Short answer: On the vendor pricing pages we checked on October 18, 2026, the cheapest AI receptionist plans for a small business cost $0 to $29 a month for a low call volume. Counting every vendor's lowest plan, entry prices run from $0 to $99 a month, and plans for busier lines run about $99 to $299 a month. Human answering services start higher: $250 a month for 50 minutes at Ruby and $300 a month for 30 calls at Smith.ai. What you actually pay depends on how the plan counts usage (calls, minutes, or unique callers) and on overage fees.
Prices change often. Every number below links to the page it came from, and we list the date we checked it. Confirm on the vendor's page before you sign up.
What does an AI receptionist cost per month?
Entry plans on the pages we checked range from free (Smith.ai, 25 calls a month) to $99 a month (My AI Front Desk), with most mid-tier plans between $99 and $299 a month.
| Service | Type | How it bills | Published price (as shown) | Source, checked Oct 18, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upfirst | AI receptionist | Per call | Starter $24.95/mo ($20/mo billed annually) for 30 calls, $1.50 per additional call. Premium $59.95/mo for 90 calls, $1 per additional call. Pro $159.95/mo for 300 calls, $0.75 per additional call. Scale $299/mo for 600 calls, $0.70 per additional call. Annual billing takes 20% off. | upfirst.ai/pricing |
| Dialzara | AI receptionist | Minute bundle | Business Lite $29/mo, 60 minutes, $0.48/min overage. Business Pro $99/mo, 220 minutes, $0.45/min. Business Plus $199/mo, 500 minutes, $0.40/min. Business Elite $349/mo, 1,000 minutes, $0.35/min. | dialzara.com/pricing |
| Rosie | AI receptionist | Minute bundle | Professional $49/mo, 250 minutes. Scale $149/mo, 1,000 minutes. Growth $299/mo, 2,000 minutes. Annual billing: "2 months free." | heyrosie.com/pricing |
| Goodcall | AI receptionist | Per unique customer | Starter $79/mo, 100 unique customers then 79¢ each. Growth $129/mo, 500 customers then 26¢ each. Scale $299/mo, 2,000 customers then 15¢ each. No per-minute charges. | goodcall.com/pricing |
| My AI Front Desk (Frontdesk) | AI receptionist plus chat, SMS and CRM | Bundle plus credits | Business-in-a-Box $99/mo, or $79/mo billed annually, 200 voice minutes. Extra minutes 25 credits ($0.25) each, drawn first from 1,000 overage credits included each month (about 40 minutes), then from auto-reload at $10 per 1,000 credits. | myaifrontdesk.com/pricing |
| Smith.ai AI Receptionist | AI first, with live-agent backup | Per call | Free $0/mo, 25 calls, $3.00/call after. Pro $150/mo for 75 calls, $2.50 per extra call. Enterprise $500/mo for 300 calls, $2.17 per extra call. | smith.ai/pricing/ai-receptionist |
| Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists | Live people | Per call | Starter $300/mo for 30 calls, $11.50/call over 30. Basic $810/mo for 90 calls, $10.50/call over 90. Pro $2,100/mo for 300 calls, $8.50/call over 300. | smith.ai/pricing/receptionists |
| Ruby | Live people | Minute bundle | $250/mo for 50 minutes ($5.40 per overage minute). $395/mo for 100 minutes ($4.50). $720/mo for 200 minutes ($4.40). $1,725/mo for 500 minutes ($4.00). | Ruby help center, ruby.com |
| Quo (formerly OpenPhone) | Business phone line with missed-call auto-replies and an optional AI agent (Sona) | Per user, plus credits for AI calls | Starter $19/user/mo ($15 billed annually). 1,000 AI credits (10 calls) included. More AI calls: credit tiers of $25/mo for 40 calls, $49/mo for 100 calls, $99/mo for 250 calls, and $199/mo for 600 calls, each replacing the included 10 calls. | quo.com/pricing |
Notes on the table:
- "Type" reflects how each vendor describes itself. We have not tested the call quality of these services for this article.
