Best Virtual Receptionist Ireland in 2026: 6 Compared on Cost

Looking for the best virtual receptionist in Ireland? We compared 6 virtual receptionist services that sell in Ireland, people and AI. We looked at what they cost in euro at 100 calls a month, when they answer and what you sign.

Our pick for most small businesses is Jodie: it answers every call, day and night, for a flat €49 a month. Irish sign-ups are on a waitlist for now.

Jodie is our own product, so we also show where others win, like Bot Bureau for booking on a budget.

Key takeaways

What a virtual receptionist actually is (and what it is not)

A virtual receptionist is a person or an AI that answers your business phone from somewhere else, in your business name, and passes on what the caller needs.

You may also see it called a remote, live or dedicated receptionist, or virtual receptionist services.

A good one does five jobs:

• Answers in your business name.
• Takes the caller's name, number, Eircode and reason for calling.
• Books appointments into your diary.
• Puts urgent calls through to your mobile.
• Covers evenings and bank holidays, if your plan does.

People or AI: the two types

• People at an agency. Kendlebell and Call Pal use trained staff. People handle unusual or upset callers better.
• AI: software that talks to the caller. Jodie, Bot Bureau, VoiceFleet and AI Receptionist Ireland answer every call at once. The AI asks your questions, then sends you the details. It costs the same at 3am as at 3pm.

What a virtual receptionist is not

A virtual receptionist is not a virtual assistant and not a job: it answers your phone. It is also not:

• Voicemail. The caller talks to someone, and the job gets written down.
• A virtual office. That sells you a business address, not call answering.
• Someone at your office door. It cannot greet visitors or sign for parcels.

If you only need messages taken, our guide to telephone answering services compares that market.

Still deciding between a person and an AI? Read AI receptionists vs answering services.

How we ranked these virtual receptionists

We scored every service on six things:

• Cost at 100 calls a month. 100 calls of 2 minutes each (200 minutes), on the cheapest published plan, with setup fees shown on their own.
• What the cheapest plan includes. Messages only, or booking and transfers too.
• Hours covered. Does it answer 24/7, or office hours only?
• Contract and notice. How long you are tied in.
• Free trial. Can you test it with real calls first?
• Who answers. A person or an AI.

We took every price and term from each provider's own website in October 2026. We only included services that sell in Ireland, and where a figure is not published, we say so.

Jodie is our product. We ranked it first because it wins on cost and hours for most small businesses. We say plainly where another service is the better buy.

The best virtual receptionists in Ireland in 2026

Here are 6 virtual receptionist services that sell in Ireland: 2 with people and 4 with AI. Each one is the best pick for a certain kind of business and budget.

Every entry starts with the facts and who the service suits. Then it shows what you get, what it costs and one thing to watch out for.

1. Jodie, best for owner-run businesses that miss calls while they work

Jodie is an AI receptionist. It answers in your business name, asks the questions you set and takes down the job, Eircode included.

What you get

• A summary by email after every call. The call also sits in the Jodie app, with the recording and transcript.
• 24/7 answering on every plan, bank holidays included. You keep your number and divert your calls to Jodie.
• Professional adds booking, call transfers and team members.
• Premium adds priority support and Zapier links to other apps.

What it costs

• Our Irish list prices are €49 a month for Basic, €99 for Professional and €199 for Premium, all ex VAT. We confirm them when your place opens.
• Basic has unlimited minutes, under fair use of up to 1,000 calls a month. So 50, 100 or 200 calls all cost €49.
• Month to month, with no setup fee. Paying yearly gets you two months free.
• Irish sign-ups are on a waitlist for now, so there is no free trial or start date yet.

Watch out for: Jodie is an AI, not a person, and the €49 Basic plan does not book appointments or transfer calls (Professional at €99 does).

2. Kendlebell, best for Irish people answering in office hours

Kendlebell is an Irish answering service with live PAs (personal assistants). Every call is answered by a person, never a bot.

What you get

• PAs who follow a script you agree. They take messages, transfer calls and can update your diary.
• Standard hours of 8.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, lunch included.
• Extended hours and 24/7 cover on request, at a price it does not publish.

What it costs

• From €55 a month for up to 10 calls, on its price calculator.
• About €270 ex VAT at 100 calls, on the same calculator. The Virtual Receptionist add-on is €35 a month more, making €305.
• A free trial you can ask for by phone.
• A 3-month minimum, then 30 days' notice to leave.

Watch out for: evenings and weekends are not in the standard hours, so ask what after-hours cover costs before you sign.

3. Call Pal, best for an Irish-based team with a 2-week trial

Call Pal is a call answering service with Irish-based receptionists. It answers in your company's name and follows your script.

What you get

• Priority callers put through to you, or a message emailed to the right person.
• An online portal that shows your last 30 days of messages.
• Business hours: 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, and 9am to 3pm on Saturday.

What it costs

• Price on quote. Call Pal does not publish its prices, so we could not work out a cost at 100 calls.
• A 2-week free trial, the longest published trial on this page.
• A 3-month minimum, after which it rolls month to month.

Watch out for: there is no price list and no Sunday cover in the standard hours, so get the quote and the out-of-hours plan in writing.

4. Bot Bureau, best for booking, transfers and an Irish number on a budget

Bot Bureau is an Irish AI phone assistant based in Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin. For €50 a month, you get 180 minutes and a local Irish phone number.

What you get

• Answers 24 hours a day.
• Books appointments into Google, Outlook and Apple calendars.
• Transfers calls to a person when a rule you set says so.
• Booking and transfers on the €50 plan, while Jodie needs its €99 plan for those.

