# AI receptionist pricing, compared (2026)

> Starting prices for every major AI receptionist and answering service, how per-minute, per-call and per-caller billing differ, and the hidden costs to ask about. Every price is read from the vendor's own pricing page and dated (checked November 2026).

Canonical: https://ahoya.ai/pricing-comparison

## Starting prices

| Vendor | Answered by | Billing | Entry price | Includes | Past the plan | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ahoya | AI | per-minute | $49/mo | 250 minutes | $0.40 per extra minute, capped at 2× plan minutes | https://ahoya.ai/pricing (checked November 2026) |
| Smith.ai (AI receptionist) | AI | per-call | Free | 25 calls | $3.00 per extra call | https://smith.ai/pricing/ai-receptionist (checked November 2026) |
| Nextiva (phone system + AI add-on) | AI | per-seat | $23/mo ($15 per seat on an annual term) | One phone seat (NEXT Core), no AI answering | AI answering (XBert) $1.50 per conversation | https://www.nextiva.com/nextiva-pricing (checked November 2026) |
| Dialzara | AI | per-minute | $29/mo | 60 minutes | $0.48 per extra minute | https://dialzara.com/pricing (checked November 2026) |
| PATLive (human receptionists) | Humans | per-minute | $49/mo (Minute bundles from $99 for 50 min; per-minute rate falls to $1.49 on the largest plan) | No minutes (pay-as-you-go base) | $2.99/min | https://www.patlive.com/pricing (checked November 2026) |
| Rosie | AI | per-minute | $49/mo | 250 minutes | Not published | https://heyrosie.com/pricing (checked November 2026) |
| Posh (human receptionists) | Humans | per-minute | $65/mo (Bundles from $130 for 50 min; extra minutes $1.90–$2.20) | No minutes (base plan) | $2.30/min | https://posh.com/pricing (checked November 2026) |
| Goodcall | AI | per-customer | $79/mo | 100 unique customers | $0.79 per extra unique customer | https://www.goodcall.com/pricing (checked November 2026) |
| My AI Front Desk | AI | per-minute | $99/mo ($79/mo when billed annually) | 200 voice minutes | $0.25/min (25 credits; credits sold at $10 per 1,000) | https://www.myaifrontdesk.com/pricing (checked November 2026) |
| Abby Connect (human receptionists) | Humans | per-minute | $164/mo (Minutes answered by its AI option count at half rate (one plan minute covers two AI minutes)) | 50 receptionist minutes | Billed at the plan's per-minute rate (rate not listed) | https://www.abby.com/pricing/ (checked November 2026) |
| Ruby (human receptionists) | Humans | per-minute | $250/mo | 50 minutes | Not published | https://www.ruby.com/plans-pricing/ (checked November 2026) |
| Slang.ai | AI | per-location | $399/mo (Premium from $599 per location) | Core plan, one restaurant location | Not published | https://www.slang.ai/pricing (checked November 2026) |

## How the billing models differ

### 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.

Good for: 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.

### 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.

Good for: 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.

### 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.

Good for: 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.

### Per location (flat, per site)

A flat monthly price per business location, with no published minute or call meter.

Good for: 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.

### 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.

Good for: 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.

## Hidden costs to ask about

### Overage that isn't published

Some vendors list the bucket but not what a minute past it costs — Rosie's pricing page, for one, publishes no overage rate. Ask for the number in writing before a busy season finds it for you.

### No ceiling on a bad month

A per-minute or per-call bill has no natural limit: a viral post, a storm, or a robocall wave all bill. Ask what the most you could ever pay in a month is — and whether service pauses or keeps charging at the cap.

### Spam, ring time and wrong numbers

Find out exactly what counts against your plan. Some vendors filter known spam before it is billed; others count every connected second. On a per-call plan, a 10-second wrong number costs a full call.

### The headline price is the annual price

Several vendors lead with an annual-billing price. Compare month-to-month prices side by side (this page does), and check the cancellation terms — some require written notice weeks ahead.

### The entry plan doesn't book appointments

Calendar booking, call transfers and texting the caller often start one tier up. Price the plan that actually does what you need, not the cheapest plan on the page.

### Add-ons billed separately

SMS credits, extra phone numbers, extra locations, chat widgets and outbound calls are frequently separate line items. Ask for the full monthly total for your setup, not the base plan.

## Frequently asked 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.