On this page
- Price comparison at the same call volume
- Published human answering service plans
- What you get with a human service that AI does not give you
- What AI does better
- Hybrid options: AI first, people when needed
- When a human service still makes sense
- When AI is the better fit
- Cost of an in-house receptionist
- Frequently asked questions
Price comparison at the same call volume
Costs at 50, 150 and 500 calls a month with a 3-minute average call, using each service's cheapest published plan for that volume. "No published plan" means the volume is beyond the largest plan and no overage rate is published.
| Human answering service | 50 calls (150 min) | 150 calls (450 min) | 500 calls (1,500 min) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists | $530 Starter: $300 + 20 extra calls x $11.50. | $1,440 Basic: $810 + 60 extra calls x $10.50. | $3,800 Pro: $2,100 + 200 extra calls x $8.50. |
| Ruby | $720 200-minute plan: $720, which includes 200 minutes (you use 150). | $1,725 500-minute plan: $1,725, which includes 500 minutes (you use 450). | No published plan |
| PATLive | $293.50 100-minute plan: $189 + 50 extra minutes x $2.09. | $759 500-minute plan: $759, which includes 500 minutes (you use 450). | $2,344 1,000-minute plan: $1,499 + 500 extra minutes x $1.69. |
| Abby Connect | $599 Professional: $599, which includes 200 minutes (you use 150). | $1,380 Growth: $1,380, which includes 500 minutes (you use 450). | No published plan |
| Cheapest AI receptionist (for comparison) | $49 Rosie | $118.50 Goodcall | $129 Goodcall |
Published human answering service plans
| Service | Billed by | Published plans (per month) | Overage | Terms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ruby | Per minute | 50 min $250, 100 min $395, 200 min $720, 500 min $1,725 | Not published | No activation, onboarding or setup fees |
| PATLive | Per minute | Pay as you go $49 + $2.99/min; 50 min $99; 100 min $189; 200 min $349; 500 min $759; 1,000 min $1,499 | $1.49 to $2.99 per minute by plan | 14-day free trial, no contracts |
| Abby Connect | Per Abby Minute | 50 $164, 100 $329, 200 $599, 500 $1,380 | "Billed at your plan's Abby Minute rate" | No setup fee, month-to-month, free trial |
| Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists | Per call | 30 calls $300, 90 calls $810, 300 calls $2,100 | $8.50 to $11.50 per call | 30-day money-back guarantee; 10% off for 12 months |
Ruby prices from ruby.com/pricing, PATLive from patlive.com/pricing, Abby Connect from abby.com/pricing and Smith.ai from smith.ai/pricing/receptionists, all checked October 22, 2026.
AI receptionist plans with similar minutes
| Service | Minutes / month | Price / month |
|---|---|---|
| Rosie (AI) | 1,000 | $149 |
| Dialzara (AI) | 500 | $199 |
| My AI Front Desk (AI) | 200 | $99 |
| RingCentral AIR (AI) | 100 | from $49 |
Per minute, live answering costs roughly ten times as much: Ruby's 100-minute plan works out to $3.95 a minute and PATLive's to $1.89, while Rosie's Scale plan is about $0.15 a minute and My AI Front Desk's overage is $0.25.
What you get with a human service that AI does not give you
- Judgment on unusual calls. Upset, confused or distressed callers, and requests nobody planned for.
- Services beyond answering. PATLive lists emergency dispatch, event registrations, new client intake and sales and ordering support on every plan; Ruby lists payment collection and outbound call assistance.
- HIPAA options on standard plans. Ruby lists "HIPAA-compliant services" among its features and Abby Connect offers "HIPAA compliance options (human only)". Among AI products, only four publish a BAA option.
- A person on every call, if that is part of your brand.
What AI does better
- Cost at volume. At 500 calls a month the cheapest AI plan is $129; PATLive is $2,344 and Smith.ai's human plan $3,800.
- Simultaneous calls. Rosie says it "handles multiple calls simultaneously", and RingCentral AIR handles multiple calls at once, so no caller waits in a queue.
- Same answer at 2 a.m. Smith.ai, Upfirst, Dialzara, Rosie, NextPhone and RingCentral AIR all list 24/7 answering on their plans.
- Instant records. Upfirst, for example, sends a summary by text or email when each call ends, with the recording and transcript in the app.
Hybrid options: AI first, people when needed
You do not have to choose one. Smith.ai's AI receptionist can escalate to its human Live Agent Network (its homepage lists human escalation at "$3 extra"; AI-initiated escalations have no fee), and it sells hybrid plans priced per call. Its hybrid page shows conflicting per-call rates, so get a quote in writing. Abby Connect bills AI and human answering from the same minute pool, with AI minutes counting at half rate. Ruby includes optional AI features "at no extra cost" in all plans.
When a human service still makes sense
- Callers who are upset, confused or in an emergency and need judgment, not a script.
- Businesses that want a person on every call as part of their brand.
- Practices that need HIPAA coverage on a standard plan and cannot use an AI plan with a BAA.
- Low-volume, high-value calls (for example a law firm's new-client intake), where the cost per call matters less than the conversation.
When AI is the better fit
- High call volume with repetitive questions (hours, pricing, booking).
- After-hours and overflow coverage, where every missed call is a lost job.
- Budgets under $200 a month.
- Calls that mostly end in a booking, a message or a transfer you can define in rules.
Cost of an in-house receptionist
We do not quote salary figures because they vary by city and we only use published prices here. Compare any service against your own payroll cost for the hours you need covered, including the hours nobody is at the desk: lunch, sick days, evenings and weekends. Smith.ai's own FAQ makes this comparison against an in-house salary for its human Pro plan; treat any vendor's version of that math as a sales claim.
Frequently asked questions
Is an AI receptionist cheaper than a human answering service?
Yes at every volume we checked. At 150 calls a month the cheapest AI plan is $118.50; the cheapest live plan covering the same 450 minutes is PATLive at $759, and Smith.ai's human receptionists cost $1,440 for 150 calls.
What is the average cost for an answering service?
Among services that publish prices, 100 minutes a month costs $189 (PATLive), $329 (Abby Connect) or $395 (Ruby), an average of about $304. The cheapest entry point is PATLive's pay-as-you-go plan at $49 a month plus $2.99 a minute.
Can an AI receptionist hand calls to a human?
Yes. All ten AI products we compared transfer calls to your team, some only on higher plans. Smith.ai can also pass calls to its own human receptionists for an extra fee.
Do human answering services use AI too?
Some do. Ruby offers optional AI features at no extra cost on all plans, and Abby Connect bills AI answering at half the minutes of human answering.
Are AI receptionists worth it?
If you miss calls today and most calls are routine, yes: the cost is a fraction of live answering. If most calls need judgment, a human or hybrid service is the safer choice.
Which is better for HIPAA?
Human services make it easier: Ruby lists HIPAA-compliant services and Abby Connect offers HIPAA options for human answering. For AI, use only a vendor that will sign a BAA, such as My AI Front Desk or Goodcall on Scale.