- Ruby's main pricing page lists its minute plans, but the prices did not load when we checked. The figures above come from Ruby's own help center article (dated December 11, 2025) and a Ruby campaign page that showed the same monthly prices.
- Prices exclude taxes and any add-ons.
Why do AI receptionist prices vary so much?
Mostly because vendors count usage differently. The same month of calls can land in very different plans depending on whether the vendor counts calls, minutes, or callers.
- Per call (Upfirst, Smith.ai): every answered call counts once, whether it lasts 30 seconds or 9 minutes. Good if your calls run long.
- Per minute (Dialzara, Rosie, Ruby, Frontdesk voice minutes): you buy a bundle of talk time. Good if your calls are short.
- Per unique customer (Goodcall): one phone number counts once a month, no matter how many times that person calls back. Good if the same customers call you repeatedly.
- Per user, plus credits (Quo): you pay for the phone line per person, and AI-answered calls draw from a credit pool.
What will it cost for my call volume?
Use this formula: plan price, plus units over the included amount times the overage rate, plus add-ons and phone or texting fees. You need three numbers from your current phone bill or call log: calls per month, average call length, and how many are repeat callers.
Illustration only. Here is the arithmetic for a hypothetical business with 100 calls a month, all from different callers, averaging 3 minutes (300 minutes). These are our calculations from the published rates in the table above, including each plan's overage rate, before taxes, add-ons, and phone fees.
| Service and plan | How we got there | Monthly total |
|---|---|---|
| Upfirst Premium (90 calls) | $59.95 + 10 extra calls × $1 | $69.95 |
| Quo Starter + Sona credits (100 calls) | $19 + $49 credit tier for 100 calls | $68, plus texting registration fees |
| Goodcall Starter (100 unique customers) | $79, within the included 100 | $79 |
| Dialzara Business Pro (220 minutes) | $99 + 80 extra minutes × $0.45 | $135 |
| Rosie Scale (1,000 minutes) | $149, within the included minutes | $149 |
| Smith.ai AI Pro (75 calls) | $150 + 25 extra calls × $2.50 | $212.50 |
| Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists Basic (90 calls) | $810 + 10 extra calls × $10.50 | $915 |
| Ruby 200 minutes | $720 + 100 extra minutes × $4.40 | $1,160 |
Your numbers will differ. Short calls favor minute bundles. Long calls favor per-call billing. Lots of repeat callers favor Goodcall's model.
What hidden costs should I watch for?
The monthly plan price is rarely the whole bill. These are the line items we found on the pricing pages themselves.
- Overage rates, and what happens when you run out. Dialzara says that when included minutes hit zero, "callers go straight to voicemail" unless you turn on auto-recharge or buy more minutes (Dialzara).
- Spam and wrong numbers. Policies differ. Smith.ai's AI Receptionist counts every answered call by default, filters known spam numbers, and lets you remove up to 10% of calls as spam each cycle (Smith.ai). Upfirst says it does not bill for spam or for calls under 15 seconds (Upfirst). Goodcall says spam and wrong numbers don't count (Goodcall).
- Per-call add-ons. Smith.ai's live receptionist plans charge extra per call for some features, such as $1.50 to book an appointment and $0.25 for recording and transcription (Smith.ai).
- Phone numbers and extra agents. Dialzara lists local numbers at $3/month and toll-free at $5/month. Quo charges $5/month per additional number. Upfirst charges $9.95/month for each additional agent, for example a second location.
- Texting registration. If the service texts customers from your number, US carriers require registration. Quo lists a $19.50 one-time review fee and a $1.50 to $3 monthly fee (Quo). Dialzara passes through carrier fees at $0.0083 per segment for its SMS agent.
- Monthly vs annual pricing. Several headline prices assume annual billing. Upfirst's $20 Starter price and Frontdesk's $79 price are annual rates; monthly is $24.95 and $99.
- Plan change and cancellation rules. Smith.ai's AI Receptionist asks for 30 days' notice to cancel. Ruby allows downgrades only after three consecutive billing periods on the same plan (Ruby help center).
