Virtual Receptionist Pricing 2026: Per Minute, Per Call and What Low Entry Prices Leave Out
Published · prices checked October 26, 2026
Key takeaways
- The 12 live virtual receptionists in our table cost $260 to $1,160 a month for 100 three-minute calls, median $479 (prices checked October 26, 2026).
- The catch is the meter: Ruby and Posh round every call up to a full minute in their terms, and Abby Connect counts ring time before it rounds.
- At 50, 100 and 200 calls, ReceptionHQ ReceptionistPlus costs the least of the 12 services in our table and Ruby the most.
- Posh's own example of its pay-per-minute plan matches our arithmetic for 5 calls a month: $99.50, or $19.90 a call.
- Each vendor is priced on its cheapest published plan for the volume plus published overage, at 3-minute calls.
As of October 26, 2026, the 12 live virtual receptionists in our table cost $260 to $1,160 a month for 100 three-minute calls, and the median is $479. What moves your bill is the unit: a minute, a call, or a blended minute, and how each vendor rounds it.
Virtual receptionist pricing at 50, 100 and 200 calls a month
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ReceptionHQ ReceptionistPlus | Per call | $35/month (pay per use at $2.99/call) | $135 | $260 | $505 | $2.99 a call | Month-to-month; email 3 days before renewal | receptionhq.com/service/live-call-answering/virtual-receptionist, 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 |
| Specialty Answering Service | Per minute or per call | $44/month (pay per use at $1.54/min) | $231 | $384.20 | $783 | $1.09 to $1.44 a minute | Three cancellation rules on the site and a fourth in the terms; no proration | specialtyansweringservice.net/pricing, read Oct 26, 2026 |
| MAP Communications | Per minute | $49/month (pay per use at $1.37/min) | $211.50 | $403 | $777 | $1.28 to $1.30 a minute | Month-to-month; written notice one month before the next invoice | mapcommunications.com/pricing, 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 |
| AnswerFirst | Per minute | $30/month (pay per use at $1.60 to $1.95/min) | $270 to $322.50 | $510 to $615 | $990 to $1,200 | $1.60 to $1.95 a minute | No contract unless the proposal sets one; dedicated agents carry a 2-year minimum | answerfirst.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 |
| 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 |
| 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. Taxes, pass-through fees, setup fees and add-ons are not included. How we price.
At 100 calls, ReceptionHQ ReceptionistPlus costs the least of the 12 at $260, and it also costs the least at 50 and 200 calls. Leave it out and Go Answer costs the least at 100 calls, $345. Ruby costs the most of the 12 at all three volumes: $1,160 at 100 calls.
Ruby, Posh, Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists and Abby Connect each have a pricing page of their own here. Every row, theirs included, comes from the same price index and the same arithmetic.
How virtual receptionists bill: a minute, a call or a blended minute
Three units decide most of the table. Here is the arithmetic once, at 100 three-minute calls, which is 300 minutes.
Per minute. Posh sells $420/month for 200 minutes, and the 100 minutes past it bill at $2.10 a minute, so 100 calls cost $630. Ruby, PATLive, MAP Communications and five more services in the table bill this way. Longer calls cost more.
Per call. Smith.ai counts calls, not minutes: $810/month for 90 calls, plus 10 calls at $10.50 a call, for $915. A 9-minute call costs the same as a 1-minute call, inside Smith.ai's reasonable-use limits. ReceptionHQ ReceptionistPlus also bills per call.
A blended minute. Abby Connect meters "Abby Minutes": a minute with a human receptionist uses one, and a minute with its AI receptionist uses half (abby.com/pricing, read October 26, 2026). Our arithmetic counts every minute as human, so 100 calls cost $898, less than Smith.ai at that volume. Calls the AI handles stretch the plan further.
Pay as you go. Several services sell a base fee plus every minute. Posh's pay-per-minute plan is $65/month plus $2.30 a minute. PATLive's is $49/month plus $2.99 a minute. Each carries a higher rate per minute than the same vendor's bundles.
Why we use 3-minute calls
Ruby's help center puts a typical call at 2 minutes: "On average, a typical inbound call results in around 2 receptionist minutes." (Ruby help center, read October 7, 2026) We price every vendor at 3 minutes so the table compares like with like. If your calls run 2 minutes, 100 calls are 200 minutes, which Ruby's smallest fitting plan covers at $720/month for 200 minutes.
Your own number is on your last three invoices: billed minutes divided by calls answered. Per-minute services move with it; per-call services do not.
