What does a telephone answering service cost for freelancers?

In the Netherlands, a telephone answering service costs roughly €25 to €50 a month in subscription fees, plus €1.50 to €3.00 per answered call when there are people on the phone. With an AI receptionist the calls are part of your monthly fee: at callnorah.com you pay €49.00 for 30 calls, €89.00 for 75 calls and €129.00 for 125 calls. Above that, you pay per call.

Which of the two is cheaper depends almost entirely on your call volume. Below are the amounts side by side, with no "from" and no asterisk.

What do you pay per month for your number of calls?

The last column is what you pay at callnorah.com if you choose the most economical plan. That isn't always the cheapest subscription: at 80 calls, Groei is cheaper than Starter with extra calls.

How does it differ from a human answering service?

In the pricing model. A traditional answering service charges per answered call, because every call takes up someone's time. At 80 calls a month, a subscription of €30 plus €2 per call comes to €190. At callnorah.com, the same month costs €97.75. At ten calls a month there's hardly any difference.

On the other hand, a person copes better with a call that's completely out of the ordinary. An AI receptionist is strong at what happens often: answering, noting the question, booking an appointment, transferring the call and sending you a summary. For a one-person business, that covers the vast majority of missed calls.

What does a missed call cost?

That's the sum that really matters. For a plumber or installer, an average job is easily worth a few hundred euros. One missed caller a month who then rings the next name on the list costs you more than a whole year of answering service. That's not a sales pitch but arithmetic you can check yourself: fill in your own average job value and count how often your phone rings while you're lying under a sink.