Reception by ElevenAgents

Reception by ElevenAgents is an AI receptionist that answers business calls, handles routine questions and books appointments. It is best for appointment-led businesses that need coverage outside staffed hours. Its scheduling and routing are compelling, but the monthly phone-minute and simultaneous-call limits make plan fit essential.

Overview

Reception uses a business’s information, rules and real availability to handle calls around the clock. It can qualify callers, take messages, route requests or back up a team according to its hours and availability. For businesses that regularly miss calls at night, on weekends or on holidays, the ability to capture caller details and flag urgent requests is more useful than a voicemail-only fallback.

Scheduling is central to the offer. Reception checks availability, coordinates calendars and writes a booking into the schedule while the caller is still on the line. Its online booking page uses the same receptionist, and calls, texts and online bookings stay in sync to help avoid double-booking. That makes it a stronger fit for businesses trying to bring phone and online appointment intake together than for those seeking call answering alone.

Key features

• Call handling: Reception answers questions, qualifies callers, takes messages and routes calls or acts as backup based on team hours and availability. This is useful when requests can be handled under clear business rules, while urgent requests can be flagged for follow-up.
• Appointment booking: It checks real availability and enters bookings during the call, reducing the need for staff to coordinate routine appointments afterward.
• After-hours coverage: Nights, weekends and holidays are covered, with caller details captured and urgent requests flagged. Businesses with few off-hours calls may not need to pay for more capacity than their volume warrants.
• Shared booking flow: The online booking page uses the same receptionist as calls, with calls, texts and online bookings staying in sync. This is a practical advantage for appointment-based teams concerned about conflicting bookings.
• Included across plans: Automatic booking, call summaries, transcripts, recordings, a voice library and support for 70+ languages are included on all plans. Zapier, Webhook and MCP integrations are listed for Free, Basic, Plus and Premium.
• Multiple locations: Premium supports multi-location use, including routing by branch and sharing calendars across locations. That is relevant to businesses operating in several branches, but it is reserved for the highest-priced plan.

Pricing

The Free plan costs nothing and includes 30 phone minutes per month, one phone number, three knowledge sources and Zapier, Webhook and MCP integrations. It is a sensible way to try the service with light call volume, but the small minute allowance makes it a limited ongoing option for businesses relying on regular phone coverage.

Basic costs $29 a month, billed at $29/mo+ tax. It includes 75 phone minutes per month, one phone number, one call at a time and overage at $0.45/min, alongside the listed integrations and the features included on all plans. This is the entry paid tier for a small operation with modest call traffic; a single-call limit and relatively high overage rate can become restrictive as volume or concurrency grows.

Plus costs $79 a month, billed at $79/mo+ tax. Its 275 monthly minutes, three phone numbers and capacity for up to three simultaneous calls suit a busier team, and it adds priority support. Overage is $0.38/min. The higher allowance and concurrency reduce pressure on a small team’s phone capacity, though it still has a defined monthly quota.

Premium costs $199 a month, billed at $199/mo+ tax. It provides 1,000 phone minutes per month, five phone numbers, up to 10 simultaneous calls and $0.30/min overage, plus priority support and multi-location support. It is the clearest fit for higher call volume or several branches; businesses that do not need its capacity or branch features may be better served by a lower tier.

A 14-day free trial offers full access and requires no credit card. Because the paid plans charge for overage by the minute and differ in both phone-number and simultaneous-call limits, estimate expected call traffic and peak concurrency before choosing. The Free plan has no paid monthly charge, but its 30-minute cap still makes volume a deciding factor.

Platforms

Reception is offered on the web. ElevenLabs describes ElevenAgents as a platform for deploying voice and chat agents at scale, and Reception’s site links to its app for a free start.

Who it's for

Reception’s use cases include home services, legal and other professional services, clinics, automotive businesses, personal care and wellness, real estate and property management, and hospitality. Its combination of call qualification, message taking, multilingual answering and appointment scheduling is most persuasive for organizations with repeatable inquiries, real calendars to book against and a need for coverage beyond staffed hours. Businesses with highly variable call volume should pay particular attention to the minute allowance and overage rate.

Pros and cons

Pros

• Bookings happen during the call: Reception checks availability and writes appointments into the schedule while the caller is still on the line.
• Coverage extends beyond office hours: It answers nights, weekends and holidays, capturing details and flagging urgent requests.
• Plans scale in phone capacity: Paid tiers increase monthly minutes, phone numbers and simultaneous-call limits, with lower per-minute overage on higher tiers.
• Broad language support: All plans include support for 70+ languages, as well as call summaries, transcripts and recordings.

Cons

• Basic has little headroom: Its 75-minute allowance, one phone number and one-call-at-a-time limit may not suit a business with concentrated or growing call traffic.
• Overages add variable cost: Basic charges $0.45/min over its allowance; even higher plans retain per-minute overage charges.
• Multi-location support is limited to Premium: Businesses needing branch-based routing and shared calendars must choose the $199 a month tier.
• The Free plan is capped: 30 phone minutes per month is useful for trying the service, but leaves little room for sustained call coverage.

Alternatives

Virtual Receptionist Services is a useful place to compare more options in the category.

• YouSquared is worth considering for someone who wants a free plan with 20 calls per month, one call at a time, plus note-taking, dictation, call screening and transfer. It also supports a wider range of platforms than Reception’s web offering.
• Rindee may suit buyers who prefer a pay-as-you-go model: its no-plan option uses a small platform fee plus AI usage at cost, and starts with $5 demo credits without a card.
• LEX Reception is an alternative for buyers who want minute-based plans and per-minute overage charges, with rates obtained by contacting the provider.
• AnswerForce is another paid service to consider.
• Nexa may fit buyers seeking a live virtual receptionist; its Nexa 100 plan includes 100 voice minutes, 24/7 call answering, appointment scheduling and lead qualification.
• Anserve starts at $25 a month on a month-to-month basis, with pricing depending on call volume, service needs and customization.
• A Virtual Receptionist offers packages starting on request.
• Answering Advantage uses custom service plans priced by individual needs.

Verdict

Choose Reception by ElevenAgents if your business needs an AI receptionist that can turn calls into scheduled appointments, route requests and cover nights or weekends. The free plan and 14-day trial make it possible to assess the fit before committing, but the main reason to look elsewhere is limited phone capacity: check minutes, concurrency and overage costs against real call demand, especially on Basic.