5 leading virtual answering services for customer calls: Reviewed and compared 

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A virtual answering service handles incoming business calls on your behalf using either live agents, AI, or a mix of both. It’s designed to make sure no call goes unanswered, even when your team is unavailable or at capacity.

These services improve responsiveness, free up your team from repetitive tasks, and help ensure high-quality support at scale, which is essential if you want to see your business grow. By taking on the busywork, they allow your team to focus on complex queries and high-value conversations. 

In this guide, we’ve reviewed five top-rated virtual answering services to help you choose a solution that works for your team and your customers.

TL;DR

Here’s a side-by-side look at the key features, integrations, and pricing for each of the services we’ve reviewed to help you zero in on the right call answering service for your team.

What’s the difference between a virtual answering service and a virtual receptionist service?

A virtual answering service and virtual receptionist service will both handle incoming calls for your business, but there’s a subtle difference between how they manage customer communications.

Virtual answering services use AI to pick up phone calls, capture messages, and handle straightforward customer queries. They’re designed to ensure you never miss important calls, even after hours or during busy periods.

A virtual receptionist service goes a step further, acting as an extension of your existing team. Besides answering calls, an AI call receptionist can schedule appointments, qualify leads, route inquiries to the right departments, and provide more personalised support. Many also integrate with CRMs or ticketing systems.

Take Aircall’s AI Voice Agent, for example. It’s an AI-powered agent that acts as a virtual answering service to handle repetitive queries and capture intent, while also supporting receptionist-style workflows like call routing and lead qualification.

Overall, voice agents are great for basic call answering, while virtual receptionists offer a more comprehensive suite of services.

5 top virtual answering services for growing teams

With so many virtual answering service tools on the market, it can be tough to figure out which will work best for your team. We’ve rounded up five standout options that offer a range of benefits to fast-growing teams.

1. Aircall

Aircall brings intelligent, AI-powered coverage to inbound call handling, from qualifying sales leads to answering support queries, without the need for human intervention.

Our AI Voice Agent helps sales and support teams reclaim hours by handling repetitive inbound calls, qualifying leads, and answering common queries before a human ever needs to pick up.

Built directly into Aircall’s cloud phone system, the Voice Agent slots into your existing call flows with zero friction. You can customize its response messages, define escalation rules, and sync everything to your CRM in real time.

You can train it in minutes, update workflows as your business evolves, and rely on 24/7 coverage that also picks up extra calls during busy periods and seasonal peaks without straining your team. When combined with Aircall AI Assist, which provides post-call summaries and insights, the system delivers front-end speed and back-end intelligence. 

Features: 

• Round-the-clock call answering: Every call gets answered, no matter the time. Aircall’s virtual agents stay available 24/7 to support your customers.

• Auto-capture of caller context: Caller intent and history are captured automatically, so agents never start from scratch or ask for repeat information.

• Customizable voice agent behavior: You can adjust tone, responses, and workflows to reflect your brand and meet specific needs.

• Built-in lead filtering logic:The system qualifies leads based on your rules and sends only the high-intent ones to your team. 

• Flexible usage-based pricing model: Choose a plan that fits your needs with transparent, per-user pricing and optional add-ons that scale with your usage.

• Seamless agent handoff: When human help is needed, the virtual agent smoothly transfers the call with full context so your team can pick up without missing a beat.

200+ integrations, including: 

• ActiveCampaign

• HubSpot

• Intercom

• Microsoft Teams

• Pipedrive

• Salesforce

• Shopify

• Slack

• Zendesk

• Zoho CRM

Pricing:

Aircall offers three standard plans to which you can add an AI Voice Agent and AI Assist:

• Essentials: From $30/month/user

• Professional: From $50/month/user

• Custom: Bespoke packages for 25+ licenses

AI Voice Agent has dynamic pricing charged at $0.49/minute, up to a maximum of   $0.99/minute while AI Assist is charged at an additional $9/license.

Want to stay responsive around the clock? Learn how Aircall’s AI Voice Agent can help.

2. Bland AI

Bland AI delivers conversational AI voice agents that handle inbound and outbound calls, speech-to-action workflows, and multilingual interactions.

Bland AI’s human-like conversational agents can conduct both support and sales calls. Its Pathways function allows you to define conversational flows that automate scheduling, lead qualification, and customer support.

The platform offers custom greetings and prompts, multilingual support, and guardrails to keep conversations on-brand and accurate.

Features:

• Appointment booking: Bland’s AI agents handle appointment scheduling over the phone in real time. They check availability, collect details, and confirm bookings without human intervention.

