On the AI receptionist vs hiring cost question, the gap is wide: a front-desk hire runs thousands a month for 40 hours a week, while Ava is $297/month flat for all 168 hours — 24/7, nights, weekends, and holidays included.
You're not just comparing two prices. You're comparing 40 hours of coverage against round-the-clock coverage, and one salary against one flat rate that never surges.
A part-time or full-time CSR isn't just their wage. Add payroll taxes, benefits if you offer them, training time, sick days, PTO, and the weeks you're covering the phones yourself when they're out. Even a modest hire clears $3,000–$4,000+ a month by the time it's all counted — and that person goes home at 5.
Ava is $97 the first month, then $297/month flat, unlimited calls, and she never clocks out. The 7 PM broken-spring call and the 2 AM trapped-car call both get answered at the same flat rate.
The sticker price is only half of it. The other half is the hours a human can't cover:
Do the math on your own shop:
You can also run Ava alongside a hire — let your office manager work daytime bookings and customers, and let Ava catch overflow, after-hours, and the calls that used to hit voicemail.
For the deeper breakdown, see how flat-fee AI receptionist pricing stacks up, and if you're weighing a live service instead of a hire, the answering-service cost comparison.
If you're answering your own phone between jobs, or paying someone to cover a fraction of the week, you're leaving the highest-intent calls uncovered. Ava closes that gap for a fixed cost you can budget around.
Call the live demo and have Ava call you now — hear exactly what your customers will hear when they call your shop.