The three options at a glance
| Voicemail | Live answering service | AI receptionist (Greeta) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who answers | Nobody — the caller leaves a message or hangs up | Human operators | An AI that identifies itself as your automated assistant |
| How you pay | Usually part of your phone plan | Varies by provider — often a monthly fee, per-minute, or per-call; ask for a written quote | Monthly plan: Complete Solo $139, Growth $299, Pro $499; extra voice minutes $0.30 each |
| Books into your calendar on the call | No | Depends on the service and your setup — ask | Yes — Square or the Greeta calendar, live availability |
| Hours | Always on, but nobody listens until you do | Check the provider’s hours | 24/7 |
Plans and prices change, so check each provider’s current terms. Greeta’s are on the pricing page; Booking, Text, and Voice plans start lower than Complete.
The real-cost worksheet
Real monthly cost = subscription + overages + your time returning calls + bookings lost
Bookings lost = missed calls per week × 4.33 × share who wanted to book × average booking value. Our missed-call cost guide walks through it step by step, and the calculator does the math for you.
Worked example (made-up numbers, not statistics)
Suppose a business misses 10 calls a week, half of those callers wanted to book, and the average booking is worth $60. That’s 10 × 4.33 × 0.50 × $60 ≈ $1,299 a month in bookings at risk. These inputs are examples — use your own.
Against that, a $139 plan pays for itself after 3 bookings a month at $60 each (139 ÷ 60 ≈ 2.3, rounded up). Voicemail “costs” nothing on the invoice but leaves the whole $1,299 exposed; an answering service reduces that only if it can actually book.
Questions to ask any provider
- What is the billing unit — month, minute, call — and what happens when I go over?
- Can it book, reschedule, and cancel in my calendar, or only take a message?
- Which hours and languages are covered?
- Can calls ring me first and only fall back to the service when I don’t answer?
- What is the contract length and how do I cancel?
For a side-by-side view, see Greeta vs answering service and Greeta vs voicemail.
Questions to ask before you choose any option
Whatever you’re comparing, the same handful of questions separates a helpful setup from an expensive inbox:
- Does it book into my real calendar, or only take a message I still have to act on?
- What happens at 9 pm on a Sunday, or when two calls arrive at once?
- Which languages can it handle, and what happens with a caller it can’t help?
- Can a caller still reach a real person when it matters?
- How does the price change if call volume doubles?
A simple way to decide
If you get only a few calls a week and can reliably return every one the same day, voicemail may be all you need. If calls mostly ask for the same things — book, move, cancel, hours — and you’re often with a customer when they come in, an AI receptionist that books directly removes the callback step entirely. If calls are long, sensitive, or need judgment every time, a human service (or your own team) is still the better fit. Many businesses end up mixing them: Greeta answers when you can’t, and calls can be set up to reach a person when needed.