What an answering service really costs.
Priced from the vendors’ own pages, not estimates: human answering runs $250–2,100 a month, AI receptionists $0–690, and a handful of big names won’t tell you until you talk to sales. Here’s the whole market in two tables — including where cheaply isn’t the cheapest.
Published plans from Ruby, Smith.ai, Abby Connect and PATLive — entry tiers buy 30–100 minutes or calls.
From Smith.ai’s free 25-call tier and Rosie’s $49 plan up to Abby’s $690 AI plan. cheaply runs $97–397.
What the published human plans work out to per included minute. AI lands under fifty cents.
The 2025 median receptionist wage is $18.27/hr — before payroll taxes and benefits, for 40 of the week’s 168 hours.
Wage figure: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2025 median for receptionists and information clerks. The full hiring math is here.
The published human plans, side by side.
| Service | Entry plan | What 200 minutes costs | Billed by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ruby | $250/mo · 50 min | $720/mo (their Popular plan) | Minutes |
| PATLive | $250/mo · 75 min | $460/mo (Standard) | Minutes |
| Abby Connect | $329/mo · up to 100 min | $599/mo (Professional) | Minutes |
| Smith.ai (human) | $300/mo · 30 calls | Per call — $810/mo covers 90 calls | Calls |
Each vendor’s own publicly advertised plans as of July 2026 — check their sites for current specifics. PATLive also offers a $75/mo pay-as-you-go plan at $2.60/min.
Two big names are missing from that table on purpose: AnswerForce and AnswerConnect don’t publish pricing — both route you to a quote or signup form first. That doesn’t make them bad services; it does make them impossible to comparison-shop from your couch. See how cheaply compares to AnswerForce.
The AI plans — including where we’re not the cheapest.
| Service | Entry plan | Included at entry | A 200-minute month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rosie | $49/mo | 250 minutes | $49 — inside the entry plan |
| Goodcall | $79/mo | Unlimited minutes, 100 unique customers | $79 — minutes are unlimited |
| cheaply | $97/mo | 200 minutes | $97 — exactly the Solo plan |
| Simple Phones | from $97/mo | 100 calls | Depends on call length (per-call plans) |
| Abby Connect AI | $99/mo | Up to 50 minutes | $299/mo (their 200-minute plan) |
| Smith.ai AI | $0/mo | 25 calls ($3.00/call after) | Per call — Pro is $150/mo |
Each vendor’s own publicly advertised plans as of July 2026. Rosie, Goodcall and Smith.ai’s AI tier are genuinely cheaper than cheaply at entry.
Read the table straight: if the lowest sticker is the whole decision, Rosie at $49 or Smith.ai’s free tier wins it. cheaply’s $97 buys a front desk rather than an answerer — the call becomes a job on a schedule, the caller becomes a customer record, quotes get chased, reviews get requested, and the dashboard shows the revenue it booked you. The one-on-one comparisons go deeper.
What actually drives the price.
Per-minute plans punish long calls; per-call plans punish short frequent ones. A chatty five-minute booking costs one call on Smith.ai and five minutes on Ruby — the same conversation, priced completely differently. Match the unit to how your phone actually rings.
The sticker price covers a quiet month. Published overage runs $8.50–11.50 per extra call at Smith.ai and $2.00–2.60 per extra minute at PATLive; cheaply’s is $0.35–0.45 a minute. A storm week — exactly when the phone matters — is when the meter shows.
A live operator’s time is the cost — that’s why human services run $2–5 per effective minute and AI runs under fifty cents. The honest question isn’t which is cheaper (AI, by a lot); it’s whether your calls need human judgment or a fast, competent booking.
Message-taking is the base product; booking is where plans differ. Smith.ai publishes appointment booking at $1.50 per booking on its human plans. cheaply includes booking — it’s the whole point — plus the schedule, customer records and follow-up texts.
Three flat plans, published right here.
200 minutes included · $0.45/min after
≈ $0.48 per included minute
500 minutes included · $0.40/min after
≈ $0.39 per included minute
1,000 minutes included · $0.35/min after
≈ $0.40 per included minute
Or put your own numbers in first — the missed-call calculator shows what unanswered calls cost you today.
The pricing questions, answered straight.
How much does an answering service cost per month?
How much does an answering service cost per minute?
Why don’t some answering services publish pricing?
Is an AI answering service cheaper than a human one?
What does cheaply cost?
See what $97 a month actually buys.
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