Best After Hours Answering Service NZ in 2026: Who Answers at 2am

Looking for the best after hours answering service in NZ? We compared 5 services on what night cover costs, who answers at 2am and how an urgent call reaches you.

Our pick for most small businesses is Jodie. It answers every call at any hour, public holidays included, for a flat NZ$99 a month + GST with unlimited minutes. Jodie is not taking new New Zealand customers yet, so you join a waitlist.

Some services only answer after 6pm if you switch it on, and charge more when you do.

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 public holidays.

It works in three steps:

1. You divert your number when you close. Your calls pass to the service, and you keep your number.
2. It answers in your business name. It takes the caller's details, or books them in.
3. It tells you what came in, and flags what is urgent.

There are four ways NZ owners cover calls after 5pm:

• Voicemail. Free, but many night callers ring the next business instead.
• Divert to your own mobile. Free, but you are on call every night.
• A human answering service. A person answers, and you pay per call or per minute.
• An AI receptionist. Software answers at once, at any hour, for a flat price or by the minute.

For daytime and overflow cover, see our main answering service comparison.

What an after hours answering service 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 111.

How we ranked these after hours answering services

We judged each service on six things:

• Cost of 100 night calls. 100 calls a month, each 2 minutes long, on the cheapest published plan, + GST where the provider says so. Setup fees are listed separately.
• Nights, weekends and public holidays. Who picks up at 2am, and whether night calls cost more.
• How an urgent call reaches you. Whether a caller can be put through to you, and how messages arrive: email, app or SMS.
• How you are billed. Flat monthly, per call or per minute.
• Contract and notice. The minimum term, and the notice you give to leave.
• Free trial. How long it lasts, and whether you need a card.

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

Jodie is our own product. We rank it first, and we show where others cost less or do things Jodie does not.

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.
• It offers a free trial.

Ties go to the cheaper one at 100 calls.

The best after hours answering services in 2026

We compared 5 services that answer calls for New Zealand businesses after hours. Jodie comes first because every call costs the same flat price at any hour.

Every pick has a "best for", so read the one that sounds like you.

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

Jodie is not taking new New Zealand customers yet. You join a waitlist until a place opens.

Jodie is an AI receptionist. She learns your services from your website, answers in your business name and asks your questions.

What you get

• A summary straight after the call, by email and in the Jodie app, with the recording and transcript.
• Unlimited minutes, under fair use of up to 1,000 calls a month.
• The same price at 3am, at weekends and on Matariki.

What it costs

• Basic: NZ$99 a month + GST. No setup fee, and it is month to month.
• Professional: NZ$199. It adds bookings, call transfers and team members. Basic does not book jobs or put calls through.
• Premium: NZ$399. It adds Zapier integrations and priority support.
• Under about 35 night calls a month, Talkify or ReceptionHQ can cost less.

We confirm these NZ list prices when your place opens.

Watch out for: Jodie is AI, not a person, and some callers would rather talk to a human.

2. Talkify, best for after hours AI with public holidays included

Talkify is a New Zealand AI receptionist that charges by the minute. Nights, weekends and public holidays are inside the price.

What you get

• On Broadcast, up to 3 agents on one number with no per-seat fees, and 3 calls at once.
• Calendar links and a mobile app.
• NZ$10 of free credit to start. There is no free trial, but the credit lets you try it.

What it costs

• Pay as you go: NZ$10 a month for your number, then NZ$1 a minute.
• Broadcast: NZ$199 a month for 200 minutes and 50 texts, or NZ$129 a month for the first 3 months. That covers 100 calls of 2 minutes, at about twice Jodie's price.
• A year of Broadcast: NZ$1,990 + GST. Its pages do not say whether monthly prices include GST.
• No setup fee and no lock-in.

Watch out for: you pay by the minute, so long calls cost more and a busy month can run past 200 minutes.

3. ReceptionHQ, best for live receptionists on a small per-call plan

ReceptionHQ is a human answering service. On its MessageExpress plan, a receptionist answers in your business name and takes a message.

What you get

• Weekday cover as standard, from 8am to 6pm. Later calls go to voicemail.
• After hours answering if you turn it on. Its terms let group companies in Australia, the US and the UK cover calls outside local hours.
• A 7-day free trial and no cancellation fee.

What it costs

• Pay as you go: NZ$19 a month plus NZ$2.00 a call.
• Bundles: 25 calls for NZ$55, 50 for NZ$95 and 100 for NZ$165.
• Night calls cost more. Each call outside 8am to 6pm on weekdays, or on a national public holiday, costs NZ$0.60 more on MessageExpress. On MyReceptionist it costs NZ$1.00 more.
• All prices are + GST, with no setup fee.

CallCare is the same business: its terms say "ReceptionHQ Ltd trading as CallCare", and both are in Blenheim. CallCare works on quotes, with a 7-day trial on its Lite plan and 30 days' notice.

Watch out for: night calls cost extra, so 100 after hours calls come to NZ$225 + GST, against Jodie's NZ$99.

