AI receptionist
An AI Receptionist for Small Business That Answers Every Call and Books the Job
An AI receptionist for small business answers the calls you cannot: after hours, while you are on a job, and when three ring at once. Ours is set up and run for you. The script is written from how your business actually works, bookings go straight into your calendar, every call is summarised in your CRM, and the legal parts are handled, from the recording notice in the greeting to the rules on calling a lead back. It is not the cheapest way to answer a phone. It is the way that does not create a problem you find out about later.
Set up for you. Your number stays yours. One flat monthly fee, no charge per call.
On this pageThe phone rulesQuick checkMissed call costPricingFAQ
128
hours a week that one full time receptionist is not at the desk, of the 168 in a week
$38,010
median yearly pay for a receptionist in the US, before benefits (BLS, May 2025)
947,500
receptionist jobs in the US in 2025 (BLS)
Feb 2024
the FCC ruled that AI generated voices are "artificial" under the TCPA
Pay and job figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The FCC ruling is FCC 24-17, released 8 February 2024.
In 30 seconds
- An AI receptionist is your business on the phone. So the phone rules apply to it, from recording to calling customers back.
- One receptionist covers 40 hours of a 168 hour week. The rest is when the calls you lose come in.
- Nothing answers your customers until you have heard it yourself.
- Pricing. A flat monthly retainer based on call volume and how many locations are covered. Most businesses start around $1,200 a month.
The part most AI receptionist pages leave out
An AI receptionist is your business on the phone, so the phone rules apply
Read ten pages selling this software and you will learn about natural sounding voices and calendar integrations. You will not learn that a recorded call, a callback and a patient's details each carry their own rules. Those rules apply to you, not to the software vendor, and they are the first thing we set up.
| When the AI receptionist | What the rule says | What we set up |
|---|---|---|
| Answers a call | Federal law allows recording when one party to the call consents, 18 U.S.C. 2511(2)(d) | A recording notice in the greeting anyway, because state law can ask for more |
| Records or transcribes a call in an all party consent state | California Penal Code 632 makes recording a confidential call without the consent of all parties an offence | A greeting that tells the caller the call may be recorded, before anything else is said |
| Calls a lead back with an AI voice | FCC 24-17: AI generated voices are "artificial" under the TCPA, so the call needs the person's prior express consent | Callbacks only to people who asked for one, otherwise a person makes the call |
| Takes a patient's details | HIPAA: a covered entity needs written assurances from a business associate before sharing protected health information, 45 CFR 164.502(e) | A business associate agreement in place, or no clinical details taken on the call |
| Is asked "am I talking to a person?" | No single federal rule covers it; several states are writing their own | It says it is an AI assistant at the start, every time |
Sources: 18 U.S.C. 2511, California Penal Code 632, FCC 24-17 (CG Docket 23-362), 45 CFR 164.502, all read October 2026. A summary, not legal advice.
Recording and transcripts
A receptionist that writes call summaries is, in most setups, recording or transcribing the call to do it. Federal law sets a one party consent baseline: under 18 U.S.C. 2511(2)(d), recording is lawful where one of the parties has consented. Several states go further. California’s Penal Code 632 makes it an offence to record a confidential communication without the consent of all parties, and it defines a confidential communication by whether a party could reasonably expect it to be overheard or recorded.
That last clause is why the fix is simple and why it matters. A greeting that says, in its first sentence, that the call may be recorded tells every caller what to expect. We put that notice in every greeting we write, in every state, because your callers do not all live where you do.
Calling a lead back
Answering an incoming call and calling someone back are different things in law. In February 2024 the FCC confirmed, in FCC 24-17, that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act’s restrictions on an “artificial or prerecorded voice” cover current AI technologies that generate human voices. A call that uses one needs the prior express consent of the person called, absent an emergency or an exemption.
Many AI receptionist apps offer automatic callbacks to missed callers as a feature. We set them up only where the caller has asked to be called back, and log that request with the call. Anything that looks like outbound calling to people who did not ask belongs to a different service, and our AI voice dialing and its consent process is built for exactly that.
