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Compare every answering option
Five different kinds of product get sold under the same search term, and they are not interchangeable. A developer platform at three cents a minute and a human service at three dollars a minute both answer your phone, but only one of them works out of the box. Here they are, grouped by what they really are, with prices checked in August 2026 to September 2026.
AI receptionists
Software answers the call. Cheapest option, works around the clock, handles routine questions and booking.
| Vendor | Entry price | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Rosie | $49/mo | Appointment booking and live transfer to a person start at the $149 Scale plan. The $49 plan takes messages only. |
| Goodcall | $79/mo | You are billed per unique caller, not per minute, and the price is per agent. Long calls cost nothing extra, but a busy month of new callers does. |
| Dialzara | $29/mo | The $29 plan holds 60 minutes, which is roughly one call a day. Treat it as a trial tier, not a working plan. Since August 2026 Dialzara also sells SMS, web chat and outbound calling separately, so compare the whole bill, not just the voice line: the chatbot is free with any voice plan, the SMS agent is not. |
| Answrr | $99/mo | Every plan includes every feature. You are only paying for minutes and the number of agents, which makes the tiers easy to compare. |
| NextPhone | $199/mo | CRM integrations only appear on the $299 Growth plan. Prices are quoted as "starts at", so confirm your number before signing. Annual billing advertises savings up to 17%, but per-plan annual prices are not itemized. |
| Slang.ai | $399/mo | This is a restaurant product, not a general receptionist. Pricing is per location and quoted as "starting at", so multi-site operators should expect a sales conversation. |
| Simple Phones | $49/mo | Their own FAQ still says Simple Phones "starts at $97/mo for 100 calls" while the live Stripe checkout on the same page sells that exact tier for $49. Trust the checkout, not the FAQ. |
Human answering services
Real people answer. Costs several times more per minute, and still the right call when the conversation needs judgement.
| Vendor | Entry price | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Ruby | $250/mo | The overage rate is not published anywhere on the pricing page, and minutes round up to the next full minute. A run of short calls burns the plan faster than the minute count suggests. |
| AnswerConnect | $350/mo | Cheapest real per-minute rate among human services, and the first 30 calls under 30 seconds each month are free. Their own PDF contradicts itself on whether Growth carries the $49.99 setup fee, so ask before signing. HIPAA compliance is a $40 a month add-on that cannot be removed once added. |
| PATLive | $99/mo | The $49 pay-as-you-go plan includes zero minutes, so it only pays off below roughly 17 minutes a month. Past that the $99 plan, which includes 50 minutes, costs less. |
Hybrid, AI with human backup
AI takes the call and a person steps in when it gets complicated. Two of these vendors publish both price ladders side by side.
| Vendor | Entry price | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Smith.ai | $150/mo | Billed per call, not per minute, and going over your plan costs MORE per call than the calls inside it. Appointment booking ($1.50 a call) and Spanish ($1.00 a call) are add-ons on the human plans, and a 12-month subscription takes 10% off them. |
| Abby Connect | $165/mo | One price ladder covers people and AI, and choosing AI doubles the included minutes instead of cutting the price. The bill looks identical either way, so the honest comparison is the rate per minute: $3.30 with people on the entry plan against $1.65 with AI, and $2.76 against $1.38 at the top. No separate overage rate is published. |
Built into business software
Answering bolted onto a CRM or phone system you may already pay for. Cheap as an add-on, useless on its own.
| Vendor | Entry price | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Jobber AI Receptionist | $78/mo | The $29 headline is an add-on price. You also need a Jobber subscription, so the real entry cost is $58 to $78 a month. The add-on covers 30 conversations a month, then $0.79 each; only the Plus plan removes the cap. Do not confuse the $29 add-on with the separate $29 per extra user charge on Plus. |
| Nextiva XBert | $99/mo | Billed per conversation, and the definition works in your favour: calls under 30 seconds do not count. But 300 conversations a month costs $99 plus 200 x $0.99, which is $297. |
Developer platforms
You build the agent yourself. Lowest per-minute rates on paper, but the headline price rarely covers the whole bill.
