The short answer
An answering service is worth it when the jobs it catches are worth more than its monthly price. One missed call is worth your booking rate times your average job, so a business with $400 jobs that would book half its missed callers loses about $200 every time the phone goes to voicemail. If callers happily leave messages, voicemail may be enough.
Here’s how to check it with your own numbers in a few minutes, the signs it will pay off, and when voicemail or a missed-call text is enough.
Updated October 27, 2026. CoveDesk is one of the services on this page; other companies’ prices and features are from their own websites, linked below.
If missed calls × what each is worth is bigger than the service’s cost, it’s worth it. The missed call calculator and the answering service cost calculator do both halves in a couple of minutes.
In those cases, a clear voicemail greeting and a text back to missed calls cover most of the gap for less. Our voicemail greeting generator writes both.
Yes. There are two kinds now: live receptionist services, where a person answers, and software voice assistants, which pick up instantly and cost less. Many companies offer both. The best answering service for small business guide compares ten of them with their published prices.
When a call goes to an answering service, the caller is answered in your business’s name, asked for their details and what they need, and told when you’ll call back. Urgent calls can be put straight through to you.
| Option | What callers get | Nights and weekends | Urgent calls | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voicemail | A greeting and a beep. Many hang up and call someone else. | Same greeting, all night. | Wait until you check messages. | Included with your phone. |
| On-call cell phone | You, when you can pick up. | Whoever carries the phone. | Straight to you, if you answer. | Your time and sleep. |
| Missed-call text back | A text from your business right after the missed call. They can reply with what they need. | Texts any time; you reply when you can. | Depends on the service; some ring you for emergency words. | A monthly fee. CoveDesk Text-Back: $99/mo. |
| Live answering service | A person picks up, takes the details and sends them to you. | Most cover 24/7. | Put through or sent to whoever is on call. | Usually the highest per minute. See published prices below. |
| Software voice assistant | A computer voice picks up and takes the details. | 24/7. | Depends on the plan; transfers may cost more. | Usually the lowest per minute or per call. |
| CoveDesk Front Desk | A trained voice assistant, set up and run by our team, picks up in your business’s name and texts you the details. | Day or night, every day. | Put straight through to you. | $249/mo with 250 minutes included. |
| Receptionist on payroll | Your own person, in your office. | Only during their hours. | They find you. | Wages plus payroll taxes and benefits. |
For owners who answer most calls themselves and want the missed ones covered.
$99 a month
Or $990 for the year: 2 months free
What you get:
Recommended
For owners who are on jobs all day and lose work to voicemail.
$249 a month
Or $2,490 for the year: 2 months free
Everything in Text-Back, plus:
For owners who want the phones and the online side handled together.
$449 a month
Everything in Front Desk, plus:
Paying for the year? Tell us within 30 days of paying and you get the whole year back. After that, the plan runs to the end of the year with no refund for the months left, then moves to month-to-month.
Voicemail, texts, an answering service or a receptionist: what each costs and gets you.
How answering services bill, published prices, and the extra fees to ask about.
What it is, how it works, the texting rules, and when it’s enough on its own.
Tell us how your calls come in today and we’ll suggest the simplest setup, even if it isn’t CoveDesk.
