Best After Hours Answering Service Ireland in 2026: Out of Hours Cover

Looking for the best after hours answering service in Ireland? We compared 7 services on what out of hours call answering costs, who picks up at 2am and how an urgent call reaches you.

Our pick for most small businesses is Jodie: it answers every call, evenings, weekends and every bank holiday included, for a flat €49 a month ex VAT with unlimited minutes.

Jodie is not taking new Irish customers yet, so you join a waitlist. If you need cover now, the other six are below.

Key takeaways

What an after hours answering service actually is (and what it is not)

An after hours answering service answers your business phone when you are closed: in the evening, overnight, at weekends and on bank holidays. In Ireland it is also called out of hours call answering.

It works in three steps:

1. You divert your number when you close. You keep your number.
2. It answers in your business name. It collects the caller's name, number, Eircode and job, or books them in.
3. It tells you what came in, and flags what is urgent.

Irish owners cover calls after 6pm in four ways:

• Voicemail. Free, but many callers hang up on a missed call and ring the next business.
• Divert to your mobile. Free, but you are on call every night.
• A traditional answering service. A person answers from a script, often in an Irish call centre.
• An AI receptionist. Software answers at once, at any hour, for a flat price or set minutes.

For daytime cover, see our main answering service comparison.

What it is not:

• Not voicemail.
• Not a phone menu that reads out your opening hours.
• Not a call centre that makes sales calls for you.
• Not an emergency service. Anyone in danger should ring 112 or 999.

How we ranked these after hours answering services

We judged every service on six things:

• Cost of 100 night calls. 100 calls a month, each 2 minutes long, on the cheapest plan each provider publishes.
• Nights, weekends and bank holidays. Who picks up at 2am, and whether it costs more.
• How an urgent call reaches you. Put through, or sent by email, app, WhatsApp or SMS.
• How you are billed. Flat monthly, per call, per minute or by package.
• Contract and notice. The minimum term, and the notice to leave.
• Free trial. How long it lasts, or money back instead.

We read each provider's own pricing pages and terms on 15 October 2026. Where a figure is not published, we say so. We did not ring each service as a customer.

Jodie is our own product. We rank it first, and we show where others do better, such as taking new Irish customers today.

After Jodie, a service moves up for each of these it meets:

• It answers overnight at no extra charge.
• It publishes a price you can work out.
• You can leave within a month.
• You can try it first, with a free trial or your money back.

Ties go to the cheaper one at 100 calls.

The best after hours answering services in 2026

We compared 7 services that answer calls for Irish small businesses out of hours, all priced in euro. Jodie comes first because every call costs the same flat price at any hour.

The rest move up for each check they pass. Read the "best for" that sounds like you.

1. Jodie, best for small businesses that want one flat price at any hour

Jodie is an AI receptionist. She answers in your business name and asks your questions, such as the Eircode and the job.

What you get

• If a caller asks something she cannot answer, she takes the details so you can ring back.
• A summary after the call by email and in the Jodie app, with the recording and transcript.
• Bookings, call transfers and team members on Professional. Basic does not book jobs or put calls through.
• Zapier and priority support on Premium.

What it costs

• Basic is €49 a month ex VAT with unlimited minutes, under fair use of up to 1,000 calls a month.
• The same price at 3am, with no setup fee, month to month.
• Professional is €99 and Premium is €199.
• We confirm these Irish list prices when your place opens.

Watch out for: Jodie is not taking new Irish customers yet, so you join a waitlist, and some callers prefer a human to AI.

2. Ringvox, best for Irish trades that want AI at a low monthly price

Ringvox is an AI receptionist built for Irish trades. It answers in an Irish voice, in your business name, when you cannot get to the phone.

What you get

• Cover in the evenings, at weekends and on bank holidays.
• The caller's details: name, job, address with Eircode and a callback number.
• Anything urgent flagged.
• A summary to your WhatsApp and email within a couple of minutes.

