Those are not estimates. Every price below comes from the vendor’s own pages, read on September 22, 2026 and checked again on October 4, 2026, so you can compare like for like and check our work.
Why this question deserves a straight answer
Google estimates close to 600 searches a month in the US for some version of “answering service cost” or “ai receptionist cost.” It is a fair question with a findable answer. Ruby, Smith.ai and Goodcall all publish their prices, which is to their credit. What is harder to find is all three in one place, with the billing models explained. That is what follows.
Live, human-staffed answering services
These are people, working in shifts, who answer your phone under your business name and take a message, qualify the caller or book an appointment.
Ruby sells monthly plans built around a set number of receptionist minutes:
- 50 minutes: US$250/month
- 100 minutes: US$395/month
- 200 minutes: US$720/month
- 500 minutes: US$1,725/month
Ruby says the only difference between its plans is the number of minutes; the features are the same on every plan. Ruby also sells live website chat answered by real people, from US$143 a month for 10 chats on its own, or for less when bundled with a receptionist plan.
Good at: a human voice on every call, on a monthly plan sized to the minutes you expect to use.
Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists (the “Human-first” plans) prices by the number of calls, with a person answering each one:
- Starter: 30 calls, US$300/month, then US$11.50 per call
- Basic: 90 calls, US$810/month, then US$10.50 per call
- Pro: 300 calls, US$2,100/month, then US$8.50 per call
- Enterprise: custom pricing
Smith.ai offers 10% off for a 12-month commitment, and charges extra per call for add-ons such as booking appointments (US$1.50 a call). It also sells website chat staffed by people working with AI, from US$140 a month for 20 chats, and “AI-first” phone plans on the same pricing page. Those AI-first prices did not appear when we read the page, so we are not quoting them. If you are weighing Smith.ai’s AI option, read its own page, not a summary of it.
Good at: calls that run long, because the plans count calls, not minutes. Some extra work is charged per call, and the page links to a reasonable-use policy, so check both if your calls include long intakes.
With both, you are buying a person’s time. Before you compare headline prices, compare what each plan includes, the overage charges, any setup fees and the add-ons, at the volume you actually expect.
AI receptionists
Goodcall prices per agent, per month, with unlimited minutes:
- Starter: US$79/month (US$66 per month, billed annually), 100 unique customers included, then US$0.50 per customer
- Growth: US$129/month (US$108 per month, billed annually), 250 unique customers included, then US$0.50 per customer
- Scale: US$249/month (US$208 per month, billed annually), 500 unique customers included, then US$0.50 per customer
- Enterprise: custom
Goodcall’s FAQ defines a unique customer as a caller with a unique phone number who actually speaks with the agent in a given month. So a caller who rings back five times counts once, and a long conversation costs nothing extra. Run your own numbers before you assume it is always cheaper: 400 different callers a month on the Growth plan means 150 over the allowance, or US$75 on top of the US$129 base, for US$204 in all.
Good at: a low, predictable monthly cost when callers mostly want a quick answer or a message taken.
A plain contact form may already be included in your website plan; check any hosting, plugin and maintenance costs. It works when your customers are happy to wait for a reply. It does less well at nine on a Saturday night, when the person with a problem wants to talk to someone now.
Side by side
| Provider | Model | Entry price | What it buys |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ruby | Live human, minutes included | US$250/month | 50 minutes |
| Smith.ai (Human-first) | Live human, calls included | US$300/month | 30 calls |
| Goodcall | AI, unique callers included | US$79/month (US$66 per month, billed annually) | 100 unique callers, unlimited minutes |
The two human services start at roughly three to four times Goodcall’s entry price. The billing units are different (minutes, calls and unique callers), so this table compares entry prices, not identical amounts of work.
Something we noticed while reading roofing websites
We are building the After-Hours Index, our own read of roofing company websites, taken from their public pages. In our September 21 scan, 73 of 87 homepages responded. The automated scan detected a price signal in 7 of those 73 (10 percent) and booking-related code in 5 (7 percent). It uses pattern matching on each page’s code, not a person reading every page, so treat these as directional counts: it can miss a price shown as an image, or count a dollar sign that is not a price. The full first edition, with how sure we are of each number, is in What we found in 73 roofing homepages.
