Veterinary Practices Pricing: How VetReception Is Priced
How VetReception pricing works for veterinary practices: what sets the price, what is included, what you pay today for after-hours coverage, and the FAQ.
How pricing works
VetReception is priced per practice, not per call and not per minute. The number is set by how many phone lines ring into the practice, how many veterinarians are on the roster, and which PIMS the booking has to be written into — because each of those changes how much configuration and testing happens before the first call is answered.
There is no per-call meter, so a bad Monday in July does not cost more than a quiet Tuesday in February. You are paying for the phone to be answered, triaged and booked the same way at 11am and at 3am.
Pricing is quoted after a short call, because the honest answer depends on your setup. A one-vet practice on Cornerstone and a six-vet practice running two locations on Avimark are not the same job. The calculator walks through the inputs we ask about.
What changes the price
Four things move the number, and nothing else does.
- Number of incoming lines. One main line is the base case. A second line for the boarding or refill line adds configuration, because those calls follow a different path than an emergency.
- Number of veterinarians and locations. More vets means more schedules to book into and more named people to route clinical questions to.
- Your PIMS. Booking is written into the PIMS, so the integration has to be built and tested against your system. See works with the software veterinary practices already run for the list.
- Protocol complexity. A practice with a written emergency protocol that runs to two pages is faster to configure than one with a separate protocol per species, per location and per time of day.
What does not change the price: call volume, call length, the time of day, or how many calls arrive during surgery. Those are the variables that make per-minute answering services unpredictable, and they are the reason we do not price that way.
What is included
Every plan answers calls 24 hours a day, triages against the practice’s own written emergency protocol, books into the PIMS, and leaves a written summary for the front desk.
That last part matters more than it sounds. The front desk does not get a voicemail to work through in the morning. It gets a summary of what was asked, what was decided, and what was booked — so the first hour of the day is spent on clients in the building, not on a queue of messages.
Included in the base price:
- Calls answered around the clock, including the ones that arrive at 3am and the ones that arrive while a vet is in surgery.
- Triage against your protocol, not a generic urgency model. You supply the protocol; we follow it.
- Appointment booking written into the PIMS, on the schedule the practice actually runs.
- Written summaries for the front desk.
- Routing of anything clinical to a named person at the practice. The system never gives clinical advice.
- Configuration and testing against your PIMS before go-live.
Not included, because we do not do it: clinical advice of any kind, prescription decisions, or anything that requires a veterinarian’s judgement. Those calls are routed, not answered.
What practices pay today
Most independent practices comparing this are already paying for something, and it is worth putting the two side by side before you decide.
An after-hours answering service typically bills per call or per minute, with a minimum monthly charge, and the person on the other end reads a script. They can take a message. They generally cannot book into your PIMS, and they cannot triage against your protocol, because they have never seen it.
Paying a receptionist to cover evenings is a wage cost plus the risk that the person who knows your clients is the person who is off that night. Overnight coverage at a wage rate is expensive, and it still stops when that person is sick.
Letting calls go to voicemail costs nothing per call and is the most expensive option, because the emergency that rings at 3am is the one that drives to the practice that answered. Vet clinic missed calls covers what that looks like over a month.
The calculator lets you put your own current spend next to ours. We are not going to claim we are always cheaper; for a practice with very few after-hours calls, a per-call service may cost less in a quiet month. For a practice that wants the call answered and booked, the comparison is not close.
How the price is quoted
We quote on a call, in writing, with no per-call component. You tell us the lines, the vets, the PIMS and whether you have a written protocol. We tell you the monthly figure and what happens at go-live.
If you want the shape of it before the call, how veterinary practices use it shows what a configured practice looks like end to end, and the problem, in the words veterinary practices use shows the calls that drive the decision.
There is no charge for the configuration period, and no long contract to get started. If the protocol changes — a new emergency contact, a new overnight hospital arrangement — that is a change to your configuration, not a new plan.
Questions buyers ask before signing
Is there a per-call or per-minute charge?
No. The price is a monthly figure per practice, set by lines, veterinarians, PIMS and protocol complexity. Call volume is not a pricing input, which means a practice that gets slammed over a holiday weekend pays the same as it does in a quiet week. This is the main structural difference from per-minute answering services, where a busy night is a bigger invoice. If your current provider bills per call, the calculator on this site will show you what your last three months would have cost at a flat rate.
What happens if the system gets a call it cannot handle?
It routes to a named person at the practice. Anything clinical goes to a veterinarian or a technician you have designated, on the number you have given us. The system never gives clinical advice, and it does not improvise when a caller describes something outside the protocol. If nobody is reachable, the call is logged with the details and the summary is waiting for the front desk. You decide the escalation order during configuration; we do not invent one.
