AI Receptionist Pricing in 2026: What It Really Costs (With Real Prices)

AI receptionist pricing in 2026 runs from about $25 to $900 per month, and a typical small business handling 100 to 300 calls a month pays roughly $70 to $650. Entry plans start at $24.95/month (Upfirst, 30 calls), $29/month (Dialzara, 60 minutes), and $49/month (Rosie, 250 minutes), while done-for-you and high-volume plans run $299 to $899/month. That's still well below a live human answering service (Ruby's 200-minute plan is $720/month) or an in-house receptionist (BLS median pay: $38,010 a year). What you actually pay depends mostly on how the vendor meters usage: per minute, per call, per unique caller, or flat.

All prices below come from each vendor's own pricing page, read on October 13, 2026. Prices change often, so check the linked page before you buy.

How AI receptionist pricing works: the 4 billing models

Before you compare sticker prices, figure out what you're being charged for. Two plans with the same monthly price can produce very different bills.

Billing model	How it works	Who uses it (examples)	Watch out for
Per minute	A bucket of talk-time minutes, then a per-minute overage	Dialzara, Rosie, AgentZap, My AI Front Desk, Ruby (human)	Long calls (intake, legal, HVAC triage) burn minutes fast
Per call	A set number of calls, then a per-call overage	Smith.ai, Upfirst	Short wrong-number calls can cost as much as a booking (both vendors filter spam)
Per unique caller	You pay per distinct phone number per month	Goodcall	Great for repeat callers; less predictable if you get lots of new callers
Flat / unlimited	One monthly price regardless of volume	NextPhone, Target Dial	Check what setup, integrations, and support are included

Rule of thumb: if your calls are long (3+ minutes), per-call or flat pricing usually wins. If your calls are short and few, a small per-minute bucket is often cheapest.

AI receptionist pricing compared (October 2026)

Provider	Entry price	What's included	Overage	Higher tiers	Free trial / free plan
Target Dial	Custom pricing	Flat monthly plan, no per-minute meter; done-for-you build	None	Quoted based on your integrations and workflows	Free live demo call
Smith.ai AI Receptionist	$0 (Free) / $150 (Pro)	25 calls free; Pro = 75 calls at $2.00/call	$3.00/call (Free); $2.50/call (Pro 75)	Enterprise from $500/mo (300 calls)	Free plan, 25 calls/mo
Goodcall	$79/mo	100 unique customers (~150 calls)	$0.79/customer	$129 (500), $299 (2,000)	Free demo agent
Upfirst	$24.95/mo	30 calls	$1.50/call	$59.95 (90), $159.95 (300), $299 (600)	14 days
Rosie	$49/mo	250 minutes, message taking, appointment links by text	Not listed on pricing page	$149 (1,000 min, calendar booking, warm transfers), $299 (2,000 min)	7 days
NextPhone	$199/mo	Unlimited calls, self-setup	None	$299 (done for you), $599	7 days
AgentZap	$109/mo	150 minutes	$0.85/min	$295 (450 min), $899 (1,500 min)	30-day money-back; $499 setup fee
My AI Front Desk	$99/mo ($79 annual)	200 voice min + chat, SMS, CRM	$0.25/min (25 credits)	Custom	No permanent free plan
Dialzara	$29/mo	60 minutes	$0.48/min	$99 (220 min), $199 (500), $349 (1,000)	7 days
Ruby (live humans)	$250/mo	50 receptionist minutes	Not published	$395 (100), $720 (200), $1,725 (500)	—
Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists (live humans)	$300/mo	30 calls	$11.50/call	$810 (90), $2,100 (300)	30-day money-back

Sources: smith.ai/pricing/ai-receptionist, goodcall.com/pricing, upfirst.ai/pricing, heyrosie.com/pricing, getnextphone.com/pricing, agentzap.ai/pricing, myaifrontdesk.com/pricing, dialzara.com/pricing, ruby.com/plans-and-pricing, smith.ai/pricing/receptionists. All accessed October 13, 2026. Upfirst prices shown are monthly billing; annual billing is 20% less. Rosie's annual billing gives two months free.

How much does an AI receptionist cost at 100 and 300 calls a month?

Headline prices hide the overage math. Here's what each provider costs on its cheapest workable published plan, assuming an average call length of 3 minutes and every caller being unique (the worst case for Goodcall).

