Prices for M1 come straight from the price list, so they’re always current. Outside figures are linked to their sources.
The four ways to do it
Missed-call text back sends an automatic text to anyone whose call you don’t answer, so they know you’ll get back to them and don’t just ring the next business. There are four routes, and they suit different businesses.
| Route | What it costs | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| A self-serve app plus a call divert | £6.49 to £97 a month on the UK apps below, sometimes plus a few pence a text | Owners happy to spend an hour setting it up themselves |
| A business phone system with texting | From £5 to £40 a user a month, but automatic text back is usually not a built-in setting | Teams that want a new phone system anyway |
| A human answering service | From about £15 to £75 a month, plus per-call or per-minute charges | Businesses whose callers need a person, not a text |
| A done-for-you set-up | A one-off fee, plus the tool’s monthly cost | Owners who want text back joined up with follow-up, reminders and reviews |
If you’re new to how it works, the guide to missed-call text back explains the divert and the texting in plain words, and the cost guide breaks down the three costs to budget for.
UK missed-call text back apps and their published prices
These are UK services that publish a price on their own site. The prices are as shown on 30 September 2026. None of these pages says whether VAT is included, so check before you sign up. They’re listed from lowest to highest starting price, not in order of quality.
| Service | Price shown | What the page says you get | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| TextTheCaller | £6.49 a month | One plan with 50 texts a month, sent in your business name, with no set-up fee and no per-text charge | Texting pauses at 50 until the month resets. Needs call forwarding on your phone. 7-day trial. |
| ReplyBack | £29 or £59 a month (a £99 plan is listed as coming soon) | Missed calls divert to a ReplyBack number, which texts the caller, asks what they need and texts you their name, request and number | The Pro plan adds a leads dashboard. 14-day trial. |
| Call Catchers | £35 a month | An automatic text to missed callers, with replies carried on in a mobile app. Set-up included. | Texts are extra, at under 5p each. |
| Call2SMS | £37, £67 or £97 a month | An automatic text, then an AI text conversation that collects the caller’s details and sends you a summary | Plans include 36, 135 or 225 conversations a month. No contract. 7-day trial. |
| TextBack Pro | £47 or £97 a month (£247 for up to 5 locations) | An automatic text within seconds, in your business name, with booking through Google Calendar | Allowances are counted in leads (up to 300 a month on the first plan). 14-day trial, no contract. |
| 1nexus Missed Call Text Back | £77 a month (shown against a crossed-out £197) | An automatic text to missed callers, with an app notification and a copy of the text | Texts are extra, at under 5p each. 7-day trial. |
| SMB Booster | Price not published | A done-for-you missed-call text back service that can link to quote forms or booking | Its page asks you to get in touch for current pricing. |
The difference between the cheapest and the dearest is mostly what happens after the first text. A simple app sends one message and leaves the rest to you. The dearer ones hold a short conversation, collect details, book the job or keep every enquiry in an app.
Business phone systems and agency platforms
If you’re changing your phone system anyway, you might expect text back to come built in. On the pricing pages I checked, it mostly doesn’t:
- CircleLoop lists £5 or £15 a user a month plus VAT, with texts at 4p each. Its pricing page doesn’t mention an automatic text after a missed call.
- Vonage Business lists £10, £15 or £25 a user a month, excluding VAT. Texting is on the top plan. It doesn’t mention an automatic missed-call text.
- Aircall lists £25 or £40 a licence a month, with a minimum of three licences. Aircall’s own blog describes sending a text after a missed call as something you build with its SMS API or tools like Zapier, Make or HubSpot, on the Professional plan, rather than a switch you turn on.
Many marketing agencies build text back on all-in-one platforms. HighLevel, for example, lists plans from US$97 a month, with phone numbers and texts billed on top by usage. Its pricing page doesn’t list missed-call text back as a feature, so ask any agency using it exactly what you’ll pay each month.
Human answering services instead
A text back tells the caller you’ll ring them. An answering service has a person pick up. Some callers, such as someone with a burst pipe or a first-time patient, would much rather speak to a person.
- Pocket Receptionist lists plans from £75 a month for 30 answered calls, up to £635 a month for 300, then £2.99 a call. Calls are answered between 8am and 8pm.
- ReceptionHQ lists plans from £15 a month plus VAT, with per-call or per-minute charges on top that depend on your plan.
