AI callers vs hiring a telemarketer in Singapore: the real cost

An AI caller in Singapore costs S$680 to S$1,980 a month on published plans, billed per second and only for connected talk. A full-time telemarketer costs about S$4,764 a month once 17 percent employer CPF is added to the official median gross wage of S$4,072. That is less than half the payroll cost, before recruitment, tools or management time. 6 Seven Labs builds AI voice calling agents for Singapore businesses; this guide prices both options from official sources, every figure checked.

What does a telemarketer really cost in Singapore?

In 2026, the most defensible official figure is S$4,072 gross a month: the median wage for telemarketers in the Ministry of Manpower's Occupational Wage Survey, June 2024. The middle half of the occupation earns between S$2,900 and S$5,000 gross. Job portal averages sit lower, around S$1,861 a month on Indeed Singapore's self-reported data (updated July 2026), which skews to junior, base-only pay. Whichever end of that range you hire at, the payslip is only the start.

Employers pay CPF on top of the salary, not out of it. For employees aged 55 and below, the employer contribution is 17 percent under the CPF Board's rates from 1 January 2026. On the median gross wage that is another S$692 a month, taking one seat to about S$4,764 in payroll cost alone.

Then come the costs that never appear on a payslip. Recruitment agencies in Singapore charge 15 to 25 percent of first-year salary per placement, according to HRSINGAPORE (updated March 2026): roughly S$7,300 to S$12,200 on the median wage. And you will pay it more often than you would like.

Metrigy's contact centre research, reported by TechTarget in August 2024, measured agent turnover at 28.1 percent in 2023 and projected 31.2 percent for 2024. At that rate, a ten-seat team re-hires about three seats every year, which works out to roughly S$180 to S$310 a month per seat once you spread the fees.

New hires also start slow. Research published by HubSpot and cited by Xactly in 2022 put the average sales ramp-up at 3.2 months, so roughly a quarter of a first year is below full output. And the working year is shorter than it looks: Singapore's statutory entitlements of 7 to 14 days annual leave, up to 14 days paid sick leave and 11 public holidays leave roughly 222 to 243 working days a year after weekends. Call it about 19 working days a month.

Cost line	Monthly	Basis
Base pay, median gross	S$4,072	MOM wage survey, June 2024
Employer CPF at 17%	S$692	CPF Board rates, 2026
All-in payroll	S$4,764	Sum of the two lines above
Hiring cost, amortised	S$180 to S$310	15 to 25% of first-year pay at about 30% annual turnover
Tools, telco, seat, manager time	Not counted	Varies by team; adds further cost

What does an AI caller cost?

Published list pricing on this site is S$680 a month for 500 call minutes on Starter and S$1,980 a month for 2,000 minutes on Growth, plus a one-time S$2,500 setup and build fee. Founding clients currently pay 25 percent less for the first 12 months with the setup fee waived; the pricing section always carries the current rates, so treat it as the source of truth if this post ever lags.

The billing model matters as much as the headline number. Billing counts each second of connected talk, and only that: a dial that rings out costs nothing. There is no idle time on the clock and no seat cost while someone waits for a list to load.

There is no overage surprise either. When included minutes run out, calling pauses, and you either top up (S$150 per 100 minutes) or upgrade. We build and tune the script, voice and calling rules to your business in days, not months, as described in how it works.

What is missing from the AI column is just as important. There is no recruitment fee, no notice period, no ramp-up quarter and no turnover risk. The agent speaks English, Mandarin and Malay naturally today, with more than 20 languages supported on our platform. And it makes calls around the clock, within the calling rules you set.

Where is the break-even?

Cognism's State of Cold Calling report for 2026, built on more than 200,000 analysed calls, puts the industry average cold calling success rate at 2.7 percent and the average cold call at 93 seconds. At that call length, the Growth plan's 2,000 minutes translate to about 1,290 connected conversations a month, and Starter's 500 minutes to about 320. One hire's monthly payroll cost of S$4,764 would pay for the Growth plan nearly two and a half times over.