Patients and protected health information
A dental or medical practice is a covered entity under HIPAA. If its receptionist takes a caller’s symptoms, insurance or appointment history, the business running it is handling protected health information on the practice’s behalf. The rule at 45 CFR 164.502(e) lets a covered entity share that information with a business associate only once it has satisfactory assurance that it will be safeguarded, and those assurances have to be in a written contract or other written agreement.
So the first question a practice should ask any provider is whether it will sign a business associate agreement. Where one is in place, the receptionist can book and triage. Where it is not, we set the script so that no clinical details are taken on the call at all, and the caller is booked or passed to the practice.
Saying it is an AI
There is no single federal rule on whether a business must tell a caller they are speaking to an AI, and several states are writing their own. We do not wait for the law to settle. Our default greeting says the caller is speaking with your business’s AI assistant, and the receptionist says so again if asked. Callers who want a person can ask for one, and the call is transferred or a message is taken with full context.
This is not only caution. A caller who finds out halfway through that they were talking to software feels misled, and that is the review you get. A caller told at the start mostly does not mind, because what they wanted was an answer.
Interactive check
How many calls is your business missing?
Switch on everything that is true today. It is a checklist, not a benchmark, and the score shows where to start.
Calls are slipping through. Start by counting the ones your business misses.
Want the real answer? We will build a demo from your own website.
Build my demoWhere the money goes
The three moments small businesses lose calls
Missed calls are rarely about a lazy front desk. They happen at the same three moments in almost every small business, and each needs the receptionist set up differently.
After hours
Evenings, weekends and holidays, when nobody is there to answer. For many service businesses this is when the most urgent calls arrive. The receptionist answers, books the next available slot or, for a genuine emergency, transfers to whoever is on call.
On the job
The owner is under a sink, in a treatment room or on a roof. The phone rings out or goes to voicemail. Here the receptionist works as overflow: your phone rings first, and if nobody picks up after a few rings, call forwarding sends the call to the receptionist.
At the same time
Monday morning, the first hot day of summer, the day after a storm. Calls arrive faster than one person can take them and callers hang up on hold. The receptionist takes the calls the front desk cannot, so nobody waits on hold for the one person who can answer.
Voicemail is where the call ends, not where it waits
A customer with a burst pipe, a toothache or a court date does not leave a message and wait for a callback. They call the next business on the list. That is why speed to lead matters more than almost anything else in a service business: the first business to give a real answer usually gets the job. Voicemail feels like a safety net, but for most callers it is the point at which they try someone else.
Answering every call does not make your business better at the work. It makes sure the work reaches you. Everything else on this page is about doing that without creating a new problem.
Where the calls come from
For most small businesses, calls arrive from three places: the call button on your Google Business Profile, the number on your website, and your ads. The call button is the one that rings at the worst moments, because the people tapping it are standing outside with a problem right now. If your profile is doing its job, the receptionist is what turns those taps into bookings, while local SEO puts your number in front of them.
The receptionist also tells us which source each call came from, so you can see which of the three is sending the calls that turn into jobs.
AI receptionist vs human receptionist
One receptionist covers 40 hours of a 168 hour week
This is not an argument against people. It is arithmetic about when people are available, and it is the reason most small businesses that buy AI receptionist services use them alongside a person, not instead of one.
One full time receptionist
Hours covered in a week
40 of 168
Calls taken at once
One
Lunch, holidays, sick days
Not covered
Knows your regular customers
Yes
Handles a difficult, emotional call
Best at it
Median pay, before benefits
$38,010 a year
A Moha AI receptionist
Hours covered in a week
168 of 168
Calls taken at once
Each as it arrives
Lunch, holidays, sick days
Covered
Knows your regular customers
From your CRM
Handles a difficult, emotional call
Hands it to a person
Typical starting fee
About $1,200 a month
Median pay from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, receptionists, May 2025, which excludes benefits, payroll taxes and cover. Our fee is quoted after a demo and depends on call volume and locations.
