Pricing comparison · prices checked November 2026
AI receptionist pricing, compared
What every major AI receptionist and answering service charges, how their billing models turn your calls into a bill, and the costs that don't show up on the pricing page. Published by Ahoya — one of the options below — with every price linked to the vendor's own page.
The short answer
AI receptionists sold by the minute start at $29–$99 a month for a bucket of minutes; human answering services list base plans from $49 but bill $1.49–$5.00 per receptionist minute. The billing model decides your real bill more than the entry price does — per-minute, per-call and per-caller plans can differ several-fold for the same month of calls, so price your own volume before you choose.
Starting prices at a glance
Each vendor's lowest published plan on month-to-month billing, in USD. Ahoya first, then cheapest to priciest.
| Vendor | Answered by | Billing | Starts at | Includes | Past the plan | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ahoya (that's us) | AI | Per minute | $49/mo | 250 minutes | $0.40 per extra minute, capped at 2× plan minutes | checked November 2026 |
| Smith.ai (AI receptionist) | AI | Per call | Free | 25 calls | $3.00 per extra call | checked November 2026 |
| Nextiva (phone system + AI add-on)$15 per seat on an annual term | AI | Per user seat | $23/mo | One phone seat (NEXT Core), no AI answering | AI answering (XBert) $1.50 per conversation | checked November 2026 |
| Dialzara | AI | Per minute | $29/mo | 60 minutes | $0.48 per extra minute | checked November 2026 |
| PATLive (human receptionists)Minute bundles from $99 for 50 min; per-minute rate falls to $1.49 on the largest plan | People | Per minute | $49/mo | No minutes (pay-as-you-go base) | $2.99/min | checked November 2026 |
| Rosie | AI | Per minute | $49/mo | 250 minutes | Not published | checked November 2026 |
| Posh (human receptionists)Bundles from $130 for 50 min; extra minutes $1.90–$2.20 | People | Per minute | $65/mo | No minutes (base plan) | $2.30/min | checked November 2026 |
| Goodcall | AI | Per unique caller | $79/mo | 100 unique customers | $0.79 per extra unique customer | checked November 2026 |
| My AI Front Desk$79/mo when billed annually | AI | Per minute | $99/mo | 200 voice minutes | $0.25/min (25 credits; credits sold at $10 per 1,000) | checked November 2026 |
| Abby Connect (human receptionists)Minutes answered by its AI option count at half rate (one plan minute covers two AI minutes) | People | Per minute | $164/mo | 50 receptionist minutes | Billed at the plan's per-minute rate (rate not listed) | checked November 2026 |
| Ruby (human receptionists) | People | Per minute | $250/mo | 50 minutes | Not published | checked November 2026 |
| Slang.aiPremium from $599 per location | AI | Per location | $399/mo | Core plan, one restaurant location | Not published | checked November 2026 |
Each vendor name opens its full plan list, overage and a worked month. Vendors that only quote on request aren't listed — there's no published number to compare. Head-to-head breakdowns live on the alternatives pages.
How the billing models differ
Five ways vendors meter the same phone calls. Know which one you're signing before you compare prices.
Per minute (a bucket of talk time)
You buy a monthly bucket of minutes; every minute a call is connected draws it down, and minutes past the bucket are billed at an overage rate. This is how almost every AI receptionist and every human answering service on this page bills.
Kind to: Predictable volume with short calls — a 1-minute 'are you open Saturday?' costs a minute, not a whole call.
Watch for: Long calls and busy months. Check the overage rate, whether it is published at all, and whether anything caps the bill.
Billed this way: Ahoya, Dialzara, PATLive, Rosie, Posh, My AI Front Desk, Abby Connect, Ruby
Per call (each answered call counts)
Each answered call uses one unit of your plan, whatever its length. Plans are call buckets; the per-call rate falls as the bucket grows.
Kind to: Long, involved calls — a 9-minute intake costs the same as a 30-second one.
