· Prices checked · 10 min · AI receptionists · Humza Sheikh
AI Receptionist Cost in 2026: Real Prices From 8 Providers
AI receptionist prices from eight providers' own pricing pages, next to answering services and staff, with a calculator for your own call volume.
An AI receptionist (also called an AI answering service) costs $0 to $299 a month if you set up an app yourself, and about $400 to $500 a month if someone builds and runs it for you. That's from eight providers' own US pricing pages, checked on 27 October 2026. A human answering service starts at $49 a month, and $349 to $2,100 for 200 to 300 minutes or calls, and a receptionist on staff has a median pay of $38,010 a year (US Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Our own AI receptionist is $499 a month plus a $999 set-up fee, with no call or minute cap and no contract. Clients who start before 1 February 2027 pay $399 a month with no set-up fee. Below are the numbers behind all of that, what makes the price go up or down, a worked example, and a calculator that prices your own call volume on every plan.
How much does an AI receptionist cost per month?
Self-serve apps are the cheapest: you sign up, write the answers yourself and connect your own calendar. Done-for-you services cost more because someone else builds, tests and maintains it.
| Provider and plan | Price a month | What's included | Set-up |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smith.ai AI Receptionist Free | $0 | 25 calls, then $3.00 a call | You do it |
| Rosie Professional | $49 | 250 minutes | You do it |
| Goodcall Starter | $79 | 100 unique callers (about 150 calls), then 79¢ each | You do it |
| My AI Front Desk Business-in-a-Box | $99 ($79 billed yearly) | 200 minutes, credits for about 40 more, then 25¢ a minute | You do it |
| Rosie Scale | $149 | 1,000 minutes | You do it |
| Smith.ai AI Receptionist Pro | $150 | 75 calls ($270 for 150 calls) | You do it, with onboarding help |
| Rosie Growth | $299 | 2,000 minutes | Onboarding help |
| Smith.ai AI Receptionist Enterprise | $500 | 300 calls | Built and run for you |
| Automization 24/7 front desk | $499 + $999 set-up | Calls and website chat, booked into your calendar or CRM | Built and run for you |
Prices are from each provider's own pricing page, US, checked 27 October 2026. Links are in the sources at the end.
The spread is wide because these are different products. A $49 plan is software; you're the one who writes its answers, tests it and fixes it when a caller gets a wrong answer. At $400 to $500, you're paying for someone else to do that work every month.
How are AI receptionists priced?
Four ways, and the billing unit changes the bill more than the headline price does:
| Billing model | Who charges this way | 150 calls a month costs | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per minute | Rosie and My AI Front Desk (AI); PATLive, AnswerConnect and Ruby (people) | AI: $139 to $149. People: $534 to $1,725 | Long calls cost more, and AnswerConnect rounds every call up to a whole minute |
| Per call | Smith.ai, for AI and for people | AI: $270 to $500. People: $1,440 | A 20-second wrong number costs the same as a 10-minute booking |
| Per unique caller | Goodcall | $79 | Repeat calls from the same number in a month count once |
| Flat monthly fee | Automization | $499, plus $999 set-up once | Nothing: there's no call or minute cap, so a busy month costs the same as a quiet one |
The 150-call figures assume 2.5 minutes a call, and the working for each one is further down.
How much does a human answering service or virtual receptionist cost?
Human services charge by the minute or by the call, and the per-minute rates are high. A virtual receptionist usually means people who answer as your front desk, transfer calls and book appointments. An answering service usually means people who take messages. In practice providers use both names, so check what a plan includes, not what it's called.
| Provider and plan | Price a month | Included | Over the limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| PATLive Pay as you go | $49 | No minutes | $2.99 a minute |
| PATLive 200 minutes | $349 | About 80 calls | $1.99 a minute |
| AnswerConnect Entry | $350 + $49.99 set-up | 200 minutes | $2.50 a minute |
| AnswerConnect Growth | $395 | 300 minutes | $1.85 a minute |
| Ruby Small businesses | $720 | 200 minutes | Not published |
| Ruby Larger businesses | $1,725 | 500 minutes | Not published |
| Smith.ai receptionists Starter | $300 | 30 calls | $11.50 a call |
| Smith.ai receptionists Basic | $810 | 90 calls | $10.50 a call |
| Smith.ai receptionists Pro | $2,100 | 300 calls | $8.50 a call |
| Abby Connect Professional | $599 | 200 minutes (an AI minute counts as half) | The plan's per-minute rate |
Two details change the real bill. AnswerConnect rounds every call up to the next whole minute, so a 2-minute-10-second call costs 3 minutes. And PATLive's own plans assume a call lasts about 2.5 minutes (50 minutes is "about 20 calls"), which is a useful rule of thumb for turning minutes into calls.
What does a receptionist on staff cost?
The median US receptionist earned $38,010 a year, or $18.27 an hour, in May 2025 (BLS). That's about $3,168 a month before payroll taxes, benefits, holidays and sick days, and it covers working hours only. A receptionist also does things no phone service does: greets visitors, handles post and helps the team.
If you already have someone on the desk, an AI receptionist isn't a replacement. It's what answers when they're at lunch, on another line, or gone for the day. That's what our after-hours plan is for.
