aiReceptionist vs Moneypenny
Moneypenny is a phone answering company with an AI receptionist line beside its human one, with escalation to “your team or ours” built in; aiReceptionist is AI-only, per-minute, with every plan and rate published on one page.
Moneypenny publishes two families of plans in the US, receptionists and AI answering, with entry prices on its homepage and the per-plan detail behind a contact form. This page compares what its site states with what our pricing page sells, and says plainly where Moneypenny is the right choice.
Example call
Incoming call
New caller
(757) 555-0134
Outerbanks HVAC line
Sent to voicemail. That is the call you lose.
- Thank you for calling Outerbanks HVAC. This is Eryn, an AI receptionist.
- I can help with scheduling service, questions about your heating or cooling system, or an existing appointment.
- How can I help you today?
- Hi. My AC stopped cooling this morning. Can someone come out today?
- I can help with that. Are you a new or an existing customer?
- New. I found you online.
- Welcome. May I have your name and the best number to reach you?
- Dana Reyes. 757-555-0134.
- Thanks, Dana. What is the address for the visit?
- 412 Bay Street, Chesapeake.
- Got it. Is this urgent, or is later this week fine?
- Urgent. It is 88 degrees in the house. Any time after 2 today works.
- Understood. The diagnostic visit is $89. I will send your details to the service team now, and they will confirm the window with you.
- Can I talk to a person before I hang up?
- Of course. Transferring you to the team now.
- Transferred to a person. The human desk is the backup on every call.
- Message sent to your inbox
- Transcript and recording saved
Answered by aiReceptionist. It says it is an AI at the start of every call.
At a glance
| Row | aiReceptionist | Moneypenny |
|---|---|---|
| Who answers | An AI receptionist trained on your business; calls it should not handle transfer to your team | “Our brilliant people, AI, or both”, receptionist plans, AI plans, or a mix |
| Hours | Every hour of every day | 24/7 on both the receptionist and AI plans |
| Entry price | $99/Month for 200 minutes (DIY: Self-Service) | AI Answering plans “From $99/mo”; Phone Answering plans “From $132/mo” |
| Pricing detail | Every plan, allowance and overage rate is on our pricing page | Entry prices published; per-plan allowances and overage not published on the US pricing page we checked |
| Human backup | Transfers to your own people are included; a partner human desk is on the roadmap | Escalation “to your team or ours”, their own receptionists are one of the destinations |
Capabilities, side by side
The aiReceptionist column reads from the same feature list as our pricing page, so it cannot say anything that page does not.
| Row | aiReceptionist | Moneypenny |
|---|---|---|
| Answers the phone | Included on every plan | Included, receptionist, AI or both |
| Books appointments during the call | Included on every plan | Appointment scheduling listed on both AI and receptionist plans |
| Transfers calls to your team | Included on every plan | “Call transfer to your team” on AI plans; transfers on receptionist plans |
| Text messages | Included on every plan | “SMS follow-up capability” on AI plans; transcripts by text |
| Transcript of the call | Included on every plan | AI plans: call transcripts by email, text or both in real time |
| Recording of the call | Included on every plan | Not published in a form we could verify, their FAQ lists the question; the answer was not in the page text we fetched |
| Choice of voice | Included on every plan | “Unlimited AI voices” and voice cloning on AI plans |
| Answers from your own information | Included, you tell it about your business in the portal; built for you on the managed plans | A “KnowledgeBase” populated from your web pages and FAQs during onboarding |
| Concurrent calls | 100 on DIY; unlimited on SMB and Enterprise | “Simultaneous call capacity” on AI plans |
| Setup | Self-serve on DIY; built for you on the managed plans | Call flows built with a “Solutions Architect” during onboarding |
| A human receptionist on the call | Transfer to your own people is included; a partner human desk is on the roadmap | Included, “Receptionist backup” on AI plans, and their receptionist plans for every call |
| Looks up live data during the call | On the roadmap | CRM integration listed on receptionist plans; live lookup on AI calls not stated on their site |
Pricing, like for like
aiReceptionist publishes three per-minute plans and their overage rates. Moneypenny’s US site publishes an entry price for each plan family; the per-plan detail sits behind a quote form and was not published on the pricing page we fetched, so only the published figures are shown here.
