calendars, and collaboration tools, virtual receptionists reduce the load on your internal teams. That means less time spent on repetitive admin and more time focused on customer experience and complex problem-solving.

Whether you’re managing a busy support line, qualifying inbound sales leads, or just want to ensure that no call goes unanswered, choosing the right virtual receptionist can make a measurable difference to your team’s productivity and performance.

This guide compares five leading platforms to help you find the best fit based on pricing, features, integrations, and business needs.

Key takeaways

1. Virtual receptionist services help businesses manage inbound calls, qualify leads, book appointments, and route callers—automatically or with live agents.

2. AI-powered receptionists offer 24/7 coverage, reduce manual tasks, and scale easily, making them ideal for growing teams.

3. Top platforms include Aircall, JustCall, Smith.ai, AnswerConnect, and Go Answer—each with unique features, pricing, and integrations.

4. Aircall stands out for its customizable AI Voice Agent, pay-as-you-go flexibility, and 200+ integrations with CRMs and communication tools.

5. JustCall offers multilingual AI agents, mobile apps, and real-time call analytics with flexible pricing options.

6. Smith.ai blends AI and human receptionists with powerful lead intake workflows and over 5,000 integrations.

7. AnswerConnect delivers live answering with appointment booking and a real-time portal, ideal for teams needing a personal touch.

8. Go Answer is HIPAA-compliant and offers live agents trained for healthcare, with customizable scripts and message delivery.

TL;DR

Here’s a side-by-side look at five top virtual receptionist services, with a spotlight on key features and integrations that help teams handle calls faster and work smarter.

What’s the best virtual receptionist service? 5 top options for modern teams

There’s no shortage of virtual receptionist tools and services on the market. We take a look at five options that combine smart features, ease of use, and extensive integrations to streamline communication, boost productivity, and support growth.

1. Aircall

Aircall’s AI Voice Agent automates receptionist tasks like screening, answering frequently asked questions, and booking meetings, all within a powerful cloud-based phone system.

It acts as a 24/7 virtual receptionist that qualifies leads, gathers customer info, answers frequently asked questions, and routes calls, freeing up your team to focus on higher-value work. By integrating seamlessly into your call flows, the AI Voice Agent ensures no interaction gets missed.

In addition, you get a robust cloud phone system with 200+ integrations, detailed analytics, and time-saving features like interactive voice response (IVR), call tagging, and real-time monitoring. Aircall is quick to implement, easy to use, and built to scale with teams that want smarter voice operations without added complexity.

Features: 

• 24/7 phone coverage: Stay connected after hours with call forwarding, voicemail, or AI agents that capture key info while you're offline.

• Voice agent training and customization: Train AI voice agents to reflect your tone, handle frequently asked questions, and pass leads to the right teams.

• Lead qualification: Tag key details during calls to score leads in real time and route them to the right rep.

• Call tagging: Apply custom tags mid- or post-call to track trends, filter conversations, and speed up reporting.

• Pay-as-you-go flexibility: Only pay for what you use, and scale up or down based on your team size and call volume.

• Live monitoring: Listen in, whisper coach, or join calls live to support agents in the moment.

200+ integrations, including: 

• ActiveCampaign

• HubSpot

• Intercom

• Microsoft Teams

• Pipedrive

• Salesforce

• Shopify

• Slack

• Zendesk

• Zoho CRM

Pricing:

Aircall’s AI Voice Agent is an add-on to standard plans and is charged from $0.99/minute. Voice plans are priced as follows (annual billing shown).

• Essentials: From $30/month/user

• Professional: From $50/month/user

• Custom: Bespoke packages for 25+ licenses

Aircall’s virtual receptionist features are a recent rollout, so these user pros and cons speak to its overall suite of customer communication features.

Deliver faster, smarter support with an AI voice agent that never sleeps. Learn more.

2. JustCall

With AI-driven voice agents and built-in CRM syncing, JustCall helps businesses automate receptionist tasks without losing context or call quality.

You can feed JustCall’s AI Voice Agent up to 50 frequently asked questions as well as a range of URLs to train it on context so that it can handle incoming calls like a human. Besides answering the phone and questions, it can qualify leads, book meetings, and escalate complex queries. 

Features: 

• AI call analytics: Track sentiment, call quality, and key topics with AI to improve coaching and customer experience.

• Mobile and desktop apps: Make and receive calls or texts from anywhere using JustCall’s fully featured apps for iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows.

• Call blacklisting: Block spam and unwanted numbers with custom or bulk blacklists to keep your phone lines clear.

