Jodie - AI Answering Service

Moneypenny answering service

A cheaper alternative to Moneypenny

Hey Jodie answers your calls 24/7 with AI from £49/month - no per-call fees, no minimums.

From £49/month, no per-call charges
24/7 included, set up in minutes
Cancel anytime, no monthly minimums

Trusted by 1,600+ UK service businesses

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Moneypenny call answering cost vs Hey Jodie

Two ways to stop missing calls. The differences come down to who picks up, what you pay, and how fast you can be live.

Hey Jodie Moneypenny
Call answering cost From £49/month From ~£100/month (custom quote)
24/7 cover Included on every plan Higher tier - separate add-on
Pricing model Flat monthly, unlimited minutes Monthly fee plus per-call or per-minute charges
Pricing transparency Published on /pricing Custom quote required
Who answers Trained AI receptionist Human PA team
Setup time Minutes - forward your phone Briefing period required
Channels Voice (WhatsApp and SMS on the roadmap) Voice and live chat
Contract Cancel anytime, no minimums Monthly minimums apply

Pricing comparison reflects Moneypenny's published information at the time of writing. Their pricing is custom and varies by plan and call volume - request a quote for figures specific to your business.

What does Moneypenny actually cost?

Moneypenny does not publish UK pricing on their site. Here's the typical customer band vs Hey Jodie's flat plan.

Pricing band

Quote required. Typical UK customer range cited in third-party comparisons.

Hey Jodie (Basic, flat)£49/mo
Typical competitor range£100-£300/mo

Moneypenny does not publish UK pricing on moneypenny.com/uk. The typical customer band shown reflects figures cited in third-party UK comparison reviews; request a quote from Moneypenny for figures specific to your call volume. Hey Jodie Basic is flat monthly with unlimited minutes at your locale rate.

Three reasons small businesses pick Hey Jodie

Verifiable differences, not marketing claims. Each is sourced from public information about both services.

01

Pricing you can see before you call sales

Hey Jodie publishes every plan on the pricing page. £49/month for Basic, £99/month for Professional, £199/month for Premium. Moneypenny's pricing is custom, with the headline figure typically starting around £100/month and rising fast once you add 24/7 cover.

£49/month vs roughly £100+ for the basic Moneypenny plan.

02

Live in minutes, not after a briefing call

Forward your phone and Jodie starts answering - no onboarding call, no briefing document, no PA training period. Moneypenny needs a briefing period so the human PA team can learn your business.

Most users go from signup to taking calls in under ten minutes.

03

Built for the trades, not the corporate front desk

Moneypenny built its name on human PAs for big brands and law firms. Hey Jodie is built for plumbers under sinks, accountants in tax season, and electricians on jobs - industry-specific scenarios baked into how Jodie answers.

Real scenarios for plumbers, accountants, electricians and estate agents - the trades whose calls Jodie was built to answer.

How the same call sounds on each side

Moneypenny's pitch is human PAs. Here's the same call - a new lead at 9pm with a leaking boiler - answered by a human PA and by Hey Jodie's AI.

Scenario: New lead at 9pm: boiler leaking, pressure dropped, needs same-night callout

Competitor

Moneypenny human PA

  1. PA

    Good evening, [your business name], how can I help?
  2. Caller

    My boiler is leaking. Pressure has dropped right down. I need someone tonight if possible.
  3. PA

    I am very sorry to hear that. May I take your name and number?
  4. Caller

    Yes, Mark Davies, 07700 900123.
  5. PA

    Thank you Mark. The team will be back in tomorrow at 8am - I will get this through to them first thing.
  6. Caller

    OK, thanks.
Outcome: Message taken. Callback queued for the next business day. The PA could not commit to a same-night response without speaking to the trader.

Hey Jodie

Hey Jodie AI

  1. Jodie

    Hello, this is Jodie answering for [your business name]. How can I help?
  2. Caller

    My boiler is leaking. Pressure has dropped right down. I need someone tonight if possible.
  3. Jodie

    That sounds urgent - leaking boiler with low pressure. Is the water turned off at the stopcock? Where roughly are you and what's the postcode?
  4. Caller

    Yes, I turned the water off. SW6 6BD. Can someone come tonight?
  5. Jodie

    Thanks Mark. I have logged this as a same-night emergency callout in SW6, water off, leaking boiler with low pressure. The on-call engineer will ring you back inside fifteen minutes. May I have a contact number?
  6. Caller

    Yes, 07700 900123.
  7. Jodie

    Great. Engineer will call 07700 900123 inside fifteen minutes. If you don't hear back, ring this number and I'll escalate. Safe evening.
Outcome: Emergency triaged, postcode captured, stopcock confirmed, callback SLA set. The trader sees the job on their phone before the next call lands.

