How much does a virtual receptionist cost?

As listed on each vendor's pricing page in October 2026, live virtual receptionist plans start anywhere from $49 (PATLive pay-as-you-go, $2.99 a minute) to $350 a month (AnswerConnect Entry, 200 minutes) and run past $1,000 for 500 minutes or 300 calls. At 100 calls a month of 2.5 minutes each, the cheapest published combination from six major services ranged from $395 (AnswerConnect) to $915 (Smith.ai), or about $3.95 to $9.15 per call. AI receptionists cost less: Local Call AI is $297 for 250 minutes.

How much does Smith.ai cost?

As listed on Smith.ai's pricing page in October 2026, its human receptionist plans are $300 a month for 30 calls ($11.50 per extra call), $810 for 90 calls ($10.50 per extra) and $2,100 for 300 calls ($8.50 per extra), with no setup fee and spam calls not billed. A dedicated Spanish line is $1.00 per call. Its AI Receptionist has a free plan with 25 calls and a Pro plan from $150 for 75 calls.

How much does Ruby Receptionists cost?

As listed on Ruby's pricing page in October 2026, virtual receptionist plans are $250 a month for 50 minutes, $395 for 100, $720 for 200 and $1,725 for 500. Ruby lists no setup or onboarding fees but doesn't publish an overage rate, so ask for it before you pick a plan.

How much does AnswerConnect cost?

AnswerConnect's US price sheet, checked October 2026, lists Entry at $350 a month for 200 minutes plus a $49.99 setup fee ($2.50 per extra minute), Growth at $395 for 300 minutes with no setup fee, and Standard at $575 for 400 minutes plus $49.99 ($1.85 per extra minute on both). Calls are rounded up to the nearest minute, and the first 30 interactions under 30 seconds each billing cycle are free.

Is a virtual receptionist cheaper per call or per minute?

It depends on your call length. Per-call billing (Smith.ai) is expensive for short calls and good value for long ones: at 2.5 minutes a call, $10.50 a call is $4.20 a minute. Per-minute billing (Ruby, AnswerConnect, PATLive, Posh) tracks your actual talk time, but check whether the vendor rounds each call up.

Is an AI receptionist cheaper than a virtual receptionist?

Usually, by a wide margin. Local Call AI is $297 a month for 250 minutes and $0.35 a minute after, about $2.97 per call at 100 calls a month, against $3.95 to $9.15 for the live services we priced. What you give up is a human on the line for long, emotional or high-stakes calls.

Virtual Receptionist Pricing 2026: 6 Services Per Call

At 100 calls a month, live virtual receptionist services cost about $395 to $915 on their published plans, or $3.95 to $9.15 per call. Every vendor counts differently, so the sticker prices don't compare until you convert them.

Why virtual receptionist prices don't compare at face value

Six vendors, three different units. Ruby, AnswerConnect, PATLive and Posh sell minutes of receptionist time. Smith.ai sells calls, whatever their length. Abby Connect sells "Abby Minutes", where a minute with a person uses one and a minute with its AI uses half. Then there's rounding: AnswerConnect says every interaction is rounded up to the next minute, so a 2-minute-10-second call bills as 3. Most of the others don't say how they count partial minutes at all.

So we picked one set of assumptions and ran every vendor through it:

2.5 minutes per call. The midpoint of the two-to-three minutes a typical small-business call runs on our own pricing page. Your number may differ; law firms run longer, a lawn company's "are you coming Tuesday?" runs shorter.
Two volumes: 100 calls a month (250 minutes) and 200 calls a month (500 minutes).
Cheapest published combination wins: for each vendor we took whichever plan, plus that vendor's published overage, costs least at that volume.
Rounding only where the vendor states it. That's AnswerConnect, so its 2.5-minute calls bill as 3 minutes. Anyone else who rounds up will cost more than shown.
No guessed numbers. Where a vendor doesn't publish an overage rate, the table says so.

The published plans, side by side

Service	Billing unit	Plans (monthly)	Past the plan	Spanish
Ruby	Minutes	$250 / 50 min; $395 / 100; $720 / 200; $1,725 / 500	Not published	Available (no price listed)
Smith.ai receptionists	Calls	$300 / 30 calls; $810 / 90; $2,100 / 300	$11.50, $10.50 or $8.50 per call by plan	Dedicated Spanish line, $1.00 per call
AnswerConnect	Minutes, rounded up	$350 / 200 min (+$49.99 setup); $395 / 300; $575 / 400 (+$49.99 setup); larger from $795 / 550	$2.50/min on Entry, $1.85/min above	Add-on from $30/mo
PATLive	Minutes	$99 / 50 min; $189 / 100; $349 / 200; $479 / 300; $759 / 500	$2.29 down to $1.79/min by plan	Included
Abby Connect	Abby Minutes (AI uses half)	$165 / 50; $329 / 100; $599 / 200; $1,380 / 500	"Your plan's Abby Minute rate" (dollar figure not listed)	Included
Posh	Minutes	$65 / 0 min; $130 / 50; $215 / 100; $420 / 200; $700 / 350; $975 / 500	$2.30 down to $1.90/min by plan	Included
Local Call AI (AI, for comparison)	Minutes	$297 / 250 min; $497 / 500; from $750 / 1,000	$0.35/min on every plan	Included on every plan

As listed on each vendor's pricing page, checked October 11, 2026. Plans shown are the ones in the small-business range; most vendors list larger plans or custom enterprise pricing too. Ruby, Smith.ai, Abby Connect and Posh list no setup fee; PATLive says "No PATLive fees."

