Answering Service Cost in 2026: Prices and Per-Call Math
Reviewed by James McKinney, founder of Yapper. James builds Yapper for trades and small service businesses that need 24/7 phone coverage, emergency call routing, and simple flat-rate AI receptionist pricing.
How much does an answering service cost?
It depends on how many calls you get and how long they run. Paid AI plans start at $29 a month (Dialzara Lite, 60 minutes), and live receptionists start at $164 to $300 a month. For 100 calls a month, the AI services below cost $79 to $424, about $0.79 to $4.24 a call. Live receptionists on 24/7 plans cost $720 to $1,725, about $7.20 to $17.25 a call. Prices checked November 5, 2026.
Disclosure: Published by Yapper, a provider included in this comparison. Prices are published examples, not independently tested results. Checked .
Answering service prices at a glance
| Service | Who answers | Lowest published plan | Billed by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yapper | AI | Starter: $199/mo for 200 minutes. Pro: $349/mo for 500 minutes | Minutes |
| Smith.ai AI Receptionist | AI, can hand off to a person | Free for 25 calls. Pro: $150/mo for 75 calls | Calls |
| Smith.ai Human-first | Live people | Starter: $300/mo for 30 calls | Calls |
| Dialzara | AI | Lite: $29/mo for 60 minutes | Minutes |
| Goodcall | AI | Starter: $79/mo for 100 unique customers | Unique callers |
| Ruby | Live people | $250/mo for 50 minutes | Minutes |
| AnswerConnect | Live people | Not published. Quote only | Minutes |
| ReceptionHQ | Live people | $25/mo plus $1.99 per answered call (business hours) | Answered calls |
| Abby | Live people, AI, or a mix | Starter: $164/mo for 50 Abby Minutes | Abby Minutes |
Lowest published plan for each service. Most plans charge for use past the allowance, so the cost-per-call table below tells you more than this one. Launch sale: the first 10 customers pay $99/month for Starter for their first 12 months, then $199/month. Monthly billing only. Checkout applies the sale price while spots remain.
Quick answers
How much does an answering service cost per month?
Paid AI plans start at $29 a month (Dialzara Lite, 60 minutes), and Smith.ai has a free AI plan for 25 calls. Live receptionists start at $164 to $300 a month (Abby, Ruby and Smith.ai). ReceptionHQ takes messages from $25 a month plus $1.99 a call, during business hours. Yapper Starter is $199 a month for 200 minutes. Your real bill depends on how many calls you get and how long they last.
How much does an answering service cost per call?
For 100 calls a month, the AI services in our table work out to $0.79 to $4.24 a call. Live receptionists on 24/7 plans work out to $7.20 to $17.25 a call. ReceptionHQ charges $1.99 a call plus its $25 monthly fee, for business hours.
What does an after-hours answering service cost?
On a 24/7 plan, nights cost the same as days, so the bill follows your call count. Some entry plans cover business hours only, so check the night and weekend terms in writing. Our after-hours buyer guide works through a 40-call night budget.
A starting price only covers the smallest plan. Your monthly bill depends on how many calls you get, how long they last, and what unit the service counts. Below, every service runs through the same 100 calls at three call lengths, so you can compare a price per minute with a price per call.
Provider products and billing units
Yapper: Starter: $199/month for 200 minutes. Pro: $349/month for 500 minutes. Launch sale: the first 10 customers pay $99/month for Starter for their first 12 months, then $199/month. Monthly billing only. Checkout applies the sale price while spots remain.
