Every price below is taken from the vendor's own published pricing page, with the date we checked it. Where a company doesn't publish pricing, we say so instead of guessing.
These services are not competing on quality so much as on billing model. Smith.ai and Ruby put a human on the line and charge per call or per minute, so your bill rises with your call volume. AI-first services charge a flat monthly fee, so volume barely moves it.
Pick the model that matches your call pattern. A low-volume book of long, consultative calls behaves completely differently from a high-volume book of short scheduling calls.
Checked directly against each vendor's own pricing page. Verify before you buy — these change.
| Provider | Model | Entry price | What that includes | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smith.aiHuman-answered | Per call | $300/mo | 30 calls. Basic $810/mo (90 calls), Pro $2,100/mo (300 calls). Overage $8.50–$11.50/call. | Jul 2026 |
| RubyHuman-answered | Per minute | $250/mo | 50 minutes. Then $395 (100 min), $720 (200 min), $1,725 (500 min). | Jul 2026 |
| Frontdesk AIformerly My AI Front Desk | Flat + credits | $20/mo | Basic has 0 voice minutes. Business-in-a-Box $99/mo carries 200 voice minutes. Voice overage ~$0.25/min. | Aug 2026 |
| AnswerForceHuman-answered | Not published | — | No pricing on their site — you have to register or request a quote. | Aug 2026 |
| Stakd SystemsAI, done-for-you | Flat, quoted | Quoted | Built and run for you. Priced after we see your call volume and channels. | — |
Ask any per-minute provider one question: what is your billing increment? If they round every call up to a full minute, a book of short calls costs 20–40% more than the headline rate suggests. Six-second increments are the honest version.
Smith.ai's model removes the rounding problem entirely — but a ten-second wrong number costs the same as a real lead. At Starter rates that's $11.50 for someone asking for the wrong business.
The clearest example on this page: Frontdesk AI's $20 Basic plan includes no voice minutes at all. It's chat and SMS. The plan that actually answers your phone is $99/mo with 200 minutes — roughly seven minutes of calls per day. Read what "starting at" actually buys.
AnswerForce doesn't post prices. That usually means the quote depends on volume. It's normal for service businesses — just budget an extra call before you can compare.
We're not a subscription you configure yourself. Tyson and I build each setup by hand, train it on that business's services, pricing and schedule, and run it. That's why there's no price on this page: a solo operator and a twelve-truck shop don't need the same build.
The honest limitation: AI handles routine scheduling, quoting and qualifying well, and handles genuinely unusual or emotional calls worse than a good human. If your calls are mostly insurance losses or medical intake, a human service or a hybrid is the better fit — and we'll tell you that on the call rather than sell you something that won't hold.
Want to hear it before you compare specs? The demo answers as though it were your front desk — pick your trade and call it.
Try the AI demo See what answering services costMore reading: Answering service cost in 2026 · AI vs. hiring a receptionist · What an AI virtual receptionist does · FAQ
It depends entirely on call volume. Smith.ai bills per call, starting at $300/month for 30 calls and reaching $2,100/month for 300 calls, so the bill scales with how busy you are. An AI receptionist bills a flat monthly fee, so a heavy month costs roughly what a quiet one does. Below about 30 calls a month the gap is small; above 100 calls it becomes large.
Because that plan does not answer your phone. Frontdesk AI's Basic tier at $20/month includes zero voice minutes — it covers chat and SMS only. The plan that handles calls is Business-in-a-Box at $99/month with 200 voice minutes, which is roughly seven minutes of call time per day. Voice overage runs about $0.25 per minute. Always check what the entry price actually includes.
AnswerForce does not publish pricing. Their site routes you to register or request a quote instead, which usually means the number depends on your call volume. That is normal for human answering services, but it does mean you cannot compare them on price without a sales call.
The billing increment is how a per-minute provider rounds each call. One-minute rounding bills a 40-second call as a full minute, which on a book of short calls can add 20–40% to your invoice versus a provider using six-second increments at the identical headline rate. Ask for the increment in writing before comparing two quotes.
Use AI when most calls are scheduling, quoting and qualifying — it answers instantly, handles unlimited simultaneous calls, and books straight onto your calendar. Use humans when calls are emotionally complex, such as insurance losses, medical or legal intake. Many businesses run both, with AI answering first and escalating anything unusual to a person.
This is the question most buyers forget to ask. Many traditional answering services only take a message, which means you still have to call everyone back — the delay you were trying to eliminate. Confirm whether the service writes to your actual calendar, and whether it knows your services and pricing well enough to answer a caller's questions.
A table only tells you so much. Hear an AI agent handle a call from your own trade, then decide.
Custom-built for your business — never copy-paste.