"Virtual receptionist" usually means a remote team of people who answer your calls and take messages. An AI receptionist like Vereo picks up in under a second, qualifies the caller, and books the appointment straight into your calendar, 24/7, from $79+GST a month. Both keep you off the phone. The difference is what happens after the call connects. Here is how they compare, and when each one makes sense.
A virtual receptionist is typically a human-staffed answering service. A remote operator picks up under your business name, takes a message or basic details, and passes them on. Because you are paying for people's time, the service tends to run on their roster and their pricing model, often per call or per minute.
An AI receptionist is software that holds the conversation itself. Vereo picks up in under a second, sounds genuinely human, knows your services, hours and FAQs, and books the appointment live on the call. It runs 24/7/365 without a roster, handles up to 20 calls at once, and sends you a transcript and summary after every call.
The honest summary: a virtual receptionist gives you a human voice; an AI receptionist gives you instant pickup, live booking and a record of every call at a flat monthly price. Vereo answers 24/7/365, handles up to 20 calls at once, responds in under a second, books on every call, and delivers a transcript and summary afterwards. Where a virtual receptionist service can win is the human touch on a sensitive or unusual call that genuinely needs a person.
We will be straight with you. If your callers regularly need a person to read a delicate situation or handle something genuinely unusual, a human on the line still has the edge. Vereo is not trying to pretend otherwise.
Many businesses run both. Vereo answers everything instantly, covers overflow and after-hours, books the routine appointments, and warm-transfers with a whispered summary when a call genuinely needs a human, so your team is never caught cold.
Vereo is $79+GST a month with 100 inbound minutes included, plus a one-off $450+GST setup to build and tune your agent. Extra inbound minutes are $0.49+GST per minute, and you can see your usage in the dashboard anytime.
There are no per-seat fees and no lock-in contracts. It is month to month, and most businesses are live within a few business days. We deliberately are not quoting competitor pricing here because virtual receptionist services price in many different ways; run your own numbers against your real call volume with the missed-call calculator below.
A virtual receptionist is usually a remote human team that answers your calls and takes messages. An AI receptionist like Vereo answers the call itself in under a second, qualifies the caller and books the appointment live on the call, 24/7, then sends you a transcript and summary. One gives you a human voice; the other gives you instant pickup, live booking and a record of every call at a flat $79+GST a month.
Vereo uses natural voices with sub-second response, so most callers have a normal conversation and never realise they are speaking with AI. You can also choose to disclose it.
Yes. Unlike a message-taking service, Vereo checks availability and books the appointment live on the call into Google Calendar, Microsoft 365 or your booking system, and sends you a summary afterwards.
Yes, and many businesses do. Vereo answers everything instantly, covers overflow and after-hours, books the routine appointments, and warm-transfers the calls that genuinely need a person to your team.
Vereo is $79+GST a month with 100 inbound minutes included and a one-off $450+GST setup, with no lock-in. Extra inbound minutes are $0.49+GST per minute. Virtual receptionist services price in different ways, so the best comparison is to run your own call volume through the missed-call calculator.
100 inbound minutes included. Everything a growing business needs.
$450+GST one-off setup · extra minutes $0.49+GST/min
High volume, complex call flows or bespoke integrations.
Tailored to your call volume
All prices exclude GST. Outbound calls are charged separately at $0.49+GST/min plus carrier termination and are not deducted from your 100 included minutes.