When a person is still the right answer
A front desk does more than answer the phone. It greets people at the door, calms an upset patient, recognises the regular who always asks for the same technician, and spots the call that needs the owner right now. An AI receptionist is good at the predictable part of the phone: answering, qualifying, booking, taking a message with every detail. It should hand the unpredictable part to a person, and ours is set up to do exactly that.
So the useful comparison is rarely AI against a human receptionist, and most businesses end up with a hybrid: people for the hours they are there, the receptionist for the rest. It is an AI receptionist against voicemail for the 128 hours a week nobody is at the desk, and against a busy signal for the moments the desk is full.
Against an answering service
A live answering service puts a person on the line, which some callers prefer. Most answering services for small business work from a short script, take a message for you to act on, and bill per minute or per call, so a busy month costs more. An AI answering service for small business books into your calendar during the call and costs the same whether the month is quiet or busy.
Neither is right for everyone. A business whose calls are long, sensitive and rare may be better with a person. A business whose calls are frequent, short and mostly about booking is usually better served by an AI receptionist, with a person behind it for what the AI should not handle.
How many calls did your business miss last month?
Send your website and we will build a short demo from it, answering your own questions on a test line.
What is included
What our AI receptionist services cover
Ten things, set up and run for you. The software is the easy part; most of the value is in the script, the handover rules and the monthly tuning.
01
Answering 24/7, or only when you cannot
The receptionist can answer every call, or only after hours and as overflow when your own phone is not picked up. Most small businesses start with after hours and overflow, so regular customers still reach a familiar voice.
Holiday hours, lunch cover and seasonal hours are set in advance, so nobody has to remember to switch anything.
After hoursOverflowHoliday rulesNo hold queue
02
A script written from your business
We build the knowledge base from your services, your hours, your service area, your price ranges and the questions your callers actually ask. Just as important is the list of things it must never promise: prices you quote only on site, availability you cannot guarantee, advice you are not licensed to give.
The script is reviewed with you before launch and changed whenever your business changes.
Your servicesYour answersNever promise listReviewed with you
03
Lead qualification and routing
Your own questions, asked in your order: what the job is, where it is, how urgent, how they found you. The answers decide what happens next, a booking, a transfer to the person on call, or a message to the right member of your team.
Callers who are not a fit, such as a job outside your service area, are told so politely and quickly.
Your questionsUrgency rulesRouting by answerPolite no
04
Appointment booking during the call
The receptionist books into your calendar while the caller is on the line, offering real slots rather than taking a request for you to confirm later. It works with Google Calendar and Outlook, and with booking software that offers an integration; we confirm yours before setup rather than promising it on a sales call.
Bookings carry the caller’s details and the reason for the visit, so your team arrives prepared.
Live slotsCalendar integrationDetails attachedConfirmations
05
Transfer to a person, with context
Anything the receptionist should not handle is passed on: an emergency, an upset customer, a question outside the script, a caller who asks for a person. The call is transferred to the right phone, or a message is taken with everything that was said.
Transfer rules follow your hours, so the on call technician gets the 2am emergency and the office gets the rest.
Emergency transferOn call rulesFull contextAsk for a person
06
Call summaries and a CRM record
Every call produces a short summary and, where recorded, a transcript, written to your CRM or sent by email or text. You see who called, what they wanted, what was agreed and what still needs doing.
No more callbacks to a number with no name and no idea why they rang.
Call summariesTranscriptCRM syncNext steps
07
Multilingual answering
The receptionist can answer in Spanish and other languages your callers speak, and switch when the caller does. For businesses that serve several communities, it is often the difference between a booking and a hang up.
The script is checked in each language, not just translated by a machine and left.
SpanishOther languagesSwitches on requestChecked scripts
08
The legal set up, done first
A recording notice in the greeting, an honest AI disclosure, callbacks only where the caller asked, and a business associate agreement for healthcare clients. The rules are set out in full above, and they are part of every setup, not an extra.
This is not legal advice; where your situation is unusual, we flag it for your own counsel.
Recording noticeAI disclosureCallback consentBAA for healthcare
09
Your number stays yours
You keep your existing number. Calls reach the receptionist through call forwarding from your phone provider, set to forward after hours, when busy, or when unanswered. Nothing changes on your website, your profile or your business cards.
