How much does an AI receptionist cost? On the public pricing pages we checked in October 2026, the answer ran from a free plan capped at a couple dozen calls, to entry plans near $50 a month, to a few hundred dollars a month for higher volume, with developer platforms charging a few cents a minute for anyone willing to build their own.
That spread is not a sign that some providers are overcharging. It comes from two things: how the provider counts usage, and how much of the work is done for you. A self-serve product hands you a login. A developer platform hands you the parts. An agency, like this one, configures the agent with your business facts, puts it on your line and keeps it current. This guide walks through the pricing models, the prices providers publish, what a human receptionist costs according to federal wage data, and the costs that do not show up on a pricing page.
One caution up front: every number below was published by the provider or agency named, and we state it the way they stated it. Prices change often in this market, plans get renamed, and the quote you receive for your business can differ. Use these figures to understand the shape of the market, then get written quotes.
Five ways AI receptionist pricing is built
Before comparing numbers, find out which of these a provider uses. Two plans with the same monthly price can cost very different amounts for the same calls.
Per minute
You pay for talk time, either from a bundle of minutes or as pure usage. Short calls are cheap; long calls and chatty callers are not. Ask how partial minutes are rounded.
Per call
A set price for each answered call no matter how long it runs. Easy to budget when your calls are long, more expensive when most calls are quick questions about hours.
Per unique caller or flat tier
A monthly fee covers a number of distinct callers or a block of usage. Repeat callers may not count twice. Check what happens on the day you pass the cap.
Setup or onboarding fees
Some providers charge once to configure the agent, load your information and connect your calendar. Others fold that work into the monthly price. Ask which it is before you sign.
Platform plus usage (do it yourself)
Developer and automation platforms charge per minute for the voice, the language model and the phone line, often separately. The rate looks small because your own build time is not in it.
AI receptionist pricing that providers publish (checked October 2026)
These are examples from public pricing pages and help center articles, not a ranking or a recommendation. Each line uses the plan name and price as the provider listed it when we checked in October 2026. Taxes, phone line charges and add-ons are not included unless the provider says so. Prices change, promotions come and go, and a real quote for your business may differ from any line here.
| Provider and product | Plan as published | Published price | How usage is counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smith.ai AI Receptionist | Free | $0 a month for 25 calls; $3.00 a call after that if you turn overages on | Per call |
| Smith.ai AI Receptionist | Pro | $150 a month, listed at $2.00 a call | Per call |
| Rosie | Professional / Scale / Growth | $49 a month for 250 minutes; $149 for 1,000 minutes; $299 for 2,000 minutes | Minute bundles |
| Goodcall | Starter | $79 a month per agent, with 100 unique customers a month included | By the number of unique callers the agent talks with each month, not call length |
| HighLevel AI Employee | Growth / Unlimited | $50 a month per location with 100 Voice AI minutes; $97 a month per location for Unlimited, subject to fair use | Add-on to a HighLevel account; phone charges billed separately |
| HighLevel Voice AI | Pay per use | Voice engine $0.045 a minute, plus text-to-speech and language model charges, plus phone charges | Per minute, in parts |
| Retell AI | Pay as you go | $0.07 to $0.31 a minute depending on the model, voice and add-ons chosen | Per minute (developer platform) |
Sources for every line are listed at the bottom of this page. HighLevel is the platform our own systems are built on; its add-on prices are what an account owner pays HighLevel, not what an agency charges a client.
How to read the table
Put your own month into each row. If you take 200 calls a month that average three minutes, that is about 600 minutes. A minute bundle that covers 600 minutes, a per-call plan at 200 calls, and a per-caller plan at however many distinct people those 200 calls came from will each give a different bill.
The developer rows look cheapest because they leave out the person who writes the agent's instructions, connects the calendar, tests the call flow and fixes it when callers ask something new. If that person is you, count your hours. If it is a freelancer, count their invoice.
What the cheapest AI receptionist leaves out
A cheap AI receptionist can be the right choice for a business that gets a handful of calls and has someone comfortable setting up software. The low price usually trades away one or more of these:
- Volume. Free and entry tiers cap calls, minutes or callers. A busy week can push you into overage pricing or the next tier.
- Setup. You write the greeting, the answers, the rules for which calls get transferred, and you load your hours and services.
- Upkeep. When your prices, staff or hours change, the agent keeps saying the old thing until someone updates it.
- Connections. Booking into your calendar or sending call summaries to the right person may be a higher tier or an add-on.
- Someone to call. Support on low tiers is often email or a help center only.
What a human receptionist costs
The Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook lists the median pay for receptionists at $38,010 a year, or $18.27 an hour, in May 2025. Half of receptionists earned more than that and half earned less, and pay varies by industry and region.
Wages are only part of what an employer pays. The BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation release for June 2026 put private industry compensation at an average of $46.89 per hour worked, made up of $32.82 in wages and salaries and $14.07 in benefits. That average covers all private industry workers, not receptionists alone, but it shows why the true cost of a hire runs above the hourly wage.
