How Much Does an AI Receptionist Cost? 2026 Prices From 7 Services

By Jack Reeds · Updated October 8, 2026

How much does an AI receptionist cost? For a small business, entry plans from the services we checked run $29 to $99 a month as of October 2026, and a service that adds live people starts at $300. Your real bill depends less on the sticker price and more on how the plan charges: per minute, per caller, or per call.

AI receptionist prices at a glance

Every price below comes from the vendor’s own pricing page, checked in October 2026. Prices change, so confirm before you sign up.

The three ways AI receptionists charge

Almost every plan is one of three shapes, and each one punishes a different kind of business.

Per minute

You get a monthly bundle of minutes, then pay for each extra minute. Dialzara, Rosie, RingCentral and My AI Front Desk work this way. It is cheap if your calls are short. It hurts if callers like to chat, or if your service needs a lot of questions before you can book.

Per caller

Goodcall gives unlimited minutes but caps the number of different people who call each month. That suits long calls from a steady list of customers. It hurts a business that gets lots of one-time callers, like a locksmith or a towing company.

Per call

Smith.ai charges a set number of calls per month, then a fee per extra call. Each call costs more, but you can have real people take the hard ones. It suits lower volume, higher value calls, like a law office or a remodeler.

What 80 calls a month would cost on each plan

Here is a hypothetical. A small shop sends 80 calls a month to the receptionist. They average 2.5 minutes, so 200 minutes, from about 70 different callers. Here is the base bill on each service’s cheapest plan that fits.

Jobber is left out because its pricing page does not list a usage limit for the $29 add-on, and you also need a Jobber plan. Notice how Dialzara’s $29 plan ends up costing almost the same as its $99 plan at this volume. That pattern shows up a lot. If you want calls booked straight into your calendar, Rosie’s price jumps to $149, so check which plan has the feature you need before comparing numbers.

AI receptionist cost vs a human receptionist

A person costs far more, but does more. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median receptionist wage at $18.27 an hour, or $38,010 a year, as of May 2025. That is about $3,170 a month in wages alone for full time, before payroll taxes and benefits. Even 20 hours a week at the median is roughly $1,580 a month.

So the AI is cheaper by a wide margin. The fair comparison, though, is not AI versus a full-time hire. Most small businesses buying an AI receptionist were not going to hire anyone. The real comparison is AI versus voicemail, versus you answering mid-job, or versus a human answering service like Smith.ai’s people-first option. For a side-by-side of AI, human and hybrid answering services, see our guide to an AI answering service for small business.

Hidden costs to check before you sign up

• Overage rates. The headline price covers a set number of minutes, callers or calls. Find the rate for going over, and whether the plan stops answering or keeps charging.
• Rounding. RingCentral bills in 30-second increments, rounded up. A 61-second call counts as 90 seconds. Ask other vendors how they round.
• Features locked to higher plans. Calendar booking and live transfers are often the first things moved up a tier. Rosie’s cheapest plan has neither.
• A required base subscription. Jobber’s $29 add-on and RingCentral’s $39 add-on both assume you already pay for their main product.
• Per-agent or per-location pricing. Goodcall prices per agent. Two locations or two phone lines can mean two bills.
• Annual billing. The lower monthly price often means paying a year up front. Try month to month first.
• Your phone setup. Forwarding your current number is usually simple. Ask whether moving your number, or adding a new one, costs extra.

The 7 services, plan by plan

Jobber AI Receptionist

An AI that answers calls and texts inside Jobber, the field service software for trades.

Best for: plumbers, electricians, cleaners and other trades already running jobs in Jobber.

Price: $29 a month as an add-on, available on all Jobber plans, as of October 2026. You pay for the Jobber plan on top.

• Pros: books jobs into the calendar you already use; you control what it can and cannot do; one bill and one login.
• Cons: no use without Jobber; the pricing page does not list a call or minute limit.

Check before you buy: ask Jobber what usage the $29 covers and what happens if you go over. More on this for trades in our guide to an AI receptionist for contractors.

Dialzara

A standalone AI phone answering service with four minute-based plans.

Best for: a business that only needs to catch a few dozen short calls a month.

Price: as of October 2026, Business Lite is $29 a month for 60 minutes, then $0.48 a minute. Business Pro is $99 for 220 minutes, Business Plus $199 for 500, Business Elite $349 for 1,000, with overage dropping to $0.35 a minute on the top plan. No setup fees.

• Pros: lowest entry price on this list for a standalone service; no setup fee; overage rate drops on bigger plans.
• Cons: 60 minutes runs out fast; the $29 plan can cost as much as the $99 plan once you go over.

Check before you buy: during the 7-day trial, look at your average call length and work out which plan it really puts you on.

RingCentral AI Receptionist

RingCentral’s AI phone agent, sold on its own or added to its RingEX business phone system.

Best for: offices already using RingCentral for phones.

Price: as of October 2026, $49 a month standalone or $39 a month as a RingEX add-on, each with 100 minutes, then $0.50 a minute. Calls are billed in 30-second increments, rounded up.

• Pros: 14-day free trial; does not require a RingCentral phone plan if you buy it standalone; cheaper as an add-on.
• Cons: 100 minutes is a small bundle; round-up billing adds to every call.

Check before you buy: price the extra minute bundles RingCentral sells against pay-as-you-go overage for your volume.

Rosie

An AI phone answering service aimed at small businesses, with three plans.

Best for: taking detailed messages without paying for booking you don’t need.