What makes an AI receptionist cost more or less?
| Driver | Cheaper | More expensive |
|---|---|---|
| Billing unit | Flat monthly fee, or unique callers | Per minute, rounded up per call |
| Who sets it up | You do | Built for you, tested on real questions |
| Who keeps it right | You check the calls | Monthly call reviews and updates included |
| Connections | Sends you a message or a booking link | Books straight into your calendar or CRM |
| Hours covered | After hours and overflow only | Every call, day and night |
| Who answers | AI only | People, or AI with people behind it |
| Volume | Within the plan | Over the plan, at overage rates |
The biggest one is the billing unit. On a per-minute plan, a chatty caller or a long quote costs you more. On a flat fee, a busy month costs the same as a quiet one.
What would 150 calls a month cost with each option?
Here's a worked example. Say a tree service or a dumpster rental business gets 150 calls a month, about 5 a day, and each call averages 2.5 minutes (PATLive's own planning figure). That's 375 minutes. We priced the cheapest plan that covers it on each provider's published rates:
US prices from each provider's own pricing page, checked 27 October 2026. The working for each one is in the table below.
| Option | Cost a month | Per call | How it's worked out |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goodcall Starter | $79 | $0.53 | 150 calls is about 100 unique callers, Goodcall's own estimate |
| My AI Front Desk | about $139 | $0.93 | $99 for 200 minutes, about 40 more from the included credit pool, then $10 credit top-ups |
| Rosie Scale | $149 | $0.99 | 1,000 minutes covers it |
| Smith.ai AI Pro | $270 | $1.80 | The 150-call tier |
| Automization 24/7 | $499 (plus $999 once) | $3.33 | Flat monthly fee, no call or minute cap |
| Smith.ai AI Enterprise | $500 | $3.33 | 300 calls, built and run for you |
| AnswerConnect Growth | from $534 | from $3.56 | $395 for 300 minutes, plus 75 minutes at $1.85, before rounding |
| PATLive 300 minutes | $621 | $4.14 | $479, plus 75 minutes at $1.89 |
| Smith.ai receptionists Basic | $1,440 | $9.60 | $810 for 90 calls, plus 60 calls at $10.50 |
| Ruby | $1,725 | $11.50 | The 500-minute plan (the 200-minute plan doesn't cover it, and Ruby doesn't publish its overage rate) |
| Receptionist on staff | $3,168 | $21.12 | Median pay, working hours only, before taxes and benefits |
Double the calls and the per-minute and per-call options roughly double too. A flat fee stays the same.
Work out the cost for your own call volume
Move the sliders to your own numbers. Your phone system or call log shows your calls a month and average call length; if you don't know the length, 2.5 minutes is PATLive's own planning figure.
Why pay $499 when an AI app costs $79?
Because the app's price doesn't include the work. With a self-serve app, you write the knowledge base, decide what counts as urgent, connect your calendar, test it, and listen back to calls to fix wrong answers. If you enjoy that and have the time, an app is the better buy, and we say so on our own AI receptionist page.
What our price pays for:
- We build it for your business. Your services, prices, hours and the questions callers actually ask, in words you approve.
- We connect it. It books into the calendar or CRM you already use. We've connected it to GoHighLevel, HubSpot, Zoho and clients' own systems.
- We keep it right. Every month we review conversations and update its answers as your business changes.
- We guarantee it. It works as agreed for its first 30 days, or we fix it free until it does.
Each receptionist is built on Retell, with natural ElevenLabs voices. You don't need an account with either. It's running today for 432 Trees, Woodland Works and Executive Dumpsters.
What does our AI receptionist cost, and what's included?
| Plan | Price | Launch rate (start before 1 Feb 2027) | Covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24/7 front desk | $499 a month + $999 set-up | $399 a month, no set-up fee | Every call and website chat, day and night |
| After-hours | $299 a month + $499 set-up | $249 a month, no set-up fee | Evenings, weekends and overflow when your team is busy |
There's no contract on either plan, and you can cancel anytime. The first year on the 24/7 plan costs $6,987 at the standard rate ($999 plus 12 months at $499), or $4,788 at the launch rate. Both plans are on our pricing page, and you can buy online or book a 15-minute call first.
If you're still deciding between an AI receptionist, a virtual receptionist and an answering service, our side-by-side comparison covers what each one actually does on a call.
Common questions
Is an AI receptionist cheaper than an answering service?
Usually, yes. On the worked example above, 150 calls a month cost $79 to $500 with an AI receptionist and $534 to $1,725 with a human service. The gap grows with your call volume, because most human services charge by the minute or the call.
Are there hidden costs?
Check four things: the set-up fee, the overage rate, how calls are rounded, and whether booking into your calendar is on the plan you're looking at. Some providers don't publish their overage rates at all.
Can I keep my phone number?
With ours, yes. You forward your existing number to it, or we set up a new one.
What's the cheapest way to start?
If you mostly miss calls in the evening and at weekends, an after-hours plan covers those for less. Ours is $299 a month plus $499 set-up, or $249 a month with no set-up fee before 1 February 2027.
Sources
All prices are US, as shown on each provider's own pricing page on 27 October 2026. Plans change, so check before you buy. We recheck these prices every quarter and note any change here.
- AI receptionists: Smith.ai AI Receptionist, Rosie, Goodcall, My AI Front Desk
- Human services: PATLive, AnswerConnect, Ruby, Smith.ai receptionists, Abby Connect
- Pay: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Receptionists, Occupational Outlook Handbook (median pay, May 2025)
- Our prices: Automization AI receptionist and pricing