Last updated · every price re-read on the vendor's own pricing page that day
Eleven vendors, every plan they publish, and what each one includes: calls or minutes, what happens when you go over, whether it books appointments, and what each included call or minute works out to. Where a vendor hides its prices, we say so.
An AI receptionist for a small business costs about $25 to $160 a month at 2026 list prices, which works out to roughly $0.10 to $2.00 per included call. Entry plans start at $0 (Smith.ai's free plan, 25 calls) and $10 (KaiCalls Kai Backup, about 20 calls), and high-volume plans run $299 to $500. Human answering services cost far more per minute: Ruby's live receptionists are $250 a month for 50 minutes. The headline price matters less than the meter (calls, minutes or unique callers), the overage rule, and whether booking is on the plan you're pricing. Want to calculate what unanswered calls cost your business first? Run our missed call cost calculator or the AI receptionist ROI calculator.
Who wrote this: Receptionist ROI is published by KaiCalls, one of the services below. This page compares published prices only. It does not score or rank anyone. Every number links to the vendor's own pricing page, read on 30 Oct 2026, and the per-call and per-minute figures are simple division done in code from those numbers.
Monthly-billing prices. "Per included call" is the plan price divided by its included calls; "per included minute" divides it by included minutes. A dash means the vendor doesn't meter that way. Prices change. Check the vendor's page before you buy.
Scroll the table sideways to see every column.
| Plan | Monthly price | Included each month | Over the allowance | Per included call | Per included minute | Booking on this plan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KaiCallsAIkaicalls.com/pricing | ||||||
| Kai Backup | $10/mo | ~20 calls (48 min) | No per-minute overage | $0.50 | $0.21 | Yes, every plan |
| Kai Line | $79/mo | ~170 calls (408 min) | No per-minute overage | $0.46 | $0.19 | Yes, every plan |
| Kai Office | $349/mo | ~800 calls (1,920 min) | No per-minute overage | $0.44 | $0.18 | Yes, every plan |
| DialzaraAIdialzara.com/pricing | ||||||
| Business Lite | $29/mo | 60 min | $0.48/min | — | $0.48 | No calendar sync (starts on Pro) |
| Business Pro | $99/mo | 220 min | $0.45/min | — | $0.45 | Calendar sync included |
| Business Plus | $199/mo | 500 min | $0.40/min | — | $0.40 | Calendar sync included |
| Business Elite | $349/mo | 1,000 min | $0.35/min | — | $0.35 | Calendar sync included |
| GoodcallAIgoodcall.com/pricing | ||||||
| Starter | $79/mo | 100 unique customers (~150 calls, Goodcall's estimate) | 79¢ per extra customer | $0.53 est. | — | Not itemized per plan |
| Growth | $129/mo | 500 unique customers (~750 calls, Goodcall's estimate) | 26¢ per extra customer | $0.17 est. | — | Not itemized per plan |
| Scale | $299/mo | 2,000 unique customers (~3,000 calls, Goodcall's estimate) | 15¢ per extra customer | $0.10 est. | — | Not itemized per plan |
| My AI Front DeskAImyaifrontdesk.com/pricing | ||||||
| Business-in-a-Box | $99/mo | 200 min | $0.25/min in credits (first 1,000 credits a month included) | — | $0.49 | Yes, per the pricing page |
| RosieAIheyrosie.com/pricing | ||||||
| Professional | $49/mo | 250 min | Moved up to the next plan | — | $0.20 | Texts a booking link |
| Scale | $149/mo | 1,000 min | Moved up to the next plan | — | $0.15 | Books on your calendar |
| Growth | $299/mo | 2,000 min | Custom plan above 2,000 min | — | $0.15 | Books on your calendar |
| Smith.ai AI ReceptionistAIsmith.ai/pricing/ai-receptionist | ||||||
| Free | $0/mo | 25 calls | $3.00/call (overage can be switched off) | $0.00 | — | AI scheduling included |
| Pro | $150/mo | 75 calls | $2.50/call | $2.00 | — | AI scheduling included |
| Enterprise | $500/mo | 300 calls | $2.17/call | $1.67 | — | AI scheduling included |
| UpfirstAIupfirst.ai/pricing | ||||||
| Starter | $24.95/mo | 30 calls | $1.50/call | $0.83 | — | Yes, every plan |
| Premium | $59.95/mo | 90 calls | $1.00/call | $0.67 | — | Yes, every plan |
| Pro | $159.95/mo | 300 calls | $0.75/call | $0.53 | — | Yes, every plan |
| Scale | $299/mo | 600 calls | $0.70/call | $0.50 | — | Yes, every plan |
| SynthflowAIsynthflow.ai/pricing | ||||||
| All plans | Not published | Not published: sold as an annual enterprise contract, no free plan or per-minute rate | ||||
| Abby ConnectHuman + AIabby.com/pricing | ||||||
| Starter | $164/mo | 50 Abby Minutes | Plan’s Abby Minute rate | — | $3.28 per Abby Min | Not itemized |
| Essential | $329/mo | 100 Abby Minutes | Plan’s Abby Minute rate | — | $3.29 per Abby Min | Not itemized |
| Professional | $599/mo | 200 Abby Minutes | Plan’s Abby Minute rate | — | $3.00 per Abby Min | Not itemized |