What it costs

• €59 a month with 100 call minutes, then €0.25 a minute.
• 100 calls of 2 minutes cost €84.
• No contract and no free trial, but you get a 30-day money-back guarantee.
• VAT: its page does not say whether prices include VAT.

Watch out for: past 100 minutes you pay by the minute, so 200 calls of 2 minutes would cost €134.

3. VoiceFleet, best for a big minute allowance with emergency flagging

VoiceFleet is an AI receptionist with an Irish site.

What you get

• 24/7 AI answering on Starter, with basic appointment capture.
• Emergency flagging and calendar integration.
• Transfer to a person as an add-on, included from Growth (€299 for 1,000 minutes).

What it costs

• Starter is €99 a month for 500 minutes, which it says is about 200 calls.
• No overage charge. With its hard stop on, the AI pauses new calls when your minutes reach zero, until you top up or renew.
• A 7-day free trial on every plan, with no setup fee and no contract.
• VAT: its page does not say whether prices include VAT.

Watch out for: with the hard stop on, a busy spell can pause your cover, so check your minutes before a bank holiday weekend.

4. AI Receptionist Ireland, best for a fully managed AI set up for you in Dublin

AI Receptionist Ireland builds, trains and runs your AI receptionist for you, from Dublin.

What you get

• Answers day and night, weekends and bank holidays included, at no extra cost.
• Live transfers on Premium (€467) and Business.
• Calls billed per second.

What it costs

• Peace of Mind (entry plan): €69 a month ex VAT for up to 60 minutes, plus a €115 setup fee. You can switch it off when you do not need it.
• Extra time is €35 per 30 minutes.
• Starter is €227 a month for 250 minutes, plus an unpriced setup fee. You need it for 100 calls of 2 minutes.
• Rolling monthly, and no free trial is published.

Watch out for: the price climbs fast with minutes, and at 100 calls it costs over four times Jodie Basic.

5. Kendlebell, best for a person answering in office hours with 24/7 on request

Kendlebell is a Dublin team with over 20 years in Irish call answering. Every call is answered by a real human, never a bot.

What you get

• Normal hours of 8:30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday.
• A full 24x7 service if you need it, but night cover is a quote.
• A free trial, but its length is not stated.

What it costs

• Priced by calls a month on its online calculator, in normal hours.
• €55 ex VAT for up to 10 calls, and €270 for 100.
• A virtual receptionist add-on is €35 a month.
• A 3-month minimum term, then 30 days' notice.

Watch out for: night cover costs extra and you cannot price it up front, so ask for the 24x7 price in writing, bank holidays included.

6. Call Management, best for a 24/7 Irish contact centre

Call Management is an Irish-owned contact centre in Cork. It has run a 24 by 7 phone service since 2001.

What you get

• An out of hours service that runs 24x7x365.
• A shared team of agents takes your calls, or a dedicated one if your volume needs it.
• On-call escalation, so an urgent call can go to whoever is on call that night.
• Every call logged and recorded. It holds ISO certificates for quality and information security.

What it costs

• No published prices, contract terms, trial or setup fee.
• You fill in a form for a quote.
• Ask what a night call costs, and whether bank holidays cost more.

Watch out for: you cannot work out the bill before you talk to sales.

7. The Phone Answering Service, best for evening and weekend cover with no extra charge

The Phone Answering Service is an Irish call centre in Castlebar, Co. Mayo. It suits a business whose calls run late into the evening and through the weekend, but stop at bedtime.

What you get

• A person answers in your company name.
• Your messages then arrive by SMS and email straight after the call.
• It also takes diary bookings, and it offers 1800 and 0818 numbers.

What it costs

• Its packages are priced on low, medium or higher call volumes.
• It says there are no extra charges for lunchtime, evening or weekend cover.
• No published prices, contract terms, trial or setup fee.

Watch out for: it does not say whether it answers overnight, so if you get calls at 2am, ask before you sign.

