Framing
Both options solve the same underlying problem: a call doesn’t go unanswered when you can’t pick up yourself. The difference lies in who takes the call: a language model with access to your knowledge base, or a person at an external answering service.
An answering service takes calls on behalf of your business, following your instructions or a call script. Depending on the provider, it takes a message, forwards the request or puts the call through. An AI phone assistant plays the same role, but software-based, with access to stored knowledge and, depending on the tier, to your calendar or further systems.
Call center, answering service, virtual assistant, AI: four terms sorted
The four terms are often mixed up. Keeping them apart helps with the choice:
| Term | What it means | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Call center | a company department or separate firm that runs telephone service dialogues for one or more companies: inbound (such as order taking, advice, complaints, hotline) and outbound (actively calling existing or potential customers) | definition based on wissen.de |
| Answering service | an external provider that answers calls on behalf of your business | services and service hours vary by provider |
| Virtual assistant | can mean a person who handles phone and office tasks remotely, or software | no uniform definition found |
| AI phone assistant | software that conducts calls itself, records requests and, for example, books appointments | subject of this page |
Providers draw the lines between answering service, secretarial service and virtual assistant differently. So ask specifically what an offer includes. This page compares the AI phone assistant with the answering service for small businesses, because both do the same job: answer calls when you can’t.
Comparison table
| Criterion | AI phone assistant | Answering service |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | from €1,997 one-off and €297–397/month (tier 1, without ERP integration); tier 2 with one system integration: €2,500–4,500 one-off and €590–790/month, all net. Clarify in writing before signing how much call volume is included | depending on the provider, base fee, fee per call and/or per-minute rate, sometimes with included minutes |
| Parallel calls | upper limit depends on platform and tariff | limited by available staff |
| Reachability | around the clock, as long as the system is running; clarify availability in the contract | service hours vary by provider and tariff; some offer 24-hour answering, sometimes only in higher tariffs |
| System integration | booking appointments into Google or Outlook calendars is possible; connecting to ERP or accounting depends on the tier and the vendor’s interface and has to be clarified | message, forwarding or call transfer, depending on the provider |
| GDPR/data sovereignty | AVV (data processing agreement) under Art. 28 GDPR. Sub-processors and third-country transfers are listed in the privacy policy (sections 16–17); check the sub-processor list and storage location before signing | AVV with the service provider, check case by case; your business remains responsible; ask about subcontractors and location |
| Depth of advice in conversation | limited to stored knowledge, no expert advice | depends on staff training and briefing |
| Setup time | usually 2–4 weeks to live operation (tier 1) | no technical setup, but a briefing on your business |
| Scaling with growth | cost depends on the tariff and the call volume included | with per-minute or per-call tariffs, cost grows with volume; higher tariffs sometimes lower the per-minute rate |
Billing models: base fee, per call, per minute
Answering services bill in different ways. Two provider pages (retrieved 20 Oct 2026) show which components a price can be made of:
- Base fee per month, depending on the tariff.
- Fee per answered call. One provider only charges it above a minimum call length, so not for hang-ups.
- Per-minute rate for handling, billed to the second at both. One provider counts the call and the follow-up work together. At both, the per-minute rate falls in higher tariffs.
- Included minutes in higher tariffs. At one provider they expire at the end of the month.
- Service hours: one provider answers Monday to Friday from 8 am to 6 pm in its smallest tariff and around the clock in higher tariffs. The other lists 24-hour call handling in every tariff.
- Add-ons such as putting calls through to your team or SMS notifications are charged separately.
These are two examples, not a market survey. Which is cheaper for you depends on the number, length and time of day of your calls. Take the call list of a typical month and run every offer against it, including the one for an AI phone assistant. How its cost is made up is explained in the article What does an AI phone assistant cost?
Handover and quality: what happens on difficult calls
Both solutions get difficult calls: upset customers, unclear requests, emergencies. What matters is what happens then.
