The best AI receptionists for UK trades in 2026.
Last updated 12 June 2026. Every price verified on the vendor's own site on this date. Published by Smooth Voice — disclosure and methodology below.
The short version: pick by what you are actually buying. For a done for you custom build, Smooth Voice (us — see the disclosure below). For a fast budget product, ARROW from £99 per month. For trade tool integrations like Jobber and ServiceTitan, Vocan from £99. For a free way to try AI answering, CallChimps. For flat rate unlimited minutes, Overtime from £99. For human receptionists and the biggest brand in the market, Moneypenny.
This guide is published by Smooth Voice, an AI receptionist agency — we are on our own list. We have handled that the only defensible way: every fact and price below was checked on each vendor's own website on 12 June 2026, every entry says who should not pick it (including ours), and where a rival is the better choice for you, the entry says so.
The picks
1. Smooth Voice
Best done for you custom buildCustom quoted on a demo call
Our own service, so judge this entry accordingly — the methodology note below explains why it leads the list. Smooth Voice is the agency option: we build one AI receptionist around your specific business in 30 days, connect your calendar and CRM, record and transcribe every call in a dashboard, and manage every change after launch. Up to 10 simultaneous calls, human handover with a full transcript, and a live demo agent on the homepage you can talk to before you ever speak to us. Do not pick us if you want the cheapest route or something live this week — the products below do that job well.
2. ARROW
Best fast budget product for tradesFrom £99 per month, no contracts
UK built and aimed squarely at trades. Around 7 days to go live, answers 24/7, qualifies leads against your criteria, books appointments into your calendar, and sends SMS and email notifications. A free test call number is published on their site so you can hear it first. The trade off versus an agency build: it is a standardised product, so deep customisation and managed changes are not the offer. For a sole trader who wants missed calls fixed this week at a fixed price, ARROW is a strong pick.
3. Vocan
Best tiered product with trade integrations£99 to £349 per month by call volume, no contracts
Three tiers sized by monthly calls (up to 100, 300, or 700), with the middle tier adding emergency escalation and Jobber and Housecall Pro integration, and the top tier adding ServiceTitan and multiple agents. Pre built workflows for plumbing, roofing, electrical, and other trades. If your business already runs on one of those job management tools and you want a product rather than an agency, Vocan is the most trades literate option in the product bucket.
4. CallChimps
Best low risk way to try AI answeringFree tier (30 minutes), then £89 to £179 plus per month
UK based with the lowest barrier to entry on this list: a free tier with 30 minutes of call handling monthly (£0.97 per minute after), a Pro plan at £89 per month with 180 minutes, no setup cost, and cancel anytime terms. Calls answered within 3 rings, transcripts and summaries included. Minute bundles mean you must know your call volume — a busy trade line can outgrow the allowances quickly — but as a first taste of AI answering with genuine cancel anytime terms, it is hard to argue with.
5. Overtime
Best flat rate if you hate per minute pricing£99 to £149 per month, unlimited minutes
A new UK entrant with one clear idea: unlimited minutes at a flat rate, with British voice options trained on regional accents, WhatsApp handover, and calendar booking. The Pro tier adds Zapier and 7,000 plus app connections. The honest caveat: as of June 2026 their site shows an April 2026 launch with waitlist signups, so the track record is short. Worth watching, and the flat rate model directly answers the biggest complaint about minute bundled rivals.
6. Moneypenny
Best if you want human receptionistsNot published — quoted on enquiry
The biggest name in UK call answering, built on human receptionists with an AI receptionist product alongside and escalation between the two. If your callers must reach a real person, or you want the reassurance of the most established brand in the market, this is the safe choice. The trade offs for a trade business: pricing is on enquiry, and the human service takes messages and transfers calls rather than running your diary like a built for you agent. Our full comparison covers the detail.
How to choose between them
Start with two numbers: how many calls you miss in a normal week, and what an average job is worth. Our missed call calculator turns those into a monthly cost of doing nothing. If that number is small, a budget product or even voicemail is rational. If it is hundreds or thousands of pounds, the question becomes product versus agency — covered honestly in our cost guide and in our head to head comparisons with ARROW and Moneypenny.
And whatever you do, hear one before you buy one. There is a live demo agent on our homepage and ARROW publishes a test call number — five minutes of listening beats any list, including this one.
Common questions
What is the best AI receptionist for a UK trade business?
It depends on what you are buying. If you want it built around your business and managed for you, a done for you agency like Smooth Voice is the strongest option. If you want a fast, cheap, standardised product, ARROW (from £99 per month) and Vocan (£99 to £349 by call volume) lead the product bucket. If you want to try AI answering with almost no risk, CallChimps has a free tier. If you want human beings, Moneypenny is the established name.
How were these picks chosen?
We compared published pricing, features, UK focus, and trade suitability across the AI receptionist market, verifying every price and claim on each vendor's own website on 12 June 2026. This list is published by Smooth Voice and includes us at the top of the done for you category — that is a judgement you should sanity check, which is why every entry says plainly who should not pick it, including ours.
Should a trade business pick a DIY platform, a product, or an agency?
DIY voice platforms are for developers and are cheap on paper but cost real build and maintenance time. Products like ARROW, Vocan, CallChimps, and Overtime are quick and affordable but standardised — you configure and manage them yourself. An agency build costs more and takes longer to go live, but the agent knows your business deeply, plugs into your tools, and someone else owns it permanently. Match the bucket to how much the phone matters to your revenue and how much time you genuinely have.
Are the prices on this page accurate?
Every price was taken from the vendor's own published price list on 12 June 2026. Vendors change pricing — if you spot something out of date, tell us via the contact page and we will correct it. Where a vendor does not publish pricing, we say so rather than repeating third party guesses.