• Auto-scaling capacity: Whether it’s 50 calls or 5,000, Bland’s infrastructure auto-scales to match demand which ensures smooth, uninterrupted performance at any volume.

• Financial intake for loan inquiries: Bland’s AI has the capability to collect applicant information for loan prequalification, guiding callers through required questions and passing verified leads to your team.

Integrations: 

• Google Calendar

• HubSpot

• Perplexity

• Stripe

Pricing:

Bland charges customers based on the resources they use across voice, SMS, and other interaction types. Custom pricing is available for enterprise accounts.

• Call time (including voice mail): $0.09/minute (billed per second)

• Outbound calls: $0.0015/call

• Transfers: Up to $0.025/minute

• Failed calls: $0.015/call

3. HelloSells

HelloSells is a call answering service that uses professional receptionists to capture leads, qualify prospects, and schedule appointments. 

Live agents are available 24/7 to answer and forward customer calls, ensuring that hot prospects are routed straight to your team.This helps to reduce friction in the buying process and prevent leads from slipping through the cracks.

Features: 

• Warm outbound calling: Real agents follow up on inbound leads in real time, turning interest into conversation with a human touch.

• Lead qualification: With customized scripts and qualification criteria, HelloSells filters out unqualified leads 24/7 so your team only engages with high-intent prospects.

• Document sending: Agents can instantly send proposals, brochures, or follow-up materials during or after the call to keep prospects moving forward.

Integrations: 

• Keap

• Mailchimp

• Slack

• Zoho

Pricing:

HelloSells offers three fixed-price plans along with a custom-priced enterprise package. They don’t charge for the first 30 interactions under 30 seconds per billing cycle, but all interactions are rounded up to the nearest minute and billed accordingly.

• Grow: $359/month for 200 minutes (once-off $49.99 setup fee applies)

• Thrive: $379/month for 300 minutes

• Expand: $599/month for 500 minutes (once-off $49.99 setup fee applies)

4. Posh

Designed for service-based businesses, Posh uses virtual receptionists to support secure client intake and flexible scheduling. 

The platform offers a virtual receptionist service for businesses in the real estate, legal, and healthcare industries. Posh’s professional team of real people answers your calls following customized, compliance-aligned business communication scripts that ensure every customer interaction is handled professionally.

Features: 

• Virtual receptionist app:The Posh mobile app helps you manage your availability, transfer calls, send secure texts, and access messages and contacts from one place.

• Compliant call answering scripts: Every call is answered by U.S.-based professionals who follow your custom scripts and maintain HIPAA-grade compliance which is ideal for industries like healthcare, legal, and real estate.

•  Smart call transfers: Posh agents can transfer calls to you when you’re available. Use the app to set your status or create rules for who gets through, so you stay in control without interruptions.

Integrations: 

• Calendy

• Clio

• HubSpot

• Salesforce

Pricing:

• Chïc: From $65/month for 0 receptionist minutes

• Vogue: From $125/month for 50 receptionist minutes

• Elegant: From $210/month for 100 receptionist minutes

• Luxurious: From $410/month for 200 receptionist minutes

• Prestigious: From $685/month for 350 receptionist minutes

• Lavish: From $950/month for 500 receptionist minutes

• Exclusive: From $1,850/month for 1,000 receptionist minutes

5. Abby Connect 

Abby Connect aims to help its customers capture every opportunity with a call answering service that offers real and AI receptionists plus web chat solutions. 

By supporting both calls and web chat the platform enables cohesive, omnichannel customer engagement. Receptionists answer calls and Abby’s AI generates transcripts, summaries, and provides sentiment insights, helping you to improve service and encourage customer loyalty.

Features: 

• Call summaries and transcripts: The Abby Connect platform provides transcripts, summaries, and sentiment insights for every call, making it easy to scan key details without replaying full recordings.

• AbbyGO mobile app and portal: The AbbyGO app and web portal let you manage availability, track call activity, update preferences, and stay connected to your team on the go.

• Bilingual call answering: Abby’s US-based receptionists are fluent in English and Spanish, helping you connect with a wider range of customers.

Integrations: 

• Google Calendar

• HubSpot

• Salesforce

• Zapier

Pricing:

Abby Connect offers six virtual answering service packages:

• Free: $0/month for up to 20 minutes call time

• Starter: $99/month for up to 50 minutes call time

• Essential: $165/month for up to 100 minutes call time

• Professional: $299/month for up to 200 minutes call time

• Growth: $690/month for up to 500 minutes call time

• Enterprise: Custom pricing for 1,000+ minutes call time

What to look for in a virtual call answering service

Choosing the right virtual answering service means knowing which features matter. Here are the essentials to look out for if you want to improve your customer service without putting additional strain on your team.