If you ever stop, you remove the forwarding and the number works exactly as before.
Same numberConditional forwardingNo reprintingEasy to stop
10
A monthly review, not a dashboard
Each month we go through the calls: how many were answered, booked, transferred and lost, which questions the receptionist could not answer, and what to change in the script. The next month’s receptionist is better than this month’s because someone is reading its calls.
Most AI receptionist software leaves that part to you.
Answered vs bookedGaps foundScript updatesPlain English
How the technology works
What actually happens when a caller rings
Under the friendly voice sits a chain of four pieces of software. Speech recognition turns what the caller says into text. A large language model, guided by your script and knowledge base, works out what they want and what to say. Integrations act on it, checking the calendar, writing to the CRM or starting a transfer. Text to speech turns the answer back into a voice. All of it happens in the pauses of a normal conversation.
The quality of the result depends far less on which model sits in the middle than on what it has been given. A receptionist with a vague script answers vaguely. One with your real services, real hours, real price ranges and a clear list of things to hand over sounds like it has worked for you for years. That is the part we write, test and keep up to date, and it is the part a cheap app leaves blank.
Natural language understanding also means callers do not have to press numbers or say keywords. They explain the problem in their own words, the way they would to a person, and the receptionist asks a follow up question when it needs one.
You will see the same thing sold under several names: an AI phone answering system, an AI voice receptionist, an AI virtual receptionist. The chain underneath is the same four pieces. What changes between them is who writes the script, who connects it to your calendar and CRM, and who notices when it starts answering a question badly. With an app, that is you. With us, it is part of the service, and it is the reason the monthly fee is higher than a software subscription and the result is different from one.
The voice is the visible part. The script behind it decides whether the call ends in a booking.
Check your setup
What missed calls are costing you
Move the controls to match your situation. The result updates as you go.
Assumes about a third of missed callers would have booked, and that answering every call recovers most of them.
That is money that already called you once. They do not leave a voicemail, they call the next name on the list.
The difference
Voicemail vs. an answering service vs. Moha
| Voicemail or yourself | Typical answering service | Moha | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calls after hours | Voicemail, and most callers never leave one | Answered, usually billed per minute or per call | Answered 24/7 within one flat monthly fee |
| Booking | A call back, if you can reach them | A message taken for you to act on | Booked into your calendar during the call |
| Qualifying the caller | Whatever you remember to ask | A fixed script read by whoever is on shift | Your own questions, routed by the answers |
| A record of the call | Notes, if anybody wrote them | A message by email or text | Summary and outcome synced to your CRM |
| When it cannot help | The caller waits for you | The operator takes a message | Handed to a person, or a message with full context |
| Your time | Answering between jobs | Reading messages and calling back | Approving the scripts, taking the booked work |
Who it is for
How the setup changes by kind of business
An AI receptionist for small businesses runs on the same software everywhere. The script, the handover rules and the legal setup do not.
Home services
Plumbing, heating, electrical and roofing calls are often emergencies. The receptionist sorts the burst pipe from the quote request, transfers the first to whoever is on call, and books the second. It is built around the same moment as the emergency call plumbing sites are built around. For heating and cooling firms the script starts with the gas smell call, set out on our page for the HVAC answering service.
Dental and medical
A business associate agreement first, then booking, cancellations and new patient enquiries. Clinical questions go to the practice. Insurance questions are answered from the practice's own list of accepted plans, never guessed. The knocked out tooth call, and what a parent is told while the call goes through, is worked through on our answering service for dentists.
Law firms
Intake after hours is where most firms lose clients. The receptionist takes the enquiry, never discusses the merits of a case, and books a consultation. It is the answer to the after hours intake problem for law firms.
Med spas and salons
High call volume, mostly bookings and rescheduling. The receptionist books into the calendar, handles changes and answers price questions from your published menu.
Real estate
Speed to lead decides who gets the client. Enquiries about a listing are answered at once, the caller's details and timeline captured, and the right agent told straight away.
