An AI receptionist that answers every call.
AI employees pick up your business line, book the appointment, answer the question and hand the rest to your team.
What an AI receptionist is
An AI receptionist is software that answers a business phone line and talks to the caller in natural speech. It greets the caller, asks what they need, books or moves an appointment, answers the questions it has been taught, takes a complete message and puts the call through to a person when one is needed.
AI virtual receptionist, AI phone receptionist and AI front desk are names for the same thing: a voice agent on your own number, in place of a phone menu or voicemail. The caller speaks in full sentences and is answered in full sentences.
At Hanc.AI the AI receptionist is not one script that tries to do everything. It is a small team of AI employees, each trained for one kind of call. Every caller is told at the start that they are speaking with an AI.
For a small business with nobody at the front desk, an AI receptionist is the difference between a call that is dealt with and a call that goes to voicemail. For a business with a front desk, it means the phone stops interrupting the person who sits there.
Four AI receptionists, one job each
A front desk does several jobs at once. Here each job has its own AI employee, and you hire only the ones your phone needs.
The calls an AI receptionist takes off your front desk
Front-desk phone work comes down to six kinds of call. This is who takes each one.
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Booking, moving and cancelling appointments
Marcus asks for the service, the person and the time, checks the calendar and confirms the slot or the change before the caller hangs up. Meet Marcus, the booking receptionist
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Calls after hours and when nobody can pick up
Vera answers when your team cannot, asks what the call is about, checks how urgent it is and leaves a message someone can act on in the morning. Meet Vera, on the after-hours line
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Calls for a particular person or department
Theo finds out what the caller needs in a sentence or two and puts them through to the right person or team. Nobody presses a key. Meet Theo, the call router
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Reminders before an appointment
Nora calls the customer before the appointment, confirms it, and takes the request to move or cancel when the time no longer suits. Meet Nora, the reminder caller
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Everyday questions
Opening hours, prices, directions, what to bring. Aria answers from the information you have given, explains the options and passes the caller on when the question needs a person. Meet Aria, the consultant
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Calls that need a person
A complaint, an unusual case, a caller who simply asks for someone. You set the rules, and the call is transferred to your team. How routing and handoff work
What happens on a call to an AI receptionist
Every call runs in the same order, whether the caller wants an appointment on Friday or a call back from the owner.
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It picks up and says what it is
You write the greeting. In it, the caller hears that they are speaking with an AI.
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The caller says what they need
In their own words, as they would to a person. There is no list of options to sit through.
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It asks for what is missing
A name, a date, the service, how urgent it is: only the details this kind of call needs.
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It does the job
The appointment is booked or moved, the question answered, or the message taken in full.
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It hands over when it should
When the caller asks for a person, or one of your rules says so, the call is transferred to your team.
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It leaves a record
After the call your team has a summary and the transcript to read, not a voicemail to play back.
AI receptionist, phone menu or answering service
All three answer when you cannot. They differ in what the caller gets done on that first call.
| AI receptionist | Phone menu and voicemail | Human answering service | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How the call starts | The caller says what they need | The caller presses keys or waits for the tone | An operator answers from your notes |
| Appointments | Booked, moved or cancelled during the call | Not possible: the caller leaves a message | Some services book, others pass the request on |
| Questions | Answered from what you have taught it | A recorded announcement at most | Answered from the notes the service holds |
| After hours | Answers at any hour | Voicemail records a message | Answers in the hours your contract covers |
| Several callers | Several calls at once, up to your plan's limit | Every caller reaches the menu or voicemail | As many as there are free operators |
| What you receive | A summary and the transcript | A recording to play back | A message the operator wrote down |
| Who answers | An AI, and the caller is told so | A recording | A person |
What an AI receptionist does not do
An AI receptionist works on the phone and nowhere else. It does not welcome a visitor at the door, sign for a parcel or notice that the waiting room is full. A business with a real reception desk still needs the person behind it.
It does not make judgement calls. A diagnosis, legal advice, a discount nobody approved: those decisions stay with your team. The AI receptionist answers from what you have taught it, and a call that goes beyond that is passed to a person.
It does not pretend to be human. The caller hears at the start that they are speaking with an AI, and a caller who would rather talk to a person can be put through.
And it does not connect to every system out of the box. Google Calendar, Outlook and HubSpot connect directly. Other systems, such as practice, salon or hotel software, are connected through webhooks or the REST API, and that is a job for a developer. Phone calls need a paid plan, and WhatsApp is available today for numbers in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico only.
Set up an AI receptionist and keep your number
Three steps: choose a role, teach it your business, connect your number. You need no new number and no new hardware.
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Choose a role
Start with the AI employee whose job matches most of your calls: bookings, the after-hours line, routing or reminders.
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Teach it your business
Opening hours, services, prices, who handles what and what counts as urgent. This step decides how good the calls are, so give it the most time.
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Forward your existing number
The number stays with your operator, and calls are forwarded to the AI receptionist: all of them, only those nobody answers, or only when the line is busy. The guide has the codes for mobile and landline, the router and cloud PBX route, and the test to run afterwards. Call forwarding to an AI receptionist, step by step
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Or connect it another way
Bring your own phone provider through a SIP trunk, or take a number from Hanc on a paid plan. A voice widget puts the same AI employee on your website. Connect a SIP trunk
Calendars and tools an AI receptionist works with
A booking counts once it is in your calendar, and a message once the right person has it.
