Answer4u is a long-running UK call centre with human receptionists and a new AI receptionist billed by the minute. TradeHalo answers every call 24/7 for a flat £19/month, flags emergencies straight away, and books jobs into your calendar from £39.
Updated • Prices checked against Answer4u's published pricing
The short version: Answer4u charges per call (human) or per minute (AI) and takes messages. TradeHalo charges a flat monthly fee and captures, triages and books the job.
| TradeHalo | Answer4u | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From £19/month, unlimited calls | AI: £14.99/month plus 27p a minute, or bundles from £27/month for 100 minutes |
| Unlimited calls | Included on every plan | AI unlimited bundle at £250/month |
| Setup fee | None | £25 one-off on the AI receptionist |
| Who answers | AI assistant tuned to your trade and services | UK human receptionists (per call) or an AI receptionist (per minute) |
| What the AI does | Captures the job, location and urgency, flags emergencies, books appointments (Pro) | Takes name, number and reason for calling; answers basic FAQs |
| Appointment booking | Voice booking into Google Calendar (Pro, £39/month) | Not listed on the AI or pay-as-you-go services |
| Updating your details | Self-serve in your dashboard | Via your Answer4u account manager |
| Free trial | 14 days | 30 days |
Answer4u details taken from its published AI receptionist and pay-as-you-go pages and its Google Business listing, checked 2 November 2026. Always confirm current pricing directly with the provider.
Credit where it's due: Answer4u publishes its AI receptionist pricing. Pay-as-you-go is a £14.99 monthly subscription plus 27p a minute. Or there are bundles: Starter at £27/month for 100 minutes, Mid at £60 for 250, High at £105 for 500, and Unlimited at £250/month. Minutes outside a bundle are 29p, there's a one-off £25 setup fee, and there's a 30-day free trial with no long-term contract.
Its human pay-as-you-go services work the same way: a monthly subscription to keep your line live, then a charge for every call answered, either per call or through call bundles. Answer4u's Google listing shows its Virtual Receptionist service at £1.75 and its Virtual Assistant service at £2.35.
The catch for a trade business is that per-minute and per-call billing scales with your busiest weeks. Say 100 calls a month at around two minutes each comes to roughly £69 on AI pay-as-you-go. A cold snap that doubles your calls doubles the bill. TradeHalo is £19/month for Starter and £39/month for Pro, with unlimited AI-answered calls on both, so your best month costs the same as your quietest.
No per-minute meter and no per-call charges. TradeHalo is £19 or £39 a month with unlimited answered calls, so a storm, a cold snap or a good review never shows up as a bigger bill.
Answer4u's AI receptionist is designed for basic message-taking. TradeHalo asks what the job is, where it is and how urgent it is, texts you emergencies instantly, and on Pro books the appointment into your calendar while the customer is still on the phone.
With Answer4u, updates to your AI's information go through your account manager. With TradeHalo you set your services, exclusions and hours yourself in the dashboard, and changes apply to the next call.
The calls that matter most usually come in when you can't pick up.
How the two services compare on the things that matter to a trade business.
| Feature | TradeHalo | Answer4u |
|---|---|---|
| Call handling | ||
| 24/7 answering | ✓ | ✓ |
| Unlimited calls on the entry plan | ✓ | Unlimited AI bundle at £250/month |
| No setup fee | ✓ | £25 setup on AI |
| Human receptionists available | — | ✓ |
| Answers basic business FAQs | ✓ | ✓ |
| Trade job capture | ||
| Trade-specific questioning (job, location, urgency) | ✓ | Name, contact details and reason for call |
| Emergency detection with instant SMS alert | ✓ | — |
| Confirmation SMS to the caller | ✓ | — |
| Message and summary by email or SMS | ✓ | ✓ |
| Self-serve changes to services and exclusions | ✓ | Via account manager |
| Bookings and diary | ||
| Voice appointment booking during the call | Pro (£39/mo) | Not listed on AI or pay-as-you-go |
| Google Calendar sync | Pro (£39/mo) | — |
| Travel-aware scheduling between jobs | Pro (£39/mo) | — |
| Price and terms | ||
| Flat monthly fee | ✓ | Bundles available; pay-as-you-go is per minute or per call |
| No long-term contract | ✓ | ✓ |
| Free trial | 14 days | 30 days |
| Free SEO-ready mini-website | ✓ | — |
Answer4u has been answering calls for UK businesses since 2004 from its own Nottingham call centre. If you want the option of a real person on every call, or a bespoke or fully outsourced call-centre team, it offers things TradeHalo doesn't. Its 30-day free trial is also longer than ours, and if you only get a handful of short calls a month, its £14.99 pay-as-you-go AI plan could cost less than TradeHalo Starter.
TradeHalo is the better fit when your calls turn into jobs: you want every call answered for a predictable price, emergencies flagged straight away, the job details captured properly, and appointments booked into your diary without lifting a finger.
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Read the comparison →Try the AI that answers every call, flags emergencies and books jobs, for one flat monthly price. Free for 14 days.
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