We checked the pricing pages of 23 AI receptionist and answering services on October 6–9, 2026. Entry plans run $0 to $199 a month; 100 calls a month costs about $49 to $213 with AI, versus $395 to $1,380 with a human answering service.
Updated October 9, 2026. Every price below was checked October 6–9, 2026 on the vendor’s own pricing page, linked in each row. Dooza sells a done-for-you AI receptionist, so we are not neutral; we list our method and every source so you can check us. Prices change often: confirm on the vendor’s page before you buy.
A self-serve AI receptionist costs $0 to $199 a month for an entry plan, and most small-business plans cost $49 to $99 a month (18 AI services, prices checked October 6–9, 2026). Extra usage runs $0.20 to $0.50 a minute or $0.45 to $3.00 a call. For a typical small business taking 100 calls a month, the AI services we could price exactly cost about $49 to $213 a month. A human answering service costs $395 to $1,380 for the same calls.
The sticker price matters less than the billing unit. Per-minute, per-call, per-caller and flat plans can swing the bill by 3x at the same call volume. The table and the 100-call comparison below show where.
Our October 6–8 check in a 4-minute video:
| Service | Entry plan / month | Included | Overage | Billed by | Trial or guarantee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upfirst | $24.95 ($20 billed yearly) | 30 calls | $1.50 a call | Call | 14-day free trial |
| Dialzara | $29 | 60 minutes | $0.48 a minute | Minute | 7-day free trial |
| Allô AI Receptionist | $45 add-on ($32 billed yearly), plus a phone seat | No cap stated | n/a | Seat | 7-day trial |
| RingCentral AIR | $49 standalone, $39 as a RingEX add-on | 100 minutes | $0.50 a minute, 30-second increments | Minute | 14-day free trial |
| Rosie | $49 | 250 minutes | None: moves you to the next plan | Minute | 7-day trial |
| Trillet | $49 | 150 minutes | $0.20 a minute | Minute | 28-day money-back |
| AptaBook | $49 | 50 conversations (calls, chat or email count the same) | None: moves you to the next plan | Conversation | 15-day free trial |
| OnCrew (home-service contractors) | $49 Starter | 100 calls | $0.99 a call, all plans (checked Oct 9) | Call | 14-day free trial, no card |
| Phonely | $0 (100 min) or $50 Starter | Starter: 200 minutes | $0.25 a minute on Starter, $0.30 on Pro (checked Oct 9) | Minute | Free plan |
| Goodcall | $79 per agent ($66 yearly) | Unlimited minutes, 100 unique callers | $0.50 per extra caller | Unique caller | Trial, length not stated |
| Nextiva XBert | $99 | 100 interactions (calls, texts or chats) | $0.99 an interaction | Interaction | 30-day money-back |
| My AI Front Desk | $99 ($79 yearly) | 200 minutes, plus chat and SMS | $0.25 a minute | Minute | 7-day free trial |
| Ringly.io | $99 minimum | 50 conversations | $1.99 a conversation | Conversation | 30-day money-back |
| Smith.ai AI Receptionist | $0 Free (25 calls) or $150 Pro | Pro: 75 calls | Free plan: $3.00 a call; Pro: $2.50 a call | Call | Free plan |
| Quo (OpenPhone) Sona | $0 (10 calls) to $199 (600 calls), plus a $15–$47 seat | 10 to 600 calls | $1.00 down to $0.45 a call | Call + seat | 7-day trial |
| NextPhone | $199 ($166 yearly) | Unlimited calls | None | Flat | 7-day free trial |
| Retell AI (build it yourself) | Usage only, $10 free credits | n/a | $0.07–$0.31 a minute | Minute | $10 credits |
| Synthflow | Enterprise only, from $30,000 a year | Scoped | Scoped | Contract | None stated |
Not priced publicly: Numa (demo only) and Dialpad AI Agent (credits sold through sales). We left out third-party estimates for both.