Per-minute comparisons need honesty about utilisation, so here is the arithmetic in the open. About 19 working days a month (the leave-adjusted figure above) at 8 hours is roughly 9,100 working minutes; the S$4,764 all-in payroll cost spread over all of them is S$0.52 a minute.

But that assumes every single minute is live conversation, which never happens: real days contain unanswered dials, list admin, CRM notes, breaks and meetings. There is no published Singapore benchmark for telemarketer talk-time, so run it as a scenario. If even half of every working hour were spent talking (an optimistic assumption), the human costs about S$1.04 per talk minute. The Growth plan lists at S$0.99 per minute, bills per second, and never charges for idle time.

Volume compounds the gap. A 2.7 percent success rate means results come from consistent, high-volume dialing, and consistency is precisely what a hire cannot promise across leave, sick days, churn and ramp-up. The AI makes the same calls, the same way, every working day, and every call lands in your portal with a recording, transcript and outcome.

What does a human still do better than an AI caller?

Plenty.

A good salesperson beats any AI at closing high-value deals, reading a hesitant buyer, handling a complex negotiation and nurturing relationships that span months. Nothing in the math above changes that, and pretending otherwise would be selling you something.

The economics argue for a split, not a swap. Let the AI clear the dial-heavy top of the funnel: qualifying lists, setting appointments, confirming attendance, running surveys and reactivating lapsed customers, the work covered in our use cases.

Hot and warm leads are flagged in your portal within minutes of each call, with a follow-up briefing, so your people spend their day on conversations that are already warm. That split is how agents built by 6 Seven Labs run in production across thousands of real calls: the AI dials, qualifies and books; people close.

How to run the numbers for your own team

Four steps, ten minutes with a spreadsheet.

1. Price a seat honestly: payslip plus 17 percent employer CPF plus amortised hiring cost.
2. Estimate real talk minutes a month, not scheduled hours.
3. Divide cost by connected conversations to get your true cost per conversation, the number worth managing.
4. Check the compliance side before anyone dials: our guide to PDPA and DNC compliance for outbound calling in Singapore covers who is responsible for what.

If your numbers look like the ones above, the cheapest way to test the conclusion is to hear it: book a 20-minute demo and listen to an agent handle a live call for your exact use case. Questions about minutes, languages or data are answered in the site FAQ.

Frequently asked questions

Is an AI caller cheaper than hiring a telemarketer in Singapore?

For dial-heavy outbound work, yes. Official June 2024 wage data puts the median telemarketer at S$4,072 gross a month, about S$4,764 after 17 percent employer CPF. The published Growth plan is S$1,980 a month for 2,000 connected minutes, less than half the payroll cost alone.

What does a telemarketer earn in Singapore?

The Ministry of Manpower's June 2024 Occupational Wage Survey reports a median gross monthly wage of S$4,072 for telemarketers, with the middle half earning between S$2,900 and S$5,000. Job portal averages sit lower, around S$1,861 a month, reflecting junior and base-only pay.

How are AI calling minutes billed?

Per second, and only on connected calls. Unanswered dials cost nothing. Starter is S$680 a month for 500 minutes and Growth is S$1,980 for 2,000 minutes at list rates. When included minutes run out, calling pauses instead of billing overage; top up at S$150 per 100 minutes or upgrade. The pricing section on this site always carries current rates.

Which languages can an AI caller handle?

English, Mandarin and Malay are ready today, spoken naturally with real turn-taking. Our enterprise-grade voice platform supports more than 20 languages, so if your market needs another language, ask us. Language does not change how minutes are billed.

Do I still need human salespeople if I use an AI caller?

Yes, for closing and complex conversations. The industry average cold calling success rate is 2.7 percent, so reaching interested prospects is mostly a volume problem, and volume is what AI handles best. The productive split is AI for dialing and qualifying, humans for relationships and final negotiation.