Abby Connect Alternatives 2026: 7 Virtual Receptionists and the AI Options, Priced
Published · prices checked October 26, 2026
Key takeaways
- Abby Connect costs $898 for 100 three-minute calls with people answering. Go Answer costs the least of the 7 alternatives here, $345 (prices checked October 26, 2026).
- Five of the 7 cost less than Abby at 100 calls; Ruby and Smith.ai cost more. From about 254 calls a month, Smith.ai costs less too.
- With Abby's AI on every call, 13 calls a day cost $1,614.60 on our arithmetic. The dearest AI receptionist in our table costs $695.30.
- Leaving Abby takes 30 days' notice after the first month, and numbers Abby assigned stay Abby's unless you port them out.
Abby Connect costs $898 for 100 three-minute calls a month with people answering, on its cheapest plan for that volume (prices checked October 26, 2026). Of the 7 virtual receptionists priced against it here, Go Answer costs the least at that volume, $345. Abby's AI answering, at half an Abby Minute, moves both numbers.
What does Abby Connect cost?
Abby Connect starts at $164/month (50 minutes). Every plan covers people and an AI receptionist from one pool of Abby Minutes: a human minute uses one, an AI minute half. With people on every call, 50, 100 and 200 three-minute calls cost $493, $898 and $1,656. Plans, rounding and terms are on Abby Connect pricing.
Abby Connect alternatives compared
Prices checked against each vendor's own pricing page on October 26, 2026.
| Service | Billing unit | Entry plan | 50 calls/mo | 100 calls/mo | 200 calls/mo | Overage | Contract | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abby Connect (live and AI) | Abby Minute (one AI minute counts as half) | $164/month (50 minutes) | $493 | $898 | $1,656 | $2.76 to $3.29 a minute | Month-to-month; 30 days notice after the first 30 days; no refunds | abby.com/pricing, read Oct 26, 2026 |
| Go Answer | Per minute | $175/month (100 minutes) | $262.50 | $345 | $700 | $1.25 to $1.75 a minute | "Cancel anytime", but the FAQ asks for 30 days written notice; no proration | goanswer.io/pricing/live-receptionist, read Oct 26, 2026 |
| Answering Service Care | Per minute | $40/month (pay per use at $1.75/min) | $264 | $409 | $774 | $1.35 to $1.70 a minute | Month-to-month on monthly billing; written notice one full billing period ahead; no refunds | answeringservicecare.com/pricing, read Oct 26, 2026 |
| PATLive | Per minute | $49/month (pay per use at $2.99/min) | $293.50 | $479 | $938 | $1.49 to $2.29 a minute | Month-to-month | patlive.com/pricing, read Oct 26, 2026 |
| Posh | Per minute | $65/month (pay per use at $2.30/min) | $322.50 | $630 | $1,170 | $1.90 to $2.20 a minute | Month-to-month; cancels at the end of the cycle; non-refundable | posh.com/pricing, read Oct 26, 2026 |
| Moneypenny | Per minute | $165/month (50 minutes) | $397.50 | $661 | $1,194 | $2.09 to $2.85 a minute | Month-to-month; one full calendar month notice by phone | moneypenny.com/us/plans-pricing-people, read Oct 26, 2026 |
| Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists | Per call | $300/month (30 calls) | $530 | $915 | $1,965 | $8.50 to $11.50 a call | Cancel 30 days before the cycle ends or the next month is billed; annual plans prepaid and non-refundable | smith.ai/pricing/receptionists, read Oct 26, 2026 |
| Ruby | Per minute | $250/month (50 minutes) | $620 | $1,160 | $2,125 | $3.30 to $5.40 a minute | 30-day contract that renews automatically | ruby.com/plans-and-pricing, read Oct 26, 2026 |
Our arithmetic: each vendor's cheapest published plan for that volume plus its published overage, at 3-minute calls; Abby with people on every call. Goodcall bills per unique caller; we count every call as a new caller. Taxes, setup fees and add-ons are not included. How we price.
Go Answer costs the least of the alternatives at 50, 100 and 200 calls. At 100 calls, Go Answer, Answering Service Care, PATLive, Posh and Moneypenny cost less than Abby; Ruby and Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists cost more. Smith.ai bills per call, and from about 254 calls a month it costs less than Abby.
Hybrid, live or AI: what you are replacing
Abby sells one service answered three ways: people, AI, or both on the same call. Before you compare, decide which part you would give up.
