AI voice agent: what it does and what it costs
A digital assistant that answers the phone when you can't. What it does well, where it falls short, what it costs and how to start small.
Tom Mekenkamp · 9 October 2026 · 7 min read
The short answer
An AI voice agent is a digital assistant that answers the phone for you. It handles routine questions, such as your opening hours, takes reservations and takeaway orders, and books appointments. When it can't help, it puts the caller through to a person.
You pay for two things: a one-off fee to build it, then a monthly amount for call minutes and upkeep. With me, that's from €1,500 for the build and from €149 a month, excluding VAT.
In full honesty: I build voice agents myself, with truck8.ai, my AI company. So I have a stake in this. That's why I also cover what a voice agent isn't good at.
What does an AI voice agent actually do?
Someone calls your number. The voice agent answers, says it's a digital assistant and asks how it can help. It turns what the caller says into text, works out a reply with a language model (the kind of AI behind ChatGPT) and speaks it in a natural voice.
What it knows comes from you: your menu, opening hours, prices and the rules you work by. If someone asks something that isn't covered, it says so honestly or puts them through. These are the tasks it handles well:
- Answering questions: opening hours, address, parking, whether you deliver, what something costs.
- Taking reservations: date, time, number of guests, name and phone number.
- Taking takeaway orders: it reads the order back to check and sends it to your email, to WhatsApp or, if your till system supports a link, straight to your till.
- Booking appointments: for a hairdresser, practice or mechanic, in your calendar.
- Putting calls through: if it's unsure, or the caller wants to speak to a person, it puts them through to you.
Where it works well, and where it doesn't
A voice agent is strong at predictable conversations. The more exceptions, the harder it gets.
Where it works well
- Lots of the same questions, such as opening hours, the address or whether you're open today.
- Busy moments: around dinner time, on Monday mornings, after a promotion.
- Work where your hands are full: in the kitchen, behind the chair, under a car.
- Outside opening hours: a reservation for tomorrow or a request to call back.
- Tasks with a fixed shape, such as an order from a set menu or an appointment in a free slot.
Where it works less well
- Complaints, bad news and other sensitive conversations. That's when a caller wants a person.
- Tailored advice, where you have to ask follow-up questions and sense what someone means.
- Urgent matters. At a practice, an urgent question belongs with a person straight away.
- A bad line or lots of background noise. Then it understands less, as a person would.
- Work full of exceptions and arrangements that only exist in your head.
What does an AI voice agent cost?
The costs come in two parts.
- The build, one-off. Designing the conversations, adding your information, connecting your email, WhatsApp, calendar or till, and testing. The more tasks and connections, the more work.
- The usage, monthly. Every call minute costs computing power and telephony. So you pay a monthly fee that includes a bundle of minutes. If you use more, the extra minutes are billed afterwards.
What it costs with me
A voice agent costs from €1,500 for the build and from €149 a month, excluding VAT. The bundle size and the price of extra minutes are in the quote; they depend on how many calls you get. Call minutes aren't covered by Hosting or Care; they're part of the voice agent's monthly fee. You can cancel monthly, with one month's notice. All prices are on the pricing page.
Is it worth it? Work it out for yourself. How many callers do you miss in a busy week? What does an average order or appointment bring in? And how much time do you or your staff spend answering the same questions? If the sums don't add up, I'd advise against it.
Being honest with the caller
A good voice agent doesn't pretend to be a person. It says at the start of the call that it's a digital assistant. That's simply decent, and the EU AI Act asks for it too: people should know when they're dealing with AI. I build that message in as standard, and it stays in.
Just as important: it needs to know when to stop. If it's unsure about an answer, or the caller asks for a person, it puts them through to you or a colleague. If you're not available, it can take a request to call back. That way a caller doesn't get stuck in a conversation that's going nowhere.
AI can make mistakes. So have it read orders and appointments back before recording them, so the caller can confirm.
Privacy and the GDPR
A phone call involves personal data: a name, a phone number, sometimes more. That falls under the GDPR, the European privacy law.
You're the controller: you decide what the data is used for. I'm the processor: I run the technology on your behalf. We put that in a data processing agreement. Calls are only used to handle the caller's request, and we agree how long data is kept. The speech is processed by external AI providers. What you do yourself:
- Say in your privacy statement that you use a voice agent and what happens to calls.
- Don't let it ask for more than it needs. For a reservation you need a name and a number, not a date of birth.
- Work in healthcare? Then let the voice agent book appointments only, without asking about symptoms or medical details. Health data is extra sensitive.
How to start small
You don't have to hand your whole phone line to AI at once. Start with one task and expand when it works.
- Pick one task. For example only questions about opening hours and reservations, or only takeaway orders.
- Pick the moment. For example, let it answer only outside opening hours, or when you don't pick up.
- Write down what it needs to know: your menu, hours, prices and rules. Whatever you tell people on the phone, it should be able to tell them too.
- Test it yourself. Call with awkward questions, talk over it, order something that isn't on the menu.
- Check what it records for the first few weeks, and adjust where needed.
Or something else first?
Do most questions come in through your website rather than the phone? Then an AI assistant on your website may be a better first step. For everything else AI can do for your business, see AI for your website.
Frequently asked questions
Does a voice agent sound like a robot?
No. Modern voices sound natural and understand everyday Dutch and English. The voice agent does say honestly that it's a digital assistant.
What if it mishears something?
That can happen: AI sometimes makes mistakes. So it reads orders and appointments back, and puts the caller through when it's unsure. For the first few weeks you check what it records.
Can the voice agent speak English as well as Dutch?
Yes. It can talk to callers in Dutch and in English. We agree which languages you want when I build it.
Am I tied into a long contract?
No. You can cancel the monthly fee each month, with one month's notice.
A voice agent for your phone?
See what the voice agent does, what's included and what it costs. Or tell me how calls go in your business and I'll say honestly whether it fits.