Each plan includes a monthly minute allowance. On monthly plans, minutes beyond the allowance cost $0.75 each and appear on your next invoice. After 300 extra minutes in one month, answering pauses until the next month or until you upgrade, so a busy month cannot run up an open-ended bill. We email you at 80% and 100% of your allowance.
| Product / handling | Published price / usage | Routing / scheduling | Best fit / check | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smith.ai AI ReceptionistAI-first; human escalation available | Free: $0 for 25 calls. Pro: $150/month for 75 calls. Month-to-month. Free additional calls: $3.00 each. Pro additional calls: $2.00 each; check escalation and optional service charges. | Configurable workflows and transfers; verify escalation rules for your business. Calendly scheduling and integrations advertised. | Owners who need integrations or an AI service with human escalation. Call-based billing is different from minute-based billing; compare add-ons as well as the base plan. | Official pricing |
| Smith.ai Human-firstLive receptionists, 24/7 | Starter: $300/month for 30 calls. Month-to-month, no setup fee. Starter additional calls: $11.50 each. Optional services can cost extra. | Starter includes one transfer destination. Appointment booking: $1.50/call; CRM options available. | Businesses that want a person handling intake and exceptions. This is a separate product from Smith.ai AI Receptionist. | Official pricing |
| DialzaraAI receptionist | Lite: $29/month for 60 minutes. Pro: $99/month for 220 minutes. Billed monthly, no setup fee. Lite: $0.48/additional minute. Pro: $0.45/additional minute. | Call transfers available; the pricing page does not say which tiers include blind or warm transfers, so confirm before choosing. Calendar and workflow features vary by tier; verify your required integration. | Owners seeking a lower entry price with metered extra minutes. Plus is $199 for 500 minutes ($0.40/extra minute); compare transfer type and integrations before choosing a tier. | Official pricing |
| GoodcallAI receptionist | Starter: $79/month for 100 unique customers. Growth: $129/month for 500. Starter: 79¢ per additional unique customer (Growth: 26¢). Minutes are not metered. | Starter includes 5 workers and 1 external tool connection; confirm the transfer logic you need. Confirm the calendar or scheduling connection you need on your plan. | Businesses with repeat callers or long calls that benefit from customer-based billing. Unique customers, worker limits, and tool connections matter more than total call minutes. | Official pricing |
| RubyLive receptionists, 24/7; optional AI enhancements | $250/month for 50 minutes; $395 for 100 minutes; $720 for 200 minutes; $1,725 for 500 minutes. Minute packages; confirm the applicable extra-minute rate with Ruby. | Personalized call handling and flexible forwarding. Scheduling and bilingual answering available. | Owners who want live handling and Spanish or bilingual coverage. Use your actual call duration when choosing a minute package. | Official pricing |
| AnswerConnectLive receptionists, 24/7 | Pricing not published. AnswerConnect now shows plans only after you request a quote. Billed by minutes used on monthly rolling contracts; ask for a written quote at your call volume. | Call routing and transfers advertised. CRM integrations; confirm scheduling requirements in the proposal. | Businesses that need live coverage and a configurable intake script. Ask how calls are rounded and whether short calls or spam count before comparing a quote. | Official pricing |
| ReceptionHQLive answering; service-specific coverage | MessageExpress: from $25/month plus $1.99 per answered call. No long-term contract. This entry offer adds a per-call charge; other products and plans differ. | ReceptionistPlus offers transfers; MessageExpress is message taking. MyDiary is a separate scheduling product. | Low-volume message taking, or owners selecting a specific live-assistance product. The entry offer describes business-hours coverage; check after-hours terms and recipient limits. | Official pricing |
| AbbyHuman, AI, or a mix | Starter: $164/month for 50 Abby Minutes. Professional: $599/month for 200. Month-to-month. A human minute uses 1 Abby Minute and an AI minute uses half, so AI handling stretches the allowance; extra usage bills at the plan rate. | Confirm transfer rules and coverage for your selected human/AI mix. Confirm the calendar and intake workflow with Abby. | Owners who want to choose or change the mix of human and AI handling. Abby Minutes are product-specific; do not treat them as the same allowance as Yapper minutes. | Official pricing |
Three ways answering services charge
Every service sells a monthly allowance and charges for use past it. They differ in what they count.
Yapper, Dialzara, Ruby and AnswerConnect bill by the minute of talk time. Short calls are cheap on these plans, and long calls add up fast.