Does it work with my PIMS?
Booking is written into the PIMS, so the integration matters. We support the common small-animal systems, including Avimark, Cornerstone, ezyVet, Shepherd and Vetspire. If your system is not on that list, say so on the call — the answer is either that it is supported or that it is not, and we will tell you which before you commit to anything. The PIMS integration phone system page explains what the integration actually writes.
Can I keep my existing phone number?
Yes. Calls forward to us on your existing number, and the practice keeps it. Clients dial the number they already have, which matters because the emergency caller at 3am is usually not reading your website — they are redialling the number saved in their phone. Nothing about the client experience changes except that someone answers. If you run a separate line for refills, that can be routed differently; see the prescription refill request line page.
What if we do not have a written emergency protocol?
Then configuration starts there, and it is the part that takes the longest. Triage follows the practice’s own written emergency protocol rather than a generic urgency model, so we need the protocol in writing before go-live. Many practices have one in a drawer or in a staff handbook; some have never written it down. We will work from what you have, and the clinical decisions in it remain yours. Emergency vet call triage and veterinary triage protocol phone cover what a usable protocol looks like.
What does the front desk actually receive?
A written summary per call, not a voicemail. It records what the caller asked, what the protocol said, and what was booked — so the morning starts with a list of decisions already made rather than a queue of messages to return. The front desk can see which calls became appointments and which were routed to a person. Practices that have run both describe the difference as the first hour of the day, which is the hour that usually goes to voicemail. Veterinary client communication covers how the summaries fit into the rest of the client record.
Is there a contract, and what happens if we leave?
There is no long contract to get started, and your phone number stays yours. If you stop, calls forward back to the practice and the configuration is yours — the protocol you wrote is your document, not ours. We will not hold the number or the protocol as leverage. The thing to check before signing is not the exit, it is the go-live: how long configuration takes against your PIMS, and who at the practice is responsible for signing off the protocol. Both are settled on the call.
Questions people ask
Is there a per-call or per-minute charge?
No. The price is a monthly figure per practice, set by lines, veterinarians, PIMS and protocol complexity. Call volume is not a pricing input, which means a practice that gets slammed over a holiday weekend pays the same as it does in a quiet week. This is the main structural difference from per-minute answering services, where a busy night is a bigger invoice. If your current provider bills per call, the calculator on this site will show you what your last three months would have cost at a flat rate.
What happens if the system gets a call it cannot handle?
It routes to a named person at the practice. Anything clinical goes to a veterinarian or a technician you have designated, on the number you have given us. The system never gives clinical advice, and it does not improvise when a caller describes something outside the protocol. If nobody is reachable, the call is logged with the details and the summary is waiting for the front desk. You decide the escalation order during configuration; we do not invent one.
Does it work with my PIMS?
Booking is written into the PIMS, so the integration matters. We support the common small-animal systems, including Avimark, Cornerstone, ezyVet, Shepherd and Vetspire. If your system is not on that list, say so on the call — the answer is either that it is supported or that it is not, and we will tell you which before you commit to anything. The PIMS integration phone system page explains what the integration actually writes.
Can I keep my existing phone number?
Yes. Calls forward to us on your existing number, and the practice keeps it. Clients dial the number they already have, which matters because the emergency caller at 3am is usually not reading your website — they are redialling the number saved in their phone. Nothing about the client experience changes except that someone answers. If you run a separate line for refills, that can be routed differently; see the prescription refill request line page.
What if we do not have a written emergency protocol?
Then configuration starts there, and it is the part that takes the longest. Triage follows the practice's own written emergency protocol rather than a generic urgency model, so we need the protocol in writing before go-live. Many practices have one in a drawer or in a staff handbook; some have never written it down. We will work from what you have, and the clinical decisions in it remain yours. Emergency vet call triage and veterinary triage protocol phone cover what a usable protocol looks like.
What does the front desk actually receive?
A written summary per call, not a voicemail. It records what the caller asked, what the protocol said, and what was booked — so the morning starts with a list of decisions already made rather than a queue of messages to return. The front desk can see which calls became appointments and which were routed to a person. Practices that have run both describe the difference as the first hour of the day, which is the hour that usually goes to voicemail. Veterinary client communication covers how the summaries fit into the rest of the client record.
Is there a contract, and what happens if we leave?
There is no long contract to get started, and your phone number stays yours. If you stop, calls forward back to the practice and the configuration is yours — the protocol you wrote is your document, not ours. We will not hold the number or the protocol as leverage. The thing to check before signing is not the exit, it is the go-live: how long configuration takes against your PIMS, and who at the practice is responsible for signing off the protocol. Both are settled on the call.