The 2026 AI receptionist pricing table
Pulled from each provider's published pricing pages. Prices change — verify current numbers directly with the provider before quoting them to anyone. Table current as of 2026.
| Provider | Entry price | Booking included? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| KaiCalls | $69.99/mo | Yes, at the single price | Flat rate. Booking, lead qualification, and an owner handoff text on every call — no separate booking tier. |
| Rosie | $49 / $149 / $299/mo | No on $49 tier — locked to $149+ | Three tiers; call transfers also gated above entry. |
| Dialzara | From $29/mo | Varies by plan | Entry tier priced around 60 minutes of calls; overage and higher features cost more. |
| Goodcall | $59-$79/mo | Varies by plan | Mid-range pricing band across its published tiers. |
| Smith.ai | $95/mo (AI-only) | Varies | Hybrid plans with live human backup start around $285+/mo — a different product category, priced for higher-touch intake. |
| My AI Front Desk | ~$65-$99/mo | No — booking at $149+ | Entry tier covers answering; booking is a separate, higher tier. |
Prices as published by each provider in 2026. Providers change pricing and tiers without notice — confirm current rates on the provider's own site before quoting.
What actually drives the price
Four things move an AI receptionist quote up or down, and they explain why two "similarly priced" plans can behave completely differently on a real call:
- Does it book, or just take a message? This is the single biggest gap in this category. Rosie's $49 tier and My AI Front Desk's entry tier both answer the phone but hand booking off to you unless you upgrade. A plan that only takes a message is closer to a glorified voicemail than a receptionist.
- Call volume and minutes. Per-minute and bucketed-minute plans (like Dialzara's entry tier) get more expensive fast once you exceed the included minutes.
- Call transfers and owner handoff. Whether the business owner gets notified — and how — after a call closes varies by provider and tier.
- AI-only vs. hybrid human backup. Smith.ai's $285+ hybrid tier is a different product: a live human is in the loop for escalations. That's a legitimate reason to pay more if your calls need it — but it's not a fair price comparison against AI-only plans.
The honest math: cost vs. one recovered job
Don't evaluate a $69.99/month bill against your total call volume — evaluate it against a single job you'd otherwise lose. Job values vary by trade:
- Plumbing: $350-$750 average booked call.
- HVAC: $100-$150 for a routine service call, $400-$700 for a repair, $7,500-$14,000 for a full system replacement.
The arithmetic: at $69.99/month, KaiCalls needs to help recover roughly one-fifth of a single plumbing service call, or a sliver of one HVAC replacement, to pay for the entire month. Everything after that is margin. This math holds whether you compare against KaiCalls or any competitor near this price point — the real question is whether the plan you're pricing actually books the job, not just takes a message.
The math is structural, too, not just anecdotal: 2.88 million US construction businesses have zero paid employees (US Census 2022 Nonemployer Statistics) — meaning the owner is the entire crew, with no one free to answer a ringing phone mid-job. That's the population this pricing category exists for.
Hidden fees to check before you sign up
Per-minute overages. Entry tiers built around a minute bucket (Dialzara's 60-minute base, for example) can get expensive fast once you're over. Model your real monthly call volume, not the sales page's example.
Booking as an upsell. Rosie and My AI Front Desk both price their entry tier without booking. If booking is the reason you want an AI receptionist, compare the tier that actually includes it — not the teaser price.
Setup and onboarding fees. Ask directly whether they're waived; they're not always listed on the pricing page.
How KaiCalls prices it
KaiCalls answers on the first ring, 24/7, qualifies the caller, books the appointment on the call, and texts the owner the handoff — who called, what they need, what got booked. All of that is included at the single $69.99/month price. No booking upsell, no per-minute meter to watch.
- ✓ Answers on the first ring, 24/7 — including the 11:47pm burst-pipe call.
- ✓ Books the appointment on the call, not just a message for you to return.
- ✓ Texts the owner the handoff — who called, what they need, what was booked.
- ✓ Shows recovered opportunities and revenue so you can see what the AI actually caught.
- ✓ $69.99/month flat — no separate booking tier, no per-minute surprise.