Answering Service Cost in 2026: Live, Virtual Receptionist and AI Prices Compared
- Live answering plans we could read started at $44 a month (Specialty) and reached $2,100 (Smith.ai), with per-minute overage from $1.09 to $2.99 and per-call overage from $8.50 to $11.50 1,2,3,4,5,6,7.
- AI answering ran from free (Smith.ai's 25 calls a month) and $29 (Dialzara) to $449 (Sameday AI), billed by minute, call, unique caller or credit 8,9,10,11,12,13.
- For the same workload of 100 three-minute calls, our arithmetic from published prices gives $79 to $915 a month, a spread of about 12 times.
- Several providers publish no overage rate at all (Ruby, Davinci, Nexa, Rosie, Alert, Sameday), and billing rules differ: Specialty bills by the second, AnswerConnect rounds each call up to the next minute 1,5,14.
- A full-time receptionist's median pay is $38,010 a year, which is about $54,288 with benefits by our arithmetic, and covering every hour of the week takes about 4.2 people 15,16.
Answering service prices run from free to over $2,000 a month, and the headline number rarely tells you what you will pay. This page reads the pricing pages of live services, virtual receptionists and AI answering services on 4 November 2026, shows what the same workload costs on each, explains the per-minute, per-call and per-caller models, lists the fees providers do and do not state, and compares them with hiring a receptionist.
· 19 sources · Published by Convocore, which sells white label AI agents. See method and limits.
Live answering service prices
Live services staff people to answer for you. We read each provider's own pricing page on 4 November 2026. Where a cell says not stated, the page did not show it.
| Provider | Plans per month | Overage | Setup fee | Trial or guarantee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Specialty Answering Service | $44 (Economy), $159 for 100 minutes, $649 for 500, $10,599 for 10,000 | $1.54 down to $1.09 a minute | $0 | 14 day free trial, no card |
| Davinci Virtual | $129 or $239 (Business, 50 or 100 minutes), $249 or $319 (Premium) | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated |
| Ruby | $250 (50 minutes), $395 (100), $720 (200), $1,725 (500) | Not stated | None | Not stated |
| Abby Connect | $164 (50 minutes), $329 (100), $599 (200), $1,380 (500) | Plan rate, amount not shown | None | 14 days or 500 minutes; 22 day money back |
| PATLive | $49 pay as you go, $99 (50 minutes), $189 (100), $759 (500), $6,899 (5,000) | $2.99 down to $1.49 a minute | None listed | 14 day free trial |
| AnswerConnect | $350 (200 minutes), $395 (300), $795 (550), $6,650 (5,000) | $2.50 down to $1.75 a minute | $49.99 on two plans | None |
| Alert Communications | $240 (100 minutes), $590 (250); Alert Go $2.50 a minute plus $100 per retainer | Not stated | Not stated | None |
| Smith.ai (human) | $300 (30 calls), $810 (90), $2,100 (300) | $11.50, $10.50 or $8.50 a call | None | 30 day money back |
| Moneypenny US | Not published | Not stated; billed in 30 second increments | Not stated | Demo only |
| Nexa | Not published; 100, 300 and 500 minute plans | Not stated | A fee exists, amount not shown | Not stated |
- Moneypenny's page says its AI receptionist starts from $99 a month with no annual lock-in 17.
- We could not verify Conversational, whose site did not load, and Dialpad's AI pricing page returned an error.
AI answering service prices
AI services answer with software. Price units differ more than for live services: some count minutes, some calls, some unique callers, some credits.