Smith.ai and ReceptionHQ bill for each answered call, whatever its length. A 30-second wrong number costs as much as a long repair call, so ask whether spam and wrong numbers count.
Goodcall bills by unique customer, so one person who calls back five times counts once. It does not meter minutes.
A price per minute and a price per call cannot be compared until you know how long your calls run. Your phone carrier or business phone app shows last month’s call count and average length.
Cost per call: the same 100 calls through every service
This is a sample month, not a customer result: 100 calls, every caller a different person, monthly billing and no add-ons. Each cell shows the cheapest published plan for that month and what it works out to per call.
Goodcall and Dialzara cost less than Yapper at every call length. Live receptionists on 24/7 plans cost the most per call. ReceptionHQ is the cheapest live option, but MessageExpress takes messages during business hours only. AnswerConnect and Abby are left out: AnswerConnect gives prices only by quote, and Abby counts its own Abby Minutes.
| Service | Billed by | 2-minute calls | 4-minute calls | 6-minute calls |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yapper (AI) | Minutes | $199 a month, $1.99 a call (Starter) | $349 a month, $3.49 a call (Pro) | $424 a month, $4.24 a call (Pro) |
| Dialzara (AI) | Minutes | $96.20 a month, $0.96 a call (Lite) | $180 a month, $1.80 a call (Pro) | $239 a month, $2.39 a call (Plus) |
| Goodcall (AI) | Unique callers | $79 a month, $0.79 a call (Starter) | $79 a month, $0.79 a call (Starter) | $79 a month, $0.79 a call (Starter) |
| Smith.ai AI Receptionist | Calls | $200 a month, $2 a call (AI Pro) | $200 a month, $2 a call (AI Pro) | $200 a month, $2 a call (AI Pro) |
| Smith.ai Human-first (live, 24/7) | Calls | $915 a month, $9.15 a call (Basic) | $915 a month, $9.15 a call (Basic) | $915 a month, $9.15 a call (Basic) |
| Ruby (live, 24/7) | Minutes | $720 a month, $7.20 a call (200-minute plan) | $1,725 a month, $17.25 a call (500-minute plan) | Quote: past the largest published plan |
| ReceptionHQ MessageExpress (live, business hours) | Answered calls | $224 a month, $2.24 a call (MessageExpress) | $224 a month, $2.24 a call (MessageExpress) | $224 a month, $2.24 a call (MessageExpress) |
Cheapest published plan for the month on each service. Ruby does not publish an extra-minute rate, so its cell uses the smallest plan that covers the month. Goodcall assumes all 100 callers are different people. Prices from each provider’s own pricing page, checked November 5, 2026.
What makes your bill go up
Longer calls raise the bill on minute plans. The same 100 calls cost $199 on Yapper at 2 minutes each and $424 at 6. On call plans, length does not change the bill.
A busy month raises it on every plan. Price the month a heat wave or a big storm brings, as well as an average one. Yapper pauses answering after 300 extra minutes in a month, so a busy month cannot run up an open-ended bill.
Check the hours a plan covers. ReceptionHQ’s entry offer covers business hours. Get night and weekend terms in writing before you compare it with a 24/7 plan.
Dialzara, Smith.ai and Ruby say on their pricing pages that they charge no setup fee (checked November 5, 2026). Optional services, such as booking on Smith.ai’s live plans, can cost extra. Ask each provider for a written bill for a normal month and your busiest month.
AI or live people: what the extra money buys
A live receptionist can calm an upset caller, field a price question, or book the job into your schedule during the call. Ruby offers bilingual answering.
AI answers every call at once, at the same price at 3 a.m. as at noon, and writes the details down. It fits calls that are mostly intake: who is calling, where, what broke, and how urgent it is. For more on the tradeoff, read AI receptionist vs virtual receptionist and AI receptionist vs answering service.
