If you’re pricing an AI receptionist or a live answering service, it’s worth separating two questions that usually get asked as one: what do these actually cost? and is the thing I’m trying to fix even a phone problem?
This guide covers both, using each provider’s own published pricing.
Quick answer
Published entry prices range from $79 to $285 a month, and most providers meter something on top — minutes, calls, or unique callers.1,2,3,5,7 The cheapest option that genuinely answers phone calls is Goodcall at $79/month per agent.1 The most expensive entry tier is Smith.ai at $285/month for 30 calls.7
But first check you need one. These are all phone products. They answer calls you can’t pick up. If the thing costing you money is booked clients not turning up, that’s a different problem with a much cheaper fix — an automatic reminder your clients can reply to, from around $19/month.
To be plain about it: SMS Reminder is not an AI receptionist and does not answer phone calls. If your phone is ringing unanswered, buy something on the list below. This guide exists because a lot of people searching for a receptionist are actually trying to solve no-shows.
What these services cost
Point-in-time snapshot — verify current pricing on each provider’s site.
| Service | Published entry price | What that includes | Metered on top |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goodcall | $79/mo per agent ($66 annual)1 | Unlimited minutes; 100 unique customers/mo | $0.50 per unique customer after 1001 |
| My AI Front Desk | $99/mo ($79 annual)2 | 200 voice minutes/mo | $0.25 per minute2 |
| Setmore Live Receptionist | $99/mo add-on3 | 24/7 US-based human answering | $2.25 per minute over the package4 |
| Ruby | $250/mo5 | 50 receptionist minutes | Overage charged; rate not published6 |
| Smith.ai | $285/mo7 | 30 calls | $10.50 per conversation over 307 |
| AnswerConnect | Not published8 | — | — |
A few things worth knowing before you compare those numbers.
Setmore’s Live Receptionist is US-only.3 It also bundles Setmore Pro, so it’s a different shape of purchase from a standalone service.
AnswerConnect doesn’t publish pricing at all. Its pricing page is a name, email and phone form.8 We’re not going to estimate a number for them. Worth also knowing that AnswerConnect and Setmore are corporate siblings under AnywhereWorks, so they aren’t quite independent comparisons.
Smith.ai’s calendar booking is an add-on, not part of the $285: appointment booking is charged at $1.50 per call on top.7
The headline price is rarely the bill
This is the part that catches people out, and it’s why the table above has a fourth column.
Every provider meters a different unit. Goodcall counts unique customers. My AI Front Desk and Setmore count minutes. Smith.ai counts calls. Ruby counts receptionist minutes. You cannot line those headline figures up against each other, because they aren’t measuring the same thing — a business with many short calls and a business with few long ones will get completely different bills from the same plan.
The cheapest advertised tier may not answer calls. My AI Front Desk advertises a $20/month Basic plan, but its own pricing page states that tier has no voice minutes and does not answer calls.2 The real entry price for call answering is $99.2 If you’re comparing on advertised minimums, check what’s actually in them.
Two of the six don’t publish what you need. Setmore publishes $99/month but not the minute allowance that $99 buys — the $2.25/minute overage appears only in a help-centre article, not on the pricing page.3,4 Ruby publishes 50 minutes for $250, and its pricing page says there are “no additional or hidden fees for activation, onboarding, setup”5 — but its own terms confirm overage fees are charged above the base usage, and the rate isn’t published anywhere.6 Ruby also bills minutes in 60-second increments rounded up, including hold time and post-call wrap-up.5
None of that makes these bad products. It does mean the honest answer to “what does an AI receptionist cost?” is: more than the headline, and it depends on your call pattern.
Two questions that decide it
1. Are you losing money on calls you don’t answer, or on clients who don’t arrive?
They feel similar and cost similarly, but they are different problems. A missed call is lost new business. A no-show is lost booked business — the slot you’d already committed staff and time to.
2. If it’s no-shows, would a text have prevented it?
Most no-shows are people who forgot, or who meant to cancel and didn’t get round to telling you. Neither needs a phone conversation to fix. Both are addressed by a reminder that’s easy to answer.
If your honest answer is “clients keep not turning up”, an answering service is an expensive way to not solve that.
When you should buy an answering service
We’d rather say this plainly than pretend otherwise. Buy one if:
- New enquiries come by phone and you’re missing them. If people ring, get voicemail, and call your competitor instead, that’s revenue an answering service genuinely recovers.
- You need calls answered outside your hours. Several of these operate 24/7 — Setmore’s is 24/7 with US-based humans.3
- The caller needs a conversation, not a form. Complex intake, triage, or anything where a person has questions before they’ll book.
- You’d otherwise hire someone. Against a front-desk salary, $79–$285/month is straightforwardly good value.
If any of those describe you, the list above is a reasonable place to start — and the cheapest published option that answers calls is Goodcall at $79/month per agent.1
The cheaper fix, if no-shows are the problem
If you’ve read this far and concluded the phone isn’t your bottleneck, here’s the alternative.
SMS Reminder texts every client before their appointment, straight from your Google Calendar. They reply in plain language — “Yes”, “OK”, “can’t make it” — and the app answers automatically, updating the appointment status. Or they tap the confirm-or-cancel link in the same message. If they want to move it, they ask by text and pick a new time on your booking page.
There’s no phone system, no call routing, no per-minute meter. Plans start at $19/month, with a usage-based free trial of 25 reminders to test it first. A credit card is required to start.
What it does not do is answer your phone. If that’s what you need, this isn’t it.
For the fuller version of this comparison, see two-way SMS vs AI receptionists — it covers what each tool is actually built for. If you’re weighing other options, all our comparisons are here.
Sources
Competitor details can change — the following were verified on each provider’s own site on the access dates shown, and you should confirm current information on their site before deciding.
- Goodcall — Pricing, https://www.goodcall.com/pricing, accessed 2026-08-21.
- My AI Front Desk — Pricing, https://www.myaifrontdesk.com/pricing, accessed 2026-08-21.
- Setmore — Pricing and Live Receptionist feature page, https://www.setmore.com/pricing and https://www.setmore.com/features/live-receptionist, accessed 2026-08-21.
- Setmore — “Live Receptionist: how it works and the benefits,” Setmore Support, https://support.setmore.com/en/articles/10587486-live-receptionist-how-it-works-and-the-benefits, accessed 2026-08-21.
- Ruby — Plans and pricing, https://www.ruby.com/plans-and-pricing/, accessed 2026-08-21.
- Ruby — Terms of use, https://www.ruby.com/terms/, accessed 2026-08-21.
- Smith.ai — Pricing, https://smith.ai/pricing, accessed 2026-08-21.
- AnswerConnect — Pricing enquiry page, https://www.answerconnect.com/view-pricing, accessed 2026-08-21. No pricing is published; the page is a contact form.