- Ruby keeps AI behind the scenes: "Rather than using these capabilities in place of humans, we've designed them to serve our team of virtual receptionists" (ruby.com/ai, read October 7, 2026).
- Posh sells AI-enabled plans, but they list "Mixed minutes included" with no number (posh.com/ai, read October 7, 2026).
- Smith.ai sells live and AI as separate products; its AI plan can hand a call to "a live North America-based receptionist" for a per-call charge (AI pricing page, read October 26, 2026). Its Hybrid plan is quote only.
- AI receptionists in the second table below answer every call with AI and no people.
What each alternative does better and worse than Abby Connect
Go Answer
Better: $345 at 100 calls, billed by the second, and its terms leave hold and ring time off the bill, where Abby counts ring time. Worse: the pricing page offers a "30-day money-back guarantee" while the signup terms say fees "are non-refundable except as required by law" (goanswer.io, read October 7, 2026).
Answering Service Care
Better: $409 at 100 calls. Worse: "Clients who decline autopay will be charged a fee equal to one (1) month of service." (terms, read October 9, 2026) Its meter also runs from "the inception of a call" through post-call work.
PATLive
Better: $479 at 100 calls. Worse: its pricing page puts 50 minutes at "About 20 calls" (read October 26, 2026), while its help center says "Most calls fall within the 3 to 3.5-minute range" (help.patlive.com, read October 7, 2026). Plan on fewer calls per plan than the page shows.
Posh
Better: $630 at 100 calls, and a trial with no card, where Abby's trial charges your card at the end unless you email first. Worse: Posh's terms round each call up to a full minute, against Abby's 30 seconds.
Moneypenny
Better: $661 at 100 calls, with no ring time in the rounding. Worse: it adds wrap-up and dispatch time and then rounds "up to the nearest 30-second increment" (Moneypenny terms, read October 7, 2026), with no AI on the same plan.
Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists
Better: per call, so from about 254 calls a month it costs less than Abby, and long calls cost no more. Worse: $915 at 100 calls, and add-ons such as booking are charged on every call in the plan.
Ruby
Better: "You're not automatically bumped up to the next plan based on your usage" (Ruby billing basics, read October 7, 2026), where Abby may move a busy account above 1,000 Abby Minutes to a custom plan. Worse: $1,160 at 100 calls, every call rounded to a full minute.
AI receptionists as Abby Connect alternatives
| Service | Entry plan | 3 calls/day (90/mo) | 5 calls/day (150/mo) | 13 calls/day (390/mo) | If calls double (13 to 26 a day) | Overage | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goodcall | $79/month (100 unique callers) | $79 | $118.50 | $129 | +$72.80 | $0.15 to $0.79 a caller | goodcall.com/pricing, read Oct 26, 2026 |
| NextPhone | $199/month (unlimited calls) | $199 | $199 | $199 | No change | None, unlimited calls | getnextphone.com/pricing, read Oct 26, 2026 |
| Upfirst | $24.95/month (30 calls) | $59.95 | $119.95 | $227.45 | +$197.55 | $0.70 to $1.50 a call | upfirst.ai/pricing, read Oct 26, 2026 |
| Phonely | Free (100 minutes), then $50/month (200 minutes) | $67.50 to $74.50 | $112.50 to $137.50 | $292.50 to $389.50 | +$292.50 to $409.50 | $0.25 to $0.35 a minute | phonely.ai/pricing, read Oct 26, 2026 |
| Rosie | $49/month (250 minutes) | $149 | $149 | $299 | Not computable | Moves up to the next plan | heyrosie.com/pricing, read Oct 26, 2026 |
| My AI Front Desk | $99/month (240 minutes: 200 voice plus a 1,000-credit pool worth 40) | $106.50 | $151.50 | $331.50 | +$292.50 | $0.25 a minute | myaifrontdesk.com/pricing, read Oct 26, 2026 |
| Dialzara | $29/month (60 minutes) | $121.50 | $199 | $408.50 | +$409.50 | $0.35 to $0.48 a minute | dialzara.com/pricing, read Oct 26, 2026 |
| RingCentral AI Receptionist | From $49/month (100 minutes) | $134 | $224 | $584 | +$585 | $0.50 a minute | ringcentral.com/pricing/ai-receptionist.html, read Oct 26, 2026 |
| Smith.ai AI Receptionist | Free (25 calls), then $150/month (75 calls) | $187.50 | $270 | $695.30 | +$692.70 | $2.10 to $3.00 a call | smith.ai/pricing/ai-receptionist, read Oct 26, 2026 |
| Simple Phones | From $97/month (100 calls) | $97 | Not computable from the published price | Not computable from the published price | Not computable | Not published | simplephones.ai/pricing, read Oct 26, 2026 |
Simple Phones publishes no rate past the 100 calls in its entry plan, so it has no price at 5 or 13 calls a day.