With the AI phone assistant, the handover rules should be set down in writing: keywords plus follow-up questions that decide when a call goes through to a person. Emergencies should not hinge on a keyword alone. Which rules should apply to emergencies is described in the article AI answering machine or AI phone assistant.
Ask an answering service: who picks up, how is the team briefed on your business, what happens with calls outside the instructions, and how quickly does a message reach you? Ask about the AI assistant: how does it recognise that it’s stuck, who does it transfer to, and what happens if nobody answers there? Test both in a trial phase with calls like the ones you actually get.
Legal in brief: AVV, recording, AI disclosure
As of 20 October 2026. For the AI phone assistant you sign an AVV (data processing agreement) under Art. 28 GDPR; for a human answering service this is usually the same, but check it case by case.
Every call recording is subject to § 201 StGB (German Criminal Code), whether software or a person records. Among other things, it is an offence to „unbefugt … das nichtöffentlich gesprochene Wort eines anderen auf einen Tonträger aufnimmt“ (to record another person’s privately spoken words on a sound carrier without authorisation). Expert sources disagree on whether simply continuing to talk counts as consent. The law firm IT-Recht Kanzlei advises businesses that offer only AI telephony to point out that callers consent by continuing the call. According to Dr. Datenschutz, the DSK (Datenschutzkonferenz, the conference of German data protection authorities) requires active consent from external callers instead: implied consent derived from behaviour is not accepted, and a mere option to opt out is not enough. The most cautious route: obtain active, explicit consent before any recording or transcription; if the caller says no, nothing is recorded or transcribed.
Art. 50(1) of the EU AI Act obliges the provider of an AI system to inform people that they are talking to an AI, unless that is obvious. Who is obliged depends on your role. Under Art. 3(3) of the AI Act, a provider is anyone who develops an AI system or has it developed and places it on the market or puts it into service under their own name or trademark, whether for payment or free of charge. So if you have a system built for you and put it into service under your own name, you can be a provider yourself. The notice must come at the latest at the first interaction (Art. 50(5)). The obligation has applied since 2 August 2026. Whatever your role, the safe route is to announce the AI right in the greeting. Details on all three points are in the article AI answering machine or AI phone assistant and in the GDPR checklist for AI in the company.
When A, when B
The AI phone assistant fits when many calls follow the same pattern or come in outside business hours and most requests can be captured in a structured way: appointment request, quote inquiry, status check. It can enter appointments in your calendar; whether it can also write to your ERP depends on the tier and the vendor. It also fits if you later want to build further AI building blocks (WhatsApp, email, agents) on the same knowledge base.
An answering service fits better when part of your calls needs empathy or judgement in a live conversation that’s hard to translate into a knowledge base. It also fits if you want to start without a technical setup phase.
Often the combination makes sense: AI for standard calls, a person for the exception. The handover rules for this should be set down in writing, whether you yourself or an external provider takes over on the other end.
For a first assessment of your own numbers, there’s the free initial call (30 minutes).
This article is general guidance (as of 20 October 2026) for businesses in Germany and is not legal or tax advice.
Sources
- wissen.de: Callcenter (encyclopedia entry) (retrieved 20 Oct 2026)
- § 201 StGB, violation of the confidentiality of the spoken word (gesetze-im-internet.de) (retrieved 20 Oct 2026)
- IT-Recht Kanzlei: AI telephony in customer support, data protection requirements (7 May 2026) (retrieved 20 Oct 2026)
- Dr. Datenschutz: data protection when recording phone calls (24 June 2025) (retrieved 20 Oct 2026)
- Art. 50 EU AI Act (artificialintelligenceact.eu) (retrieved 20 Oct 2026)
- Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (AI Act), Art. 3(3) (EUR-Lex) (retrieved 20 Oct 2026)
- Art. 28 GDPR (gdpr-info.eu) (retrieved 20 Oct 2026)