Who should not buy any of this
If a person already answers your phone every time it rings, during business hours and after, you do not need an answering service or an AI receptionist. You have already solved the problem these tools exist to solve.
If you are a franchisee and your agreement does not let you add anything to your own website, a front desk that lives on your site is not open to you at any price. Read your agreement before you spend a dollar on this.
Call volume on its own will not settle it. Count the calls and inquiries you missed last month, what it costs you to stop a job to answer, and what cover you already have after hours. If those numbers are small, answering your own phone may still be the right arrangement. Come back to this list when missed calls start costing you real jobs.
A live example you can test yourself
Living Front Office built Sam, an AI member of staff who works on a business’s own website rather than its phone line. You can meet Sam in our roofing showroom, on the website of a made-up company called Roofing Solutions. Sam tells every visitor it is AI, asks what the roof is doing, and works toward an agreed next step. It works to our published Standard, which rules out pricing, diagnosing or promising on its own authority. In the showroom nothing is really booked and photos cannot be sent; for a real business, the inquiry and calendar connections are agreed and tested before launch.
On your own site, you can read every conversation Sam has, and the conversations and the customer details in them are yours.
Sam does not replace an answering service or a receptionist. It is a different kind of front door, for the moment a visitor is on your page and not yet ready to pick up the phone.
Ask Sam your hardest customer question at livingfrontoffice.com/roofing. We would rather you see what it does than take our word for it.
There is no public price for Living Front Office; Simon talks price after he has understood your business. The showroom is a working demonstration. If you would like to talk about your own business, write to simon@livingfrontoffice.com. Simon reads every email himself.
The honest bottom line
If you want a human voice on every call, Ruby’s and Smith.ai’s entry plans cost US$250 and US$300 a month, and their larger plans cost more as your minutes or calls grow. If you are comfortable with an AI voice, Goodcall’s Starter plan costs US$79 a month per agent (US$66 per month, billed annually), with unlimited minutes and 100 unique callers included. Whichever you choose, read the vendor’s current pricing page before you sign. Plans and prices change.
FAQ
How much does an answering service cost in 2026?
Among the human-staffed services compared here, published plans start at US$250 a month (Ruby, 50 minutes) and US$300 a month (Smith.ai Starter, 30 calls), and reach US$1,725 (Ruby, 500 minutes) and US$2,100 (Smith.ai Pro, 300 calls) on their largest published plans.
How much does an AI receptionist cost?
Goodcall’s published pricing runs US$79 to US$249 a month per agent (US$66 to US$208 per month, billed annually), with unlimited minutes and a set number of unique callers included before a US$0.50 per-caller charge applies. Other AI receptionists price differently, so read each vendor’s own page.
Is an AI receptionist cheaper than a live answering service?
Among the services compared here, at entry level, yes. Goodcall’s US$79 Starter plan is about a third of Ruby’s cheapest plan and about a quarter of Smith.ai’s. The gap narrows if you have a very large number of different callers each month, because the per-caller charge adds up too, and the plans do not buy the same thing.
Do Ruby and Smith.ai charge the same way?
No. Ruby’s plans include a set number of receptionist minutes each month. Smith.ai’s human plans include a set number of calls, however long each one runs, with extra charges for some add-ons. Compare the billing model, not just the headline price.
Does a small roofing or plumbing company need any of this?
Only if calls are being missed or handled badly today. If someone always answers your phone well, you already have what these services sell. The honest test: how many jobs did you lose this year to a call nobody answered?
What is Sam, and how is it different from these services?
Sam is Living Front Office’s AI front desk, built to work on a business’s own website rather than answer a phone line. It says it is AI, it works to a published standard that rules out pricing and diagnosing on its own authority, and the owner can read every conversation. Try it in the roofing showroom at livingfrontoffice.com/roofing.
Sources
- Ruby, plans and pricing: receptionist and chat plans, read September 22 and October 4, 2026; Ruby, live chat: who answers the chats, read October 4, 2026.
- Smith.ai, receptionist pricing: Human-first plans, overages, discount and add-ons, read September 22 and October 4, 2026.
- Smith.ai, website chat: starting price, read October 4, 2026.
- Goodcall, pricing: plans, annual prices, caller allowances and the unique customer FAQ, read September 22 and October 4, 2026.
- The After-Hours Index, first edition: our own scan of roofing homepages, September 21, 2026.