| Provider | Plans per month | Overage | Free plan or trial |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smith.ai AI | Free (25 calls), Pro $150 (75 calls), Enterprise $500 (300 calls) | $3.00 free tier, $2.50 Pro, $2.17 Enterprise a call | Free tier is ongoing, not a trial |
| Goodcall | $79 (100 unique callers), $129 (500), $299 (2,000) | 79, 26 or 15 cents per extra caller | Free demo agent; pay when you connect a number |
| Rosie | $49 (250 minutes), $149 (1,000), $299 (2,000) | Not stated | 7 day free trial |
| Dialzara | $29 (60 minutes), $99 (220), $199 (500), $349 (1,000) | $0.48 down to $0.35 a minute | 7 day free trial |
| Frontdesk (My AI Front Desk) | $99 (200 minutes), or $79 billed annually | $0.25 a minute | 7 day trial; no permanent free plan |
| Sameday AI | From $449 (500 minutes), from $789 (1,000) | Plan rate, amount not shown | Not stated |
| Convocore | Free plan to test; Business $99 adds voice, 2 phone numbers and 3 concurrent calls | $0.02 a minute platform fee plus speech, model and telephony at cost | Free plan |
The same workload, very different bills
Assume 100 calls a month, three minutes each (300 minutes), from 100 different callers. Using only the published prices above and their stated overage rates, the monthly cost ranges widely. This is our arithmetic, excluding tax, setup fees and any add-ons, and it ignores that live and AI services do different work.
Assumes 100 distinct callers and published overage rates. Convocore's voice cost is our estimate and is before the plan's included credit.
How providers charge, and what to ask about
There are five ways to bill: per minute with a monthly bucket (PATLive, Specialty, AnswerConnect, Ruby, Dialzara), per call with a bucket (Smith.ai), per unique caller (Goodcall defines it as one phone number, once a month), per credit (Frontdesk) and per retainer plus minutes (Alert). The unit decides who wins for your calls: short calls favour per-minute billing, many repeat callers favour per-caller billing.
| Provider | What the page says |
|---|---|
| Specialty | Billed by the second, not rounded to the minute |
| AnswerConnect | Each interaction is rounded up to the next minute; no charge for the first 30 interactions under 30 seconds in a cycle |
| Moneypenny US | Overage is billed in 30 second increments |
| PATLive | Billing counts only the time receptionists are live on your calls, not after-call notes |
| Smith.ai | Calls over your plan quota are not covered by the money-back guarantee; some spam is not billed |
| Goodcall | One phone number counts once a month; spam and wrong numbers do not count; minutes are not metered |
| Alert | Additional usage, overages, setup fees and add-ons may apply, amounts not given |
- Six providers (Ruby, Davinci, Nexa, Rosie, Alert, Sameday) show no overage rate on the pages we read. Ask for it in writing before you sign.
- We did not find any provider billing in 6 second increments, so we do not claim it for any.
What a receptionist costs instead
The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median pay of receptionists at $38,010 a year, $18.27 an hour, in May 2025, with 947,500 jobs 15. Its June 2026 compensation release shows wages are 70.0% of total compensation in private industry 16. By our arithmetic that makes the loaded cost about $26.10 an hour, or $54,288 a year for 2,080 hours.
Covering all 168 hours of a week with 40 hour shifts takes about 4.2 people, so about $228,009.60 a year before time off and training. That is our simplified arithmetic from median figures, not a quote.
Median wage divided by the 70.0% wage share, times 2,080 hours; 168 hours divided by 40.
Free options and trials
A genuinely free plan is rare. The only ongoing one we verified is Smith.ai's AI tier, with 25 real calls a month. Everyone else offers a trial or a demo.
| Provider | What you get |
|---|---|
| Smith.ai AI | Free forever: 25 calls a month; card required; overages off by default |
| Convocore | Free plan to build and test an agent; phone numbers and voice start on Business |
| PATLive | 14 day free trial on any plan |
| Specialty | 14 day free trial, no credit card |
| Abby Connect | 14 days or 500 Abby Minutes, whichever comes first; card required |
| Dialzara, Rosie, Frontdesk | 7 day trials |
| Goodcall | Free demo agent; you pay when you connect a number |
Where Convocore fits
Convocore is an AI platform, not a call center. The Business plan ($99 a month, $0.02 a minute platform fee plus speech, model and telephony costs we estimate at $0.07 to $0.12 a minute in total) gives one agent that answers calls, web chat, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger, books into your calendar, and transfers or texts your team for the cases you define 19. There are no human operators: when a caller needs a person, the call goes to yours. If you want people on every call, choose a live service from the table above.
What the evidence does not show
- We found no openable independent source for typical answering service price ranges; the only candidate, Forbes Advisor, blocked our request.
- Ruby, Davinci, Nexa, Moneypenny, Rosie, Alert and Sameday do not publish overage rates, and Moneypenny and Nexa publish no plan prices.
