How much does an AI phone assistant cost in Switzerland?

It is the first question we are asked, and it is also the hardest one to find an answer to online. Several Swiss providers do not publish their prices at all. Others show an entry price without saying how many minutes it contains, which amounts to the same thing.

So we recorded the public prices of the providers active in Switzerland in August 2026, and we put them next to ours. Voko is one of those providers, which gives you a legitimate reason to check: every figure below points back to the page where we read it.

The range of the Swiss market

For an AI phone assistant sold in Switzerland, the entry level sits at around CHF 99 per month. The top of the published offers is CHF 990, the Business plan from helvox, which announces an Enterprise plan above that from CHF 1,490 without detailing what it contains. What varies behind those prices is almost never the technology: it is the volume of calls included.

Two plans priced at CHF 99 do not contain the same thing: helvox puts 200 minutes in, we put 500 in. vocal-ia starts higher on price and much lower on volume. And voixia does not publish a single price.

The price of the minute included

Divide the subscription by the minutes included. It is the comparison nobody does for you, and it reorders the field completely.

All three of our plans land at around CHF 0.20 a minute, because that is how they are built: moving up a plan buys you volume and simultaneous calls, never a cheaper minute. We would rather that stayed readable than reward large volumes at the expense of small businesses.

Overage, where the gaps open up

This figure is rarely put forward, and it is the one to ask for.

At vocal-ia, the extra minute is billed at CHF 0.59, 0.49 or 0.39 depending on the plan. At helvox, CHF 0.55, 0.39 or 0.29, also depending on the plan. With us it is billed in started blocks of 100 minutes at CHF 25, whichever plan you are on. A started block is charged in full.

Take 200 minutes of overage in a busy month. With us that is two whole blocks, so CHF 50. The same 200 minutes cost CHF 118 at vocal-ia at CHF 0.59 a minute, and CHF 110 at helvox at CHF 0.55: a gap of CHF 68 and CHF 60, in a single month.

The other way round, our way of counting is less advantageous on a small overrun: ten minutes too many trigger a whole block, CHF 25, against CHF 5.90 at vocal-ia. Worth knowing before you choose a plan that is too tight.

The costs nobody displays

• Setup. vocal-ia states on all three of its plans that the initial configuration is billed according to complexity, without saying how much. helvox announces no such fee on its subscriptions; its supported pilot at CHF 490 is a separate, optional 30-day engagement. We have none, on any of the three plans. Ask the question directly: it almost never appears on the pricing page.
• The number. If you keep your current number and forward it, you pay nothing extra. If the provider assigns you one, check who rents it and what becomes of it if you leave.
• Your operator's minutes. Forwarding a call is an outbound call from your line. On a Swiss business plan with a flat rate it is usually included, but it is worth checking.
• The commitment. A monthly price that assumes twelve months is not a monthly price. Our plans can be changed or stopped whenever you want, and paying annually is a discount, not a condition.

And a human answering service, how much?

An honest comparison is not only between AI providers. Here is what the French-speaking Swiss market for outsourced phone answering publishes, recorded at the same time.

The human entry level is very affordable, and that is worth saying: at Telib, CHF 65 per month covers about fifty calls. Below one or two calls a day, nobody needs us. The difference shows up at volume, and above all in the hours: Telib publishes 55 hours a week, Monday to Friday, which leaves evenings, weekends and public holidays unanswered. Secrétaire 24 publishes its price but not its hours, which is exactly the kind of thing to ask about.

And hiring someone?

To place the order of magnitude: according to the Swiss earnings structure survey 2024 from the Federal Statistical Office, the median gross wage of the occupational group that covers office and reception functions is around CHF 6,400 per month for a full-time post. That works out at roughly CHF 83,000 a year over thirteen months, before the employer's social contributions, which we do not put a figure on here for want of a published source for this specific role.

This is not a comparison aimed against anybody. A person on reception does a great many things no assistant will do. But if the need is strictly to pick up the phone, that is the cost gap between the two. The comparison page of a Geneva medical phone answering service itself puts the in-house alternative at CHF 6 per call.

How many minutes do you need?

The arithmetic is simple, and it is worth more than a sales estimate. Take your number of calls a day, multiply by the average length of a call, multiply by the number of working days.

• 10 calls a day of 5 minutes over 22 days: 1,100 minutes.
• 20 calls a day of 4 minutes over 22 days: 1,760 minutes.
• 5 calls a day of 3 minutes over 22 days: 330 minutes.

If you only want to hand over the missed calls rather than all of them, divide by three or four. Our calculator runs the numbers with your figures and points you to the plan that matches, including the overage if there is any.

How to choose without getting it wrong

What you need to ask fits in a single email.

• How many minutes, and at what price per minute beyond that? A provider who answers both in one sentence has already told you a lot.
• Are there setup fees, and a commitment?
• Where does the data go, and under what regime? We have written a whole article on what Swiss law actually requires, because most of the answers given on this subject are wrong.
• Can I hear it before paying? A voice assistant is something you listen to. It is the only way to know whether the voice and the answers suit your customers.

If you want the detail provider by provider, we did that in our roundup. If you are hesitating between an AI and a human answering service, that is the other article. And our own prices are on the pricing page, with the three plans and what each one contains.