Price: as of October 2026, Professional is $49 a month for 250 minutes. Scale is $149 for 1,000 minutes and adds calendar booking and live transfers. Growth is $299 for 2,000 minutes. Cancel anytime.

• Pros: generous minutes for the price; 7-day free trial; no contract.
• Cons: no booking or transfers on the $49 plan; the pricing page does not list an overage rate.

Check before you buy: ask what happens when you use up your minutes, since the rate is not on the pricing page.

Goodcall

An AI phone agent priced by unique callers instead of minutes.

Best for: businesses with long calls from repeat customers.

Price: as of October 2026, Starter is $79 a month per agent ($66 a month billed yearly) for up to 100 unique customers. Growth is $129 for 250, Scale $249 for 500. Each extra customer is $0.50. Minutes are unlimited.

• Pros: no minute anxiety; long calls cost nothing extra; yearly billing saves 15%.
• Cons: priced per agent; lots of one-time callers push you over the cap; no free trial listed.

Check before you buy: count how many different numbers called you last month, not how many calls you got.

My AI Front Desk

An AI receptionist bundle that also covers texts, web chat and email drafts.

Best for: a business that wants phone, text and website chat answered by one tool.

Price: as of October 2026, Business-in-a-Box is $99 a month, or $79 a month billed yearly, with 200 voice minutes plus chatbot, text and email allowances. Extra minutes cost 25 credits each, and credits are $10 per 1,000, so about $0.25 a minute. No setup fee.

• Pros: lowest overage rate on this list; covers more than the phone; 7-day free trial.
• Cons: one plan only for small businesses; you pay for chat and text features you may not use.

Check before you buy: check whether auto-reload of credits is on, so a busy month doesn’t surprise you.

Smith.ai

A receptionist service that can answer with AI first or people first, priced per call.

Best for: law offices, remodelers and others where one call can be worth thousands and a person should handle it.

Price: as of October 2026, Starter is $300 a month for 30 calls, then $11.50 per extra call. Basic is $810 for 90 calls and Pro $2,100 for 300. No setup fees.

• Pros: real people available; 30-day money-back guarantee; no setup fee or long contract.
• Cons: by far the most expensive per call; a busy month gets costly.

Check before you buy: ask which calls count toward your total, and how AI-first and human-first handling differ on your plan.

How to estimate your own bill in 15 minutes

You don’t need a sales call to know what you’ll pay. You need last month’s call log.

1. Pull your call log. Your cell carrier, business phone app or VoIP dashboard shows calls by date and length.
2. Decide which calls go to the AI. All calls, or only missed and after-hours ones. Starting with missed calls only is cheaper and lower risk.
3. Count three numbers for those calls: total calls, total minutes, and how many different phone numbers called.
4. Add 20% for growth and repeat calls. An answered phone tends to get called back.
5. Price each model. Minutes against the per-minute plans, unique callers against Goodcall, total calls against Smith.ai. Use the overage rates in the table above.
6. Filter by the one feature you must have. Usually calendar booking or live transfer. Cross off any plan that lacks it.
7. Trial the cheapest two that remain. Call them yourself as a customer and read every transcript for the first week.

Not sure the phone is even your biggest time sink? Our free AI scan estimates where AI would save a small business the most.

When an AI receptionist is not worth paying for

• You miss very few calls. If you missed five calls last month and called them all back the same day, a voicemail greeting that promises a quick callback may be enough.
• Your software already includes one. Check your booking or field service app before buying a standalone service. A second system means two calendars that can drift apart.
• Most calls need judgment. Quotes that need a site visit, complaints and billing disputes are poor fits for an AI. A human answering service, or you, costs more but loses fewer customers.
• Sensitive information. If callers share medical or financial details, ask the vendor what compliance it offers and get advice before relying on it.
• Call recording without checking the rules. Recording rules vary by state. Check your state’s law, and an attorney if you’re unsure, before you turn recording on.

For more ways to handle calls, chat and email with AI, see our AI customer service for small business hub.

How we put this together: we checked each service’s official pricing and feature pages on October 8, 2026. No vendor paid to be included. Prices change, so confirm on the vendor’s page before you sign up.

Frequently asked questions

How much does an AI receptionist cost per month?

Among the seven services above, monthly plans start between $29 and $99 for AI-first answering as of October 2026, and $300 for a service with live people. What you actually pay depends on your minutes, callers or calls, so estimate from your own call log.

How much does a RingCentral AI receptionist cost?

RingCentral lists its AI Receptionist at $49 a month on its own, or $39 a month as an add-on to a RingEX phone plan, as of October 2026. Both include 100 minutes, then $0.50 a minute, billed in 30-second increments.

How much does the Jobber AI receptionist cost?

Jobber lists its AI Receptionist as a $29 a month add-on, available on all of its plans, as of October 2026. You also need a paid Jobber plan, and the pricing page does not list a usage limit, so ask before you rely on it.

How much does it cost to build an AI receptionist yourself?

Developer voice platforms charge per minute, and you add the time to build, test and maintain the call flow and the integrations. For most small businesses, a ready-made plan in the $29 to $99 range is cheaper than the hours a custom build takes. Building makes more sense if you have very high volume or unusual needs and someone technical on staff.

Sources

• Jobber pricing (AI Receptionist add-on)
• Dialzara pricing
• RingCentral AI Receptionist pricing
• Rosie pricing
• Goodcall pricing
• My AI Front Desk pricing
• Smith.ai pricing
• US Bureau of Labor Statistics: Receptionists, pay

More in this topic: AI Customer Service guide.

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