- Moneypenny doesn’t publish answering prices: it quotes on call volume, with a 3-month minimum on its smaller schemes.
The two aren’t either-or. Plenty of businesses use an answering service in working hours and a text back out of hours. There’s also AI phone answering, covered in the guide to AI receptionists.
Building it yourself
Every route above that keeps your number relies on a conditional divert: your phone sends calls you don’t answer to the texting service’s number. Two things to check:
- What the divert costs. EE says a divert to voicemail is included for its small business customers, and a divert to another UK number is charged at your plan’s call rate, or comes out of your allowance if that number is included. Vodafone’s help page gives the no-answer divert code (**61* then the number, then #). Check your own network’s terms.
- What the texts cost. If you or a developer build your own, a provider like Twilio lists UK texts at US$0.056 each to send and US$0.0075 each to receive, plus US$1.15 a month for a UK local number, and says carrier fees may be added.
Keep the message a service reply: who you are, that you missed the call, and what happens next. Adding offers turns it into marketing, which brings in the PECR consent rules. The guide to what to text has 16 example messages.
How to choose between them
There isn’t one best missed-call text back service. The right one depends on how many calls you miss and what you want to happen next. These questions narrow it down:
- What’s counted? Texts, conversations or leads. A conversation or lead allowance can go further than a text allowance, or not, depending on how chatty your callers are.
- What happens at the limit? Some pause, some charge extra per text.
- Whose name is on the text? Your business name, or a separate number the caller doesn’t recognise.
- Where do replies go? Your phone, an app, email or WhatsApp. Pick the one you actually check.
- Is there a contract, and is VAT added? Most of the apps above say no contract; none says whether VAT is included.
- Where is the data held? You’re sending callers’ numbers to a third party, so check the privacy notice says where it goes.
Want to know what missed calls might be costing you before you pay for anything? The missed call cost calculator uses your own numbers and gives an estimate, not a promise.
Where M1’s Missed-Call Rescue fits
To be upfront: M1 sells a missed-call text back set-up, so I have an interest here. If one of the apps above does what you need, use it. At £6.49 a month for a simple text, there’s no reason to pay me to set that up.
The Missed-Call Rescue is for owners who want text back joined up with the rest of their follow-up. It’s a fixed £800, with no VAT, paid £400 to start and £400 at launch, typically 1 to 2 weeks. It includes missed-call text-back, a simple list for every enquiry (a CRM), automatic reminders and review requests. Text and app fees are paid at cost or directly by you, and listed before you agree.
If you’d like it kept running and tuned each month, that’s part of the Growth Plan at £1,000 a month. Not sure missed calls are your biggest leak? Take the Scorecard.
Sources
Every price is as shown on the provider’s own page on the date below. Prices change often, so check the current page before you buy. No provider paid to be included, and none was asked.
- Pricing, TextTheCaller, accessed 30 September 2026
- ReplyBack: turn missed calls into booked jobs, ReplyBack, accessed 30 September 2026
- Call Catchers: missed calls text service for UK SMEs, Call Catchers (GoGrow360 Marketing), accessed 30 September 2026
- Call2SMS: missed call text-back for UK businesses, Steony Ltd, accessed 30 September 2026
- TextBack Pro: auto SMS for missed calls, UK trades, TextBack Pro, accessed 30 September 2026
- Missed Call Text Back Service, 1nexus Ltd, accessed 30 September 2026
- Missed Call Text Back Service UK, SMB Booster, accessed 30 September 2026
- Our pricing structure, CircleLoop, accessed 30 September 2026
- Vonage Business Communications plans, Vonage, accessed 30 September 2026
- Pricing, Aircall, accessed 30 September 2026
- Automate key customer touchpoints with the Aircall SMS API, Aircall, accessed 30 September 2026
- HighLevel pricing, HighLevel, accessed 30 September 2026
- Virtual receptionist cost and pricing, Pocket Receptionist, accessed 30 September 2026
- UK phone answering service pricing, ReceptionHQ, accessed 30 September 2026
- Small business answering services, Moneypenny, accessed 30 September 2026
- SMS pricing for the United Kingdom, Twilio, accessed 30 September 2026
- How do I set up and manage call diverts?, EE Business, accessed 30 September 2026
- How do I manage call diverts?, Vodafone Business, accessed 30 September 2026