At 13 calls a day Goodcall costs the least in the table, $129; at 3 calls a day Upfirst does, $59.95. NextPhone is the one bill in the table that does not move from 13 to 26 calls a day, $199. Rosie's largest published plan covers 2,000 minutes, short of the 2,340 that 26 calls a day use, so its bill there cannot be computed.
Abby's own AI is the like-for-like comparison. With the AI on every call, 390 three-minute calls use 585 Abby Minutes, the same as 195 calls answered by people: $1,614.60 on our arithmetic. The dearest AI receptionist in the table at 13 calls a day, Smith.ai's, costs $695.30. What Abby adds for that difference is a person on the same plan when a call needs one.
Where Abby Connect is still the better buy
- Against Ruby. At 50, 100 and 200 calls Abby costs less: $262 a month less at 100 calls, with 30-second rounding against Ruby's full minute.
- Against Smith.ai below about 254 calls a month. At 100 calls Abby costs $898, against $915.
- One plan for people and AI. Routine calls on the AI use half the minutes, and AI-handled calls can ask unlimited questions.
- Nights and weekends. "no weekend upcharge" on the pricing page (read October 26, 2026), with the AI answering when people are off.
One full-time receptionist on the BLS median wage (May 2025) costs $4,399 a month with benefits and turnover, 4.9 times Abby's bill at 100 calls: receptionist cost vs AI receptionist.
Which alternative fits which situation
Best for a lower live bill: Go Answer
$262.50, $345 and $700 at 50, 100 and 200 calls, the least in the table. It may not fit if you want AI and people on one plan.
Best for high call volume: Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists
Per call, so call length does not move the bill, and from about 254 calls a month it costs less than Abby. It may not fit if you need add-ons on every call.
Best for trying before paying: Posh
$630 at 100 calls and a trial with no card. It may not fit if your calls are short: it bills whole minutes.
Best if AI can take every call: an AI receptionist
At 13 calls a day Goodcall costs $129, against Abby's $1,614.60 with its AI on every call. It may not fit when some callers need a person.
How to switch from Abby Connect without losing calls or your number
- Give notice early. After the first 30 days, Abby needs "at least 30 days' advance notice", and the cancellation takes effect at the end of the cycle in which that notice runs out (abby.com terms, read October 26, 2026).
- Port Abby's number out before you go. "Any telephone number assigned to you by Abby Connect shall remain the property of Abby Connect"; you can port it if you have held it "more than thirty (30) days" and the account is in good standing (same terms). A number you ported in stays yours.
- Expect a last overage bill. Abby "may still bill you for those additional charges after termination" (same terms).
Frequently Asked Questions
What is cheaper than Abby Connect?
At 100 three-minute calls a month, Go Answer costs $345, Answering Service Care $409 and PATLive $479, against Abby Connect's $898 with people answering. Prices checked October 26, 2026.
Is Abby Connect cheaper than Smith.ai?
At 100 three-minute calls, yes: Abby Connect costs $898 and Smith.ai's live plan $915. From about 254 calls a month, Smith.ai's per-call plan costs less.
Is Abby Connect cheaper than Ruby?
Yes, at 50, 100 and 200 three-minute calls. At 100 calls Abby Connect costs $898 and Ruby $1,160. Abby rounds calls to 30 seconds; Ruby rounds to a full minute.
Is an AI receptionist cheaper than Abby Connect's AI?
Yes. At 13 three-minute calls a day, Abby Connect with its AI on every call works out to $1,614.60 on our arithmetic, while the dearest AI receptionist in our table, Smith.ai's, costs $695.30. Abby keeps people on the same plan; the others do not.
Can I keep my number if I leave Abby Connect?
A number you ported in stays yours. A number Abby assigned remains Abby's property, but you can port it out if you have held it more than 30 days and the account is in good standing.
How these numbers were made
Every vendor price on this page was read from the vendor's own pricing page on the date in its Source cell and saved as a dated capture. Monthly costs use each vendor's cheapest published plan for the volume plus its published overage, at 3-minute calls. The in-house figure uses the BLS median wage for receptionists over 2,080 paid hours (paid leave included), other employer benefit costs and turnover, each from the BLS release named below. Vendors that hide prices stay in the tables as quote only. We do not test answering quality and publish no ratings.