Provider	100 calls/mo (≈300 min)	300 calls/mo (≈900 min)
Upfirst	$69.95 (Premium 90 + 10 × $1)	$159.95 (Pro, 300 calls)
Goodcall	$79 (Starter)	$129 (Growth)
My AI Front Desk	~$114 ($99 + overage after included credits)	~$264 ($99 + 660 min × $0.25)
Dialzara	$135 (Pro 220 min + 80 × $0.45)	$349 (Elite, 1,000 min)
Rosie	$149 (Scale, 1,000 min)†	$149 (Scale, 1,000 min)
NextPhone	$199 (unlimited)	$199 (unlimited)
Smith.ai AI Receptionist	$212.50 (Pro 75 + 25 × $2.50)	~$500 (300-call tier)
AgentZap	$236.50 + $499 setup	$632.50 + $499 setup
Ruby (human)	$720 for 200 min + unpublished overage	$1,725+ (500-min plan is the largest listed)
Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists (human)	$915 (Basic 90 + 10 × $10.50)*	$2,100 (Pro, 300 calls)

*Starter would cost $1,105 (30 calls + 70 × $11.50), so Basic is cheaper. †Rosie's $49 plan includes 250 minutes; its overage rate isn't listed on the pricing page, so we priced the next tier up. Figures are our calculations from each vendor's published rates; add-ons (appointment booking, extra numbers, Spanish lines) can raise them.

What this shows: at low volume, per-call and per-customer plans (Upfirst, Goodcall) are cheapest. At higher volume or with long calls, flat pricing (NextPhone, Target Dial) and large minute buckets (Rosie Scale, Dialzara Elite) pull ahead. Human answering services typically cost 3 to 10 times more for the same calls.

Which AI receptionist is the cheapest?

It depends on your volume, so here's the cheapest published option at each level:

• Under 25 calls a month: Smith.ai's Free plan ($0, then $3.00 per call).
• About 30 calls a month: Upfirst Starter at $24.95.
• Up to 60 minutes of talk time: Dialzara Business Lite at $29 (no warm transfer or calendar sync on that tier).
• Up to 250 minutes: Rosie Professional at $49.
• About 100 calls (300 minutes): Upfirst at about $70, or Goodcall Starter at $79.
• About 300 calls (900 minutes): Goodcall Growth at $129, then Rosie Scale at $149 and Upfirst Pro at $159.95.

The cheapest AI receptionist on paper isn't always the cheapest in practice. A $29 plan that sends callers to voicemail once the minutes run out, or can't book appointments, can cost you more in lost jobs than it saves.

Virtual receptionist pricing: AI vs. answering service vs. hiring staff

People searching for virtual receptionist pricing are usually weighing three options. Here's how they compare:

Option	Typical monthly cost	Hours covered	Calls at once	Books appointments live
In-house receptionist	~$3,168/mo in wages alone ($38,010/yr BLS median, or $18.27/hour, before benefits and taxes)	Business hours	1	Yes
Live answering service	$250 to $2,100+/mo (Ruby, Smith.ai human plans)	24/7	Depends on staffing	Often a paid add-on (Smith.ai: $1.50/booking)
AI receptionist	$25 to $900/mo	24/7	Many (Target Dial: up to 20)	Yes, into your calendar

Source for wages: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Receptionists (May 2025 median pay).

Answering service cost is usually billed by the minute (Ruby) or by the call (Smith.ai's human plan). At 300 calls a month, that's $1,725 to $2,100 for live agents, compared with $129 to $633 for the AI plans above. A receptionist does far more than answer phones, so this isn't a like-for-like replacement. But for the specific job of answering every call, after hours and during rushes, an AI receptionist is the cheapest option by a wide margin. We break the decision down in Voice AI vs. Hiring a Receptionist and AI receptionist vs. answering service.

What about building your own AI voice agent?

You'll also see developer platforms that let you build an AI voice agent yourself. These usually bill per minute of usage, and you may pay separately for phone numbers, telephony, and the AI model. The usage rate can look low, but the real cost is the build: writing prompts, wiring up your calendar and CRM, testing edge cases, and maintaining it when something breaks. That's a fair trade-off if you have a developer on staff. Most small businesses are better served by a finished AI receptionist, either self-serve or done for you.

How to estimate the plan size you need

You can size a plan in about 15 minutes using your phone system's call log:

1. Count last month's inbound calls, including missed calls and voicemails. Missed calls are the ones an AI receptionist will now answer, so they'll show up on the bill.
2. Find your average call length. Multiply calls by average minutes to estimate monthly minutes for per-minute plans.
3. Check your repeat-caller share. If many calls come from the same customers, per-unique-caller billing (Goodcall) gets cheaper.
4. Note your busiest hour and season. HVAC cold snaps, tax season, and Monday mornings drive spikes. A flat plan or a big bucket protects you from a surprise bill.
5. Add 20 to 30% headroom. Once every call gets answered, volume usually goes up, not down.

