AI receptionist vs answering service: what each costs
An AI receptionist answers every call with software. A live answering service has people answer, often with AI help. Some vendors offer both. Here is what each kind bills at small-contractor call volumes, from published prices.
The goal is the provider that fits how your business actually takes calls. Priced on your real volume, that may cost less than you expect.
Lowest bill of each kind
| Calls a month | Lowest AI-only bill | Lowest with live people |
|---|---|---|
| 80 calls, 3 min | Rosie and Simple Phones, $49 | $162.50 (see the table below) |
| 200 calls, 3 min | Goodcall, $105.33 | $385 (see the table below) |
| 450 calls, 3.5 min | Goodcall, $129 | $800 (see the table below) |
"With live people" means Ruby, Abby Connect and Smith.ai, the three tracked vendors whose own pages say people answer or back up the AI. Every other tracked vendor is AI-only.
Vendors with live people
| Vendor | Who answers | 80 calls | 200 calls | 450 calls |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smith.ai AI Receptionist | AI, with live backup available | $162.50Pro (75 calls): 5 calls over the plan | $385Pro (150 calls): 50 calls over the plan | $800Enterprise (500 calls): within the plan |
| Abby Connect (human + AI) | Live receptionists, AI, or a mix | $393.60Starter: 70 minutes over the plan; all-AI answering (counts half) | $898.50Professional: 100 minutes over the plan; all-AI answering (counts half) | $2,173.50Growth: 288 minutes over the plan; all-AI answering (counts half) |
| Ruby (live receptionists + AI) | Live receptionists, with AI tools | $1,725500 minutes: plan sized to cover your minutes; overage not published | n/aover 500 min: custom quote | n/aover 500 min: custom quote |
- Ruby (live receptionists + AI): Ruby is a human-plus-AI service: trained live receptionists answer the calls, and AI adds transcripts and call-flow help. It is not an AI-only receptionist. Verified
- Abby Connect (human + AI): Abby Connect is a human-plus-AI service: US-based live receptionists, an AI receptionist, or a mix on the same call. Verified
- Smith.ai AI Receptionist: Live human backup (North America) is available. That's the reason Smith.ai gives for its higher price. Verified
For Smith.ai we price its AI Receptionist plans as published. For Abby Connect the calculator assumes every call is answered by its AI, which uses half an Abby Minute per minute Unverified; calls answered by people use twice as much.
Volumes: 80 calls of 3 min (1 truck example); 200 calls of 3 min (2–3 trucks example); 450 calls of 3.5 min (4–6 trucks example), all calls answered Unverified. Prices as published on each vendor's own page on 2026-10-30.
These bills come from the same calculation as the calculator, using each vendor's published plans as of 2026-10-30. Each bill includes any plan, seat or phone number the vendor requires before you can add call answering. Taxes, one-time fees and optional extras aren't included. For Goodcall we assume 1.5 calls per unique customer, Goodcall's own ratio. Vendors are sorted by estimated bill alone.
Try your own numbers in the calculator · Smith.ai and Ruby alternatives