A person also covers set hours. One full-time receptionist does not answer at 9 p.m. or on Sunday unless you pay for those shifts too. That is why the more useful question for many owners is not "AI or a person" but which calls each should take. Our comparison guide covers that choice in detail.
What a staffed answering service costs
A staffed answering service puts live people on your overflow and after-hours calls. Its pricing uses the same building blocks as AI, at a higher rate per unit, because a person is on the line.
- Minute bundlesRuby's plans and pricing page listed live receptionist plans of 50 minutes for $250 a month, 100 minutes for $395, 200 minutes for $720 and 500 minutes for $1,725 when we checked in October 2026. Ruby bills by the receptionist minute. Other Ruby pages showed slightly different figures, so confirm the current price with the provider, and ask any service how it rounds partial minutes.
- Per callOther services charge a set fee for each answered call regardless of length. Ruby's own comparison page sets per-call billing against its per-minute billing, and the cheaper of the two depends on how long your calls run.
- Watch formonthly minimums, charges for time spent on messages after the caller hangs up, holiday or after-hours surcharges, and whether spam calls are billed. Ask each provider how it handles each of these.
For an AI answering service, the cost is closer to the AI rows in the table above. The trade is between a person's judgment on every call and a lower price for calls that follow a script.
What an AI chatbot costs on a website
Chat is priced differently from voice because there are no minutes to count. Two published examples from October 2026: Intercom's help center listed its Fin AI agent at $0.99 per resolution, counted when the customer asks for no further help after the AI's last answer, and that rate requires an active Intercom plan. Retell AI's pricing page priced chat per message, with the rate depending on the language model chosen. Both are tools a business configures itself.
For a small business website, the bigger cost question is usually who writes the answers and keeps them correct. A chat widget that gives last year's prices costs more in lost trust than it saves. If you want a chat and voice widget set up and managed for you, see our AI chatbot service.
Costs that rarely appear on a pricing page
Ask about each of these in writing before you compare two AI receptionist quotes.
- Phone number and phone line charges, and whether you can keep your number if you leave
- Overage rates once you pass the included calls, minutes or callers
- One-time setup, onboarding or "training" fees
- Calendar, CRM or practice software connections sold as add-ons
- Per-feature charges for call transfers, outbound calls or extra languages
- Text messaging fees and the carrier registration that business texting requires
- Contract length, cancellation terms and annual billing discounts that lock you in
- Your own time spent writing answers, testing calls and updating the agent
What Dominion AI Agency charges
We publish our prices so you can put them in the same table as everyone else's. Every package includes setup, training and support. We do the configuration on HighLevel with your business facts, test it with practice calls, put it on your line and keep it updated.
AI Starter
$597/month
- AI voice agent (inbound)
- CRM automation setup
- Review management
- Monthly reporting
- Email support
AI Pro
$1,097/month
- AI voice agent, inbound and outbound
- Full CRM automation
- Review management
- AI lead generation
- A professional website
- Social media automation
- Weekly reporting
AI Empire
$1,997/month
- Multiple AI voice agents
- Complete automation suite
- Unlimited review requests
- Advanced lead generation
- SEO pages
- Full social media management
- A dedicated account manager
Setup, training and support are included in every package. Features that depend on texting switch on once carrier approval clears.
If you only need the phone answered, an AI voice agent on its own starts at $297 a month. Other single services are priced separately:
| Single service | Price |
|---|---|
| AI voice agents | from $297/month |
| AI lead generation | from $197/month |
| Website design | from $497 one time |
| Review management | from $197/month |
| Social media automation | from $97/month |
Texting is not live yet. Voice works today. Text messages (missed call text back, text reminders and texted review requests) switch on once carrier approval clears; that approval is the A2P 10DLC registration US carriers require for business texting from a regular local number. Any feature above that depends on texting runs by voice or email until then, and the price does not change when texting switches on.
We do not quote a setup time, because it depends on how much of your business the agent has to know. The pricing page explains each line, and the AI voice agent page covers what the $297 service includes.
Before you compare prices, compare quality. Call our main line and talk to the AI receptionist that answers it. Ask what it costs, ask something it should not know, and decide whether it sounds like something you would put on your own line.
How to compare quotes using your own numbers
- Count a normal month. Pull calls, minutes and distinct callers from your phone bill or carrier dashboard. Note how many arrive after hours.
- Price that month on each plan. Include the overage rate, not just the entry price.
- Add the one-time costs. Setup fees, number porting, and your own hours if you are building it.
- Add the monthly extras. Phone line charges, calendar connections, transfers and any per-feature fees.
- Call each one. A demo line tells you more than a features list. If a provider has no number you can call, ask why.
If you are still deciding whether the spend makes sense at all, the worth it guide has a worksheet you fill in with your own call counts. For what a full setup involves, see the AI receptionist service page or the version written for small businesses.