How much does an AI receptionist for a clinic cost?
It's the first question everyone asks us, and most providers dodge it. Here is how the cost of an AI receptionist for a clinic is built, what each part includes and how to tell whether it pays off.
Two parts: a one-time setup and monthly usage
The price of an AI receptionist splits in two: a one-time fee covering go-live, and a monthly amount for the running service. At Noema the price is tailored to the clinic's call volume and given in the 30-minute session, with no commitment; how contracting works is on our how it works page. No plans or bundles, and nothing billed by the hour: you pay for a system that works.
Setup isn't just "switching on a bot": it's loading your treatments, hours and prices, defining how it hands over to a person and testing it with real cases before go-live.
| Item | When you pay | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | Once, at the start | Analysis, loading your treatments, hours and prices, testing and training |
| Monthly service | Every month | Hosting, maintenance, monitoring, model improvements and support |
| Voice usage | Monthly, for what you use | The call minutes actually handled |
| Feature changes | When you request them | Quoted separately as a change order; day-to-day support is not billed by the hour |
| Outbound calls and campaigns | Not included | The service covers inbound calls only |
What the monthly service includes (and why it's not a licence)
The monthly fee isn't paying for installed software: it's a living service. It covers hosting, maintenance, monitoring so it doesn't go down, model improvements and support when needed. An AI that touches appointments and patients needs someone behind it; if someone sells it to you "and that's it", be wary.
There are no plans or bundles: the only thing that changes from month to month is minutes. A quiet month costs less; a busier one, the real minutes.
How to tell if it pays off: the 5-minute calculation
Count the calls you miss each month at peak times, lunch hours and after hours. Multiply by the chance they were new patients and by the average value of a patient. If the result beats the monthly cost of the service (and in an average clinic it usually does by a lot) the system pays for itself.
What we guarantee in the contract is not that return, which depends on each clinic, but the service: a 90-day guarantee with a metric we can verify from our own logs: if fewer than 95% of the calls forwarded to the service end in a conversation with the agent, we refund the whole period's maintenance and you can walk away without penalty. Setup is excluded, because those are hours and third-party registrations already spent.
Frequently asked questions
What does it cost?
The price is tailored to the clinic's call volume and given in the 30-minute session, with no commitment. It is the same model for every clinic; what changes is how many minutes each one uses.
Are voice minutes unlimited?
No, and be wary of anyone promising that: every minute carries a provider cost nobody gives away. The voice channel is billed on real usage, so a quiet month costs you less. We break it down in how many minutes you need.
What happens in a month with much higher volume?
You pay more that month and less the next if it drops. That is the good property of usage-based billing: nobody has to guess, up front, a volume that cannot be known before starting.
Is there a lock-in period?
A 3-month minimum; after that, open-ended with 30 days' notice and no exit penalty. Penalising departure would contradict the guarantee: if the system works there is no need to tie anyone in, and if it does not, there should be no way to.
Want the exact number for your clinic?
In 30 minutes we review your call volume and give you a tailored price, with no commitment.
Free demo