| Vendor | Entry price | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Bland AI | $299/mo | The only per-minute platform quoting an all-in rate, which makes it honest. But the $299 platform fee only pays for itself above roughly 15,000 minutes a month. Below that, the free Start plan at $0.14 a minute is cheaper. |
| Retell AI | Usage based | The advertised $0.07 a minute is the cheapest configuration that exists: basic voice, the cheapest model, no extras. A realistic setup with a good voice and model lands near $0.255 a minute, roughly 3.6 times the headline. |
All prices in one table
| Vendor | Type | Entry price | What you get for it | Billing model | Free trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dialzara | AI receptionist | $29/mo | 60 minutes | Per minute | 7-day free trial on inbound voice plans |
| Rosie | AI receptionist | $49/mo | 250 minutes | Per minute | 7-day free trial |
| Simple Phones | AI receptionist | $49/mo | 100 calls a month | Per call | 14-day free trial on every plan |
| Jobber AI Receptionist | Business suite add-on | $78/mo | 1 user | Credits | Free trial |
| Goodcall | AI receptionist | $79/mo | 100 unique customers | Per customer | Free trial offered |
| My AI Front Desk | AI receptionist | $99/mo | 200 voice minutes | Credits | 7-day free trial |
| Answrr | AI receptionist | $99/mo | 300 minutes (5 hours) | Per minute | 14-day free trial with 60 minutes |
| PATLive | Human answering service | $99/mo | 50 minutes, about 20 calls | Per minute | 14-day free trial |
| Nextiva XBert | Business suite add-on | $99/mo | 100 interactions | Credits | No trial |
| Smith.ai | Hybrid (AI + human) | Free | 25 calls | Per call | 30-day money-back guarantee up to $1 |
| Abby Connect | Hybrid (AI + human) | $165/mo | 50 minutes | Per minute | Free trial on every plan |
| NextPhone | AI receptionist | $199/mo | unlimited calls | Flat rate | 7 days free |
| Ruby | Human answering service | $250/mo | 50 minutes | Per minute | Not mentioned on the pricing page |
| Bland AI | Voice AI platform | $0.14/min | 10 concurrent calls, 100 calls a day | Per minute | Start plan needs no credit card |
| AnswerConnect | Human answering service | $350/mo | 200 minutes | Per minute | Not stated in the pricing PDF |
| Slang.ai | AI receptionist | $399/mo | per location | Per location | No free trial |
| Retell AI | Voice AI platform | $0.07/min | 20 concurrent calls, $10 free credit | Per minute | $10 in free credits |
| Vapi | Voice AI platform | $0.05/min | 10 concurrent lines | Per minute | Free credits on signup |
Entry price is the cheapest plan that actually answers phone calls. Every number comes from the vendor's own pricing page on the date shown on their comparison page.
Where to go next
If you know roughly what you need, go to the full pricing table and sort by entry price. If you are still deciding between software and people, read AI receptionist against human answering service, where two vendors let you price people against AI on one contract, and the gap is exactly double. If you are not sure any of this is worth paying for, start with what missed calls are costing you.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between an AI receptionist and a virtual receptionist?
A virtual receptionist is a real person answering your calls remotely; an AI receptionist is software doing the same job. The price gap is large: humans cost several times more per minute, and they earn it only when calls need judgement or empathy. The full breakdown with both price ladders is in our AI against human comparison.
Which type of answering service is cheapest?
AI, and it is not close. The cheapest working AI plan we track is Dialzara at $29 a month, while the cheapest human service is PATLive at $99. Developer platforms quote even lower per-minute rates, but the headline covers only part of the bill.
Can I combine AI answering with human backup?
Yes, that is exactly what the hybrid category is. The AI takes every call and hands off to a person when the conversation needs one. Two vendors in our table sell people and AI from one contract, so you can see precisely what the human layer costs.
Why group vendors by category instead of one ranked list?
Because a developer platform at a few cents a minute and a human service at several dollars a minute are not versions of the same product. Ranking them in one list would put incomparable numbers next to each other. Grouping first, then comparing inside each group, is the only honest way to do it.