AI Receptionist Cost Calculator
For 100 calls a month at about 3 minutes each, AI receptionists cost $64 to $225 a month; human answering services cost $915 to $1,380. Enter your own call volume to compare 13 AI receptionists and 2 human answering services on their published list prices.
For 100 calls a month at about 3 minutes each, AI receptionists cost $64 to $225 a month against $915 to $1,380 for a human answering service.
| Service | Est. monthly cost | Cheapest plan that fits | Billed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quo (OpenPhone) Sona | $64 | Tier 3 (includes a Quo seat from $15 (billed yearly)) | per call |
| Upfirst | $69.95 | Premium | per call |
| Trillet | $79 | AI Receptionist | per minute |
| Goodcall | $79 | Starter | per unique caller |
| Nextiva XBert | $99 | XBert | per interaction |
| My AI Front Desk | $124 | Business-in-a-Box | per minute |
| Dialzara | $135 | Plan 2 | per minute |
| RingCentral AIR (standalone) | $149 | Standalone | per minute (30-second rounding) |
| Rosie | $149 | Pro | per minute; no overage: Rosie moves you to the next plan |
| Phonely | $150 | Professional | per minute; overage not published |
| Ringly.io | $198.50 | Pay per conversation | per call |
| NextPhone | $199 | Pro (unlimited calls) | flat |
| Smith.ai AI Receptionist | $225 | Free | per call; Pro/Enterprise overage not published |
| Smith.ai Virtual Receptionistshuman | $915 | Basic | per call |
| Abby Connect (human answering)human | $1,380 | Growth | per minute; overage rate not published as a number |
List prices from each vendor’s pricing page, checked October 6, 2026. Estimates use the cheapest published plan that covers your usage plus published overage; taxes, phone numbers and add-ons are excluded. Confirm on the vendor’s site before buying.
Rather not set up and tune one yourself? Dooza builds a done-for-you AI receptionist on your existing number.
How the estimate works
For each service we take the cheapest published plan that covers your usage, add the published overage rate, and add any required phone seat. Usage is counted the way each vendor bills it: minutes, calls, unique callers, interactions, or a flat fee. RingCentral rounds each call up to 30 seconds. Rosie has no overage rate and moves you to the next plan instead. Where a vendor publishes no price for your volume, the calculator says so instead of guessing.
Every price was checked on the vendor’s own pricing page on October 6, 2026, and we re-check monthly. The full breakdown, including entry plans, billing quirks and hidden costs, is in our AI receptionist pricing comparison. Dooza sells a done-for-you AI receptionist, so we are not neutral: that is why every source is linked in the table.
Which kind of plan fits your calls
- Short, simple calls (hours, directions, booking): per-minute plans usually win.
- Long or unpredictable calls: per-call plans keep the bill predictable.
- The same customers calling often: per-unique-caller pricing (Goodcall) gets cheaper.
- Hundreds of calls a month: flat unlimited plans (NextPhone) catch up.
Want it done for you?
Self-serve tools are cheap because you write the scripts, FAQs and routing yourself. Dooza’s AI receptionist is set up and tuned by our engineers on your existing number. Pricing depends on the product (see Dooza pricing). Every Dooza product starts with a refundable pilot: 100% refund within 14 days.
Frequently asked questions
For 100 calls a month at about 3 minutes each, the 13 AI receptionists in this calculator cost $64 to $225 a month at list price (checked October 6, 2026). Entry plans start at $0 to $199 a month, and most small-business plans cost $49 to $99.
Usually by a wide margin. For the same 100 calls, the two human answering services here cost $915 to $1,380 a month. Human services are still the better choice for complex or sensitive calls.
For each service it finds the cheapest published plan that covers your usage, adds the published overage rate, and adds any required seat. If a vendor publishes no overage rate and your usage is above its largest plan, it shows "Not published at this volume". Prices come from each vendor’s own pricing page.
Vendors bill per minute, per call, per unique caller, per interaction or a flat fee. Long calls make per-minute plans expensive; many short calls make per-call plans expensive; repeat callers make per-caller plans cheap. Change the inputs to see the ranking flip.
Taxes, phone number fees, setup time, add-ons and annual-billing discounts. It also leaves out services that don’t publish prices (Numa, Dialpad AI Agent) and enterprise-only platforms (Synthflow from $30,000 a year).
Yes. Dooza builds and runs a done-for-you AI receptionist on your existing number, tuned to your services, prices and calendar. Pricing is on dooza.ai/pricing, and every Dooza product starts with a refundable pilot: 100% refund within 14 days.