| Growth | $1,380/mo | 500 Abby Minutes | Plan’s Abby Minute rate | — | $2.76 per Abby Min | Not itemized |
| RubyHumanruby.com/plans-and-pricing | ||||||
| 50 minutes | $250/mo | 50 min | Not published | — | $5.00 | Scheduling available on all plans |
| 100 minutes | $395/mo | 100 min | Not published | — | $3.95 | Scheduling available on all plans |
| 200 minutes | $720/mo | 200 min | Not published | — | $3.60 | Scheduling available on all plans |
| 500 minutes | $1,725/mo | 500 min | Not published | — | $3.45 | Scheduling available on all plans |
| Smith.ai Virtual ReceptionistsHumansmith.ai/pricing/receptionists | ||||||
| Starter | $300/mo | 30 calls | $11.50/call | $10.00 | — | $1.50 per booking |
| Basic | $810/mo | 90 calls | $10.50/call | $9.00 | — | $1.50 per booking |
| Pro | $2,100/mo | 300 calls | $8.50/call | $7.00 | — | $1.50 per booking |
| AnswerConnectHumananswerconnect.com/view-pricing | ||||||
| All plans | Not published | Not published: the pricing page is a contact form | ||||
Sources: each vendor's public pricing page, linked in its row, read 30 Oct 2026 with monthly billing selected. ~ means the vendor gives an approximate allowance. Goodcall bills per unique customer, so its per-call figure uses Goodcall's own estimate printed on its page (100 customers ≈ 150 calls). Smith.ai's AI plans also come in 150-call ($1.80/call) and 500-call ($1.60/call) sizes. Abby Connect counts one AI minute as half an Abby Minute. Taxes, extra phone lines and optional add-ons are excluded.
Compare the freshly verified plans below, then enter a per-minute quote to model another provider. Each section states its own tariff date.
Billing units change the total. Enter calls and distinct customers separately; repeat callers do not create another Goodcall customer. These are scenarios, not forecasts, quotes, or service-quality rankings.
| Provider / monthly tier | Base + usage | Allowance and result |
|---|
How to read KaiCalls: approximately 20, 170, or 800 expected answered calls, with 48, 408, or 1,920 listed call minutes. The marked tier is the lowest base price within the expected call volume. Exceeding an expectation does not trigger a calculated overage or automatic upgrade. KaiCalls may recommend a change with notice; customers can keep their plan. Legacy minute plans have separate terms.
How to read Goodcall: one distinct customer phone number per month; repeated calls from that number count once. Spam and wrong numbers are excluded by Goodcall. The marked tier is the lowest modeled total across all three published plans. Feature limits can still determine which plan fits.
The quote below is a hypothetical worksheet. Replace every field with your provider's terms. Per-call rounding uses the same average duration for every call; an actual invoice requires each call's duration. Transfers, hold time, and other billable events must be included in the input or priced separately.
Monthly USD tariffs checked : KaiCalls pricing, KaiCalls billing terms, and Goodcall pricing. Taxes, extra lines, hardware, texting registration, and optional services are excluded from vendor totals. Confirm required extras before purchase. Quote-only providers remain unknown. The historical tables elsewhere on this page retain their own dates.
Most small-business AI receptionist plans cost $25 to $160 a month at published 2026 prices. Entry plans: Smith.ai Free $0 (25 calls), KaiCalls Kai Backup $10 (about 20 calls), Upfirst Starter $24.95 (30 calls), Dialzara Business Lite $29 (60 minutes), Rosie Professional $49 (250 minutes), Goodcall Starter $79 (100 unique customers) and My AI Front Desk $99 (200 minutes). Plans for busier offices run $299 to $500 a month.
The middle of the market is where most service businesses land: KaiCalls Kai Line at $79 for about 170 calls, Upfirst Premium at $59.95 for 90 calls, Goodcall Growth at $129, Rosie Scale at $149 for 1,000 minutes, and Smith.ai AI Pro at $150 for 75 calls. Use the estimator above with your real call count rather than comparing headline prices.
Divided out from published plans, an included AI-answered call costs about $0.10 to $2.00. KaiCalls works out to $0.44 to $0.50 per included call, Upfirst $0.50 to $0.83, Goodcall about $0.10 to $0.53 (using its own calls-per-customer estimate), and Smith.ai's paid AI plans $1.67 to $2.00. Human answering is several times higher: Smith.ai's live receptionists are $7.00 to $10.00 per included call.
Per-call pricing (KaiCalls, Upfirst, Smith.ai) is easiest to predict because a long call costs the same as a short one. Per-minute pricing (Rosie, Dialzara, My AI Front Desk, Ruby) depends on how long your callers talk. Goodcall counts each different caller once a month, so repeat callers cost nothing extra.