Auto services
Booking repairs, answering "is my car ready", and taking the details of a breakdown. Price questions are answered only from the ranges you approve, because a quote over the phone is a promise.
After the call
The call is the start of the customer, not the end of the receptionist's job
A booking made at 9pm on a Sunday is only worth something if it turns into a job, and the job into a customer who comes back. So the receptionist’s work continues after the call: a confirmation by text, a reminder before the appointment, and the call summary waiting in your CRM when your team starts work on Monday.
When the job is done, the customer who was answered at 9pm on a Sunday is often the most willing to say so in public. A short request for a review, sent after the work is finished, is the natural next step, and our review requests after a finished job can pick it up from the same CRM record. Reviews then feed the profile the next caller finds, which is how the whole loop pays for itself.
None of this needs you to log in to anything. The receptionist, the reminders and the review requests run from the same setup, and the monthly review covers all of them.
Calls that need a person still reach one, with the full context of what was said.
Why Moha
Why small businesses choose Moha for an AI receptionist
If you want a cheap app and the time to configure it yourself, buy one; there are plenty, and some are good. An AI receptionist service is only as good as everything around the app, and that is what we sell: the script, the integrations, the legal setup, and someone reading the calls every month. If you are comparing options for the best AI receptionist for your business, compare that part, not the voice.
Done for you
We write the script, connect the calendar and CRM, and test it with real calls before it answers yours.
Rules handled
Recording notices, AI disclosure, callback consent and a BAA for healthcare, set up from day one.
Your number, your data
Your existing number stays. Recordings, summaries and contacts sit in your own accounts.
Flat monthly fee
One fee for the service, not a charge per call or per minute, so a busy month does not cost more.
Read every month
The calls are reviewed and the script improved, so the receptionist gets better rather than drifting.
No long contract
A start long enough to judge it fairly, then no notice period holding you after that.
Hear it before any caller does.
Nothing answers a customer until you have heard it yourself.
How it works
How we set up your AI receptionist
Five stages, in this order, and nothing answers your customers until you have heard it yourself.
01
Step 1
Discovery and scripts
A working session on your services, hours, service area, prices, common questions and the calls you most hate missing. We write the script and the never promise list from it.
02
Step 2
Voice and configuration
The voice, the greeting with its recording notice and AI disclosure, the calendar and CRM integrations, and the transfer rules.
03
Step 3
Test and launch
We call it ourselves with the awkward questions, then you do. Only then does call forwarding go live, usually after hours first.
04
Step 4
Monitor and refine
The first weeks of calls are read closely. Gaps in the script are fixed as they appear, not at the end of the month.
05
Step 5
Report
A monthly review in plain English: answered, booked, transferred, lost, and what changes next.
Simple pricing
AI receptionist pricing
Our AI receptionist service is a flat monthly retainer based on call volume and how many locations are covered. Most businesses start around $1,200 a month, with the exact scope set after your free demo.
What sets the price
How many calls a month the receptionist takes, how many locations and phone lines it covers, how many integrations it needs, and whether it needs a business associate agreement or several languages. A single location answering after hours costs less than a group answering every call.
What it does not cost
No charge per call or per minute, no setup fee hidden in the first invoice, and no extra for the monthly review. Compared with an answering service billed per minute, the flat fee matters most in your busiest month, which is exactly when you need the phone answered.
Watch
How AI call answering works, from Google Cloud
A short explainer from Google Cloud on contact centre AI: software that answers a customer's call, understands what they need and hands over to a person when it should. It is the kind of technology an AI receptionist is built on.
Free demo
Hear it answer your own business's calls
Send your website and we will build a short demo from it: your services, your hours, your questions, answered by an AI receptionist on a test line you can ring yourself.
No call required to get it. If you like what you hear, we talk about setup; if you do not, you have lost nothing but the time it took to listen.
Free
We reply from hello@gomoha.io, usually the same working day.
FAQ
AI receptionist questions small businesses ask
Taken from what owners ask on small business forums and in trade groups, plus the phrasings people type into a search box.
How much does an AI receptionist cost?