24/7 coverage

When you use AI in customer communications, your virtual service agents can answer calls any time of the day or night. 

With around-the-clock availability, call answering AI can provide your customers with consistent service, no matter the time zone they’re phoning from or how busy your team is when a call comes through. 

This not only ensures you won’t miss leads, but also signals reliability to your customers. Something that’s especially important in industries where quick responses can mean the difference between winning and losing business.

Custom greetings, scripts and frequently asked questions

One of the biggest benefits of a voice agent is its ability to automatically and accurately handle routine customer queries. 

By using custom scripts and a library of frequently asked questions, your virtual answering service can deliver helpful, on-brand responses every time. This keeps interactions clear, reduces the need for human intervention, and ensures your customers get the answers they need, fast. It’s a simple way to increase efficiency without sacrificing quality.

Desktop and mobile apps

A virtual answering service that offers both desktop and mobile apps gives your team the flexibility to stay connected wherever they are. Whether it’s checking call logs, reviewing transcriptions, or jumping in to follow up with a qualified lead, having access across devices keeps workflows moving. 

Desktop dashboards often offer deep reporting and integration options, while mobile apps are especially useful for field teams, remote workers, or managers who need visibility on the go. Together, they make it easier to stay responsive without being tied to a physical phone or desk.

Integrations with CRM and helpdesk tools

When it syncs with your CRM or helpdesk, your virtual answering service becomes more powerful. 

Call handling becomes smarter and more efficient as agents can instantly access customer histories and view open support tickets. Reps can also automatically log new tickets and trigger follow-ups. These integrations reduce manual admin, shorten response times, and ensure context is never lost between channels. 

For fast-moving teams, seamless integrations help turn basic call coverage into a fully-coordinated customer experience, which can increase customer satisfaction.

Multilingual call handling capabilities

A virtual answering service with multilingual capabilities can make a world of difference to businesses that have a global customer base. 

Being able to greet and assist callers in their preferred language builds trust, improves clarity, and reduces frustration. It also shows customers that your organization is genuinely committed to accessibility and helps them feel seen and valued. 

Straightforward and quick implementation 

The faster you can get your virtual answering service up and running, the sooner your team can focus on what matters: supporting customers and closing deals.

Look for solutions that offer simple onboarding, intuitive setup, and clear documentation. Turnkey solutions help you avoid wasting time wrestling with configurations or waiting on support. As a result, your team experiences less disruption and a faster return on investment.

Turn to Aircall for a reliable, always-on virtual answering service 

It takes more than the right features to make a great virtual answering service. The solution you choose needs to fit your business today and grow with you tomorrow. 

If your goals include looking to improve responsiveness, reduce pressure on your team, or offer 24/7 support, the right tool can set you apart from the competition. 

Aircall is built for modern, fast-growing businesses that need more than just basic call handling. 

Our AI Voice Agent offers 24/7 support, intelligently qualifies leads, and integrates with the tools your team already relies on. It also ensures a smooth handoff to your human agents, so your team can stay focused on meaningful conversations instead of repetitive tasks.

Stop missing calls and start making every conversation count. Try Aircall for free today. 

Frequently asked questions about virtual answering services

What’s the best AI answering service to answer your calls?

The best AI answering service depends on your needs, but platforms like Aircall stand out for their balance of intelligent automation and seamless handoff to human agents. The AI Voice Agent can handle answer calls and FAQs, qualify leads, and forward calls all while syncing with your CRM to help you provide a seamless customer experience.

How much does a live answering service cost?

Live answering services usually start around $150 to $300 per month, with pricing based either on minutes used or number of calls made. Costs can increase if you add services like lead qualification or appointment setting. AI-powered alternatives like Aircall’s Voice Agent often provide more scalability at a lower long-term cost.

How much does a virtual receptionist cost?

The price of virtual receptionist services vary widely. Basic plans can range from $50 to $100/month, but more advanced services—especially those with integrations, scripting, and lead routing—can reach $500 or more. Tools like Aircall’s AI Voice Agent offer receptionist-style capabilities without the overhead of full-time staffing.

Should you use human agents or AI for virtual answering services?

AI is ideal for handling repetitive queries, after-hours calls, and lead capture, but human agents are still essential for complex or sensitive interactions. That’s why many companies choose hybrid solutions like Aircall, which combines AI call management with live agent support when needed.

Published on September 16, 2025.