Blog

Does Vonage Have an AI Receptionist? Only as a Quoted Add-On

By Sharrk Team · November 1, 2026

Disclosure: we make Sharrk, an AI receptionist that competes with Vonage's. Every Vonage detail below comes from Vonage's own pages, checked November 1, 2026.

Vonage does not include an AI receptionist in its small business phone plans. Its built-in Virtual Receptionist is a preconfigured call menu, and its AI option, the AI Virtual Assistant, is a managed service that Vonage scopes per project with no published price.

Below is what each Vonage product does, what Vonage publishes about cost, and what to ask before you buy.

What does Vonage sell small businesses for answering calls?

Vonage's small business phone system is Vonage Business Communications (VBC). Its pricing page lists three plans, priced per line per month:

The promo price needs a one-year contract for new accounts, applies to annual contracts only, and is listed as valid through December 31, 2026. Prices are plus taxes and fees. Lower per-extension prices appear on some plan cards, and larger companies are told to contact sales.

None of those plan cards lists an AI feature. The comparison table includes a "Virtual Receptionist" row, and Vonage's small business page says Premium "includes a multi-level auto attendant for $29.99 per line per month."

Is Vonage's Virtual Receptionist AI?

No. Vonage's own feature page describes the Virtual Receptionist as "essentially a simplified version of IVR technology" that "primarily greets callers and transfers them to extensions or departments." Callers get "a list of options, prompting callers to select from a preconfigured menu."

What it can do, per Vonage:

• Play a greeting, including a text-to-speech option
• Route calls to extensions or departments
• Use different schedules for daytime, lunch breaks, after hours and preset holidays

The page does not describe the Virtual Receptionist using AI, and it says "English is the only supported language at this time." In practice, that is an auto attendant: it sends callers somewhere, but it does not hold a conversation, answer questions or take down job details.

What is the Vonage AI Virtual Assistant?

The AI Virtual Assistant is the product closest to an AI receptionist. Vonage's page says it can "answer customers immediately, facilitate a conversation to understand their needs" and use natural language understanding to "navigate callers to the appropriate destination." It also lists voice self-service and outbound phone campaigns.

Vonage announced an AI Virtual Assistant for VBC in a press release dated September 28, 2021, describing voice and text conversations built with Vonage AI Studio. A separate Vonage marketplace page describes the Vonage Virtual Assistant as "the self-service layer of Vonage Contact Center," handling voice, WhatsApp, SMS and webchat requests and handing off to a person with context.

Things the product page does not show:

• A price. Vonage calls it a "high-touch managed service both pre- and post-sale" and says "every project goes through scoping and sizing." The buttons are "See plans & pricing" and "Schedule a conversation."
• Appointment booking. The page doesn't mention booking jobs onto a calendar.
• Which VBC plan it works with. No plan is named.

In short: yes, Vonage has an AI voice assistant, but it is a scoped project you talk to sales about, not a switch you turn on in a $20 plan.

How much does Vonage AI Studio cost?

AI Studio is Vonage's low-code tool for building AI agents; Vonage calls it "our low-code conversation designer." It is sold under Vonage's developer API products, and it publishes prices:

Voice, speech recognition and premium text-to-speech are charged at regular Vonage API rates on top, which the AI Studio page doesn't list. Natural language and knowledge lookups are $0.00855 per request. Professional services are extra: the AI Studio Service Pack starts at $3,300 a month per customer.

AI Studio can produce a phone agent, but you or a partner build the flow, connect a number and pay voice minutes separately. For most owners of a small shop, that is a software project rather than a receptionist.

How does Vonage compare with Sharrk?

If you want a wider view of the market, our breakdown of what an AI receptionist costs covers typical monthly ranges. Other phone providers took different routes: RingCentral sells AIR from $49 a month, and Nextiva's XBert starts at $99 a month.

What should you ask Vonage before buying?

If you already use Vonage and want AI answering, ask your rep:

1. Does the AI Virtual Assistant work with my VBC plan, or only with Vonage Contact Center?
2. What is the setup fee, the monthly fee and the per-minute or per-session cost?
3. Can it book appointments into my scheduling software, or only route calls?
4. Who changes the call flow when my services or hours change, and is that billed?
5. What contract length does it require?

Get the answers in writing so you can compare a full monthly cost against other options.

How does Sharrk handle this?

Sharrk is an AI receptionist built for home-service and local businesses. It answers calls 24/7, talks with callers, live transfers to a person when needed, and books appointments onto Sharrk's calendar, Calendly or Cal.com, or into ServiceTitan. New leads from web forms, Angi, Thumbtack, Networx and webhooks get a reply in under 30 seconds, and Jobber clients come in as leads.

Pricing is published. Sharrk Free is $0 with 2,500 one-time credits to build and test agents, no card needed. Core is $99 a month with 47,500 credits; an AI call minute is 150 credits and a phone number is 10,000 credits a month, so Core with one number covers about 250 call minutes. There are no contracts and no setup fees. See all plans on the pricing page.

Mako is the AI assistant inside Sharrk. You tell it in plain English what you want, such as "answer after-hours calls, take the address and book a time," and it builds the agent, the follow-up sequences (Strikes) and campaigns. Mako proposes each change and you approve it before anything goes live.

Start free or book a demo to hear a Sharrk agent answer your calls.

Sources

• Vonage, Vonage Business Phone Plans, offer dated through December 31, 2026, checked November 1, 2026.
• Vonage, Small Business Phone Systems, no date shown, checked November 1, 2026.
• Vonage, Virtual Receptionist: Gain More Sales Calls, no date shown, checked November 1, 2026.
• Vonage, AI Virtual Assistant, no date shown, checked November 1, 2026.
• Vonage, AI Virtual Assistant (Marketplace), no date shown, checked November 1, 2026.
• Vonage, Vonage Launches AI Virtual Assistant for its UCaaS Solution to Deliver Enhanced, Self Serve Capabilities, September 28, 2021, checked November 1, 2026.
• Vonage, AI Studio Pricing, no date shown, checked November 1, 2026.

Start free, no credit card · See pricing · Book a demo