Yes, by a wide margin at published prices. Ruby's human receptionists cost $3.45 to $5.00 per included minute ($250 a month for 50 minutes up to $1,725 for 500), and Abby Connect's human answering is $2.76 to $3.29 per Abby Minute. AI receptionist plans that state their minutes come to $0.15 to $0.50 per included minute: Rosie $0.15 to $0.20, KaiCalls $0.18 to $0.21, Dialzara $0.35 to $0.48 and My AI Front Desk $0.50.
What a human service still offers is a person on the line. Ruby and Smith.ai's virtual receptionists are fully staffed, and Abby Connect lets you mix human and AI answering on one plan. If a share of your calls truly needs a person, compare the cost of that share, not your whole call volume. Our answering service vs. AI receptionist guide walks through it.
Yes. A full-time in-house receptionist costs an employer about $54,300 a year, roughly $4,525 a month, using the Bureau of Labor Statistics median wage plus benefits, and covers about 40 hours a week. The AI plans in the table above run $10 to $500 a month and answer around the clock.
The full calculation, including the hybrid option of keeping a front-desk person and putting AI on overflow and after-hours calls, is in In-House Receptionist Cost vs. AI.
The main ones are overage charges, booking held back to a higher plan, extra phone lines or agents, and the gap between monthly and annual pricing. Ask for the all-in monthly cost at your real call volume before you sign up.
Overage rules differ more than prices do. Dialzara charges $0.35 to $0.48 per minute over the bucket, Upfirst $0.70 to $1.50 per extra call, Goodcall 15¢ to 79¢ per extra customer, Smith.ai's AI plans $2.17 to $3.00 per extra call, and My AI Front Desk $0.25 a minute in credits. Rosie moves you up to the next plan if you exceed your minutes. KaiCalls has no per-minute overage; if volume stays higher it recommends the next plan and you can stay where you are. Ruby doesn't publish an overage rate.
Booking on a higher plan. Rosie's $49 Professional plan texts the caller a booking link; on-calendar booking starts on its $149 Scale plan. Dialzara's $29 Business Lite has no calendar sync; it starts on the $99 Business Pro plan. Smith.ai's human receptionists charge $1.50 per booked appointment. KaiCalls, Upfirst and Smith.ai's AI plans list booking on every plan.
Lines, agents and add-ons. KaiCalls charges $15/month per extra line on Kai Backup and Kai Line. Upfirst charges $9.95/month per additional AI agent. Rosie's website texting add-on is $50/month. Telecom taxes and fees usually appear separately on the invoice.
Annual vs. monthly. Several vendors advertise the annual price: My AI Front Desk is $99 monthly or $79 a month billed annually, and Upfirst takes 20% off annual plans. KaiCalls and Rosie give two months free on annual billing. Compare like with like.
One vendor in this comparison has a permanently free plan: Smith.ai's AI Receptionist Free plan covers 25 calls a month, then $3.00 per call (a card is required at signup and overage can be switched off). Others let you try first: Upfirst has a 14-day free trial with no credit card, Rosie, Dialzara and My AI Front Desk list 7-day free trials, Goodcall lets you build a free demo agent and pay once you connect a number, and KaiCalls is $2 for the first week for eligible new subscribers, with a free browser preview.
It depends on the vendor. KaiCalls ($10), Upfirst ($24.95) and Smith.ai's free AI plan list calendar booking on their entry plans. Rosie's $49 plan sends a booking link by text instead, and Dialzara's $29 plan has no calendar sync. Goodcall's pricing page doesn't itemize booking per plan.
It is if the calls it catches are worth more than $79 a month to you. If one booked job is worth $300 to you, a $79 plan covers its cost by catching roughly one extra job every three to four months. The math gets tighter for low-ticket businesses with few calls, where a smaller plan such as KaiCalls' $10 Kai Backup or a per-call plan may fit better.
The need is real for small crews: 2.88 million US construction businesses have no paid employees (US Census 2022 Nonemployer Statistics), so the owner is often the one on the job when the phone rings. To estimate what dropped calls cost you, run our missed call cost calculator or the AI receptionist ROI calculator.
KaiCalls has three plans, all with the same core software, priced by call allowance: Kai Backup $10/month (~20 calls, 48 call minutes), Kai Line $79/month (~170 calls, 408 minutes) and Kai Office $349/month (~800 calls, 1,920 minutes, plus 3 office lines). Every plan answers day or night, books appointments on your connected calendar, writes out voicemails and sends them to you, answers in English, Spanish and more, and has unlimited team members with no seat fees. There's no per-minute overage, no setup fee and no annual contract, and every paid plan has a 30-day money-back guarantee. Texting on your business number turns on once the number is approved, and booking needs a connected calendar.
We read each vendor's public pricing page on 30 Oct 2026 with monthly billing selected and copied the price, the included calls, minutes or customers, the overage rule and what the page says about booking. We didn't use sales quotes, review sites or third-party price lists. Cost per included call or minute is price divided by allowance, computed in code. If a page doesn't show a number, the table says "not published". We don't score, rank or rate services on this page. Spotted a price that changed? The vendor's own page wins.