Sources
Vendor pricing and terms pages, from the price index
- Abby Connect: abby.com/pricing (read October 26, 2026); abby.com/resources/terms-and-conditions (read October 7, 2026)
- Answering Service Care: answeringservicecare.com/pricing (read October 26, 2026); answeringservicecare.com/terms-and-conditions (read October 9, 2026)
- Dialzara: dialzara.com/pricing (read October 26, 2026); dialzara.com/terms-of-use (read October 27, 2026)
- Go Answer: goanswer.io/pricing/live-receptionist (read October 26, 2026); goanswer.io/terms-conditions (read October 7, 2026)
- Goodcall: goodcall.com/pricing (read October 26, 2026); help.goodcall.com/en/articles/8007566-terms-of-service (read October 27, 2026)
- Moneypenny (US): moneypenny.com/us/plans-pricing-people (read October 26, 2026); cdn.prod.website-files.com/6a06eb94845f8e1701b7e7f1/6aaa99366734be94e463cc1b_us-terms-and-conditions.pdf (read October 7, 2026)
- My AI Front Desk: myaifrontdesk.com/pricing (read October 26, 2026); myaifrontdesk.com/terms-of-service (read October 27, 2026)
- NextPhone: getnextphone.com/pricing (read October 26, 2026)
- PATLive: patlive.com/pricing (read October 26, 2026); patlive.com/terms-of-use (read October 7, 2026)
- Phonely: phonely.ai/pricing (read October 26, 2026)
- Posh: posh.com/pricing (read October 26, 2026); posh.com/terms (read October 7, 2026)
- RingCentral AI Receptionist: ringcentral.com/pricing/ai-receptionist.html (read October 26, 2026)
- Rosie: heyrosie.com/pricing (read October 26, 2026); heyrosie.com/legal/terms (read October 27, 2026)
- Ruby: ruby.com/plans-and-pricing (read October 26, 2026); ruby.com/terms (read October 7, 2026)
- Simple Phones: simplephones.ai/pricing (read October 26, 2026)
- Smith.ai AI Receptionist: smith.ai/pricing/ai-receptionist (read October 26, 2026)
- Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists: smith.ai/pricing/receptionists (read October 26, 2026); smith.ai/receptionists/terms (read October 7, 2026)
- Upfirst: upfirst.ai/pricing (read October 26, 2026); upfirst.ai/terms-of-service (read October 27, 2026)
Hire-cost inputs, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- OEWS, receptionists and information clerks (SOC 43-4171) (May 2025, released May 15, 2026)
- Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, table 4 (June 2026 (2026 Q2), released September 9, 2026)
- Employee Benefits in the United States (March 2026, released September 25, 2026)
- Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, annual 2025 (released March 13, 2026)
- Heather Boushey and Sarah Jane Glynn, "There Are Significant Business Costs to Replacing Employees," Center for American Progress, November 16, 2012 (issue brief; PDF carries an August 31, 2015 correction to Figure 3)
Changes to these prices
- Upfirst: cancellation notice recorded as none. Its pricing FAQ says "You can cancel, upgrade, or downgrade anytime, no questions asked," the same strength as other cancel-anytime terms. Its setup-fee summary now reads "None stated": no page says there is no fee. No price changed.
- My AI Front Desk: the 1,000 monthly overage credits its pricing page lists as included ("Extra credits you get each month in case you go over your included usage") now count as 40 included minutes, so Business-in-a-Box covers 240 minutes before the $0.25 rate applies (was 200).
- Phonely: its Professional plan card says 650 minutes and its comparison table 750; the card is used. When two plans tie on their lowest cost, the one with the narrower range is chosen, so Phonely at 300 calls a month prices on Professional alone.
- My AI Front Desk: billing-term summaries (billing unit, rounding, time billed beyond the call, spam, setup fee, contract, trial) added from the vendor-data billing-terms and contracts files and their captures. No price changed.
- Simple Phones: billing-term summaries (billing unit, rounding, time billed beyond the call, spam, setup fee, contract, trial) added from the vendor-data billing-terms and contracts files and their captures. No price changed.
- Phonely: billing-term summaries (billing unit, rounding, time billed beyond the call, spam, setup fee, contract, trial) added from the vendor-data billing-terms and contracts files and their captures. No price changed.
