Outsourced Customer Service Call Center Pricing Guide for 2026

If you’re looking to level up your customer support in 2026 without blowing your budget, outsourcing can be a game-changer. That said, the real challenge isn’t whether to outsource; it’s understanding the pricing structure of outsourced customer service and avoiding hidden fees, idle-time charges, or confusing contracts.

In this post, we break down the three most common pricing models for outsourced customer support today: Pay-Per-Resolution, Pay-Per-Hour, and Fixed Pricing. You’ll learn how each model works, where it makes sense, and how to choose the option that best fits your budget, support volume, and customer expectations.

A Quick Look at Your Options

• Pay-Per-Resolution: You only pay when a customer issue is fully resolved. This model works especially well for complex or multi-step support requests, where resolution quality matters more than speed.
• Pay-Per-Hour: The traditional approach. You’re billed for the agent’s time, regardless of ticket outcomes. Simple, but it can lead to paying for idle hours or inefficiencies.‍
• Fixed Price: A flat monthly fee with no surprises. Ideal for teams that value predictable costs and want to avoid fluctuating support expenses.

Outsource Customer Service Cost Insights

As outlined earlier, customer service outsourcing generally follows three primary pricing models, each with its own strengths and trade-offs. Choosing the right one depends on several factors, your average vs. peak support volume, the cost of building an in-house team, and the complexity of customer inquiries you handle.

Let’s take a closer look at each pricing model, starting with the most flexible and cost-efficient option.

1. Per-Resolution Cost (Pay-Per-Use Pricing Model)

The pay-per-resolution is widely regarded as one of the most cost-effective outsourced customer service pricing structures. Businesses are charged only when a customer issue is successfully resolved, not for agent time or idle hours.

A “resolution” is typically defined in the service-level agreement (SLA) and may include:

• Fully resolving a customer’s issue without follow-ups
• Meeting first-call resolution (FCR) benchmarks
• Achieving a positive customer satisfaction (CSAT) score

Cost Estimations for 2026

Based on historical pricing trends and projected inflation, pay-per-resolution outsourcing in 2026 is expected to range between $1 and $7 per resolution, with an industry average of approximately $4.

Crescendo.ai, a leading provider in this category, typically charges:

• $1.25 per resolution for 24/7 multilingual AI-backed global support across email, voice, chat, and SMS, plus a fixed monthly fee covering onboarding, QA, training, CX insights, white-labeling, and ongoing maintenance
• $2.25 per resolution for a unified AI + human-backed support model under one platform

How Pay-Per-Use Pricing Packages Are Structured

Most outsourcing providers using this model operate on a credit-based system. Businesses purchase resolution credits upfront, which are valid for a defined period, monthly, quarterly, annually, or sometimes with no expiration, depending on the contract.

Example: Credit Usage in Practice

Consider Company XYZ, which handles:

• ~500 support tickets per month during normal operations
• 1,200–1,400 tickets per month during a 3-month peak season

To prepare for this demand:

• The company estimates 8,100–8,500 tickets annually
• At $2 per resolution, the upfront cost would be $16,200–$17,000 for the year
• In addition, a fixed monthly fee typically applies for deployment, platform access, and ongoing maintenance

Handling Unused or Exhausted Credits

Exhausted Credits
If credits run out before the contract period ends, additional credits can be purchased to cover the remaining volume.

Unused Credits
In many cases, unused credits expire. However, some providers, such as Crescendo.ai, allow unused credits to roll over into the next billing period, offering greater flexibility and reduced waste.

Why Businesses Choose This Model

• Risk-free pricing: You pay only for successfully resolved tickets, not agent hours or seat utilization, making costs directly tied to outcomes.
• No idle-time waste: During periods of low support demand, there’s no payment for underutilized agents or standby capacity.
• Peak-season protection: Sudden ticket spikes are handled by the outsourcing provider, and no surge pricing applies since the per-resolution rate is pre-defined in the contract.
• Ideal for complex queries: Especially effective for technical, high-effort, or multi-step issues that take longer to resolve, where hourly billing would otherwise inflate costs.
• Predictable, transparent budgeting: Providers typically charge a fixed monthly platform fee alongside the per-resolution rate to cover training, QA, maintenance, and ongoing optimizations. With everything defined upfront, businesses gain full cost visibility, clarity, and financial predictability, making forecasting far easier.

2. Pay-Per-Hour Pricing Model

The pay-per-hour pricing model will continue to be one of the most widely used approaches to outsourcing customer support. Under this traditional structure, businesses are charged a fixed hourly rate for each support agent provided by the outsourcing partner, regardless of ticket outcomes.

How the Pay-Per-Hour Model Works

• The outsourcing provider assigns agents at a pre-agreed hourly rate
• Businesses define the number of agents required and their working hours
• Total cost is calculated based on agent count × hourly rate × hours worked

Cost Example

If a business requires:

• 5 agents
• $16 per hour per agent
• 40 hours per week

The weekly cost would be:
5 × $16 × 40 = $3,200 per week

This model typically operates on a fixed schedule, such as full-time coverage (8 hours per day, 5 days a week) or full 24/7 operations with rotating shifts.

Pay-Per-Hour Outsourcing Cost by Region (2026 Estimates)

The cost of outsourced customer service varies widely by geography due to differences in labor costs.