| Row | aiReceptionist | Moneypenny |
|---|---|---|
| Plans | $99/Month (200 minutes), $350/Month (500 minutes) or $1,000/Month (1,500 minutes) | AI Answering plans “From $99/mo”; Phone Answering plans “From $132/mo”; UK site: AI Receptionist “from £25 a month” |
| What the allowance is | Minutes per month: 200, 500 or 1,500 | Not published on the US pricing page we checked |
| Overage | $0.60 per additional minute; $0.50 on Enterprise | Not published on the US pricing page we checked |
| Included with the AI plans | AI, telephony and integrations, everything included | Call transfer to your team, receptionist backup, simultaneous call capacity, built-in call flows, KnowledgeBase, unlimited AI voices, voice cloning, SMS follow-up, caller analytics |
| Contract | No long-term contract | Not published in a form we could verify, their FAQ lists the question, the answer was not in the page text we fetched |
When Moneypenny is the better choice
Moneypenny is the better choice if you operate in the UK, or on both sides of the Atlantic: it is a UK-based company with a UK site and UK-priced plans, and its AI receptionist there is published “from £25 a month”. A US-only AI receptionist cannot give you that.
It is also the right choice when you want a receptionist team briefed by you to fulfil calls, not only answer them, the receptionist plans list order processing, call dispatching and on-call management, custom forms and bilingual receptionists, which is closer to an outsourced front office than to a receptionist. Larger firms that want a Solutions Architect to design call flows during onboarding, and a single vendor whose people and AI share one escalation path, will find that shape on Moneypenny’s site and not on ours.
What switching actually involves
- Ask Moneypenny for your current plan’s allowance, notice period and any minimum term in writing; the US site does not publish these, so get them before you set a switch date.
- Export your caller records and message history from the Moneypenny portal while you still have access.
- Write down the call flows your Solutions Architect built, the questions asked and the routing, and recreate them in aiReceptionist’s portal, or hand them to us on a managed plan.
- Set your transfer rules so calls that need a person go to your own team, since that is the human backup on our plans today.
- Redirect the number Moneypenny gave you, or change forwarding on your own number, and run both during the free trial before you cancel.
Questions people ask
- Does Moneypenny offer an AI receptionist?
- Yes. Moneypenny’s US site lists AI Answering plans from $99/mo alongside its Phone Answering plans from $132/mo, and its AI receptionist can escalate to your team or to Moneypenny’s receptionists. aiReceptionist is AI-only with transfers to your own team.
- How does Moneypenny pricing compare with aiReceptionist?
- Moneypenny publishes entry prices only: AI plans from $99/mo and receptionist plans from $132/mo in the US, and AI from £25 a month in the UK; allowances and overage are not on the US pricing page. aiReceptionist publishes $99/Month for 200 minutes, $350/Month for 500 and $1,000/Month for 1,500, with overage at $0.60 a minute ($0.50 on Enterprise).
- Are Moneypenny’s receptionists based in the US?
- Its US homepage describes “America’s best receptionists” and lists bilingual receptionists; its UK site describes the company as UK-based. Confirm the location for your account with Moneypenny directly.
- What happens when the AI cannot handle a call?
- With aiReceptionist it transfers to you or a colleague, or takes a message, according to rules you set. Moneypenny’s AI receptionist escalates “to your team or ours” when it cannot answer or detects frustration.
- Can I use aiReceptionist in the UK?
- Our published plans are priced in US dollars for US phone numbers. If you need UK numbers and UK-based backup, Moneypenny’s UK site is the honest recommendation.
Try aiReceptionist on your own calls
The free trial includes everything in the plan you choose. Run it alongside what you have today.