AI Receptionist Cost in 2026: Prices vs Human Answering
An AI receptionist costs between $0 and about $150 a month for most small businesses in 2026, based on published prices from Smith.ai, Goodcall and My AI Front Desk. A human answering service starts around $250 to $300 a month (Ruby, Smith.ai) and covers only 30 to 50 calls' or minutes' worth of calls at that price. A full-time in-house receptionist costs far more than either. The right number for you depends less on headline prices than on how your calls are billed: per call, per minute, per customer, or flat.
All prices below were checked on each provider's own website on October 23, 2026, and are in US dollars. Prices change; follow the links before you buy.
What do AI receptionists cost?
| Provider | Entry plan | What's included | Overage | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smith.ai AI Receptionist | Free | 25 calls/month | $3 per call | smith.ai |
| Smith.ai AI Receptionist Pro | $150/month | 75 calls ($2.00/call); higher tiers at $1.80 and $1.67 per call | From $2.50 per call | smith.ai |
| Goodcall Starter / Growth / Scale | $79 / $129 / $299 | 100 / 500 / 2,000 unique customers | 79¢ / 26¢ / 15¢ per extra customer | goodcall.com |
| My AI Front Desk | $99/month ($79 annual) | 200 voice minutes, 100 chatbot conversations, 400 SMS | Credits: $0.25 per voice minute | myaifrontdesk.com |
| Talksy Starter / Growth / Scale | $19 / $49 / $149 | 60 / 300 / 1,000 voice minutes; 1,000 / 5,000 / 20,000 messages; 1 / 2 / 5 numbers | None; the assistant pauses at the limit | pricing |
These products aren't equivalent. Smith.ai's AI can hand calls to its human agents; Goodcall and My AI Front Desk book appointments and transfer calls; Talksy answers calls, WhatsApp and Telegram but doesn't book, transfer or text. Compare the price of what you'll actually use.
What do human answering services cost?
| Provider | Plans | Effective rate | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ruby | 50 min $250 · 100 min $395 · 200 min $720 · 500 min $1,725 | $3.45–$5.00 per minute, billed in 60-second increments | ruby.com, FAQ |
| Smith.ai receptionists | 30 calls $300 · 90 calls $810 · 300 calls $2,100 | $7–$10 per call; overage $8.50–$11.50 per call | smith.ai |
Both offer things AI products mostly don't: trained people, judgment, and actions such as scheduling and payment collection. Neither publishes everything: Ruby's overage rate, for instance, isn't on its pricing page.
What does an in-house receptionist cost?
For comparison, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a 2025 median wage for receptionists of $18.27 an hour, or $38,010 a year, before payroll taxes, benefits, holidays and sick days. In Canada, the government's Job Bank lists a national median of $21.00 an hour (CAD, based on 2023–2024 data).
A receptionist covers about 40 of the week's 168 hours. That's why many businesses pair staff during the day with an answering service or AI receptionist for the rest.
What would your month cost? Three worked examples
Assumptions: an average call lasts two minutes, and every call is from a different person (which is the worst case for Goodcall's per-customer model). Your numbers will differ; use your phone bill. All figures are calculated from the published pricing pages of Ruby, Smith.ai receptionists, Smith.ai AI, Goodcall and My AI Front Desk, and from Talksy's pricing.
50 calls a month (about 100 minutes)
| Option | Approximate monthly cost |
|---|---|
| Ruby | $395 (100-minute plan) |
| Smith.ai human | about $530 (Starter's 30 calls plus 20 at $11.50) |
| Smith.ai AI | about $75 (free 25 calls plus 25 at $3) |
| Goodcall | $79 (Starter, 100 customers) |
| My AI Front Desk | $99 (or $79 annual) |
| Talksy | $49 (Growth, 300 minutes; Starter's 60 minutes would be too few) |
150 calls a month (about 300 minutes)
| Option | Approximate monthly cost |
|---|---|
| Ruby | $720 for 200 minutes plus overage at an unpublished rate, or $1,725 for 500 minutes |
| Smith.ai human | about $1,440 (Basic's 90 calls plus 60 at $10.50) |
| Smith.ai AI | about $270 (150-call tier at $1.80) |
| Goodcall | about $119 (Starter plus 50 extra customers at 79¢; Growth is $129) |
| My AI Front Desk | about $124 ($99 plus 100 extra minutes at $0.25) |
| Talksy | $49 (Growth, 300 minutes) |
400 calls a month (about 800 minutes)
| Option | Approximate monthly cost |
|---|---|
| Ruby | over $1,725 (500-minute plan plus overage) |
| Smith.ai human | about $2,950 (Pro's 300 calls plus 100 at $8.50) |
| Smith.ai AI | about $720 (300-call tier plus 100 at $2.17) |
| Goodcall | $129 (Growth, 500 customers) |
| My AI Front Desk | about $249 ($99 plus 600 extra minutes at $0.25) |
| Talksy | $149 (Scale, 1,000 minutes) |
Two things stand out. Human answering costs scale steeply with volume, because you're paying for someone's time. And AI pricing models diverge at higher volumes: per-customer pricing gets cheap for many short calls, per-minute credits add up, and flat plans stay flat until you outgrow them.
Which costs are easy to miss?
- Overage. Most providers charge per call, minute or customer beyond your plan. Talksy doesn't; instead the assistant stops answering until the next cycle, so choose a plan with headroom.
- Add-ons. Smith.ai lists +$1 per call for a Spanish-language line and $0.50 per call for each CRM after the first. Check the add-ons you'd actually need.
- Spam calls. Smith.ai says known spam isn't billed and lets you remove up to 10% of calls as spam. Ask other providers how they treat robocalls.
- Phone numbers. Some plans include a number (Goodcall, Talksy); with others you forward your own.
- Annual commitments. My AI Front Desk's $79 rate needs annual billing, and several WhatsApp tools bill only quarterly or annually. Monthly plans let you leave.
- WhatsApp fees. If an AI answers WhatsApp, Meta bills message fees on top. Since October 1, 2026, each business number gets 1,000 free service messages a month, then pays per message.
- Your time. Every option needs setup. AI receptionists need good written instructions; human services need scripts. Budget an afternoon either way.
How do you estimate your own volume?
- Pull last month's call log from your carrier or phone system: number of inbound calls, average duration, and how many were missed.
- Separate out calls you'd still want a person to take. Those may stay on your line.
- Note when the missed calls happen. If they cluster after hours, you may only need coverage for those hours.
- Run each provider's model against those numbers, as in the examples above.
- Trial before committing. Talksy's 14-day trial needs no card; its analytics page shows calls and voice minutes per day, which tells you which plan fits.
So what should a small business budget?
Based on the published prices above (Smith.ai AI, Goodcall, My AI Front Desk, Ruby, Smith.ai receptionists), for an AI receptionist answering routine calls, $20 to $150 a month covers most small businesses. For human answering of the same volume, budget several hundred to a few thousand dollars. If you need booking and transfers from an AI, expect the middle of the AI range ($79 to $150+). If you mostly need questions answered on the phone and WhatsApp, the low end is realistic.
Further reading: what is an AI receptionist?, AI receptionist vs answering service, and head-to-heads with Smith.ai, Ruby, Goodcall and My AI Front Desk.