Moneypenny's PAs are brilliant at taking messages for office-based firms. TradeHalo answers your calls 24/7 with AI trained on trade work — capturing the job, the postcode and the urgency for a flat £19/month, no quote required.
The short version: human receptionists with tailored, quote-based pricing versus trade-specific AI with published flat rates.
| TradeHalo | Moneypenny | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From £19/month, published on our pricing page | Quote-based — UK pricing confirmed after a sales conversation |
| Pricing model | Flat monthly fee, unlimited AI-answered calls | Packages by call volume; extra calls reported at £1.10–£2.20 each |
| 24/7 answering | Included on every plan | Out-of-hours cover depends on your package |
| Who answers | AI assistant trained on your trade and services | Human PAs (with an AI voice product on higher-cost subscriptions) |
| Setup | Self-serve — live in minutes | Onboarding and briefing with your PA team |
| Appointment booking | Books real jobs into your calendar (Pro, £39/mo) | Message-taking and transfers; diary booking varies by package |
| Contracts | Monthly rolling, cancel anytime | Agreed terms per package |
| Free trial | 14 days | 7-day trial on core answering |
Competitor details taken from publicly available pricing pages and independent guides, checked July 2026. Always confirm current pricing directly with the provider.
Moneypenny doesn't publish fixed UK prices for its telephone answering service. Instead, pricing is tailored to your expected call volume and confirmed after a conversation with their team. Independent guides put typical UK answering packages in the £100–£300+ per month range, with additional calls reported at around £1.10–£2.20 each depending on volume, and Moneypenny's own AI receptionist product tied to a telephone answering subscription reported from around £160/month.
None of that makes Moneypenny bad value for the businesses it's designed for — solicitors, agencies and offices that want a named human PA team. But if you're a sole trader or small firm, you're paying for a level of service designed around corporate reception, and you can't see the price without booking a call.
TradeHalo takes the opposite approach: £19/month for Starter and £39/month for Pro, published on the pricing page, with unlimited AI-answered calls on every plan. The price you see is the price you pay, whether it's a quiet January or a mad cold snap in February.
No discovery calls, no tailored quotes. TradeHalo's two plans are on the pricing page: £19 or £39 a month, both with unlimited answered calls. Work out your yearly cost in your head, not in a sales meeting.
A PA can take a name and number. TradeHalo asks the questions you would: what's the job, where is it, how urgent is it? Emergencies are flagged to you by SMS instantly, and Pro can book the job straight into your calendar.
Moneypenny assigns and briefs a PA team. TradeHalo is self-serve: pick your trade, list your services, get your dedicated UK number and divert your phone. Most tradespeople are live within minutes of signing up.
The moment that decides whether a customer becomes your customer usually happens outside office hours.
How the two services compare on the things that matter to a trade business.
| Feature | TradeHalo | Moneypenny |
|---|---|---|
| Call handling | ||
| 24/7 answering included in base price | ✓ | Depends on package |
| Unlimited answered calls, no per-call fees | ✓ | — |
| Dedicated UK business number included | ✓ | ✓ |
| Answers in your business name | ✓ | ✓ |
| Spam call blocking | ✓ | Unwanted call filtering |
| Trade job capture | ||
| Trade-specific questioning (job, location, urgency) | ✓ | — |
| Emergency detection with instant SMS alert | ✓ | — |
| Confirmation SMS to the caller | ✓ | — |
| Full transcripts and AI call summaries | ✓ | Message summaries |
| Bookings and diary | ||
| Voice appointment booking during the call | Pro (£39/mo) | Diary management on selected packages |
| Google Calendar sync | Pro (£39/mo) | Varies by package |
| Travel-aware scheduling between jobs | Pro (£39/mo) | — |
| Price and terms | ||
| Published UK pricing | ✓ | — |
| Flat monthly fee | ✓ | — |
| Cancel anytime, monthly rolling | ✓ | Per agreed terms |
| Free trial | 14 days | 7 days |
| Free SEO-ready mini-website | ✓ | — |
If your callers expect to speak to a human every time — for example, you run a law firm, a lettings agency or a medical practice with complex, sensitive conversations — Moneypenny's named PA teams are genuinely excellent, and that's reflected in the price. They also offer switchboard, live chat and outsourced reception services that TradeHalo simply doesn't do.
TradeHalo is the better fit when the job to be done is simpler and more urgent: answer every call day or night, capture the job properly, flag emergencies, book work in, and cost a predictable £19–£39 a month while doing it. That's what it's built for — nothing else.
24/7 human answering billed by the minute from £205/month — compared with unlimited flat-rate AI answering for trades.
Read the comparison →Manchester-based 24/7 call centre with per-call and per-minute charges — compared with flat-rate AI answering built for trades.
Read the comparison →Friendly UK human PAs billed by the second, with 24/7 cover on higher tiers — compared with always-on AI answering for trades.
Read the comparison →A well-regarded AI receptionist at £49/month — compared with TradeHalo's job-focused AI answering from £19/month.
Read the comparison →An AI receptionist for small service businesses from £39/month — compared with a trades-only AI assistant from £19/month with booking built in.
Read the comparison →A trades-focused AI answerphone from £59/month with call caps — compared with unlimited answering and £39 calendar booking.
Read the comparison →Set up in minutes, run it alongside your current service, and see which one wins the work.
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