MayaHow to choose an AI voice receptionist
Choose by where your enquiries start. If customers phone you, you need something that answers the phone. If they arrive on your website, you need an assistant on the site. If both, you need one product that covers both, or two that use the same facts. This guide lists the kinds, eight things to test on any of them, and where Maya fits and where she does not.
Three kinds of AI receptionist
The name "AI receptionist" covers products that do different jobs. They answer in different places, so the first decision is not which vendor but which kind.
| Kind | What it does | It fits when | Check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phone answering service | Answers calls to your phone number and takes a message or a booking. | Most of your enquiries arrive as phone calls, such as a trade, a clinic or a service with a published number. | It answers the phone, so visitors on your website are not covered. Ask what the caller hears when it does not know, and whether it can pass the call to a person. |
| Website chat | A text window on your site, staffed by people, by AI or by both. | Your visitors are happy typing and someone is online to answer, or the AI is set up for your questions. | Ask what happens after hours, in other languages, and when the visitor wants to speak. |
| Voice assistant on the website | The visitor speaks or types on your site and hears or reads the answer. Some also move the page, take details and book. | Your visitors arrive on the website, often on a phone, after hours or in another language. | Check that it acts on the page and does not only talk, and what it does when the microphone is blocked. |
Eight things to test
Test these on each product before you pay. Use the product on its own website or in a trial, and write down the date, because products change.
Where do your enquiries start?
Count a typical week: calls, website visits that end without a message, messages, walk-ins. The channel with the most lost enquiries is where an assistant earns its price. A phone service never sees a visitor who leaves your site, and a website assistant never answers a call unless it also covers the phone.
Does it answer before it asks for something?
Send it a real question and see whether you get an answer or a form. What we saw on 12 Oct 2026. Tidio: Our first message opened a form, "Please leave your email address so we can contact you:", before any answer. We did not enter an email, so nothing after that was observed. The form is an owner setting, so a business can choose it. LiveChat: Asked about Italian, it answered that it could assist "in English only" and asked for a name and email first. Only the first message was answered in our run. Intercom Fin: Asked "Which plan is best for a 10-person team?", it replied "Could you share your business email?" and did not answer the plan question. HubSpot: Asked about Italian, it replied by asking for a work email and did not answer the language question. Asked for the pricing page, it sent a link in the chat and the page did not move.
Does it act, or only reply?
Ask it to show you a page, take your details or book a time. Then watch whether the page moves, whether the details reach the owner and whether the booking is real or only promised. Ask what it says when it has not done the thing.
What kind of voice is it?
A live spoken conversation, a voice note that someone reads later, dictation that turns speech into typing, a call to a human, and a callback to your phone are different products. Find out which one the microphone button gives you. Then block the microphone and check that you can still type.
Which languages does it handle, and how?
Ask in your customers' main language, in the first message, and see what comes back. Then ask whether it answers in that language or changes the page as well. An assistant that says it is fluent and replies in English has told you something.
What does it do when it does not know?
Ask something your site never states. A good result is that it says it does not have the detail and offers to pass the question on. A poor one is a confident answer that is not on your site. A phone service should do the same on the line.
How is it priced?
Per seat, per resolution, per minute or per month give very different bills at the same traffic. Ask for a month at your real volume, and for the costs outside the headline price. The pricing guide lists the questions to ask.
Can you try it without a sales form?
A vendor that lets you talk to its product, on its own site or in a trial, shows you the real thing. A form before a demo, or a recording instead of a live assistant, shows you less.
For a three-message test you can run on any vendor's site, and what we recorded when we ran it, read how to choose an AI assistant for your website. For how the prices work, read the AI receptionist pricing guide.
Which one to start with
| If most of your enquiries | Start with | Then add |
|---|---|---|
| Arrive as phone calls | A phone answering service | A website assistant, if your site has visitors who leave without a word |
| Start on your website, often after hours or in other languages | A voice assistant on the website | A phone service, if some customers still call |
| Come from both | A product that covers both, or one of each | Check that both draw on the same facts about your business |
| Are tickets for a support team | The AI agent from your help-desk vendor | A website assistant for visitors who are not yet customers |
Where Maya fits, and where she does not
She fits when
- Your visitors arrive on the website, often on a phone, after hours or in another language, and leave when nobody answers.
- You want the assistant to move the page, take details and take booking requests, not only reply.
- You want the same assistant on the phone later. On the Reception plan she answers a Maya business phone line, which has to be activated for your business first.
Know these limits
- She is not a phone answering service first. Phone answering is part of the Reception plan and needs that phone line set up.
- A voice conversation on the website lasts up to 15 minutes by default, and each plan has a monthly allowance of voice minutes.
- She is not a help desk. Leads and callback requests reach you by email and on your Leads page.
- Bookings are requests that you confirm with one click. Real open times need a calendar connection.
Maya costs €299, €499 or €899 a month plus VAT. See pricing for what each plan includes.
Questions people ask
What are the main types of AI receptionist?
Three: a phone answering service that picks up calls to your number, website chat in text, and a voice assistant on your website where visitors speak or type. Which one fits depends on where your enquiries start, the phone or your website.
How do I choose the right one for my business?
Start with where your enquiries begin. Then test five things on each product: whether it answers before it asks for your email, whether it acts or only replies, which languages it handles, what it says when it does not know, and how the price behaves at your real volume.
What should I avoid when choosing?
A bill you cannot predict, a tool that only replies when you need it to act, and a vendor that will not let you try the product. Ask each vendor for the total for a month at your real volume, and write down the date of the answer.
Where does Maya fit?
Maya is an AI assistant for your website. Visitors speak or type, she answers in their language from your site and what you teach her, moves the page, captures leads and, on Booking and above, takes booking requests that you confirm. On the Reception plan she also answers a Maya business phone line, once that line is activated for your business.
How much does an AI voice receptionist cost?
It depends on the model. Maya is €299, €499 or €899 a month plus VAT. 7-day trial, card needed, cancel in one click. We hold no price data for phone answering services, so we quote none. The pricing guide explains the models and the costs to ask about.
How do I try one before I decide?
Talk to it. Maya answers live on trymaya.live, so you can ask her what a visitor would ask. For any other product, ask a question from your own business and a second one in another language.
The quickest check is to talk to her: Maya answers live on our homepage. See also the AI receptionist pricing guide, the AI voice receptionist, how to choose an AI website assistant, AI receptionist versus live chat, the AI voice agent for websites and pricing.