Per minute
You pay for talk time (Rosie, Ruby). Cheap at low volume; punishing if your callers are chatty or your business grows. A human service at ~$5/min makes a 10-minute intake call a $50 call.
2026 price guide
What an AI receptionist actually costs.
Most vendors in this market hide their grid behind a contact form. Here's the whole price ladder in one place — every number checked against official pricing pages, meters and add-ons included, ours listed right beside everyone else's.
Facts checked 2026-07-02 · Pricing from official pages · No affiliate links — we compete in this market.
The short answer
As of July 2026, AI receptionist pricing falls into five bands. Self-serve AI runs $25–$250/month with usage caps — you configure and operate it yourself. Hybrid AI + human starts around $500/month plus per-call surcharges. Human receptionist services run $250–$1,725/month, billed by the minute. Enterprise voice platforms start around $30,000/year and you build the agent. Done-for-you managed AI — built, run, and improved for you, all costs included — is $3,500–$5,000/month flat. The bands buy different things: the cheap end answers calls; the managed end converts them.
The 2026 price ladder
Every openly published number in the market, cheapest first, with the meter that actually drives your bill. Where a vendor gates its grid, we say so instead of guessing.
| Service | Model | Published price | The meter to watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upfirst | Self-serve AI · per call | $24.95/mo (30 calls) | Per-call caps; overages beyond plan calls |
| Rosie | Self-serve AI · per minute | $49/mo (250 min) | Booking & transfers cost more; minute caps |
| Goodcall | Self-serve AI · per customer | $79–$249/mo | Bills by unique customers — repeat callers add up |
| Abby Connect (AI) | AI line beside a human service | $99/mo AI · $329/mo human | Two products; human minutes billed separately |
| Ruby | Human receptionists · per minute | $250–$1,725/mo | ≈ $5/minute effective; minutes deplete fast |
| Smith.ai | Hybrid AI + human · per call | $500/mo headline | $3 per human handoff · $2,000 AI-training add-on · full tier grid behind a contact form |
| Synthflow | Enterprise voice-agent platform | from $30,000/yr | Enterprise-only public pricing; you build & run the agent |
| ARXREV | Done-for-you AI, flat | $3,500/mo (3 agents) · $5,000/mo unlimited | No meters — AI usage, servers & tools included |
The four pricing models — and what each does to your bill
The sticker price matters less than the meter behind it. Same call volume, wildly different invoices, depending on which model you signed.
Per call / per customer
You pay per conversation (Upfirst, Smith.ai) or per unique caller (Goodcall). Watch the definitions: third-party guides report long calls can count as multiple calls, and repeat customers can re-bill.
Credits & add-ons
Credit-model services (Frontdesk, ex-myaifrontdesk) and add-on pricing ($2,000 AI training at Smith.ai) make the real monthly number hard to predict until you're inside.
Flat, all-inclusive
One number, everything in — the model we use. $3,500/mo for 3 custom agents or $5,000/mo unlimited, with AI usage, servers, tools, monitoring, and weekly tuning included. Busy months cost the same.
Cost questions, answered straight
How much does an AI receptionist cost per month?
As of July 2026, self-serve AI receptionists run $25–$250/month with usage caps (Upfirst $24.95, Rosie $49, Goodcall $79–$249). Hybrid AI-plus-human services start around $500/month plus per-call surcharges (Smith.ai). Human receptionist services run $250–$1,725/month billed by the minute (Ruby). Enterprise voice-agent platforms start around $30,000/year (Synthflow). Done-for-you managed AI — built, run, and improved for you — is $3,500–$5,000/month flat at ARXREV, with AI usage, servers, and tools included.
What's the cheapest AI receptionist?
Upfirst at $24.95/month (30 calls) and Rosie at $49/month (250 minutes) are the cheapest credible options. The trade-off: you configure and operate them yourself, capacity is capped, and features like booking or transfers often cost extra. Cheap plans are priced for message-taking, not for converting leads.
How does an AI receptionist's cost compare to hiring a human receptionist?
A full-time human receptionist costs roughly $35,000–$45,000 a year before benefits — about $3,000–$3,800 a month for 40 hours a week of coverage. Self-serve AI answering costs a fraction of that but only answers. A done-for-you system at $3,500/month covers 24/7 across phone, SMS, email, and chat, and does the qualification, follow-up, and booking a receptionist plus a sales assistant would do.
Why do most AI receptionist vendors hide their pricing?
Because quote-based selling lets them price by what you'll tolerate, and because metered models are hard to defend in writing. When the real number depends on per-call surcharges, add-ons, and usage definitions, a published grid invites hard questions. We publish ours — $3,500/month for 3 custom agents, $5,000/month unlimited, flat — because a flat all-inclusive price survives being written down.
What usage costs should I watch for in AI receptionist pricing?
Four meters: per-minute billing (long calls cost more), per-call billing (check whether long calls count as multiple calls), human-handoff surcharges ($3/call at Smith.ai), and unique-customer billing (repeat callers re-bill at Goodcall). Also ask about setup fees, AI-training add-ons, and what happens when you exceed plan caps.
Is a done-for-you AI receptionist worth the higher price?
It depends on what a lead is worth to you. If a booked customer is worth hundreds or thousands of dollars, the gap between answering a call and converting it — instant follow-up, qualification, persistent scheduling, reactivation — pays the fee many times over. If you just need messages taken, a $49 self-serve bot is the right buy. The honest dividing line: tool you operate vs. operation run for you.
You've seen every price.
Here's what the top of the ladder buys.
That's our AI Front Desk replaying a real shift — answering, qualifying, booking. Flat $3,500/mo for 3 custom agents or $5,000/mo unlimited, everything included. Or start with the $800 assessment, credited toward any plan.
Book a call → AI Front Desk · on shift
Hi — just sent an enquiry through your site. Can someone talk this week?
You're through — happy to help. What's the project, and when do you want it done?
Office refit, ideally before end of month.
That's workable. Sarah can walk you through it — Tuesday 10:15 or Thursday 2:00?
Tuesday works.
Meeting booked — Tue 10:15 · invite sent
A shift like tonight's, replayed — every step logged and reviewable.