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Answering service cost: what live and AI answering really costs
What you'll pay depends on two numbers: how many calls you get and how long they last. Put yours in below and we'll price them against the published plans of 11 services, AI and live.
Example numbers below. Change them to match your business.
That's . Not sure? Check your phone's call log for last month.
Cheapest published plan for that usage
How the estimate works: for each service we take the cheapest published plan that covers your usage, or its entry plan plus the published overage fee if that's cheaper. Minute-based plans use your minutes; per-call plans use your calls; Goodcall bills per unique caller, so we assume every call is a new caller (worst case). Excludes taxes, phone-number fees, add-ons and annual discounts. Plans from each company's pricing page, checked 2026-10-14. It's an estimate, not a quote.
Monthly cost at three call volumes
Assuming 2-minute calls. Sorted by cost at 100 calls.
| Service | Billed by | 30 calls (60 min) | 100 calls (200 min) | 250 calls (500 min) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI-Receptionist.com | minutes | $14 | $45.25 | $120.25 |
| Rosie | minutes | $49 | $49 | $149 |
| ViFi | minutes | $49 | $64 | $109 |
| Goodcall | unique callers | $79 | $79 | $129 |
| Dialzara | minutes | $29 | $96.20 | $199 |
| Telyn | minutes | $97 | $97 | $172 |
| My AI Front Desk (Frontdesk) | minutes | $99 | $99 | $174 |
| Upfirst | calls | $24.95 | $129.95 | $159.95 |
| Smith.ai AI Receptionist | calls | $15 | $225 | $675 |
| Sameday AI | minutes | $449 | $449 | $449 |
| Ruby | minutes | $395 | Above published plans | Above published plans |
The five ways answering services charge
- Minute bundles: Rosie, Dialzara, Ruby and most others. Simple, but watch the overage rate.
- Per call: Upfirst, Smith.ai AI Receptionist. Good when calls are long; pricey when you get lots of short ones.
- Per unique caller: Goodcall. Repeat callers count once a month.
- Per location: Slang.ai for restaurants.
- Quote only: Avoca, Loman, Kea, Workiz.
Questions owners ask
How much does an answering service cost?
It depends on how many calls you get and how long they last. Using published plans, 100 two-minute calls a month (200 minutes) would cost from $45.25 on AI services we track. Live answering from Ruby starts at $250/mo for just 50 minutes.
How are answering services priced?
By minute bundles (most common), per call, per unique caller, per location, or by quote. Overage fees apply when you go past your plan.
What's the cost per minute?
On entry plans we track, AI answering runs $0.19 to $0.90 per included minute; Ruby's live plan is $5.00 per minute.
Are there hidden fees?
Watch for overage rates, phone number fees, setup fees, and features that only come on higher plans. Each tool page on this site lists what the company publishes, and says "Not published" when it doesn't.
See the best options by situation → Full price table
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