4. Answer Services NZ, best for message-only cover handled in New Zealand

Answer Services NZ is a New Zealand call centre. Its calls are handled in New Zealand, across two sites, so one site can keep answering if the other goes down.

What you get

• Message Only, its simplest service. A person answers, takes a clear message and sends it to you by email or SMS.
• Call transfers on bigger plans.
• Setup first. It sets up your greeting and the rules for night calls, including who to ring when a call is urgent.
• A short pilot, then 24/7 cover switched on if you need it.

What it costs

• It does not publish prices, a contract length or a setup fee, so you ask for a quote.
• Ask for a quote for your busiest month, with public holidays included.

Watch out for: you cannot see the price before you talk to it.

5. First Contact, best for an established NZ team around the clock

First Contact has answered calls for New Zealand businesses since 1989. Its team is in New Zealand.

What you get

• Telephone Assist, its message-taking service. A person answers in your business name and takes the caller's details.
• Your message as soon as the call ends, sent to your mobile, your email or both.
• Cover around the clock, including weekends and public holidays.
• Business Assist, a fuller service it sells for more than messages.

What it costs

• It does not publish prices, a free trial or a setup fee, so ask about each one.
• No long-term lock-in. It says it does not lock you into long-term commitments.
• Get the quote in writing, and check whether nights and public holidays cost more.

Watch out for: there is no rate card.

After hours answering services compared side by side

How to read the table:

• Cost at 100 calls means 100 calls of 2 minutes each, all after hours, on the cheapest published plan, checked 15 October 2026.
• Prices are + GST where the provider says so.
• "Not published" means the provider does not say on its own pages.

We also checked The Call Centre, which publishes neither its hours nor its prices, so we could not cost it.

Do you need a 24 hour answering service, or just evenings and weekends?

Look at two normal weeks of your call log. Count the calls after 6pm, at the weekend and on public holidays.

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

You can divert only when you close, so your team still takes calls in the day. Jodie picks up day or night, public holidays included, whenever your calls are diverted to her.

Public holidays are where cover most often slips. Ask in writing whether Matariki, Christmas and your regional anniversary day are covered, and at what price.

After hours call answering: how an urgent call reaches you

First, decide what counts as urgent. For example:

• A burst pipe.
• No power on a winter night.
• A tenant locked out.

Everything else can wait for the morning.

A service can do three things with a night call:

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

A good service lets you set the rule, so a quote request does not wake you. If you run an on-call roster, ask if urgent calls can go to whoever is on that night.

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, with the recording and transcript.
• On Professional (NZ$199) and Premium, you can set rules that put certain callers straight through to you or a colleague.
• Basic does not transfer calls.

Most other providers do not publish how night calls are passed on, though Answer Services NZ agrees the rules with you at setup. For the rest, use the questions below.

To have night callers booked into your diary, you need Jodie Professional, or a provider with calendar links such as Talkify.

An answering service is not an emergency service: anyone in danger should ring 111.

Which after hours answering service fits your business?

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

The Jodie rows apply once your place opens from the waitlist.

For more on your trade, see:

• Our pages for plumbers, electricians, tradies and property managers.
• Our guides to after hours emergency calls for plumbers and after hours calls for property managers.

What results look like

Say you run a two-van plumbing firm. Your night, weekend and public holiday calls last about 2 minutes each.

Here is what 10, 30 and 100 of them cost on each plan we could price.

Jodie and ReceptionHQ are + GST. Talkify Broadcast is NZ$129 for the first 3 months.

What the numbers show:

• Under about 35 night calls a month, Talkify pay as you go and ReceptionHQ cost less than Jodie Basic.
• At 100 calls, Jodie's NZ$99 is the lowest published price on this list, once your place opens.
• A cold snap that doubles your calls does not change it, because fair use runs up to 1,000 calls a month.
• If you need a person rather than AI, ReceptionHQ is the only one here with a published price.

Here is what Jodie customers say:

Questions to ask before you sign

Put these to each provider on your shortlist, and get the answers in writing.

• Night rates. Do nights, weekends and public holidays cost more, or need to be switched on?
• The night team. Who answers at 2am, and are they in New Zealand?
• Urgent calls. How does an urgent call reach me, and on which plan?
• Billing. Is it per call or per minute? Do wrong numbers count? What happens when the minutes run out?
• Contract. What is the minimum term, and how much notice do I give?
• Your number. Can I keep my number and divert only when I close?
• Recordings. Where are recordings kept? (Jodie: processed in Ireland and the United States, not New Zealand, and you can switch recording off.)
• A test call. Can I test it on my own number first? Divert your line one evening and ring it from another phone.

Join the Jodie waitlist

Jodie is not taking new New Zealand customers yet. Join the waitlist and we will tell you when a place opens.

Then divert your number to Jodie when you close, and she answers in your business name. After each call you get a summary by email and in the Jodie app, with the recording and transcript.

Our NZ list price is NZ$99 a month + GST, month to month, with no setup fee, and we confirm it when your place opens.