- RingCentral AI Receptionist: billing-term summaries (billing unit, rounding, time billed beyond the call, spam, setup fee, contract, trial) added from the vendor-data billing-terms and contracts files and their captures. No price changed.
- Rosie added from its own pricing page (captured October 26, 2026), with billing terms from its terms, FAQ and help pages (read October 27, 2026). Rosie moves an account up a plan instead of charging overage.
- Goodcall added from its own pricing page (captured October 26, 2026), with billing terms from its terms, FAQ and help pages (read October 27, 2026). Goodcall bills per unique caller a month; our arithmetic counts every call as a different caller.
- Dialzara added from its own pricing page (captured October 26, 2026), with billing terms from its terms, FAQ and help pages (read October 27, 2026).
- Upfirst added from its own pricing page (captured October 26, 2026), with billing terms from its terms, FAQ and help pages (read October 27, 2026). Upfirst does not bill calls under 15 seconds or spam.
- Moneypenny (US) raised its live extra-minute rates on every plan: $2.28 to $2.85 (50 minutes), $2.12 to $2.65 (100), $1.91 to $2.39 (200) and $1.67 to $2.09 (500); plan prices are unchanged. Found in a full re-check of every source page.
- Abby Connect Starter is now $164 a month (was $165), with extra minutes at $3.29 (was $3.30). Found in a full re-check of every source page.
- Smith.ai AI Receptionist Enterprise at 500 calls ($800, $2.10 per extra call) added from its pricing page, in a full re-check of every source page.
- Added NextPhone Pro, Growth and Scale from its public pricing page. All three plans include unlimited calls with no per-minute charge or overage fee.
- PATLive added its 2,000 to 5,000-minute tiers.
- Smith.ai AI Receptionist: billing terms added.
- Go Answer: 1,700, 2,500, 5,000 and 10,000 minutes ($1,870, $2,750, $5,500 and $11,000, overage $1.40 and $1.25 a minute) added from its pricing page (read October 5, 2026).
- Ruby: 1,500, 2,000 and 2,500 minutes ($4,945, $6,400 and $7,875, overage $3.50 to $3.30 a minute) added from its help center (read October 7, 2026).
- My AI Front Desk: overage of $0.25 a minute (25 credits at $0.01) added; it was on the captured page but missing here.
- Go Answer: 750 minutes ($825) added; it was on the captured page but missing here.
- Smith.ai AI Receptionist: billing terms added from its terms, FAQ and help pages (read October 7, 2026): billing unit, rounding, time billed beyond the call, spam billing, setup fee, contract and trial.
- Ruby: billing terms added from its terms, FAQ and help pages (read October 7, 2026): billing unit, rounding, time billed beyond the call, spam billing, setup fee, contract and trial.
- Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists: billing terms added from its terms, FAQ and help pages (read October 7, 2026): billing unit, rounding, time billed beyond the call, spam billing, setup fee, contract and trial.
- PATLive: billing terms added from its terms, FAQ and help pages (read October 7, 2026): billing unit, rounding, time billed beyond the call, spam billing, setup fee, contract and trial.
- Posh: billing terms added from its terms, FAQ and help pages (read October 7, 2026): billing unit, rounding, time billed beyond the call, spam billing, setup fee, contract and trial.
- Moneypenny (US): billing terms added from its terms, FAQ and help pages (read October 7, 2026): billing unit, rounding, time billed beyond the call, spam billing, setup fee, contract and trial.
- Go Answer: billing terms added from its terms, FAQ and help pages (read October 7, 2026): billing unit, rounding, time billed beyond the call, spam billing, setup fee, contract and trial.
- Abby Connect: billing terms added from its terms, FAQ and help pages (read October 7, 2026): billing unit, rounding, time billed beyond the call, spam billing, setup fee, contract and trial.
- Ruby: overage rates added from its help center ($5.40/min on the 50-minute plan down to $3.65 on 1,000 minutes), plus the 350, 750 and 1,000 minute plans published there. Ruby's pricing page still shows no overage rate.
- Abby Professional overage corrected to $2.99 per Abby Minute (its terms and help center), from $3.00 computed as price divided by minutes.
Download the data
The first table on this page (CSV, 8 rows). The full price index (CSV), free to reuse under CC BY 4.0.
How to cite this page
ReceptionistPrices.com, Abby Connect Alternatives 2026: 7 Virtual Receptionists and the AI Options, Priced, prices checked October 26, 2026, https://www.receptionistprices.com/abby-connect/alternatives/