Hidden costs to check before you sign

1. Setup and onboarding fees. AgentZap charges a $499 one-time training and setup fee on its standard plans. Many others (Smith.ai, Dialzara, NextPhone) advertise no setup fee.
2. Per-feature add-ons. On Smith.ai's human receptionist plans, appointment booking is $1.50/call and call recording is $0.25/call. Its AI Receptionist plans include those features.
3. Feature gating by tier. Booking and warm transfers are often on the second tier, not the entry plan. Rosie adds calendar booking and warm transfers on Scale ($149); Dialzara adds them on Pro ($99).
4. Phone numbers. Dialzara charges $3/month for a US/Canada local number. Goodcall and Upfirst include one.
5. What happens at the limit. On Dialzara, if you hit zero minutes, callers go to voicemail unless you turn on auto-recharge. Know your vendor's policy.
6. Billing increments. On per-minute plans, ask whether each call is rounded up to the next full minute. On a high volume of short calls, rounding can add a lot.
7. Spam and short calls. Upfirst doesn't bill calls under 15 seconds or blocked spam. Smith.ai filters known spammers and lets AI customers remove up to 10% of calls as spam.
8. Compliance paperwork. Healthcare practices need a vendor that will sign a business associate agreement (BAA) before patient information goes through the system (HHS guidance on business associates). Some vendors only offer this on custom or higher-tier plans.
9. Cancellation terms. Smith.ai's AI Receptionist is month-to-month but requires 30 days' notice to cancel.
10. Your own setup time. Self-serve plans are cheaper because you write the prompts, FAQs, and routing rules. Done-for-you plans cost more but save hours.

AI receptionist cost by industry

Your industry changes the math because it changes call length and call mix:

• Law firms: intake calls run long, so per-minute plans get expensive fast. Per-call or flat pricing usually wins. See AI answering for law firms.
• HVAC, plumbing, and contractors: volume spikes with the weather, and after-hours emergencies matter most. Flat pricing avoids surprise bills. See HVAC and contractors.
• Dental and medical: lots of short scheduling calls and repeat patients, plus the BAA requirement above. See dental and medical.
• Financial and professional services: fewer, higher-value calls, where every missed one hurts. See financial services.

Is an AI receptionist worth the cost?

Run the math with your own numbers: (missed calls per month) × (share who would have booked) × (average job value).

Example: a contractor missing 40 calls a month, booking 35% of answered callers, at a $900 average job, is leaving about $12,600/month on the table. Even a $300/month AI receptionist pays for itself if it saves one job. Target Dial's HVAC answering service page has a missed-call calculator you can run with your own numbers, and Stop Losing Money to Missed Calls covers where those calls go.

Speed matters too. Harvard Business Review research on online sales leads found most companies respond far too slowly to inquiries, and an AI receptionist answers on the first ring, day or night.

It's less worth it if you get very few calls, already answer every call during business hours, and rarely get after-hours inquiries. For more, see Are AI Receptionists Worth It?

How Target Dial prices its AI receptionist

Target Dial uses a flat monthly plan with no per-minute meter, so a busy month doesn't produce a surprise bill. Pricing is custom and quoted based on your specific needs: call volume, integrations (HubSpot, Salesforce, ServiceTitan, etc.), workflows, and setup complexity. There's no one-size-fits-all price because every business's requirements are different.

What you get on every plan:

• 24/7 answering on your existing number via call forwarding (nothing to rip out), including after-hours calls
• Up to 20 simultaneous calls, so rushes never hit a busy signal
• 20+ languages with automatic language detection
• Real-time appointment booking into your calendar, plus lead qualification
• CRM and calendar sync with tools like HubSpot, Salesforce, Calendly, Google Calendar, Zapier, Pipedrive, and n8n (see integrations)
• Instant SMS and email alerts with call breakdowns, recordings, and transcripts
• Warm transfer to your team with a full call summary when a human is needed
• Built and run for you: a basic agent can be live in under an hour, with full setup in about a week (how setup works)

Across Target Dial customers: 1.4M+ calls handled and 15.1K+ meetings booked. One home-services contractor booked 15 extra estimates in his first 7 days; a dental practice adds about 5 new patients a week.

Get your custom pricing: Since every business has different needs, Target Dial provides custom quotes based on your call volume, required integrations, and workflows. Book a free AI consultation to get your exact pricing and hear your own AI receptionist live.

Comparing specific vendors? Read Smith.ai pricing vs. Target Dial or our roundup of the best AI receptionist for small business.

Get your exact price in 15 minutes

Don't guess from a pricing table. Book a free AI consultation and get a custom quote based on your call volume, integrations, and workflows. You'll also hear a live Target Dial AI agent set up for your business. Or call it right now: +1 (888) 790-1107. Keep your number, no card, no commitment.

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