• United States: According to ZipRecruiter, the average base salary for an in-house customer support representative in the U.S. is $18.80 per hour in 2025, excluding benefits, management overhead, software, and infrastructure costs.
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  In 2026, considering pay rise of 5%, it will reach typically $19.74/hour. When outsourcing to a U.S.-based call center, businesses pay $28–$40 per hour per agent in 2025 including majority of costs and in 2026, customer support outsourcing cost will be between $29.4 and $42 per agent per hour.|
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• Asia (India, Philippines, Pakistan): Outsourcing providers in Asia typically charge $7–$16 per hour per agent. While this pricing is highly competitive, businesses should evaluate potential challenges such as language nuances, time-zone alignment, and cultural context.
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• Australia: Due to high labor costs, outsourced customer service in Australia ranges from $40 to $65 per hour per agent. According to Talent.com, the average customer service representative earns $33.27 per hour in 2025, significantly higher than most regions. In 2026, this cost will be $41.2 to $66.97, considering an average 3% pay rise.
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• Latin America: Thanks to comparatively lower labor costs, call center outsourcing in Latin America ranges from $12 to $19 per hour, with an average of approximately $14 per hour.

Cautions: Drawbacks of the Pay-Per-Hour Model

• Paying for Idle Time: Businesses are billed for agent hours regardless of ticket volume. During low-demand periods, such as late nights, weekends, or seasonal slowdowns, this often results in paying for underutilized or idle agents.
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• High Cost of 24/7 Coverage: Maintaining round-the-clock support is expensive under this model, as it requires multiple shifts and continuous staffing, even when customer demand is low.
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• Limited Flexibility During Peak Demand: The pay-per-hour model struggles to scale quickly during sudden spikes in support volume. Adding agents on short notice can be difficult, leading to longer wait times and overwhelmed teams.
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• Multilingual Staffing Challenges: Hiring and retaining skilled multilingual agents significantly increases costs. Many outsourcing providers charge premium rates for language coverage beyond English, making global support expensive and harder to scale.
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• Ongoing Training Requirements: Hourly agents typically require continuous onboarding, product training, and process updates. As products evolve, this adds recurring operational costs and management overhead.
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• Limited Product and Brand Familiarity: Outsourced agents often lack the deep product knowledge, company context, and brand voice that in-house teams develop over time, potentially leading to inconsistent customer experiences.
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• Language Fluency Gaps: When outsourcing to overseas regions, achieving native-level fluency in your primary customer language can be challenging, which may impact customer trust, clarity, and CSAT.
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• Offshoring Risks and Policy Uncertainty: Offshore outsourcing introduces exposure to tariff changes, government regulations, compliance requirements, and geopolitical risks, factors that can unexpectedly impact costs and operational continuity.

Note: Some outsourcing providers offer per-minute billing, but this approach is generally costly and rarely favored. For this reason, it has been intentionally excluded from this analysis.

3. Fixed Price Outsourcing Call Center Pricing Model

In the fixed price model, outsourcing companies charge clients a predetermined fee for a specified duration, such as a month, quarter, or year. The pricing is calculated based on several factors, including:

• Client Needs: Regular ticket volume, as well as workload fluctuations during slow and peak periods.
• Support Hours: Whether the client requires standard business hours (e.g., 8 hours/day) or 24/7 support.
• Request Complexity: The level of expertise required to handle customer queries.
• Languages: The number of languages in which support is needed.
• Training Requirements: Any specific onboarding or training needs for support agents.

Once these factors are assessed, the outsourcing company provides a fixed rate. This approach simplifies planning for clients, as they do not need to manage staffing or worry about workload fluctuations.

Benefits and Drawbacks

Advantages for Clients:

• Predictability: Fixed pricing allows for straightforward budgeting without concern for variable ticket volumes.
• Hands-Off Approach: Clients do not need to manage the number of agents or adjust for workload changes.

Risks for Outsourcing Providers:

• Resource Allocation Challenges: Providers may need to scale up staffing during peak times or periods of rapid business growth without additional compensation from the client.
• Risk Mitigation: To offset these risks, providers typically include a high margin in their pricing.

As a result, while this model is convenient for clients, it often proves expensive due to the "built-in risk premium" charged by the outsourcing provider.

How Crescendo Reduces Outsourcing Customer Service Costs with AI

Crescendo redefines customer service outsourcing by combining advanced AI, human expertise, and a transparent pricing model that eliminates the hidden costs of traditional call centers. Our hybrid pay-per-resolution + fixed monthly fee structure is designed to be predictable, performance-driven, and completely risk-free.

Why Crescendo’s model works better:

• Pay only for results: You’re charged only for successfully resolved tickets. If an issue isn’t resolved or receives a low CSAT score, you don’t pay, guaranteed.
• No hidden fees: One fixed monthly fee covers 100% deployment, onboarding, ongoing maintenance, QA, reporting, CX insights, training, white-labeling, and platform costs. No surprise add-ons or out-of-pocket expenses.
• Flexible support models: Choose AI-only resolutions or a fully integrated AI + human support model based on your business needs.

Is AI support actually good?
Yes, because Crescendo isn’t a basic chatbot or outdated IVR system. Our AI is purpose-built to resolve lengthy, technical, and complex customer queries with human-like accuracy, empathy, and decision-making, often end-to-end without escalation.

Watch the demo to see how Crescendo’s AI resolves real customer issues in action.

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