What is a virtual receptionist?

A virtual receptionist does the job of a front-desk receptionist (answering calls, greeting callers, scheduling, taking messages) but remotely, rather than from a desk in your office. The phone is still where a lot of that work lands: it is the single most-preferred way Americans reach a business for service, chosen by 35% of people, ahead of every other channel (YouGov Profiles, 2025). The term covers two quite different things today: a human working off-site, and an AI receptionist doing it automatically.

Human virtual receptionist vs. AI virtual receptionist

A human virtual receptionist is a person or team at a call center who answers under your business name, usually on shifts and often billed by the minute. An AI virtual receptionist is built to answer every call itself, around the clock, in about a second, for a flat monthly fee. The human can read an unusual call better; the AI never sleeps, never puts a caller on hold, and costs a fraction as much. (A full-time receptionist earns about $37,000 a year at a median wage of $17.90 an hour (BLS, May 2024), and payroll taxes and benefits push the true cost to 1.25 to 1.4 times salary (U.S. Small Business Administration, 2019).)

Which is right for a small business?

It comes down to call volume, complexity, and budget. If most of your calls are routine (booking, screening, answering the same questions), an AI virtual receptionist covers them around the clock for less. If a large share of your calls need genuine human nuance, a human service (or a mix) may fit better. If you're weighing the two head to head, here's how an AI receptionist compares to a virtual receptionist on cost, speed, and coverage. For most small service businesses, the routine calls are the majority, which is why the AI option has grown so quickly. Small firms are adopting the underlying technology in a hurry: 58% of small businesses now say they use generative AI, up from 40% in 2024 (U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 2025).

Where First AI Employee fits

First AI Employee is an AI virtual receptionist built for small businesses (law firms, accounting, real estate, and the trades) that is designed to answer every call for a flat fee starting at $99 a month. See how it works or see the plans.

Key takeaways