Tool Choices
Best tools for an AI receptionist setup service
The AI receptionist tools behind a setup service: prospecting, call scripts, the voice agent, bookings and reporting, with ElevenLabs call-minute pricing and Make credit maths for one client.
The flow
- Find businesses losing calls
- Write the call script and handover rules
- Build and test the voice agent
- Connect bookings and staff alerts
- Track calls and report monthly
These are the AI receptionist tools behind the AI Receptionist Setup Service blueprint: a phone agent that answers a local business's calls, books appointments and hands over to a person when it should. Here's what each tool does, what it costs, and an illustrative budget for one client's call volume.
Prices checked 9 Oct 2026, in US dollars.
Some links to tools are affiliate links: if you sign up or buy through one, Slizzy OS may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. ElevenLabs and Make have affiliate links on their tool pages; Apollo, Claude and HubSpot don't. That doesn't change the advice here. Read the affiliate disclosure for details.
The stack
| Step | Tool | What it does here | Free option | Paid from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Find businesses losing calls | Apollo | Builds a prospect list | Free plan with no time limit. Credits don't roll over. | Not verified (prices didn't load) |
| Write the call script | Claude | Turns FAQs, prices and booking rules into a script | Free plan | Pro US$20 a month, or US$17 billed annually |
| Build the voice agent | ElevenLabs | Runs the phone agent | 15 call minutes a month | Starter US$6 a month (75 minutes, commercial licence) |
| Connect bookings and alerts | Make | Sends bookings to the calendar and alerts staff | 1,000 credits a month, 2 active scenarios | US$9 a month billed annually, or US$10.59 monthly, for 5,000 credits |
| Track calls and report | HubSpot | Logs call outcomes for a monthly report | Free CRM tools | Not verified (pricing page didn't load) |
The voice agent: ElevenLabs Agents
ElevenLabs bills phone agents by call minutes, separately from its voice credits. The plans include:
- Free: 15 minutes, 4 concurrent calls
- Starter, US$6: 75 minutes, 6 concurrent calls, commercial licence
- Creator, US$22: 275 minutes, 10 concurrent calls, additional minutes
- Pro, US$99: 1,238 minutes, 20 concurrent calls
Additional minutes cost US$0.08 each. Two costs sit on top: the AI model (LLM) the agent uses, billed by usage, and the phone provider, such as Twilio or a SIP trunk, which bills you directly. ElevenLabs adds no telephony fee itself. First-month discounts were showing on Starter and Creator, so budget on the normal price.
Make credit maths for one client
This is illustrative and simulated. A clinic gets 300 calls a month to the agent, averaging 2 minutes each. Each call sends one webhook to a Make scenario with 4 modules: receive the call data, create the calendar booking, alert staff, log to the CRM.
- Make: 300 calls × 4 credits = about 1,200 credits a month. That's over the free 1,000, so budget the paid plan at US$9 a month billed annually (5,000 credits). It also removes the 2-scenario limit and allows 1-minute scheduling.
- ElevenLabs: 300 × 2 = 600 call minutes. Creator includes 275, so 325 extra minutes at US$0.08 = US$26, for US$48 a month. Pro (US$99) includes 1,238 minutes, so it only makes sense at much higher volume.
- Before LLM and phone provider costs, that's roughly US$57 a month for this client. Add those costs, which depend on the model and carrier you choose, before you quote.
What to watch
- Handover rules matter more than the voice. Decide which calls must go to a person, and test awkward calls before going live.
- Apollo's plans are for internal business use. Its data can't be resold or used to power a product for customers under standard terms.
- Concurrency: if the client gets calls at the same moment, check the plan's concurrent call limit. Going over the limit with burst pricing costs double per minute.
- Who pays: decide up front whether the client pays for the voice and phone costs directly, or you include them in your fee.
You may not need the full stack if
- The client's booking software already sends confirmations and alerts. Skip Make and use that.
- Call volume is tiny. A voicemail-to-text service might be all they need, and that's a fair answer to give.
For the automation step, see Make vs Zapier. For voice plans beyond agents, see ElevenLabs pricing explained.