- Moneypenny's own page gives conflicting contract terms, so we do not state them.
- Conversational and Dialpad AI could not be verified.
- The scenario assumes 100 different callers and 3 minute calls; your calls will differ.
- We did not test the quality of any provider's answers.
Choosing by how you get calls
Count last month's calls, their average length and how many different people called. Few calls from many callers favour per-caller or per-call pricing; many short repeat calls favour per-minute. Ask every provider for the overage rate, the rounding rule and the setup fee in writing, then price your real month, not the headline plan.
Method and limits
- Prices come from each provider's own pricing page, read on 4 November 2026; some pages were summarised by a fetch tool, so check any figure before relying on it.
- Scenario and in-house figures are our arithmetic from published prices and BLS data, and are labelled as such.
- Convocore's prices come from the pricing catalog. Convocore sells an AI agent platform, so it has a commercial interest. If you find an error, write to support@convocore.app.
Sources
- PricingPrimary sourceSpecialty Answering Service. Read 4 November 2026.
- Live receptionistsPrimary sourceDavinci Virtual. Read 4 November 2026.
- PricingPrimary sourceSmith.ai. Read 4 November 2026.
- PricingPrimary sourcePATLive. Read 4 November 2026.
- PlansPrimary sourceAnswerConnect. Read 4 November 2026.
- PricingPrimary sourceAbby Connect. Read 4 November 2026.
- PlansPrimary sourceAlert Communications. Read 4 November 2026.
- AI receptionist pricingPrimary sourceSmith.ai. Read 4 November 2026.
- PricingPrimary sourceDialzara. Read 4 November 2026.
- PricingPrimary sourceGoodcall. Read 4 November 2026.
- PricingPrimary sourceRosie. Read 4 November 2026.
- PricingPrimary sourceMy AI Front Desk (Frontdesk). Read 4 November 2026.
- PricingPrimary sourceSameday AI. Read 4 November 2026.
- PricingPrimary sourceRuby. Read 4 November 2026.
- Receptionists, Occupational Outlook HandbookPrimary sourceUS Bureau of Labor Statistics. Last modified 29 October 2026.
- Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026Primary sourceUS Bureau of Labor Statistics. 9 September 2026.The 70.0% wage share is for all private industry jobs, not receptionists.
- Phone answering servicePrimary sourceMoneypenny US. Read 4 November 2026.No plan prices published; the page's contract terms conflict.
- PricingPrimary sourceNexa. Read 4 November 2026.Quote only.
- Convocore pricingPrimary sourceConvocore. Read 4 November 2026.
Questions
How much does an answering service cost?
On 4 November 2026 the live plans we read ranged from $44 a month (Specialty) to $2,100 (Smith.ai Pro), with per-minute overage from $1.09 to $2.99 and per-call overage from $8.50 to $11.50. AI answering ran from free (Smith.ai, 25 calls a month) and $29 (Dialzara) to $449 (Sameday AI).
How much does a virtual receptionist cost?
Live virtual receptionist plans we read were $129 to $319 a month at Davinci Virtual, $250 to $1,725 at Ruby and $164 to $1,380 at Abby Connect, for 50 to 500 minutes. AI receptionists start lower, from $29 a month.
What is pay per call answering service pricing?
Smith.ai charges per call over a monthly quota ($8.50 to $11.50 a call on its human plans, $2.17 to $3.00 on its AI plans), and Goodcall charges per unique caller. Most others charge per minute.
Is there a free answering service?
Smith.ai's AI tier is free for 25 calls a month, and Convocore has a free plan for building and testing an agent. Others offer trials: 14 days at PATLive and Specialty (no card), 14 days or 500 minutes at Abby, 7 days at Dialzara, Rosie and Frontdesk.
What hidden costs do answering services have?
Overage rates, which six providers do not publish, rounding (AnswerConnect rounds each call up to the next minute, Specialty bills by the second), setup fees ($49.99 on two AnswerConnect plans) and add-ons. Ask for each in writing.
Is an answering service cheaper than hiring a receptionist?
Usually, for part-time coverage. A receptionist's median pay is $38,010 a year, about $54,000 with benefits by our arithmetic, and covering every hour of the week takes about 4.2 people.