- Your own setup time. Every AI receptionist needs your hours, services, common questions, and rules for what it must never say. Someone on your team has to write that and test it before it answers real customers.
Is there a cheaper alternative to an AI receptionist?
Yes. Missed-call text-back sends an automatic text to anyone whose call you miss, and it is often included in a business phone plan you may already need. Quo, for example, includes missed-call auto-replies on every plan, starting at $19 per user per month (Quo pricing, Quo support). Dialzara sells an AI SMS agent at $19/month plus $0.05 per AI message (Dialzara).
This is where we suggest most small businesses start. The caller gets a reply within a minute or two. When they text back, AI drafts the answer and a person on your team approves it before it goes out. After a few weeks you have a written record of what callers actually ask, which tells you whether a voice AI receptionist is worth paying for and how to set it up. Our guide to missed-call text-back and lead follow-up walks through how it works and the US texting rules.
Should I choose an AI receptionist or a human answering service?
Choose by what your calls need. If most calls are simple (hours, booking, a quick message), an AI receptionist on the published plans above costs a fraction of a human service. If calls involve upset customers, emergencies, sensitive intake, or judgment calls, a human or an AI with a live-person fallback is the safer choice, and it costs more.
How do I decide? A checklist
Work through these before you start a free trial:
- Pull one or two months of call logs. Count calls, average length, and repeat callers.
- Count how many calls you actually miss, and when (during jobs, lunch, after hours).
- Pick the billing model that fits your pattern: per call, per minute, or per unique caller.
- Check the overage rate and what happens when you run out.
- Check how spam, wrong numbers, and very short calls are billed.
- Confirm it works with your current number (forwarding or porting) and your calendar.
- Decide what the AI may and may not say. Prices for custom work and promised availability are common "never" items.
- Decide who reviews call summaries and how fast they follow up.
- Price the add-ons you will really use: booking, transfers, recording, texting, extra numbers.
- Run the free trial on real calls, and read every transcript in the first week.
If customer data is involved, read our guide to whether AI is safe for small business data first. If you're not sure where AI fits yet, start with where to start with AI in a small business.
Common questions
How much does an AI receptionist cost per month for a small business?
On the vendor pages we checked on October 18, 2026, entry plans ranged from $0 (Smith.ai's free plan, 25 calls) and $24.95 (Upfirst, 30 calls) to $99 (My AI Front Desk, 200 minutes). Mid-tier plans for busier lines were mostly $99 to $299 a month.
Is there a free AI receptionist?
Some vendors have free starting points. Smith.ai's AI Receptionist has a free plan with 25 calls a month and $3.00 per call after that. Goodcall offers a free demo agent and charges once you connect a phone number. Quo includes 10 AI-answered calls on every paid plan.
Is an AI receptionist cheaper than a human answering service?
On published prices, yes. The lowest human plans we found were $250 a month for 50 minutes (Ruby) and $300 a month for 30 calls (Smith.ai), while several AI plans start under $50 a month. A human service may still be worth it for complex or sensitive calls.
Do spam calls count toward my plan?
It depends on the vendor. Upfirst and Goodcall say spam doesn't count. Smith.ai's AI Receptionist counts answered calls by default but filters known spam numbers and lets you remove up to 10% of calls as spam each billing cycle. Check this before you sign up.
Do I need an AI receptionist, or is missed-call text-back enough?
For many small businesses, text-back is enough to start. It costs less, a person can approve every reply, and it shows you which questions callers ask. Once you know that, you can judge whether a voice AI receptionist is worth it.
Want help choosing?
We help small businesses anywhere in the US set up missed-call text-back, AI follow-up, and AI receptionists on the tools they already use, with a person approving before anything reaches a customer. We're independent and don't take vendor referral fees, and we'll tell you if a simple auto-reply is all you need.
Prices were checked on each vendor's public page on October 18, 2026. Vendors change prices often, so confirm on their site before you buy. This article is general information, not a recommendation of any one vendor.
