Business Voicemail Pricing: What Each Option Costs in 2026
Compare what business voicemail costs with your carrier, with Heilo's three plans, with a cloud PBX and with a live answering service.
See also: Business voicemail | Smart voicemail vs traditional voicemail | How much an answering service costs
In short: Business voicemail from your carrier is usually included in your plan, but it leaves you with a recording to listen to. With Heilo, a message left after a missed call reaches you as text, a summary and an SMS. Heilo has three plans, each at a fixed net price per number per month, and the plans that also record your calls cost more; current prices are on our pricing page. A cloud PBX with queues and a person on the phone are different services: they route calls or talk to the customer, and their price depends on users, minutes or calls.
The question "how much does it cost" only makes sense together with a second one: "compared with what?" Free carrier voicemail looks cheapest until you count the time spent listening to messages and calling back without context.
Cost Comparison: What Each Option Costs
| Solution | Monthly cost | What you get | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carrier voicemail | usually included in your plan (check your tariff) | a recording to listen to | when there are only a few messages |
| Heilo Voicemail | see pricing | recording, text, summary and an SMS after a missed call | a small business that doesn't always pick up |
| Heilo Select | see pricing | the same, plus adding Heilo to a chosen call | important calls from your current number |
| Heilo Line | see pricing; a separate number for each salesperson | a Polish +48 company number; incoming and outgoing calls recorded automatically | salespeople and sales teams |
| Cloud PBX with queues and an IVR menu | priced per user or licence, as listed by the provider | an IVR menu ("press 1…"), queues, analytics | teams that route calls between agents |
| A person on the phone (answering service or receptionist) | from $250 a month for 50 minutes at Ruby (checked 20 October 2026); more in the answering service cost guide | a live conversation | when the caller must talk to a person right away |
The difference between the first row and the rest is not only price but what is left after the call. Carrier voicemail stores a recording. Heilo hands you text and a summary: who called and what it was about. Heilo never talks to the caller; only a person holds a live conversation.
Heilo Pricing: Three Plans
Heilo has three plans, each at a fixed net price per number per month; VAT is added at checkout. Current prices are on our pricing page.
| Heilo Voicemail | Heilo Select | Heilo Line | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it records | messages left after missed calls | messages, plus the calls you add Heilo to, from the moment Heilo joins | incoming and outgoing calls on a Polish +48 company number (outgoing calls start with "Call via Heilo", +48 numbers only) |
| What you get | the recording, text, summary and an SMS with the caller's details, topic and a link | the same, plus a transcript and summary of the calls Heilo joins | a transcript, a summary, suggested tasks and notes from the call coach; once you set up an integration, results go to your CRM via the API, signed webhooks, Zapier or Make |
| Condition | missed-call forwarding at your carrier | conference calling at your carrier | company verification; a separate number for each salesperson |
With Heilo Voicemail, the caller leaves a message when you don't answer. Heilo Select lets you keep your number and add Heilo to a chosen call; voicemail is included. Heilo Line is built for sales teams (call assistant) and starts after company verification, with no fixed timing.
Plans are billed monthly in advance; you can cancel at any time, and the service runs to the end of the period you have paid for. The price is per number, not per person: you invite your team into the account, and each person has a role in it. Heilo Line includes 6 hours of recorded calls per number in each billing period; each extra hour is billed per minute at the rate on the pricing page and added to the next invoice. Heilo Voicemail and Heilo Select carry an indicative limit of 500 recorded minutes per number per month that never blocks calls. Carrier charges for forwarded calls are separate. You can compare every plan on the pricing page.
Prices and sources: checked 20 October 2026.
The Hidden Cost of Free Carrier Voicemail
Carrier voicemail has no separate price on your plan, but it carries three costs you won't see on the invoice:
- Time to listen. With 5–15 messages a day at about a minute each, that is 5–15 minutes a day, or 30–91 hours a year if you do it all year.
- No context. "I called about…" without a name, number and details means you call back blind and start the conversation from zero.
- Messages you never get. Some callers hang up when they hear the voicemail tone. You won't see those calls anywhere except in the missed-call list.
Example: at a margin of $500 per client and a 5% callback conversion, one lost enquiry is worth $25 on average.
The percentages in this article are estimates and only illustrate the scale of the problem.
How Many Missed Calls Does It Take to Pay Off?
Fill in your own numbers:
- How many calls do you miss per month? (for example, 20)
- What share of callers leave a message on plain voicemail? (for example, 40%)
- What share of those messages turn into a job? (for example, 25%)
- What is your average margin per job? (for example, $200)
Example (plumber):
- 20 missed calls a month
- 8 people leave a message
- 2 of those messages turn into a job, each with a $200 margin
The plan pays off if the messages bring at least one extra job a month whose margin exceeds the plan price shown on the pricing page. Count margin, not revenue.
What Switching Costs
Time: we don't promise a fixed time. With Heilo Voicemail you sign up, enter your greeting and set up call forwarding with your carrier. Heilo Line starts after company verification, and the timing depends on verification and the carrier.
Contract: paid plans are billed monthly in advance; you can cancel at any time and the service runs to the end of the period you have paid for.
With Heilo Voicemail and Heilo Select you keep your number and your carrier: you forward missed calls, and with Heilo Select you also add Heilo to chosen calls by conference calling. Heilo Line is a new Polish +48 company number: after company verification you choose the number and Heilo orders it from the carrier. For the full picture of what happens to a call after it is forwarded, see the business voicemail guide.
Which Plan Fits
| Situation | What to choose |
|---|---|
| You work in the field or with clients and miss some calls | Heilo Voicemail |
| You want notes from important calls and want to keep your current number | Heilo Select (your carrier must support conference calls) |
| A sales team that answers and dials, with results going to a CRM | Heilo Line, a number for each salesperson |
| The caller must talk to a person right away | a person on the phone; Heilo doesn't talk to the caller |
For a comparison of voicemail services, see Best Business Voicemail for Small Companies.
Summary
The price range in this category comes from the fact that the options do different things. Carrier voicemail stores a recording, usually within your plan. Heilo Voicemail turns it into text, a summary and an SMS. A cloud PBX routes calls, and a person on the phone holds the conversation. If your problem is "I don't know who called or what about", Heilo Voicemail is enough. If it is "the customer must talk to someone", you need a person on the phone, not Heilo. If a sales team should record its own calls, choose Heilo Line. Prices for every plan are on the pricing page.
FAQ: Pricing Questions
How much does business voicemail cost?
Carrier voicemail is usually included in your plan, so it has no separate price. A service that turns the message into text and sends an SMS costs a fixed net price per number per month with Heilo (Heilo Voicemail); see the pricing page. Fair use is 500 recorded minutes per number per month; it is informational.
Is there a free option?
Carrier voicemail is usually included in your plan. Google Voice is a separate product. The free personal version is available only in the US (Google Voice Help). Google Voice for business is a paid Google Workspace add-on available only in the countries Google lists (supported countries); both checked 20 October 2026. Heilo has no free plan; see the pricing page.
Is there a contract?
There is no fixed-term contract. Paid plans are billed monthly in advance; you can cancel at any time and the service runs to the end of the period you have paid for.
How long does setup take?
We don't promise a fixed time. With Heilo Voicemail you sign up, enter your greeting and set up call forwarding with your carrier. Heilo Line starts after company verification, and the timing depends on verification and the carrier.
When is a person on the phone the better choice?
When the caller must talk to a person right away: a sales conversation, a complaint, or a business that has a front desk and only needs help with overflow calls. Heilo can't help there, because it never talks to the caller. We break down the cost of a person on the phone in how much an answering service costs.
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