How Much Does an AI Receptionist Cost in the UK? (2026 Pricing Guide)
Pricing transparency is rare for clinic AI receptionists: of the six tools UK clinics commonly evaluate, only two publish pricing (verified June 2026). Ivy by Verbalise publishes full rates — £197/month plus 55p per minute, VAT inclusive — and Motics (our product) publishes its credit-based usage model: plans sized to your call volume, credits shared across its other agents, free to start. Aeva, InTouchNow, QuantumLoopAI EMMA, and X-on Surgery Assist all price on request. For context, a full-time receptionist costs a salary plus on-costs, and outsourced call-answering services typically charge a base fee plus per-call rates.
AI receptionist pricing for UK clinics (June 2026)
| Option | Published pricing | Pricing model | Setting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Motics Phone Agent | Credit-based usage plans; free to start (rates at motics.ai/pricing) | Usage — calls draw on a clinic credit pool shared across Motics agents | Private & allied-health clinics |
| Ivy (Verbalise) | £197/month + 55p/minute, inc. VAT | Fixed monthly fee + per-minute | Private MSK/allied-health clinics |
| Aeva AI | Pricing on request | Not published | Private clinics (Cliniko) |
| InTouchNow | Pricing on request | Not published | NHS GP practices |
| QuantumLoopAI EMMA | Pricing on request | Not published | NHS GP surgeries |
| X-on Surgery Assist | Pricing on request (add-on to X-on platform) | Not published | NHS GP practices |
| Full-time receptionist | Salary plus on-costs | Employment | Any |
| Call-answering service / VA | Typically base fee + per-call rates | Per call answered | Any |
The three pricing models, explained
1. Fixed monthly fee plus per-minute (Ivy)
Ivy by Verbalise publishes the most conventional structure: £197 per month as a base fee, plus 55p per minute of call time, VAT inclusive. The appeal is budgeting certainty — you know the floor — and the trade-off is that the floor exists whether or not the phone rings. It suits established clinics with steady, meaningful call volume; at low volumes the base fee dominates the effective cost per call.
2. Credit-based usage plans (Motics)
Motics prices the way the clinic uses it: you choose a credit plan sized to your monthly volume, calls draw down the pool as they happen, and the same credits are fungible across Motics' other agents — scribe notes, emails, billing tasks — so a quiet month on the phones isn't wasted spend. There's no per-seat licence (the pool is shared, with unlimited users), and you can start free without a card to measure your real volume before choosing a plan size. Current rates are on the Motics pricing page.
3. Quote-only (the NHS-focused tools and Aeva)
Aeva, InTouchNow, QuantumLoopAI EMMA, and X-on Surgery Assist publish no pricing — normal for NHS-facing procurement, where contracts are shaped by list size, integration scope, and deployment support. If you're an NHS practice, budget via a structured quote: ask for the per-practice or per-patient basis, what integration and onboarding cost, and the contract term. If you're a private clinic, treat 'pricing on request' as a prompt to ask the published-price vendors first — you'll negotiate better knowing the market's visible numbers.
How to budget: start from your call volume
- Count your calls. Your phone system (or missed-call log) gives you inbound calls per month. Include the ones that ring out — recovering those is the point.
- Estimate minutes. Booking calls typically run a few minutes; FAQ calls less. Calls per month × average minutes = your volume baseline.
- Price that volume under each model. Under fixed-plus-per-minute, add the base fee to (minutes × rate). Under credits, pick the plan sized to that volume. Under quotes, hand the vendor your numbers and make them price it.
- Then weigh what the call achieves. A cheap AI that takes messages still leaves your team returning calls; an AI that books directly into Cliniko, Nookal, or Meddbase removes the callback entirely. Price per resolved call, not per answered call.
Costs to check beyond the headline rate
- Setup and onboarding: ask whether configuration, call-flow design, and PMS connection are included. (Motics setup can take as little as an afternoon; Ivy runs a white-glove onboarding with capped weekly intake.)
- Escalation behaviour: what happens — and what's charged — when the AI hands a call to your team or takes a message out of hours.
- Volume changes: on usage plans, what happens when credits run out (top-ups vs hard stops); on fixed plans, whether per-minute rates change at volume.