After hours answering services compared side by side

How to read the table:

• Cost at 100 calls is 100 calls of 2 minutes each, on the cheapest published plan.
• Checked 15 October 2026, ex VAT where the provider says so.
• Setup fees are extra.
• "Not published" means the provider does not say on its own pages.

We also checked Call Pal, an Irish team in Dublin, Galway and Limerick:

• Hours: weekdays 8am to 6pm and Saturdays 9am to 3pm, so it does not cover nights.
• Trial and term: a 2-week trial and a 3-month minimum.
• Price: none published.

Do you need 24/7, or just evenings and weekends?

Look at two normal weeks of your call log. Count the after hours calls: after 6pm, at weekends and on bank holidays.

• If they stop by 8pm and you are shut on Sundays, evening and weekend cover may be enough.
• If any come overnight or on a bank holiday, choose a service with real 24 hour cover.

You can divert your phone only when you close. Jodie picks up day or night, at weekends and on bank holidays like St Patrick's Day, whenever your calls are diverted to her.

Bank holidays are where cover most often slips. Ireland has ten a year, St Brigid's Day included. Get them covered in writing.

How an urgent out of hours call reaches you

First, decide what is urgent: a burst pipe, no heat in January, a tenant locked out. The rest can wait.

Whoever answers should take the Eircode, the fault and a callback number. Then a service can:

1. Put the call through to your phone now.
2. Send you the details straight away, so you can ring back.
3. Log it for the morning.

A good service lets you set the rule, so a quote request does not wake you.

Here is how Jodie does it:

• On every plan, the caller's details reach you by email and in the Jodie app straight after the call.
• On Professional (€99) and Premium, you can set rules that put certain callers straight through to you or a colleague.
• Basic does not transfer calls.

Others on the list:

• VoiceFleet flags emergencies.
• AI Receptionist Ireland transfers calls on Premium.
• Call Management offers on-call escalation.

Appointment scheduling at night needs Jodie Professional or a provider's booking plan.

Anyone in danger should ring 112 or 999.

Which after hours answering service fits your business?

The best after hours answering service for a small business depends on your night calls: how many you get, and whether you want a human or AI. Find your row:

For more on your trade:

• Trade pages: plumbers, electricians, property managers and solicitors.
• Guides: after hours emergency calls for plumbers and out of hours calls for property managers.

What results look like

Say you run a one-van plumbing firm in Galway. A quiet month brings 10 calls after 6pm and at weekends, and a cold snap brings 100, each about 2 minutes.

Here is the monthly bill on each plan we could price.

• Setup: AI Receptionist Ireland adds €115 on its entry plan, unpriced on Starter.
• VAT: Ringvox and VoiceFleet do not say if prices include VAT.

At every volume here, Jodie's €49 is the lowest published price. Fair use up to 1,000 calls a month means a busy month does not change it. But you can only start once a place opens.

Ringvox is the cheapest you can start today. Traditional services with a person cost more: Kendlebell shows €270 ex VAT for 100 calls in office hours.

Here is what Jodie customers say:

Questions to ask before you sign

Ask each provider on your shortlist, and get the answers in writing.

• Do nights, weekends and bank holidays cost more?
• Who answers at 2am, and where?
• Will it take the Eircode, the fault and a callback number?
• How does an urgent call reach me, and on which plan?
• Is it billed per call, per minute or per second, and what happens when minutes run out?
• What is the minimum term and notice?
• Where are recordings kept? (Jodie: processed in Ireland and the United States under safeguards such as the EU Standard Contractual Clauses. You can switch recording off.)
• Can I test it first? Divert your line one evening and ring it from another phone.

Join the Jodie waitlist

Jodie is not taking new Irish customers yet. When a place opens, here is what happens:

1. You divert your number to Jodie when you close.
2. She answers in your business name and asks your questions.
3. She sends a summary by email and in the Jodie app, with the recording and transcript.

Basic is €49 a month ex VAT, month to month. Join the waitlist and we will tell you when your place opens.