Entry prices don’t compare like for like, so we priced one workload: 100 calls a month, about 3 minutes each (300 minutes), each from a different caller. For every service we took the cheapest plan that covers it, plus that plan’s published overage.
| Service | Cost for 100 calls (300 min) | How it adds up |
|---|---|---|
| OnCrew | $49 | Starter $49 (100 calls included), billed per call, so call length doesn’t matter (checked Oct 9, 2026) |
| Quo Sona | about $64 | Tier 3 $49 (100 calls) + Quo seat from $15 (billed yearly; $19 monthly) |
| Upfirst | $69.95 | Premium $59.95 (90 calls) + 10 × $1 |
| Phonely | $75 | Starter $50 (200 min) + 100 × $0.25 (checked Oct 9; the page also lists 250 Starter minutes and a $0.35 rate in places, so $62.50 to $85) |
| Trillet | $79 | $49 (150 min) + 150 × $0.20 |
| Goodcall | $79 | Starter: unlimited minutes, 100 unique callers |
| Nextiva XBert | $99 | 100 interactions included |
| AptaBook | $99 | 100 conversations exceed Solo’s 50, so Starter $99 (400 conversations), no overage |
| My AI Front Desk | $124 | $99 (200 min) + 100 × $0.25 |
| Dialzara | $135 | $99 (220 min) + 80 × $0.45 |
| RingCentral AIR (standalone) | $149 | $49 (100 min) + 200 × $0.50 |
| Rosie | $149 | 300 min exceeds the $49 plan, so you move to the $149 plan (1,000 min) |
| Ringly.io | $198.50 | $99 (50 conversations) + 50 × $1.99 |
| NextPhone | $199 | Flat, unlimited calls |
| Smith.ai AI Receptionist | $212.50 | Pro $150 (75 calls) + 25 × $2.50 (the Free plan would cost $225: 25 calls + 75 × $3.00) |
| Human answering services, same 100 calls | ||
| AnswerConnect | $395 | Growth plan, 300 minutes (AnswerConnect plans, checked October 7, 2026) |
| MAP Communications | $403 | Enterprise $339 (250 min) + 50 × $1.28 (MAP pricing, checked October 7, 2026) |
| PATLive | $479 | 300-minute plan; the 200-minute plan plus overage would cost more (PATLive pricing, checked October 7, 2026) |
| Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists | $915 | Basic $810 (90 calls) + 10 × $10.50 |
| Abby Connect (human answering) | $1,380 | 300 human minutes is over Professional’s 200, so Growth (500 minutes). Abby counts AI minutes at half, so 300 AI minutes would fit Professional at $599. |
At 100 calls a month the cheapest and the most expensive AI service differ by about 4.3x ($49 against $212.50). Try your own numbers in our AI receptionist cost calculator. Allô is left out because its add-on has no usage cap and needs a phone seat.
Your numbers will differ if calls are longer, if the same customers call repeatedly (cheaper on Goodcall), or if you need texts and chat too (Nextiva and My AI Front Desk count those).
Nine of these services compared plan by plan, including which plans book appointments and transfer calls, in a 4-minute video:
Smith.ai sells both, which makes for a clean comparison on one price sheet: its human receptionists charge $8.50 to $11.50 for each call over the plan, while its AI receptionist works out at $2.00 to $3.00 a call (Smith.ai human plans, Smith.ai AI plans, checked October 6, 2026). In our 100-call scenario, AI services cost roughly 2 to 28 times less than the five human services we priced ($49–$213 against $395–$1,380). Per-minute answering services such as AnswerConnect, MAP and PATLive are the cheapest human option.
Humans are still the better pick for upset customers, complex intake (legal, medical), and calls where one mistake costs more than a year of the service. Hybrids exist: Abby Connect mixes human and AI minutes on one plan, and Ruby adds AI features to its human plans from $250 a month.
Dooza is an AI-native company that builds AI products and services for small businesses. Our AI receptionist is done for you: our engineers set it up on your existing number, write the call flows from your services, prices and calendar, and keep tuning it as calls come in. It fits businesses that would rather not spend their evenings configuring prompts and routing rules. Pricing depends on the product (see Dooza pricing). Every Dooza product starts with a refundable pilot — 100% refund within 14 days.
Not sure which option fits your call volume? Book a free 30-minute call to scope your pilot. We’ll tell you honestly if a $25 self-serve tool is enough.
On October 6, 2026 we opened the pricing page of 21 AI receptionist and answering services (AptaBook added October 8 and OnCrew October 9, 2026, so 23 in total) and recorded each plan’s price, included minutes or calls, overage, billing unit, trial and refund terms. Where we could, we read the numbers straight from the page’s HTML rather than from a summary. We excluded figures that appear only on third-party sites. The 100-call scenario uses only published prices and the rules stated above. If a vendor changes its pricing, you spot an error, or you want a service added, email achilles@dooza.org with a link to the public pricing page and we’ll check it and update this page.