Watch for: Lots of short calls (hours, directions, wrong numbers) — each one costs a full unit. Ask which calls are excluded from the count.
Billed this way: Smith.ai
Per unique caller
You pay for the number of distinct people who call in a month; repeat calls from the same person and call length are free.
Kind to: A small, loyal customer base that calls often — repeat callers cost nothing extra.
Watch for: Growth. Every new customer your marketing brings in is a new billable caller.
Billed this way: Goodcall
Per location (flat, per site)
A flat monthly price per business location, with no published minute or call meter.
Kind to: Multi-location chains that want one predictable line item per site.
Watch for: The entry price — flat per-location plans are typically priced for established, higher-volume businesses.
Billed this way: Slang.ai
Per user seat, AI priced on top
A business phone system billed per employee seat, with AI answering sold as an add-on metered per conversation.
Kind to: Teams replacing their whole phone system who also want AI on overflow.
Watch for: Two meters: seats plus AI conversations. If you only need calls answered, you are buying a phone system to get there.
Billed this way: Nextiva
Same calls, different bills
Two sample months run through each vendor's published plans, always picking their cheapest qualifying plan. A + means the month outgrows the top published plan and no overage rate is published, so the real bill is higher.
| Vendor | Quiet month15 calls a week, 2 minutes each | Busy month60 calls a week, 3 minutes each |
|---|---|---|
| Ahoya | $49/mo | $179/mo |
| Rosie | $49/mo | $149/mo |
| Dialzara | $63/mo | $311/mo |
| Ruby (human receptionists) | $720/mo | $1,725+/mo |
| Goodcall | $79/mo | $129/mo |
| Smith.ai (AI receptionist) | $120/mo | $500/mo |
Try your own numbers in the cost-comparison calculator, or see what unanswered calls already cost you with the missed-call calculator.
Common questions
How much does an AI receptionist cost per month in 2026?
Published paid entry plans run from $29/month (Dialzara, 60 minutes) to $399/month (Slang.ai, Core plan, one restaurant location). AI receptionists sold by the minute start between $29 and $99 a month. The entry price matters less than the billing model: the same month of calls can cost several times more on one model than another.
Is per-minute or per-call billing cheaper?
It depends on how long your calls are. Divide the per-call rate by the per-minute rate to get the break-even call length: at Smith.ai's $2.00 per call versus Ahoya's $0.40 overage minute, per-call only wins when the average call runs longer than about 5 minutes. Most receptionist calls — hours, bookings, quick questions — are far shorter.
Why do human answering services cost so much more?
You are paying for staffed time. Human services on this page run from $1.49 per extra minute (PATLive's lowest published rate) to $5.00 a minute (Ruby's entry plan, $250 for 50 minutes), and the entry plans of PATLive, Posh, Abby Connect, Ruby include 50 minutes or fewer. An AI receptionist answers in parallel at a small fraction of that per minute; a person is still the better choice when every caller needs human judgment.
What is the cheapest AI receptionist?
Dialzara has the lowest paid entry price on this page at $29/month, and Smith.ai offers a free plan for 25 calls. But cheapest at entry is rarely cheapest at your volume — a small bucket plus overage overtakes a bigger flat plan quickly. Put your own weekly calls into the cost-comparison calculator before choosing.
How current are these prices?
Every price was read from the vendor's own pricing page in November 2026, and each row links to that page. Vendors change pricing without notice, so treat this as a starting point and confirm on the vendor's site before you sign.
Is this comparison biased toward Ahoya?
Ahoya publishes this page and is one of the options, so read it with that in mind. To keep it checkable, every competitor price links to its source, the monthly estimates use each vendor's cheapest qualifying plan, and the billing-model section says which kinds of business each model suits.
Price it against a real call
Free trial on a real phone number, no card. Flat monthly plans with the worst-case bill printed on the pricing page.