What an AI receptionist costs in Australia, and what the quotes leave out

Ask three AI receptionist companies for a price and you get three different units: a price per call, per minute, or per conversation. One quotes in US dollars. One leaves out GST. One needs a year up front. It is hard to compare, so we read the pricing pages and wrote down what they say.

We build these, so our own price is on the list, under the same rules as the rest. Every figure below comes from the company's own pricing or terms page, read on 27 October 2026. Prices change, so check the page before you decide.

By the minuteYou pay for the time the AI spends on calls. Hooroo, Johnni AI, Trillet, Dialzara and Sozou.

By the callYou pay for each call it answers, however long. Smith.ai.

By the conversationYou pay for each chat or text thread. Aussie Business AI, which does website chat and text-back, not phone calls.

Jodie charges a flat fee for unlimited minutes, and Podium publishes no price.

What they charge

These sell phone answering, and charge for it by the minute:

• Hooroo (Australian). A$149 a month for 100 minutes, 100 texts and its own Australian mobile number; A$249 for 200 minutes. Extra minutes cost A$0.20 and A$0.18. GST is included and there is no lock-in.
• Johnni AI (Brisbane). A$49 a month for 60 minutes, up to A$899 for 1,500 minutes, with extra minutes from 50c down to 35c. Its page says prices exclude GST. There is no setup fee.
• Trillet. US$49 a month for 150 minutes, then US$0.20 a minute. No contract and no setup fee.
• Dialzara. From US$29 a month for 60 minutes, up to US$349 for 1,000 minutes. Its numbers are American; it says Australian numbers are available on request.
• Sozou (us). A$68 a month and A$98 to set up, for 100 shared inbound and outbound minutes. It answers, takes callback requests, sends summaries and connects to one calendar. Phone numbers and carrier charges are separate. GST is included.

These charge by the call or by something else:

• Smith.ai (US). US$150 a month for 75 calls, US$270 for 150, US$500 for 300, or a free tier of 25 calls. Extra calls are US$2.50 on the 75-call plan. Month to month.
• Jodie (a London company with Australian prices). A$99, A$199 or A$399 a month with unlimited minutes. Taxes are extra.
• Waboom. An A$500 call credit and an A$130 monthly platform fee for Australia, with GST excluded on the pricing page.
• GoHighLevel. A platform you build on rather than a finished service: US$97 a month, and AI Employee plans of US$50 or US$97 for each sub-account. Voice minutes, text-to-speech, the AI model and phone numbers are charged on top.
• Podium. It publishes no price. Its terms (version 7.0, effective 15 October 2026) say the default term is 12 months and renews automatically, fees are paid annually in advance and are not refundable, and GST is payable on top for Australian customers.

One that is not like the others: Aussie Business AI charges A$199 or A$399 a month for 300 conversations, but those plans are website chat and missed-call text-back. Its pricing page lists no phone answering, so do not read that price as the cost of a receptionist on your phone line.

Six things the quote leaves out

1. The unit. To compare a per-minute plan with a per-call plan, you need your own numbers. Sixty calls a month averaging three minutes is 180 minutes. Hooroo's A$149 plan covers 100 of them, and the other 80 cost A$16.
2. GST. Some of these prices include it and some do not. Johnni AI, Waboom, Jodie and Podium leave it out, so add 10% before you compare them with Hooroo or us.
3. The currency. Smith.ai, Trillet and Dialzara price in US dollars. Your bank converts it, and the rate moves.
4. The phone number and carrier charges. Some plans include a number and some charge for one. Ask whether calls forwarded from your existing number cost extra.
5. The term. Most of the above are month to month. Podium's default is a year, paid up front. Ask what happens if you stop in month two.
6. What it actually does. Answering the phone, chatting on your website and texting back a missed call are different jobs, and the price follows the job.

100 included80 extra

Hooroo Pro: A$149 + 80 × A$0.20 = A$165 (GST included)

150 included30 extra

Trillet: US$49 + 30 × US$0.20 = US$55 (US dollars)

The same 180 minutes priced from each plan's own page on 27 October 2026. The currencies differ, so this is a worked example, not a ranking.

Compared with a person

Since 1 July 2026 the National Minimum Wage is A$26.44 an hour, or A$1,004.90 for a 38-hour week, and A$33.05 an hour for a casual, which includes the 25% loading (Fair Work Ombudsman). That is the floor, before superannuation, leave and a desk. A receptionist on the minimum for a full week costs at least about A$4,350 a month.

38 h130 h: evenings, nights and weekends

A standard full-time week is 38 hours, out of the 168 hours in a week. Leave, breaks and sick days make the person's share smaller still.

The comparison is not fair to either side. A person covers their hours and can do a hundred things. An AI receptionist covers the calls nobody answers: the evening, the lunch break, the second call while you are on the first. If you are not missing calls, it saves you nothing. We wrote about how to count them first.

Ask how it hands over to a person

The most useful question is not on any pricing page. When the software cannot help, what happens? In our October count of low-rated reviews of notes apps (we explain it in another post), 8 of the 40 mentions of AI we read were from people stuck talking to an AI support bot that would not pass them to a human. Ring any test line you are given, ask something it should not answer, and see whether it offers you a person or a callback.

What to do this month

1. Count your missed calls for two weeks, and their length.
2. Ask each company the same question: the price including GST for that many calls and minutes, what is extra, whether the number is included, and the shortest term.
3. Ring the test line with five real questions, one in a language your customers speak.
4. Check the greeting says it is an AI.

This is general information, not financial advice.