The AI receptionist category ranges from $25 toys to four-figure front offices, and the marketing pages all sound identical. The fastest way to cut through it is a checklist of questions that vendors can't answer vaguely. Here are the twelve we'd ask before buying — including the ones where we're honestly not the right answer.
The capability questions (1–5)
- "What happens after you answer?" The category's dividing line. Message-takers stop at "I'll pass that along." Real front-office tools qualify, book, sell, and log. If the answer is "we send you a transcript," you're buying expensive voicemail.
- "Does it call my new web leads back, and how fast?" Inbound answering is half the job. Velocify measured a 391% conversion lift for callbacks within a minute; ask the vendor to demonstrate theirs, with a stopwatch.
- "Can it book directly into a calendar — and take payment?" Booked-and-paid beats booked beats message-taken. Ask which of the three their product actually delivers. Ours does all three for unregulated sales; details in how payment on the call works.
- "What happens when a caller insists on a human?" The right answer is clean routing to your team with context. The wrong answers are "it keeps trying" or a shrug.
- "Does the CRM fill itself in, or am I the data-entry department?" If every call still needs your typing, you've automated the greeting and kept the homework.
The economics questions (6–9)
- "Is pricing flat or metered?" Per-minute pricing punishes exactly the weeks you need help most — the storm surge, the seasonal rush. Get the all-in number for your busiest imaginable month, in writing. See flat vs. per-minute.
- "What am I comparing the price against?" A $49 message-taker competes with voicemail; buy it if voicemail is your only problem. A full front office competes with payroll — roughly $20,500 a month for a staffed reception, sales, and back office on our math. Price both against the job you're actually hiring for.
- "Who does the setup and maintenance — and what happens when I change my prices?" DIY platforms hand you the wrench. Done-for-you services own it. Neither is wrong; know which you're buying and what your hours are worth.
- "What's the exit?" Data export, contract terms, cancellation. Any vendor who makes leaving hard is telling you something about staying.
The proof questions (10–12)
- "Can I call your demo right now, unscripted?" The only honest test in this category is a live, messy phone call where you try to break it. A vendor with no callable demo is a vendor asking for faith. (Ours: 518-629-1415, any hour.)
- "What happens on the calls it can't handle?" Every AI has edge cases. Good vendors explain their failure modes and routing; bad ones claim there are none.
- "What's the guarantee?" Get specific terms in writing. Ours is plain: live in 7 days of sending your business details or your first month is free, with a $99 three-day trial before any real commitment.
Where we're honestly not the answer
If your only problem is missed calls and your budget is two digits, buy the $49 message-taker — really. If human backup on the line is a hard requirement, Smith.ai's hybrid plan does what we don't. If you're an agency that wants to build and resell, a platform like GoHighLevel is the better toolkit. The full field, compared honestly: AI receptionist alternatives and the best AI receptionist for a small business.
What a staffed front office costs per month
Typical U.S. payroll estimates for the roles, vs. ZilchWork's Solo tier covering all four.
The one-call shortcut
Every question above collapses into one test: call the vendor's demo like your angriest, most rushed customer, and see what exists in their system when you hang up. Booked appointment with confirmation text? Front office. Transcript in an inbox? Voicemail in a nicer voice. Ours picks up at 518-629-1415, or try it in the browser.
FAQ
What's the single most important question on the list?
#1 — "what happens after you answer?" It splits the entire category into message-takers and front offices, and every other question hangs off that answer.
How much should an AI receptionist cost?
$25–$199 for answering-only tools; $997+ for done-for-you front offices priced against payroll. The mistake is comparing the two as if they're the same product. See the full 2026 cost breakdown.
Should I trial more than one vendor?
Yes — call every demo with the same messy scenario and compare outcomes, not voices. It takes an afternoon and saves a year of the wrong tool.
What's a red flag that ends the conversation?
No callable demo, no written guarantee, or metered pricing nobody will total for you. Any one of the three predicts the relationship.
Does ZilchWork pass its own checklist?
Call 518-629-1415 and run it — questions 1 through 12, live. That's the honest way to find out, and it costs you three minutes.