Both calls were answered politely. The first took a message; the second captured the job, confirmed the safety question, and set a callback window the trader can act on. That is the difference between a PA service and a built-for-trades AI.

What each side publishes

Moneypenny's PA-style positioning is premium - and so is the pricing opacity. Here's what you can see before you book a sales call.

Hey Jodie Moneypenny
Base monthly price
Hey Jodie: £49 Basic / £99 Professional / £199 Premium published. Moneypenny: quote required.
Per-call or per-minute rate
Hey Jodie publishes the flat plan. Moneypenny does not publish billing units on the public site.
Setup or briefing fee
Hey Jodie: £0 setup. Moneypenny: briefing period required, fee structure not on the public site.
Free trial (no card)
Hey Jodie offers 7 days free with no card. Moneypenny offers a sales call only.
Contract / notice period
Hey Jodie: cancel any month from the dashboard. Moneypenny: monthly minimums and notice apply per quote.
Total first-year cost calculable from public info
Hey Jodie: 12 x flat plan. Moneypenny: requires a sales call to compute.

Moneypenny answering service - common questions

How much does Moneypenny cost?

Moneypenny does not publish UK pricing on their site - you have to request a quote. Their basic plan typically starts around £100 a month for limited call answering during business hours, with 24/7 cover and higher call volumes pushing the price into the £200-£300 range. Hey Jodie publishes pricing on the pricing page: £49/month Basic, £99/month Professional, £199/month Premium - all with unlimited minutes.

How does Moneypenny work?

Moneypenny forwards your business calls to a team of UK-based human receptionists who answer in your business name. They take messages, transfer urgent calls, and forward leads via email. Hey Jodie does the same job with AI - same call forwarding setup, same call handling pattern, but with a flat monthly plan instead of per-call billing and 24/7 cover included as standard.

What is the best AI answering service?

There is not one right answer - it depends on your industry and how technical your callers are. Hey Jodie is built for trades, accountants, and small service businesses where calls are about jobs and quotes. We publish all pricing, set up in minutes, and do not require a briefing period. Try it for 7 days free; if it is not the right fit, cancel in one click.

How much do calls cost per minute?

Moneypenny typically bills per call or per minute on top of a monthly fee, with rates that vary by plan. Hey Jodie plans include unlimited minutes - you pay the flat monthly fee and that is it. The Basic plan at £49/month covers call answering, message taking, and lead capture by text and email.

Will my customers know it is an AI?

Jodie sounds natural and is trained on your business, so most callers think they are speaking to your office. If a caller asks directly whether they are talking to a person, Jodie will not pretend to be human - we think that is the right line, and it has not become a friction point with the trades and service businesses we work with.

How long does it take to switch from Moneypenny?

Hey Jodie setup takes a few minutes - you forward your phone and Jodie starts answering. Cancelling Moneypenny depends on your contract terms with them, which usually means giving notice on the monthly minimum. Most businesses run both for 5-7 days during the cutover - Jodie picks up first, Moneypenny stays as a backup until the notice period clears, then you cancel.

How to switch from Moneypenny to Hey Jodie

Move from a custom-quoted PA service to a published-price flat plan. Run both for a week, then give notice per your Moneypenny agreement.

Total time: Under 1 hour active time, 5-7 days parallel + notice per contract

  1. Start your 7-day Hey Jodie trial

    5 minutes

    Sign up at the register page. No card needed. You get your Hey Jodie phone number on the spot.

  2. Forward your business number to Hey Jodie

    10 minutes

    Set conditional forwarding (busy / no answer / always) from your phone provider to the Hey Jodie number.

  3. Run both services in parallel for 5-7 days

    5-7 days

    Hey Jodie picks up first; Moneypenny stays as a backup. Listen to a few call recordings to confirm the AI handles your call shape - intake, message-taking, qualified hand-off.

  4. Check your Moneypenny notice period

    Same day

    Moneypenny contracts include monthly minimums and a notice period that depends on your specific agreement. Check yours before cancelling so the bill stops on the date you expect.

  5. Give Moneypenny notice and remove the old forward

    Per contract notice

    Notify your Moneypenny account manager per the notice period. Once the final billing cycle ends, leave the forward to Hey Jodie in place and confirm a test call lands.

Buyer's guides

See where this fits in the wider market

This comparison is part of our independent buyer's guides ranking the whole field.

Try Hey Jodie before your next Moneypenny renewal.

7 days free. No card needed. Cancel in one click.

First 7 days free, then pricing from £49/month