AI Receptionist Pricing: What Wedding Venues Should Pay

The market for AI-powered lead response tools has exploded. Prices range from $29/month to $1,599/month - and the cheapest option isn't always the worst deal. Here's how to figure out what you actually need.

TL;DR: What You'll Learn

• AI receptionist pricing falls into three models: per-call ($2-$5 each), per-minute ($0.75-$2.50), and flat-rate per-lead ($1.49-$15.99 each)
• Generic AI receptionists start at $29/month but don't integrate with The Knot, WeddingWire, or wedding-specific workflows
• Wedding-specific tools like Mikla ($149/month) and VenueAI ($399+/month) include marketplace integrations and tour booking
• A venue getting 80 monthly leads across all channels should budget $149-$249/month for full multi-channel coverage

The Three Pricing Models (and Which One Costs You More)

Before comparing specific services, understand how they charge. The pricing model matters more than the sticker price.

Per-Call Pricing

Services like Smith.ai charge $2-$5 per answered call. This sounds reasonable until you realize it only covers phone calls. Your website form leads, The Knot inquiries, WeddingWire messages, and email leads aren't included.

Math example: 40 calls/month at $3 average = $120/month. But you still need to manually handle the 150+ non-phone leads that come through other channels.

Best for: Businesses that genuinely only need phone coverage and have separate systems for everything else.

Per-Minute Pricing

Ruby Receptionists and similar services charge by the minute. Plans range from $319/month for 50 minutes to $1,079/month for 500 minutes. They round up to the nearest 30-second increment, so a 31-second call costs you a full minute.

Math example: 50 calls averaging 3 minutes each = 150 minutes. At Ruby's rate, that's roughly $639/month - for phone only.

Best for: High-touch businesses where call length varies dramatically and call volume is low.

Per-Lead Flat Rate

Services like Mikla charge a flat monthly rate that includes a set number of leads across all channels. $149/month covers 50 leads whether they come from phone calls, website forms, The Knot, WeddingWire, emails, or DMs.

Math example: 50 leads/month from all channels = $149/month total. Per-lead cost: $2.98 - and every channel is covered.

Best for: Wedding professionals who get leads from multiple sources and want one system handling everything.

6 Services Compared: Features and Pricing

Here's what you're actually getting at each price point.

1. Dialzara - $29/month

The budget option. Dialzara offers pure AI phone answering with basic lead capture. It handles calls, takes messages, and can answer simple questions about your business.

What you get: AI phone answering, basic lead capture, 7-day free trial.

What you don't get: No The Knot/WeddingWire integration. No email monitoring. No tour booking. No follow-up automation. No wedding-specific features.

Per-lead cost at 50 calls/month: $0.58 (phone only)

2. Allo - $25-$45/month per user

Allo positions itself as an affordable AI answering service. The Starter plan ($25/month) gives you 30 minutes of AI receptionist time. Business ($45/month) unlocks unlimited answering.

What you get: AI call answering, unlimited calls on Business plan, basic CRM.

What you don't get: No marketplace integrations. No multi-channel lead capture. No wedding-specific knowledge base. No automated tour booking.

Per-lead cost at 50 calls/month: $0.50-$0.90 (phone only)

3. Smith.ai - $95/month (AI) or $292/month (Live)

Smith.ai is the most established virtual receptionist service. Their AI plan starts at $95/month for 50 calls, with live human agents available as backup on higher plans.

What you get: AI phone answering, live agent escalation option, 7,000+ integrations, lead qualification, spam blocking, bilingual support (add-on), 14-day guarantee.

What you don't get: No website form monitoring. No The Knot/WeddingWire. No email inbox monitoring. No automated follow-ups. No wedding-specific training.

Per-lead cost at 50 calls/month: $1.90 (AI) or $5.85 (Live) - phone only

4. Mikla Starter - $149/month

Mikla is an AI sales assistant built specifically for wedding professionals. It captures and responds to leads from every channel: phone, website forms, The Knot, WeddingWire, email, and social DMs.

What you get: Multi-channel lead response (all channels), 50 leads/month, automatic tour booking with calendar sync, wedding-specific knowledge base (your pricing, policies, floor plans), 6-touch follow-up sequences, unified inbox, spam filtering, white-glove onboarding (Mikla's team configures everything for you), 30-day free trial.

What you don't get: Limited to 50 leads/month on Starter. No live human agent backup (escalates to your team instead).

Per-lead cost at 50 leads/month: $2.98 (all channels included)

5. Mikla Pro - $249/month

Same as Starter with higher capacity.

What you get: Everything in Starter plus 100 leads/month across all channels.