- VAT: Ivy's published price is VAT-inclusive; check whether other quotes are ex-VAT before comparing.
- Contract term: month-to-month vs annual commitments, and what cancellation looks like — trial first on your real call flow.
How we chose
Every competitor price on this page was read from the vendor's public pricing page on 10 June 2026; where a vendor publishes no pricing we say 'on request' rather than guessing. Motics' pricing is described per its credit-based model, with live rates on the Motics pricing page. Adoption context comes from the independent HMDG Private Practice Barometer 2026 (700+ UK clinic owners), in which Motics was the most-mentioned AI receptionist (37 mentions).
Motics is our product, and this page compares pricing models we sell against ones we don't — read it with that in mind, and check the linked vendor pages directly. For the full capability comparison of these six tools (booking, integrations, compliance), see our AI receptionist buyer's guide.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an AI receptionist cost for a UK clinic?
Of the six tools UK clinics commonly evaluate (verified June 2026): Ivy by Verbalise publishes £197/month plus 55p per minute, VAT inclusive; Motics publishes a credit-based usage model — plans sized to your call volume, credits shared across its other agents, free to start, with current rates on its pricing page. Aeva, InTouchNow, QuantumLoopAI EMMA, and X-on Surgery Assist all price on request. Your effective cost depends mostly on call volume, which is why usage-based and per-minute models dominate the category.
Is an AI receptionist cheaper than hiring a receptionist?
For coverage, almost always — a full-time receptionist costs a salary plus on-costs and covers roughly 40 hours a week, while an AI receptionist covers 168 hours including evenings, weekends, and simultaneous calls. The honest framing isn't replacement economics, though: most clinics keep their reception team and use the AI to absorb what humans can't — overflow when every line is busy, out-of-hours enquiries, and the calls that currently ring out. Price the AI against missed bookings and overtime, not against a P45.
How does an AI receptionist compare with a call-answering service on cost?
Outsourced call-answering services and virtual assistants typically charge a base fee plus per-call rates, and most fundamentally they take messages or perform basic bookings — your team still does the follow-up work. An AI receptionist charges per minute or per usage credit and, in the private-clinic tools, completes the booking in your practice management system during the call. Compare cost per resolved enquiry rather than cost per answered call: a message that needs a callback isn't resolved.
What drives the cost of an AI receptionist up or down?
Call volume and call length, above all — both per-minute and credit models price on talk time. Secondary drivers: whether bookings complete in your PMS (more capable calls run slightly longer but remove follow-up work), out-of-hours share (no premium on the published models, but it raises total volume), and escalation rates (calls handed to humans early cost less AI time). Setup, onboarding, and contract terms vary by vendor — ask explicitly.
Can I try an AI receptionist before paying?
Yes. Motics is free to start with no card — connect your PMS, test calls in a sandbox, and measure your real volume before sizing a plan. Other vendors handle trials through demos and onboarding conversations; Ivy by Verbalise runs white-glove onboarding with a capped weekly intake, and the NHS-focused tools (EMMA, InTouchNow, X-on) scope pilots through their sales processes. Whatever you trial, ring it yourself with your ten most common call types before putting it on the main line.
What do NHS GP surgery AI receptionists cost?
None of the NHS-focused tools — QuantumLoopAI EMMA, InTouchNow, X-on Surgery Assist — publishes pricing; all quote per deployment, typically shaped by practice list size, integration scope, and onboarding support. If you're budgeting for a practice or PCN, ask each vendor for the pricing basis (per practice, per patient, per call), what's included in onboarding, and the contract term, and get the information-governance documentation (DTAC, DPIA) alongside the quote.
Is an AI receptionist worth it for a small clinic?
If you miss calls, usually yes — and small clinics miss the most, because reception is whoever's nearest the phone between patients. The arithmetic: a routine new-patient enquiry is worth a course of treatment, and usage-based pricing means a low-volume clinic pays little when the phone is quiet. The cases where it's not worth it: call volume so low that voicemail genuinely works, or workflows where every call needs clinical judgement — an AI receptionist handles access and booking, not clinical advice.