COMPARE ELILY

Elily vs hiring a receptionist

A good receptionist is genuinely hard to beat. They read the room, calm someone who has had a bad week, and notice the things no software will.

Elily is not an argument against hiring one. She is for the hours you cannot staff — 11pm, Sundays, the school holidays — and for the rush when three people message at once and everyone is with a client.

Most businesses keep their people and hand Elily the repetitive WhatsApp traffic: the price questions, the availability checks, the reschedules.

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SIDE BY SIDE

Elily vs hiring a receptionist, dimension by dimension

What you are comparing	A front-desk hire	Elily
Monthly cost	Salary and employment costs, plus cover when they are away	From $0. $49/month on Pro, which is the plan that matches a front desk. Compare Free, Lite and Pro
Hours covered	Scheduled shifts. Messages that arrive after hours wait until someone is back.	24/7, including evenings, Sundays and holidays.
Sick days, holidays and attrition	Cover has to be found, and a leaver means re-hiring and retraining.	No rota to cover. Monitoring, backups, updates and support are included, so your team has nothing new to maintain.
Three chats at once during a rush	Replies queue behind whoever is standing in front of them.	Each conversation is answered in parallel, with no double bookings even when two clients message at the same second.
Languages	Whatever your team happens to speak.	She replies in your client's language. Bookings and your own controls stay in English.
Keeping information current	Briefings, notes and handovers between shifts.	Authorised staff change prices, hours, services and availability by messaging Elily. No login, no flow builder, no dashboard.
In-person warmth and judgement calls	This is what people are for, and Elily does not pretend otherwise.	She hands exactly these to you or your staff, with the conversation and a one-line summary so nobody repeats themselves.

A CALM COST COMPARISON

What answering WhatsApp actually costs

A front-desk hire

Salary + employment costs per month

Works scheduled hours
After-hours messages still wait
Routine replies compete with on-site work

Typical DIY chatbot platform

Software + staff time setup and maintenance by your team

Your team builds and maintains the flows
Your team connects the calendar and workflows
Your team monitors failures and keeps answers current

Elily Pro, managed for you

$49 /month for Elily Pro

Answers 24/7 and books directly into Google Calendar
No new app for customers and no daily dashboard for your team
Human onboarding, monitoring, backups and support
Human handoff, approval controls and booking reminders
Start on Free and upgrade when you need more

AN HONEST SPLIT

Which one should you actually pick?

Choose a receptionist if

Some front desks should be staffed by a person, and that is a good decision.

Most of your work is face to face: greeting, seating, aftercare, retail.
Your clients need someone who can read a room and make a judgement call on the spot.
You can staff the desk across the hours your clients actually message you.
You want someone who can also take payments and handle walk-ins.

Choose Elily if

She covers the hours and the volume a rota cannot.

Messages arrive at 11pm and on Sundays, and you would rather they were answered than waiting.
Your team is with clients when the phone and WhatsApp are busiest.
You cannot justify a full-time hire for what is mostly repetitive questions.
You want every enquiry answered the same way, with the same prices, every time.
You want the human moments escalated to you rather than automated away.

BEFORE YOU DECIDE

Questions we actually get asked

Will customers know they're talking to an AI?

How Elily introduces herself on your number is agreed with you during onboarding, so it matches the way you already talk to your clients. What we would not compromise on is the route to a person: when judgement is needed she stops and hands the conversation to your team with a one-line summary, and your staff can take over at any point.

Can Elily hand over to a real person?

Yes, and that is the point. When she is unsure, she stops and hands the chat to you instantly with a one-line summary. You reply from your own WhatsApp. Your team can follow replies live, take over immediately, and require approval for selected answer categories.

What about phone calls?

Elily is WhatsApp-first. She answers messages on your business WhatsApp number; she does not answer your phone line. What tends to happen is that clients who would have rung to ask a price or move an appointment do it in the chat instead, without waiting for someone to pick up.

Can she take a deposit?

Not yet. Elily can confirm the booking and tell the client how your business handles deposits, but she cannot currently take or verify a payment herself.

Do I have to replace my front desk?

No, and most businesses do not. Elily takes the repetitive WhatsApp traffic — prices, availability, reschedules and cancellations — so the people you already employ spend their time with the clients in front of them.

INDUSTRIES

See Elily in your industry

Hair & beauty salons

Questions, quotes and appointments for colour, cuts, treatments and styling.

Barbershops

Cuts, beard work and a practical mix of walk-ins and booked chairs.

Nail studios

The right time for gels, extensions, nail art, removal and infills.

Lash & brow studios

Full sets, infills, lifts, lamination, tinting and consultation rules.

Spas & massage

Treatments coordinated around therapists, rooms, facilities and packages.

Wellness studios

Sessions and suitability handovers across recovery and holistic services.

Medspa & aesthetics

Consultations, courses and treatment bookings with clear clinical boundaries.

Fitness & yoga studios

Class places and one-to-one sessions managed in the same conversation.

Tattoo & piercing studios

Consultations, artist matching, piercings and touch-ups before chair time.

Clinics

Approved administrative answers, appointments and safe clinical handovers.

OTHER COMPARISONS

THE NEXT MESSAGE CAN BE HERS

Give her the 11pm shift.

Send your website and Elily will answer as your business in about a minute. Message her the way a client would, at any hour, and see what she does with it.

See Elily as your own Book a 15-min call

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Last updated 9 August 2026. Competitor details are checked on this date and change often — follow the links above for their current position.