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Google Calendar and Outlook
The AI receptionist sees when you are free and puts the appointment in the calendar while the caller is still on the line.
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HubSpot
For teams that keep their customers in a CRM: callers become contacts and each call is logged there, so the phone does not become a separate list. How to connect HubSpot
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Text messages and email
The caller gets a confirmation or a link by text message. Your team gets a summary of the call by email.
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Other systems
Your booking, practice or hotel system is connected through webhooks or the REST API. The integrations page lists everything that connects directly. All integrations
AI receptionists by industry
The same AI employees, taught the calls of one trade: patients, guests, clients, learner drivers.
What an AI receptionist costs
You pay for minutes of conversation, not for seats. The whole subscription becomes call credit, with no platform fee.
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Starter
€49 /month
- €50 of call credit included
- €0.15 per phone minute plus call charge, about 333 minutes
- 2 simultaneous calls
- All 24 roles, unlimited agents
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Pro
Most popular€99 /month
- €100 of call credit included
- €0.14 per phone minute plus call charge, about 714 minutes
- 4 simultaneous calls
- All 24 roles, unlimited agents
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Business
€249 /month
- €250 of call credit included
- €0.13 per phone minute plus call charge, about 1,923 minutes
- 6 simultaneous calls
- All 24 roles, unlimited agents
Not ready for a plan? The free plan comes with a one-time €3 call credit. Start on Free
Languages, data and the rules you set
What to check before any AI receptionist answers in your name.
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Languages
German, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish, Arabic and Russian are production-ready. Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Greek and Hungarian are among the languages in beta. All languages
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Data location
Hanc's application and voice infrastructure runs in Germany and its main database in Frankfurt. Some auxiliary AI processing can take place outside the EU; the privacy policy lists every sub-processor and how transfers are handled. Security and GDPR
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Transcripts
Transcripts are stored encrypted and deleted with the account or on request. Hanc.AI is built for GDPR and the EU AI Act.
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Your rules
You decide what the AI receptionist may say and offer, and which calls go to a person. It works from the information and instructions you give it.
Questions about an AI receptionist.
What is an AI receptionist?
An AI receptionist is software that answers a business phone line and talks to callers in natural speech. It books and moves appointments, answers the questions it has been taught, takes messages and transfers a call to a person when needed. Unlike a phone menu, it lets callers say what they need in their own words. With Hanc.AI, every caller is told at the start that they are speaking with an AI.
How much does an AI receptionist cost?
At Hanc.AI an AI receptionist costs €49 a month on Starter, €99 on Pro and €249 on Business, before VAT. The whole subscription becomes call credit: €50, €100 or €250, spent at €0.15, €0.14 or €0.13 per phone minute. There is no platform fee, monthly plans can be cancelled at any time and paying yearly costs less. The Free plan has a one-time €3 credit for calls in the browser.
Can I keep my existing phone number with an AI receptionist?
Yes. Your number stays with your current operator and calls are forwarded to the AI receptionist, either all of them or only those nobody answers. You can also connect your own phone provider through a SIP trunk, or take a new number from Hanc on a paid plan.
How many calls can an AI receptionist take at the same time?
An AI receptionist from Hanc.AI takes 2 calls at the same time on the Starter plan, 4 on Pro and 6 on Business. On Enterprise the number is agreed individually. Each call is its own conversation, so callers are answered at once and not one after the other. A caller beyond the plan's limit hears a busy line until one of the calls ends.
What happens when an AI receptionist cannot answer a question?
An AI receptionist answers from the information you have taught it. When a question goes beyond that, or the caller asks for a person, the call can be transferred to your team under the rules you set. When nobody is available it takes a complete message with the caller's name, number and reason for calling, so that someone can call back.
Which calendars does an AI receptionist book into?
An AI receptionist from Hanc.AI checks when you are free and books, moves and cancels appointments in Google Calendar and Outlook during the call. Other booking systems, such as practice or salon software, are connected through webhooks or the REST API, which is a job for a developer.
Do callers know they are talking to an AI receptionist?
Yes. An AI receptionist from Hanc.AI tells every caller at the start of the call that they are speaking with an AI. Hanc.AI is built for GDPR and the EU AI Act, and a caller who would rather speak to a person can be transferred to your team.
Can an AI receptionist replace a human receptionist?
On the phone an AI receptionist takes over the routine: bookings, common questions, messages and routing. It does not replace the person at a reception desk, who greets visitors and deals with what no rule covers. A common setup is for the AI receptionist to answer while staff are busy or the office is closed, and to hand unusual calls to a person.
Can an AI receptionist answer only after hours or when the line is busy?
Yes. With conditional call forwarding your team stays the first line, and the AI receptionist picks up only when a call goes unanswered or the line is busy. To cover the hours you are closed, forwarding is switched on by a schedule in your phone system or by hand. At Hanc.AI that job belongs to Vera, the AI employee on the after-hours line.
Hear an AI receptionist answer your phone.
Start a test call in your browser, or hire an AI employee and connect your number.