Per-lead cost at 100 leads/month: $2.49 (all channels included)

6. VenueAI - $399-$1,599/month

VenueAI is another wedding-specific tool. It offers AI-powered responses via SMS, email, and a local phone number with personalized follow-up.

What you get: AI lead response, SMS and email, tour booking, follow-up sequences, managed setup.

What you don't get: Pricing starts at $399/month - 2.7x more than Mikla for similar features. Smaller platform with less infrastructure scale, which drives the higher price point. Limited self-service options if you prefer to customize things yourself.

Per-lead cost at 50 leads/month: $7.98-$31.98 depending on plan

The Comparison Table

Why "Cheap Per Call" Is Expensive for Wedding Venues

Here's where most venue owners get tricked by pricing pages.

A $29/month AI receptionist looks like a steal. But wedding venues don't just get phone calls. A typical venue receives leads from 5+ channels:

• Website contact forms: ~40% of all leads
• The Knot and WeddingWire: ~35% of all leads
• Direct emails: ~15% of all leads
• Phone calls: ~10% of all leads

If you buy a phone-only AI receptionist, you're automating 10% of your lead pipeline. The other 90% still requires you to manually check The Knot, refresh your WeddingWire inbox, monitor emails, and respond to form submissions - exactly the work you were trying to eliminate.

Real scenario: A venue gets 120 leads/month. With a phone-only service at $95/month, you're covering about 12 phone leads. The 108 remaining leads from forms, marketplaces, and email go unanswered until you or your staff get to them. Average response time for those? 42 hours - by which point the couple has already booked tours at three other venues.

With Mikla Pro at $249/month, all 120 leads get a response within 5 minutes. Tours are booked automatically. Follow-ups run on autopilot. That's a fundamentally different business outcome for $154/month more.

How to Calculate Your Actual Cost

Use this formula to compare apples to apples:

True monthly cost = subscription + (overflow leads x per-lead overage) + cost of unmanaged channels

The "cost of unmanaged channels" is the tricky one. If a service only handles phone calls, estimate the value of leads you're losing on other channels.

Industry data shows responding within 5 minutes makes you 21x more likely to qualify a lead. If your average wedding booking is worth $15,000 and you're losing even 2-3 bookings per year to slow response on non-phone channels, that's $30,000-$45,000 in lost revenue.

A $149/month service that captures those bookings pays for itself with a single additional wedding per year. Everything after that is profit.

The Decision Checklist

You need a phone-only AI receptionist ($29-$95/month) if:

• Phone is your primary lead source (50%+ of inquiries)
• You already have systems handling email, forms, and marketplace leads
• You get fewer than 30 total leads per month
• You don't need automated tour booking or follow-ups
• Budget is your top constraint

You need a multi-channel AI sales assistant ($149-$249/month) if:

• Leads come from The Knot, WeddingWire, forms, email, AND phone
• You're getting 30-100+ leads per month across all channels
• You want automatic tour and appointment booking
• Follow-up is inconsistent (most leads get 1-2 attempts)
• You're spending 10+ hours/week on repetitive lead management
• You want one inbox instead of juggling 5+ platforms

You need a premium solution ($399+/month) if:

• You're a high-volume venue (200+ leads/month)
• You need enterprise-level customization beyond standard offerings
• Budget isn't the primary concern - results are
• You want a dedicated account manager for ongoing optimization

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a $29/month AI receptionist good enough for a wedding venue?

For phone calls alone, budget options work fine. The problem is that phone calls represent only about 10% of wedding venue leads. You'll still need to manually manage website forms, marketplace leads, and emails. If you're comfortable with that split, a cheap phone-only tool saves money. If you want all channels automated, you'll need a more comprehensive solution.

Do I really need The Knot and WeddingWire integration?

If you advertise on either platform, absolutely. Marketplace leads are time-sensitive - couples expect responses within an hour, and the average venue takes 8+ hours. An AI sales assistant that responds to marketplace inquiries in under 5 minutes converts these leads before competitors see the notification. If you don't use marketplaces, a phone-focused tool might be sufficient.

What's the ROI on a $149/month AI sales assistant?

The average wedding venue booking is worth $10,000-$25,000. If faster response times and automated follow-ups help you close even one additional wedding per year, that's a 5,500%-16,700% return on a $1,788 annual investment. Most venues report seeing results within the first month through captured after-hours leads alone.

Ready to capture leads from every channel without overpaying? Discover how Mikla helps wedding professionals respond to every inquiry in under 5 minutes. Get started at vendors.mikla.ai with a 30-day trial - setup takes 15 minutes, not 15 days.