The short answer
GoHighLevel IVR is a phone menu you build in the workflow builder. The Start IVR trigger fires when a call comes in on the number you pick, and IVR actions then play a greeting, collect a keypress, connect the caller to a user or an outside number, record a voicemail or hang up. There is no IVR fee on any plan: you pay for the inbound minutes, $0.01165 a minute rounded up per call, plus recording or transcription if you switch them on. Each number can belong to one IVR workflow only, and when an IVR is set it answers before any other routing on that number.
| Plans | Included in every plan; needs an LC Phone number mapped to the IVR workflow |
|---|---|
| Cost | No IVR fee; inbound calls bill at $0.01165/min, rounded up to the full minute per call |
| Checked | 2026-09-29, against HighLevel's help center and pricing page |
The five IVR actions
An IVR workflow is ordinary automation with call-specific actions. HighLevel's guide lists these five, and a typical menu uses all of them: a greeting, a keypress branch per department, a connect step for each branch, a voicemail fallback and an end step. Because it is a workflow, the same menu can also tag the caller, update a field or alert staff alongside the call steps, which a plain forwarding rule cannot do.
- Gather Input on Call: reads the caller's keypad digits so the workflow can branch
- Say/Play Message: speaks text-to-speech or plays an uploaded recording
- Connect Call: rings a user or an external number, with a timeout from 1 to 600 seconds
- Record Voicemail: saves a message, up to 14,400 seconds long (default one hour), stopping after 5 seconds of silence by default
- End Call: hangs up, with an optional closing message
Where the IVR sits in the call flow
HighLevel's inbound call article puts IVR and workflow routing first in line. If a number has an IVR, it answers before a Voice AI agent set to answer directly, before contact-owner routing, before ringing the team and before the forwarding number. That means adding an IVR changes how every call on that number behaves, including calls from existing customers who used to reach their account manager straight away. After a keypress, the Connect Call step decides who rings. Calls on HighLevel disconnect automatically after two hours, which only matters for hold queues that run long.
Limits to plan around
Most IVR problems come from a handful of documented limits. Once a number is mapped to an IVR workflow, it cannot be mapped to a second one, so seasonal menus need a single workflow with branches rather than two workflows. The Start IVR trigger requires an LC Phone setup, and voicemail cannot be tracked with the IVR trigger itself. HighLevel's IVR guide lists US English as the text-to-speech language, with a male or female voice. Blind and warm transfers are not supported when the IVR call is routed to the web app. If the caller hangs up mid-menu, the IVR actions are skipped but the rest of the workflow still runs, which is useful for logging abandoned calls.
IVR or a Voice AI agent
A keypad menu is the cheaper choice when callers already know what they want: press 1 for sales, 2 for service, 3 for billing. It costs only the phone minutes and always behaves the same way. A Voice AI agent adds a per-minute AI charge on top of the phone line but can answer questions, book appointments and take details in plain speech. For most small businesses a short IVR in front of human staff during opening hours works well, with Voice AI as the after-hours or no-answer backup. Keep menus to three or four options, because every extra layer adds billed minutes and hang-ups.
Recordings, transcripts and reporting
IVR calls can be recorded at $0.0025 a minute and transcribed at $0.024 a minute. Transcription is off by default for IVR and LC Phone calls and has to be switched on in settings. Once it is on, the Transcript Generated workflow trigger can filter by call type, including IVR, and pass the full transcript to later steps such as creating a task. HighLevel's Call Reporting dashboard lets you pick between the separate recordings an IVR call produces, and its incoming-call charts split calls into answered, missed and busy.
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