What 100 calls a month actually costs

100 calls at 2.5 minutes is 250 minutes. The cheapest published way to buy that from each vendor:

Service	How the month is billed	Monthly	Per call
AnswerConnect	Rounding makes it 300 billed minutes: Growth plan, 300 min, no setup fee	$395	$3.95
PATLive	200-min plan $349 + 50 × $1.99	$448.50	$4.49
Posh	200-min plan $420 + 50 × $2.10	$525	$5.25
Abby Connect (people)	200-minute plan $599 + 50 minutes at an unlisted rate	$599 + overage	$5.99+
Ruby	200-min plan $720 + 50 minutes at an unpublished rate, or the 500-min plan at $1,725	$720 + overage	$7.20+
Smith.ai receptionists	Basic, 90 calls $810 + 10 × $10.50	$915	$9.15
Local Call AI Standard (AI)	250 minutes included	$297	$2.97

Two things jump out. AnswerConnect's Growth plan is cheaper than its own Entry plan for more minutes ($395 for 300 against $350 plus a $49.99 setup fee for 200), so read the whole price sheet before picking the smallest plan. And Smith.ai's per-call billing works against you here because the calls are short: at 2.5 minutes, paying $9 to $10 a call is about $3.66 to $4.20 a minute. If your calls run ten minutes, the same per-call price is a bargain.

And at 200 calls a month

200 calls at 2.5 minutes is 500 minutes (600 billed minutes at AnswerConnect, after rounding):

Service	How the month is billed	Monthly	Per call
PATLive	500-min plan	$759	$3.80
AnswerConnect	550-min plan $795 + 50 × $1.85	$887.50	$4.44
Posh	500-min plan	$975	$4.88
Abby Connect (people)	500-minute plan	$1,380	$6.90
Ruby	500-min plan	$1,725	$8.63
Smith.ai receptionists	Basic, 90 calls $810 + 110 × $10.50	$1,965	$9.83
Local Call AI Standard (AI)	$297 for 250 min + 250 × $0.35	$384.50	$1.92

The order shuffles as volume rises: PATLive's 500-minute plan overtakes AnswerConnect, partly because AnswerConnect's round-up adds 100 billed minutes at this volume, and Smith.ai only drops to $8.50 a call once you commit to its $2,100 Pro plan. Price your busiest month, not your average one. A plan sized for a quiet month can run well over its allowance in a busy one.

What you get from each, beyond the price

Ruby is the polished, high-touch option, and the most expensive per minute of the minute-billed services on their published plans ($3.45 to $5.00 a minute included). Its pricing page says AI enhancements are included at no extra cost on every plan. Our Ruby comparison covers fit.
Smith.ai sells both people and AI. Its AI Receptionist has a free plan with 25 calls and a Pro plan from $150 for 75 calls ($2.50 per extra call), and spam calls aren't billed. Per-call pricing rewards long calls and punishes short ones. See our Smith.ai comparison.
AnswerConnect publishes a full price sheet up to 100,000 minutes, and doesn't charge for the first 30 interactions under 30 seconds each cycle. Transcriptions ($30/mo) and Spanish answering (from $30/mo) are add-ons. AnswerConnect comparison.
PATLive includes 24/7 coverage and bilingual answering on every plan, and its pricing page says it doesn't use AI to answer calls. PATLive comparison.
Abby Connect uses a dedicated receptionist team, includes English and Spanish, and lets you mix AI and human answering: AI minutes count half. Abby Connect comparison.
Posh has the lowest entry price ($65 with no minutes, $2.30 a minute) and includes 24/7 coverage and bilingual receptionists. Its AI-enabled plans are priced separately.

Where AI receptionists fit, including ours

An AI receptionist answers every call at once, around the clock, for a fraction of the per-minute cost: Local Call AI's overage is $0.35 a minute against $1.79 to $2.50 for the live services above. Smith.ai's own AI Pro plan works out to $2.00 a call on its 75-call plan. That gap is the whole argument for AI, and it's a real one.

The argument against is just as real. A person handles a crying caller, a messy legal intake, or a VIP client who'd notice a machine better than any AI does. Ruby and Abby Connect sell exactly that, and they price it accordingly. If your calls are long, emotional or high-stakes, the per-call numbers above are the price of a human, and they may be worth it.

Local Call AI is built for home-service contractors: emergency-versus-routine triage, booking on your Google Calendar or Cal.com calendar, and every call's transcript and recording in your portal. It tells callers it's an AI when they ask. Standard is $297 a month for 250 minutes, Connected $497 for 500 (adds Jobber and JobNimbus filing and text alerts), Concierge from $750 for 1,000 (adds emergency live transfer to your on-call tech). English and Spanish are on every plan, with no setup fee.

For the bigger picture, our answering service cost guide explains the pricing models and their hidden fees, AI receptionist cost covers AI-only pricing, and AI receptionist vs virtual receptionist vs answering service explains the terms. Contractors comparing options can start at virtual receptionist for contractors.

Run your own numbers

Pull last year's busiest month of calls from your phone bill.
Find your average call length. If you don't know it, time ten calls.
Multiply. If the vendor rounds up, round each call up first.
For per-call vendors, use the call count; for per-minute vendors, the minutes.
Ask every vendor in writing for its overage rate, billing increment, after-hours or holiday rates, and setup fee.

Virtual receptionist pricing in 2026: six services, converted to a cost per call