Integrations include: 

• monday.com

• HubSpot

• Salesforce

• Zapier

Pricing:

To get access to the AI Voice Agent, you’ll first need to subscribe to JustCall’s AI Communication Suite, which starts at $29/user/month (billed annually). The AI Voice Agent is priced as follows:

• Pay As You Go: $0.99/minute

• Committed Usage: From $99/month for 100 minutes.

3. Smith.ai 

Smith.ai delivers a combined AI and live virtual receptionist service with CRM syncing, lead intake, multilingual answering, chat, SMS, and payment collection.

The platform’s human-in-the-loop approach means that its services are more dependable than those that rely only on AI. The AI Receptionist will handle all your calls and escalate any calls it can’t handle to human agents.

Features: 

• Lead intake: Virtual receptionists gather and qualify leads using unlimited custom questions—so you only engage with pre-qualified prospects.

• Caller-type workflows: Automatically route callers (new lead, existing client, vendor, etc.) using tailored scripts and integrations—to ensure each caller gets the right experience.

• Real-time dashboard: Track call volumes, actions, dispositions, transcripts, recordings, and spam filtering live—so you can monitor performance and make faster decisions. 

Integrations: 

• ActiveCampaign

• GoDaddy

• Google Analytics

• Mailchimp

Pricing:

Smith.ai offers four pricing tiers for both their virtual and AI Receptionist offerings.

• Starter: 30 calls/month for $97.50 (AI Receptionist) or $292.50/month (virtual receptionist).

• Basic: 90 calls/month for $270/month (AI Receptionist) or $787.50 (virtual receptionist).

• Pro: 300 calls for $825/month (AI Receptionist) or $2025/month (virtual receptionist)

• Enterprise: Custom pricing based on your business’s needs.

4. AnswerConnect

AnswerConnect ensures that your calls and chats are managed with a human touch by providing 24/7 real-person answering services.

Your flexible, no-contract plan will give you access to live receptionist call answering and web chats in English and Spanish along with lead qualification, appointment booking, web chat, and seamless CRM integration.

Features: 

• Call forwarding and routing: Automatically redirect calls 24/7 using custom rules and human-powered routing, so every caller reaches the right team.

• Appointment booking: Live receptionists schedule, reschedule, and manage appointments via Setmore—24/7 calendar syncing and reminders included—to streamline bookings and reduce no-shows. 

• Client Web Access portal: Access a secure dashboard with call logs, transcripts, recordings, billing, usage stats, settings, scripts, and status updates—available on web and mobile for real-time control. 

Integrations: 

• Salesforce

• Microsoft Teams

• Serviceminder

• Freshdesk

Pricing:

AnswerConnect has four standard tiers as well as pricing for larger plans that provide for 500 to 15,000 minutes of calls per month.

• Entry: $350/month for 200 minutes. An additional once-off setup fee of $49.99 applies.

• Growth: $395/month for 300 minutes.

• Standard: $575/month for 400 minutes. An additional once-off setup fee of $49.99 applies.

• Larger plans: From $795/month for 500+ minutes.

5. Go Answer 

Go Answer offers live virtual receptionists, interactive voice response, call forwarding, and appointment scheduling with CRM syncing and message alerts.

With Go Answer, you’ll get access to live multilingual agents who answer calls and chats around the clock using custom scripts. The generous trial means that you’ll get access to a free virtual receptionist for 14 days or up to 200 minutes, whichever comes first.

Features: 

• HIPAA-trained agents: Every receptionist undergoes in-depth HIPAA training and follows strict policies to protect patient data and ensure compliance for medical practices.

• Custom scripting: Create fully tailored call scripts for your brand. Our virtual receptionists adapt greetings, routing, and responses to match your business’s tone and needs.

• Basic message taking: Agents take accurate messages 24/7 and deliver them via email or text with full caller details so you can follow up efficiently.

Integrations: 

• monday.com

• Twilio

• Yelp

• Zendesk

Pricing:

Go Answer offers four virtual receptionist packages.

• 100 minutes: $175/month

• 200 minutes: $300/month

• 500 minutes: $550/month

• 1000 minutes: $1,100/month

Enterprise solutions (1,000+ minutes per month) are custom priced and you’ll need to contact Go Answer to get costing.

What to consider when choosing a virtual receptionist service 

There’s much more to finding the best virtual receptionist than identifying a platform that can answer calls. You’ll also want the software to be easy to set up, work with your existing tech stack, and make onboarding a breeze. Let’s take a look at five critical components to assess when you’re comparing solutions.

AI vs. live agent

One of the first things to consider is whether you need a live receptionist or an AI-powered one. Or a combination of the two.