What it costs a trades business per booked job
For a plumbing, HVAC or electrical shop, the useful number is cost per booked job. Divide the monthly bill by the jobs those calls turned into.
Say 1 in 5 of the 100 calls becomes a booked job. That rate is made up for the math, not a benchmark. At 4-minute calls, Yapper works out to $17.45 per booked job, Goodcall to $3.95, and Smith.ai’s live service to $45.75. Swap in your own booking rate.
Then set that against one job. If one won-back job a month covers the bill, the service pays for itself. Our post on what a missed call costs a plumber runs that math for one trade, and the receptionist cost calculator does it with your numbers.
What Yapper costs, and what it does
Starter: $199/month for 200 minutes. Pro: $349/month for 500 minutes. Launch sale: the first 10 customers pay $99/month for Starter for their first 12 months, then $199/month. Monthly billing only. Checkout applies the sale price while spots remain.
Yapper answers in 3 rings, 24 hours a day. It takes the caller’s name, number, address, and the job, then texts you a summary. Urgent calls, like a burst pipe or no heat, transfer to the one number you set. It answers in English only and has no live team. See how it works as an answering service for plumbers, an HVAC answering service, or an answering service for electricians.
Yapper captures appointment requests and can text your booking link. It does not write directly to your calendar or dispatch system. You or your scheduling tool confirm the visit and arrival time.
Each plan includes a monthly minute allowance. On monthly plans, minutes beyond the allowance cost $0.75 each and appear on your next invoice. After 300 extra minutes in one month, answering pauses until the next month or until you upgrade, so a busy month cannot run up an open-ended bill. We email you at 80% and 100% of your allowance.
The trial costs $2 and needs a card. It lasts 7 days and includes 50 minutes of answered calls. If you keep Yapper, the $2 comes off your first bill. On day 8 your plan starts and your card is charged the plan price, minus the $2 you already paid. Cancel anytime before then from the Billing page. If you use all 50 minutes early, answering pauses until day 8.
Price your own month
Put your call count and call length into the answering service cost calculator to see Yapper, Smith.ai, Ruby and ReceptionHQ side by side. Our AI receptionist pricing guide works through AI bills at 40, 100 and 200 calls. If you run a contracting business, compare the best answering services for contractors next.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a low-cost answering service?
Yes. Dialzara Lite is $29 a month for 60 minutes, Goodcall Starter is $79 a month for 100 unique callers, and Smith.ai’s AI Free plan covers 25 calls. All three are AI. For a live person, ReceptionHQ takes messages from $25 a month plus $1.99 a call during business hours. Low prices fit low call volume, so price your busiest month before you choose. Prices checked November 5, 2026.
Do answering services charge setup fees?
Dialzara, Smith.ai and Ruby say on their pricing pages that they charge no setup fee (checked November 5, 2026). Yapper’s 7-day trial costs $2, and that comes off your first bill if you keep it.
Is an answering service cheaper than hiring a receptionist?
For most small shops, yes. As an illustration, a 20-hour week at $18 an hour is $1,560 a month in wages alone, before taxes, benefits and night coverage. That is a budgeting assumption, not a salary benchmark. For 100 calls a month, the AI plans in our table run $79 to $424. An employee can also handle walk-ins, paperwork and dispatch.
Does Yapper confirm appointments in my calendar?
Yapper captures appointment requests and can text your booking link. It does not write directly to your calendar or dispatch system. You or your scheduling tool confirm the visit and arrival time.
What happens if I exceed Yapper’s included minutes?
Each plan includes a monthly minute allowance. On monthly plans, minutes beyond the allowance cost $0.75 each and appear on your next invoice. After 300 extra minutes in one month, answering pauses until the next month or until you upgrade, so a busy month cannot run up an open-ended bill. We email you at 80% and 100% of your allowance.
When should I choose a human answering service?
Choose a live service when calls need negotiation, complex exceptions, sensitive conversations, or a workflow that your AI service cannot support. Ask the provider to demonstrate the exact intake and dispatch process you need.