Apps you configure yourself are sold by subscription and can be cheap. Our AI receptionist service, which includes the script, integrations, legal setup and monthly review, is a flat monthly fee that for most businesses starts around $1,200, based on call volume and locations, with no charge per call.
Will callers know they are talking to an AI?
Yes, because it tells them. Our default greeting says the caller is speaking with your business's AI assistant, and it says so again if asked. Callers who want a person can ask for one at any point.
Is it legal to record calls with an AI receptionist?
Federal law allows recording with one party's consent, but several states, California among them, require the consent of everyone on a confidential call. A recording notice at the start of the greeting deals with both, and we put one in every greeting. This is not legal advice.
Can the AI receptionist call leads back automatically?
Only people who asked to be called back. Since the FCC's 2024 ruling, a call made with an AI generated voice counts as an artificial voice call under the TCPA and needs the person's prior express consent. We log the callback request with each call.
Is an AI receptionist HIPAA compliant?
The software alone cannot be. Compliance depends on how it is set up and on a business associate agreement between the practice and the provider. We sign one for healthcare clients; without one, the script takes no clinical details.
What happens when it cannot answer a question?
It hands over. The call is transferred to the right person, or a message is taken with everything that was said and sent straight to whoever should deal with it. The question is then added to the script so it can answer next time.
Do I keep my phone number?
Yes. Calls reach the receptionist through call forwarding from your existing provider, after hours, when busy or when unanswered. Remove the forwarding and your number works exactly as before.
Can an AI phone receptionist transfer calls to my mobile?
Yes. Transfer rules follow your hours, so emergencies go to whoever is on call and everything else goes to the office, or becomes a message if nobody answers.
How long does setup take?
Forwarding a phone to an AI app takes minutes, which is why some providers advertise setup in five. A receptionist that books correctly takes longer: the working session on your business, the script, the calendar and CRM connections, and our own test calls with the awkward questions. We give you the go live date at the demo, and nothing answers your customers until you have heard it yourself.
What should I ask an AI receptionist provider before signing?
Six things. Who writes and updates the script. Whether it is billed per minute, per call or flat, and what the overage is in a busy month. How it hands a call to a person. What the greeting says about recording and about being an AI. Where recordings and transcripts are stored, who can access them and how long they are kept. And for a medical or dental practice, whether the provider will sign a business associate agreement.
Does it work after hours and on holidays?
Yes, that is where most of the value is. Evenings, weekends and holidays are when calls are most likely to go unanswered and the callers most likely to try someone else.
Can it book into my calendar or booking software?
It books into Google Calendar and Outlook, and into booking software that offers an integration. We check yours before setup and tell you plainly if it cannot connect, rather than finding out after launch.
Can it speak Spanish?
Yes, and other languages your callers speak. It switches when the caller does, and the script is checked in each language rather than left to machine translation.
How does it learn about my business?
From a working session with you: your services, hours, area, price ranges, common questions and the things it must never promise. That becomes its knowledge base, and it is updated whenever your business changes.
AI receptionist or answering service: which is better?
It depends on your calls. Long, sensitive, infrequent calls can suit a person. Frequent, short calls that are mostly about booking usually suit an AI answering service better, especially with a person behind it for the rest.
What is the best AI receptionist for a small business?
The one set up properly for your calls. The voices are all good now; what differs is the script, the integrations, the handover rules and whether anybody reviews the calls. Judge any option on those, ours included.
Will it sound robotic?
Modern voices are natural enough that most callers simply get on with the call. What sounds robotic is a vague script, so that is where we spend the time.
Do you guarantee it will never miss a call?
No. A phone carrier outage or a forwarding setting changed by mistake can stop calls reaching it. We monitor for both and tell you if calls stop arriving, but nobody can honestly guarantee every call.
Who owns the recordings and caller data?
You do. Recordings, summaries and contacts are kept in your own accounts and CRM, so if you stop working with us, everything stays with you.
Is there a long contract?
No. A start long enough to judge it fairly, then no notice period holding you after that.
Ready when you are
Stop sending callers to voicemail
Tell us when your phone goes unanswered and we will show you what an AI receptionist for small business would say in those hours, built from your own business, before you commit to anything.