In October 2026, entry plans from 18 AI receptionist vendors ranged from $0 (free tiers with 10 to 100 calls or minutes) to $199 a month, and most sat between $49 and $99. Overage runs $0.20 to $0.50 a minute or $0.45 to $3.00 a call. Prices were checked on each vendor’s pricing page on October 6–9, 2026.
For 100 calls of about 3 minutes each (300 minutes), list prices ranged from $49 (OnCrew Starter, 100 calls included; checked October 9, 2026) to $212.50 (Smith.ai Pro plus its $2.50 per-call overage) across 15 AI services we could price exactly. Human answering services cost $395 to $1,380 for the same volume (AnswerConnect, MAP Communications, PATLive, Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists, Abby Connect).
Yes. For 100 calls a month, the AI services we priced cost $49 to $213 against $395 to $1,380 for the five human answering services we priced, roughly 2 to 28 times less. On Smith.ai’s own price sheet, human receptionists cost $8.50 to $11.50 per extra call and its AI receptionist $2.00 to $3.00 per call (checked October 6, 2026). Human services still win for complex, emotional or high-stakes calls.
Five ways: per minute in bundles (most common: Dialzara, Rosie, Trillet, RingCentral AIR, My AI Front Desk, Phonely), per call or conversation (Upfirst, OnCrew, Smith.ai, Quo, Ringly, Nextiva XBert, AptaBook), flat unlimited (NextPhone), per unique caller (Goodcall), or as a per-seat add-on to a phone system (Allô, Quo, RingCentral RingEX).
Check what happens when you go over: some vendors charge per extra minute, Rosie moves you to the next plan automatically, and Goodcall meters unique callers instead of minutes. Also check whether the product needs a paid phone seat (Allô, Quo, the RingCentral add-on), billing increments (RingCentral rounds to 30 seconds), and refund terms (Rosie says payments are nonrefundable).
Yes. Dooza builds and runs a done-for-you AI receptionist on your existing number, tuned to your services, prices and calendar, so you don’t set it up yourself. Pricing is on dooza.ai/pricing, and every Dooza product starts with a refundable pilot: 100% refund within 14 days.
In October 2026, entry plans from 18 AI receptionist vendors ranged from $0 (free tiers with 10 to 100 calls or minutes) to $199 a month, and most sat between $49 and $99. Overage runs $0.20 to $0.50 a minute or $0.45 to $3.00 a call. Prices were checked on each vendor’s pricing page on October 6–9, 2026.
For 100 calls of about 3 minutes each (300 minutes), list prices ranged from $49 (OnCrew Starter, 100 calls included; checked October 9, 2026) to $212.50 (Smith.ai Pro plus its $2.50 per-call overage) across 15 AI services we could price exactly. Human answering services cost $395 to $1,380 for the same volume (AnswerConnect, MAP Communications, PATLive, Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists, Abby Connect).
Yes. For 100 calls a month, the AI services we priced cost $49 to $213 against $395 to $1,380 for the five human answering services we priced, roughly 2 to 28 times less. On Smith.ai’s own price sheet, human receptionists cost $8.50 to $11.50 per extra call and its AI receptionist $2.00 to $3.00 per call (checked October 6, 2026). Human services still win for complex, emotional or high-stakes calls.
Five ways: per minute in bundles (most common: Dialzara, Rosie, Trillet, RingCentral AIR, My AI Front Desk, Phonely), per call or conversation (Upfirst, OnCrew, Smith.ai, Quo, Ringly, Nextiva XBert, AptaBook), flat unlimited (NextPhone), per unique caller (Goodcall), or as a per-seat add-on to a phone system (Allô, Quo, RingCentral RingEX).
Check what happens when you go over: some vendors charge per extra minute, Rosie moves you to the next plan automatically, and Goodcall meters unique callers instead of minutes. Also check whether the product needs a paid phone seat (Allô, Quo, the RingCentral add-on), billing increments (RingCentral rounds to 30 seconds), and refund terms (Rosie says payments are nonrefundable).
Yes. Dooza builds and runs a done-for-you AI receptionist on your existing number, tuned to your services, prices and calendar, so you don’t set it up yourself. Pricing is on dooza.ai/pricing, and every Dooza product starts with a refundable pilot: 100% refund within 14 days.
Automate your business with AI employees that work 24/7. Start with a refundable pilot: 100% refund within 14 days.
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