How Much Does an Answering Service Cost? 2026 Pricing Guide

The short answer

As of October 2026, live human answering entry plans run from $49 a month pay-as-you-go (PATLive and MAP) up to $350 (AnswerConnect). Davinci, Abby, Ruby, and Smith.ai sit in that band. Higher-volume live plans go up to $2,100 (Smith.ai Pro). AI receptionist entry plans run from $29 (Dialzara) to $99 (My AI Front Desk). Smith.ai AI has a free tier.

The Billing column separates per-minute plans from per-call plans. Goodcall bills per unique customer, and minutes are not metered. The source column is the page the number was copied from.

Checked October 20, 2026. Ruby’s receptionist dollar prices are on its help center (article dated December 11, 2025), not on the marketing plans page. Abby’s public pricing page lists the $164 starter; the $329, $599, and $1,380 figures are on Abby’s own plan page. Nexa’s $1.99 per minute line is only on its Calendly signup page. AnswerConnect’s quote form hides prices; the direct plan page shows them. Stakd is not in this table. The Billing column is the unit on that vendor’s page: per minute, per call, or per customer.

The three pricing models

Almost every provider uses one of three structures. The rates below are the ones printed on the vendor pages in the table, not an industry average.

1. Per-minute

You buy a block of minutes, or you pay for the minutes you use. AnswerFirst publishes $1.60 to $1.95 per minute on top of a $30 monthly base, billed by the second. PATLive’s pay-as-you-go plan is $49 a month with $2.99 per additional minute. Davinci publishes $1.75 per minute past a Business plan and $2.50 per minute past a Premium plan.

Per-minute works when calls are short and predictable. It punishes you when a chatty customer keeps an agent on the line for nine minutes.

2. Per-call

You pay a fixed amount each time the phone is answered, regardless of length. Smith.ai’s live Starter plan is $300 a month for 30 calls, then $11.50 a call. Its AI Free plan is $0 for 25 calls, then $3 a call.

Per-call removes the rounding problem entirely. The catch is that a ten-second wrong number costs exactly as much as a real lead.

3. A monthly scope

Some providers sell handling for the month instead of by the minute or the call. A busy month does not produce a surprise invoice. The tradeoff is that you are buying a system rather than a person.

The billing increment trap

This is the line item nobody reads, and the one that most often turns a cheap quote into an expensive invoice.

The billing increment is how your provider rounds each call. A provider billing in one-minute increments rounds every single call up to the next full minute. A 40-second "is anyone there?" call bills as a full minute. A 61-second call bills as two.

On a book of short calls, one-minute rounding costs more than six-second or one-second billing at the same headline rate. AnswerFirst publishes one-second billing. Davinci says live time is counted by the second.

Before comparing two quotes, ask both providers one question: "What is your billing increment?" If the answer is one minute, the real rate is meaningfully higher than the one on the page.

What the major providers actually publish

These Smith.ai and Ruby plans are the ones on each provider’s own page as of October 20, 2026. The fuller list, with a source link on every row, is the table above. Verify before you buy. Pricing changes.

It's all custom built, so our team will chat with you about that.

Smith.ai also charges per-call add-ons on top of the plan: appointment booking $1.50/call, SMS or Slack notifications $0.50/call, call recording and transcription $0.25/call, and Spanish-language handling $1.00/call. Additional transfer destinations are $15.00/month each.

What 100 calls a month actually costs

Take a business receiving 100 inbound calls a month. There is no single total, because the vendors above do not sell the same unit. Price that volume from the included amount and the overage on the row you are comparing. A Smith.ai live Starter plan includes 30 calls, then $11.50 a call. A Dialzara Business Lite plan includes 60 minutes, then $0.48 a minute. Those are different bills, and neither number is an estimate.

The fees that are not in the headline price

• Setup and onboarding — a one-time charge to script and configure your account.
• Appointment booking — frequently billed per call on top of the plan.
• Call transfers — extra destinations often carry a monthly fee each.
• Tracking numbers — usually a few dollars per number per month.
• Bilingual handling — Spanish-language calls commonly cost extra per call.
• Holiday and after-hours premiums — the hours you most need coverage are often the priciest.
• Overages — the rate printed on the plan, once you pass the included block. The table lists that rate only when the vendor prints it.

How to price this for your own business

Skip the industry averages. Your phone records already contain the answer.

1. Pull your last three months of call logs.
2. Count total inbound calls and work out your average call length.
3. Price that exact volume under all three models using the rates above.
4. Ask every provider you shortlist what their billing increment is, and what an overage costs.

Most owners are surprised by which model wins. Short, high-volume call patterns and long consultative calls do not fit the same bill.

Where AI answering fits

An AI receptionist answers the routine calls, including the seasonal spikes. It's all custom built, so our team will chat with you about that.

The honest tradeoff is that a person still handles genuine edge cases better. That is why hybrid setups — AI takes the routine booking and qualifying calls, anything unusual escalates to a human — have become the common configuration rather than a compromise.

The question worth asking is not only what the service costs, but what the missed calls cost. If you run ads, an unanswered call is a lead you have already paid for twice.

More reading: AI vs. answering service vs. hiring a receptionist · How Stakd Systems prices · Missed-call text-back · How AI agents work