While live agents bring a personal touch and can handle complex or emotional conversations, AI is ideal for businesses that want to streamline routine tasks, reduce overhead, and ensure that their receptionist is available around the clock.

Smaller teams usually benefit from AI in call centers where call volumes are high but support capacity is limited. Businesses in professional services industries, on the other hand, may prefer to have human agents who can understand nuance in conversation and bring empathy to the call.

Integration capabilities

Rather than being just a virtual answering service, a top-rated AI virtual receptionist should easily plug into your tech stack. The more connected your systems are, the easier it is to maintain context, save time, and keep your customer experience consistent.

Here are some integrations to look out for when ranking the best virtual receptionist software for your business.

• CRMs: HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho

• Helpdesks: eDesk, Intercom, Zendesk

• Scheduling software: Playvox WFM, Surfboard

• Internal communication platforms: Slack, Microsoft Teams

• External communication platforms: Typeform, Textline, Flodesk

• Sales analytics and reporting: Zapier, Whaly

Choosing a virtual receptionist that works with your existing tools ensures that every interaction your business has is frictionless.

Support availability 

When you’re serving customers across the world, 24/7 support isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s an essential.

Having an AI voice agent in support makes it easy to offer around-the-clock assistance in the languages your customers speak. The right system will enable you to keep the conversation flowing so you never miss a lead or leave a customer hanging.

When you use a virtual receptionist, you’re able to take calls at any hour and in any language, which helps you to deliver consistent service and build trust with your customers.

Scalability

Your virtual receptionist solution should be able to grow with you. Whether you’re expanding into new regions, increasing call volumes, or adding more team members, the platform you choose should scale without creating complexities or driving up costs unnecessarily.

Look for flexible, usage-based price models along with features like call routing, lead qualification, and analytics. These will become more valuable as your operations expand.

Compliance and security

This is a big one for any business that collects and handles customers’ personal information (like names, addresses, or identification numbers). 

Most countries around the world now have laws in place to protect this data. Businesses are compelled to follow these regulations or face potential fines and possibly even shutdowns, so you’ll want a virtual receptionist system that meets the standards that apply where you operate.

Look for platforms that offer end-to-end encryption, secure data handling, and access controls that limit who can view call logs or message transcripts. A service that offers these features will not only protect your customers but will protect your business’s reputation in the long run. 

Never miss a call again with Aircall

From capturing leads to reducing manual work and improving response times, having a virtual assistant in the receptionist seat can help your team supercharge customer service without adding complexity to your operations.

There is a range of virtual receptionist features that can add long-term value and make things run more smoothly in the office, including UX, extensive integrations, and helpful support. 

Many platforms have seemingly similar resources and utilities, so trailing your top options can help you to assess whether a potential platform lives up to your expectations.

You won’t be disappointed with Aircall. Our AI Voice Agent acts as a true virtual assistant, answering calls, gathering context, qualifying leads, and intelligently routing conversations so that your teams can focus on providing your customers with the best experience.

Let AI voice agents handle routine calls so your team can focus on what matters. Learn more.

Frequently asked questions about the best virtual receptionist

What is an AI agent?

An AI agent is smart software that handles tasks, like answering calls, routing inquiries, and recording information about communications, without human intervention. These systems are able to operate 24/7 across voice, chat, and text, freeing your teams up to focus on more complex or personalized interactions.

What is the best AI receptionist?

Aircall is the best virtual receptionist for high-performing teams. More than just a business phone, Aircall is an integrated customer communications and intelligence platform that offers virtual agents, AI-driven insights, and automation. It can be set up in seconds, has hundreds of integrations, and can scale with your business.

Is a virtual receptionist worth it?

A virtual receptionist is absolutely worth it. A virtual receptionist ensures that every incoming call to your business gets answered and routed to the correct department. This can reduce potential lost revenue (72% to 80% of customers won’t try again if their call goes unanswered) and has a huge impact on customer satisfaction, which improves retention and reduces acquisition costs.

What is the best virtual receptionist for law firms?

For law firms, the ideal virtual receptionist offers legal intake support, smart call screening, and seamless scheduling—all while keeping communications confidential. Aircall’s AI Voice Agent checks these boxes, with: built-in legal-style routing, CRM logging, instant intake forms, plug and play setup, and 24/7 availability to capture every client lead securely and efficiently.

How much should I pay someone to answer my phone?

Receptionists in the US earn an average of $37,057/year, with less experienced and lower-pay earners bringing in around $31,500 and the highest paid, most skilled workers making around $48,000. The salary for someone answering your phone should fall into this bracket. Or you can use Aircall, with plans starting from $1,080/year.

Published on August 7, 2025.