What it costs

• €50 a month for 180 minutes. VAT is added where it applies.
• €0.24 for each extra minute, charged by the second.
• €54.80 at 100 calls of 2 minutes. You use 200 minutes: €50 plus 20 extra minutes.
• No setup fee and no long-term contract. The free trial needs no card, and optional Assisted Setup is a one-off €100.

Watch out for: the bill grows with every minute over 180.

5. VoiceFleet, best for lots of AI minutes at one price

VoiceFleet is an AI receptionist sold in Ireland. Its Starter plan is €99 a month for 500 minutes, which VoiceFleet says is about 200 calls.

What you get

• Answers 24/7 on Starter.
• Takes basic appointment requests and links to your calendar.
• Puts calls through to your staff on the Growth plan, at €299 a month.

What it costs

• €99 a month on Starter, the same at 50, 100 or 200 two-minute calls.
• Extra minute packs if you run out, but their price is not on its pricing page.
• A 7-day free trial on every plan, with no setup fee and no contract.
• VAT not stated. VoiceFleet does not say whether its prices include VAT.

Watch out for: with its hard stop on, the AI stops taking new calls when your minutes hit zero, until you top up or renew.

6. AI Receptionist Ireland, best for a fully managed AI set up for you

AI Receptionist Ireland sells a fully managed AI receptionist. It builds your receptionist for you, connects it to your number and keeps it up to date.

What you get

• Answers 24/7 on every plan.
• Booking into your calendar on Starter.
• Live transfers to you start on Premium, at €467.

What it costs

• Peace of Mind, the smallest plan: €69 a month for up to 60 minutes, plus a €115 setup fee. Extra use costs €35 for each 30-minute block.
• Starter: €227 a month for 250 minutes. It also has a one-off setup fee it does not publish.
• At 100 calls of 2 minutes, Starter is the cheapest way to cover 200 minutes, at €227 ex VAT. Peace of Mind would cost €244.
• Rolling monthly, with no contract. It offers a free demo, but no free trial is published.

Watch out for: the €69 plan does not book, putting calls through to you needs the €467 plan, and most setup fees are only given on a call.

Other options we looked at

Dromlik is an Irish phone system with an AI receptionist add-on, not an answering service.

• €15 a user a month for the phone system.
• €100 a month more for the AI receptionist, with 200 minutes. Extra 200-minute blocks cost €75.
• About €115 a month for one user with the AI, at 100 two-minute calls.
• €5 a month for a new local Irish number. Moving your own number across is free.
• No setup fees. Dromlik does not say whether its prices include VAT.

We left out virtual assistant agencies, which do admin, not your phone, and services that do not sell in Ireland.

Virtual receptionist services in Ireland compared side by side

Here are all 6 services side by side, using the six things from our method.

Cost at 100 calls means 100 calls of 2 minutes each, on the cheapest plan that covers them.

On VAT:

• Jodie, Kendlebell and AI Receptionist Ireland quote prices ex VAT.
• Bot Bureau adds VAT where it applies.
• VoiceFleet does not say.

Which virtual receptionist fits your business?

Find the row that sounds most like you.

What Irish businesses should check before you sign

1. Your number. With Jodie, you keep your number and divert your calls to it. Bot Bureau includes a local Irish number, and Dromlik moves yours across for free.
2. Bank holidays and out of hours. Kendlebell and Call Pal work office hours as standard. Ask what happens to a call at 10pm or on St Patrick's Day.
3. GDPR. Ask where call recordings are kept.
   • Jodie's privacy policy applies EU GDPR and the Irish Data Protection Act 2018, as far as they apply to us.
   • Recordings and transcripts are processed in Ireland and the United States, under safeguards such as the EU Standard Contractual Clauses.
   • You can switch either off.
4. VAT. Ask whether the price includes it, because not every provider says.
5. The questions it asks. Will it take the Eircode, how urgent the job is, and whether it is a new customer?

Before you switch, ring the service yourself, out of hours too, and ask it something awkward.

What results look like: the monthly bill at 50, 100 and 200 calls

Say 100 people ring you in a month, and each call lasts 2 minutes. That is 200 minutes. Here is what that month costs:

• Jodie: €49, at our Irish list price.
• Bot Bureau: €54.80.
• VoiceFleet: €99.
• AI Receptionist Ireland: €227, plus a one-off setup fee.
• Kendlebell: about €270 with people, or €305 with its Virtual Receptionist add-on.

So people cost more than AI. At 100 calls, Kendlebell is more than five times Jodie's price.

Here is the same bill at 50, 100 and 200 calls.

Jodie's €49 costs less than Bot Bureau at every volume here, and it stays €49 up to 1,000 calls.

If you need booking and transfers:

• Jodie Professional is €99.
• Bot Bureau has both for €50.
• So for those, Bot Bureau costs less up to about 190 two-minute calls a month.

A flat price does not grow with your calls. On a minute plan, one 6-minute call costs three times as much as a 2-minute one. On Jodie, it costs nothing extra.

Here is what owners who use Jodie say about it.

Join the Jodie waitlist in Ireland

Jodie is not taking new Irish customers yet. Join the waitlist and we will email you when a place opens.

Joining is free, and there is nothing to cancel.

When your place opens:

• You set Jodie up in under 10 minutes from your website.
• You divert your calls to it and keep your number.
• Jodie answers every call, day and night, and emails you a summary with the recording and transcript.