How we calculated: the digital secretary and her month
The use case shows one month of a digital secretary for mail and WhatsApp, next to two usual routes. Here is how that is built up, which assumptions are in it, and the same sum for a quiet and for a busy office.
The sum for other situations
Every email in or out, every WhatsApp message, every tool call (also her own, inside the studio) and every hour she is on is 1 I/O credit, and so is every GB of storage and of traffic in a month. The EUR 20 base includes 2,000 I/O credits a month; more: a subscription of EUR 40, 60 or any multiple of EUR 20 gives 2,000 I/O credits a month for every EUR 20. Amounts per month, excluding VAT, rounded.
| A quiet office A freelancer: on during office hours, 10 hours a day | Her month The measured pace, scaled to 30 days; on around the clock | A busy office An office with many clients; on around the clock | |
|---|---|---|---|
| With Wantzel AI Studio | |||
| Mails in (1 I/O credit each) | 120 | 55 | 1,500 |
| Mails out | 90 | 35 | 1,000 |
| WhatsApp messages, in and out | 150 | 1,000 | 4,000 |
| Tool calls (MCP) | 100 | 800 | 2,500 |
| Hours she is on | 220 | 720 | 720 |
| GB of storage and of traffic | 2 | 2 | 10 |
| I/O credits a month (2,000 included) | 682 | 2,612 | 9,730 |
| Steps of EUR 20 above the EUR 20 | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| The subscription that covers it | EUR 20 | EUR 40 | EUR 100 |
| Your own AI account (estimate) | EUR 20 | EUR 20 | EUR 100 |
| A month | EUR 40 | EUR 60 | EUR 200 |
| A year | EUR 480 | EUR 720 | EUR 2,400 |
| A virtual secretary, by the hour | |||
| Hours bought a month | 5 | 12 | 40 |
| A month (EUR 25 an hour) | ≈ EUR 125 | ≈ EUR 300 | ≈ EUR 1,000 |
| An AI receptionist, a WhatsApp tool and a setup | |||
| Receptionist plan | EUR 80 | EUR 175 | EUR 450 |
| WhatsApp business tool | EUR 40 | EUR 40 | EUR 80 |
| Automation tool | EUR 17 | EUR 17 | EUR 17 |
| Setup, EUR 100 an hour, over 36 months | 15 h = EUR 42 | 20 h = EUR 56 | 30 h = EUR 83 |
| A month | ≈ EUR 179 | ≈ EUR 288 | ≈ EUR 630 |
How it is built up
- The studio, a month = the smallest multiple of EUR 20 that covers her month, at 2,000 I/O credits for every EUR 20. I/O credits = mails in + mails out + WhatsApp messages + tool calls + hours she is on + GB of storage + GB of traffic. Her month: 55 + 35 + 1,000 + 800 + 720 + 1 + 1 = 2,612, so one block above the 2,000: EUR 20 + EUR 20 = EUR 40.
- A virtual secretary = hours bought × EUR 25. Office hours only; no WhatsApp at night.
- An AI receptionist route = receptionist plan + WhatsApp business tool + automation tool + the setup spread over 36 months.
The assumptions and where they come from
| Price of Wantzel AI Studio | EUR 20 a month with 2,000 I/O credits included; EUR 40, 60 or any multiple of EUR 20 for more each month. Users are free, and every operation is 1 I/O credit (1 cent). No contract |
| Her real month | Measured in a real studio, read only, as counts: 11 mails in over 6 days, about 7 mails out, 103 WhatsApp messages over 3 days (44 in, 59 out), 79 turns of work over 3 days, about 2.5 MB of storage. She has run for about a week, and that week was a build and test period, so it is a small sample, and a busy one. Scaled to 30 days: mail times 5, WhatsApp and turns times 10 |
| Tool calls | Every tool call counts as 1 I/O credit, also one the secretary makes herself inside the studio. An assumption: one call per turn of work, because the calls are not counted per role. 79 turns in 3 days is about 800 in a month; a turn that holds several calls would add to it, 100 more calls are 100 I/O credits, EUR 1 |
| Hours she is on | Her WhatsApp link listens around the clock and she looks at her post every three minutes: 720 hours a month. A role that does not run is not counted. The quiet office is on 10 hours a day, 22 weekdays: 220 hours |
| Storage and traffic | Measured at about 2.5 MB; counted as 1 GB, as a started GB. Traffic is an assumption of under 1 GB, counted as 1 GB. A voice call is not counted |
| Your own AI account | She runs on a Claude account of the owner. The studio does not charge for tokens and does not count them per role, so this is an estimate: about EUR 20 a month for the first two columns, about EUR 100 for a busy office (a larger plan) |
| A virtual secretary | Published prices for virtual assistants and secretaries for small businesses run from about EUR 12.50 to EUR 20 an hour and up, with packages of hours a month. Counted as EUR 25 an hour all in, for 5, 12 and 40 hours a month (an assumption) |
| An AI receptionist | Published prices run from about GBP 50 to 250 a month for basic answering and taking messages, and GBP 250 to 600 for booking appointments at higher volume. Counted as EUR 80, 175 and 450. A WhatsApp business tool: EUR 40, EUR 80 for the busy office (an assumption) |
| Automation tool | The average of the published entry plans of common automation tools: on average about USD 19, counted as EUR 17 a month |
| Setup | 15, 20 and 30 hours to connect the tools, write the rules and test it (an assumption), at EUR 100 an hour, the middle of EUR 75-125 for Dutch web agencies; spread over 36 months |
| What is not in it | The owner's own hours, VAT, and what neither route can promise: how well an answer reads. A person can do things the digital secretary cannot, such as a phone call with a difficult client |
Prices seen on 7 October 2026, from published price pages and price guides. Indicative: a real quote can come out higher or lower.