What a low entry price leaves out
The entry prices of the live virtual receptionists we price run $30 to $300. The lowest of them is a base fee with no minutes in it.
| Plan | Entry price | 5 calls a month | Per call at 5 | 50 calls a month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Posh | $65/month (pay per use at $2.30/min) | $99.50 | $19.90 a call | $322.50 |
| PATLive | $49/month (pay per use at $2.99/min) | $93.85 | $18.77 a call | $293.50 |
| MAP Communications | $49/month (pay per use at $1.37/min) | $69.55 | $13.91 a call | $211.50 |
| Answering Service Care | $40/month (pay per use at $1.75/min) | $66.25 | $13.25 a call | $264 |
| ReceptionHQ ReceptionistPlus | $35/month (pay per use at $2.99/call) | $39 | $7.80 a call | $135 |
Posh prints its own example on its pricing page: 15 minutes on its pay-per-minute plan come to "(15 minutes x $2.30) + $65 = $99.50" before taxes (posh.com/pricing, read October 26, 2026). That is our 5-call figure exactly: $19.90 a call, against $6.30 a call at 100 calls.
At 10 calls a month ReceptionHQ ReceptionistPlus costs the least in the table, $39. Its rows carry charges our arithmetic leaves out:
- Billed beyond talk time: Transfers $0.30 per call; failed transfers $0.15; after-hours surcharge $0.30 per call outside 5am to 7pm Phoenix time on weekdays, all weekend and on federal holidays
- Spam: Calls under 5 seconds free; telemarketing free only if ReceptionHQ identifies it; misdials billed
The pay-per-minute plan stops being Posh's cheapest early: at 50 calls its cheapest plan is no longer the pay-per-minute one but $215/month for 100 minutes.
What changes the bill: rounding, minimums and time you did not talk
Rounding and the minimum per call
Of the live and hybrid services this site prices that publish a per-call minimum, 3 of 7 bill at least a full minute for every answered call: PATLive, Posh and Ruby (vendor terms, read October 7 to 26, 2026). A 10-second wrong number is a billed minute.
Abby Connect rounds to 30 seconds. Its marketing says: "We bill in 30-second increments, unlike other call answering services that round up to full minutes or charge for after-call minutes, saving you money." (abby.com, read October 7, 2026) Its terms add what goes into the 30 seconds: measured time "includes ring time, talk time, and transfer time but excludes any potential hold time" (Abby terms, read October 7, 2026).
PATLive is finer: "All receptionist minutes are billed in six-second increments, with a one-minute minimum." (patlive.com/terms-of-use, read October 7, 2026) The minimum still makes a short call a full minute.
Time you did not spend talking
| Service | Billed beyond talk time |
|---|---|
| Ruby | Hold time and after-call work; talk after a transfer not billed |
| Posh | After-call work |
| Abby Connect | Ring time and transfer time; hold excluded |
| PATLive | Hold during lookups and transfer attempts; queue time and time after the receptionist disconnects are not billed |
| MAP Communications | After-call work with no cap, plus other work on your account |
| Moneypenny | Wrap-up up to 180 seconds per call, transfer dial-out, every dispatch leg; queue time not billed |
After-call work is the line that adds up. A receptionist who spends 40 seconds writing your message after a 2-minute call has billed a third minute at Ruby or Posh. Smith.ai has no meter to add to; its add-ons are charged per call instead.
Spam and wrong numbers
Smith.ai does not count spam "as long as the lines you forward to us pass Caller ID" (smith.ai/pricing/receptionists, read October 26, 2026). Ruby filters robocalls on request and does not bill the ones its filter catches. Posh and Abby Connect publish no billing rule for spam, so an answered spam call is a billed call at their minimums.
Contracts and notice
Of the live and hybrid services this site prices that publish a notice period, 5 of 10 let you cancel without one: AnswerFirst, Go Answer, PATLive, Posh and Ruby (vendor terms, read October 7 to 26, 2026). The other five, Smith.ai and Abby Connect among them, ask for notice, so cancelling can cost one more month.
What a virtual receptionist costs at your volume
The bill per call falls as volume rises, but not evenly. Here are six of the 12, across the three billing units:
| Service | Per call at 50 | Per call at 100 | Per call at 200 | A year at 100 calls |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ReceptionHQ ReceptionistPlus | $2.70 a call | $2.60 a call | $2.52 a call | $3,120 |
| Go Answer | $5.25 a call | $3.45 a call | $3.50 a call | $4,140 |
| Posh | $6.45 a call | $6.30 a call | $5.85 a call | $7,560 |
| Abby Connect | $9.86 a call | $8.98 a call | $8.28 a call | $10,776 |
| Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists | $10.60 a call | $9.15 a call | $9.82 a call | $10,980 |
| Ruby | $12.40 a call | $11.60 a call | $10.63 a call | $13,920 |
Smith.ai's per-call price rises from 100 to 200 calls because 200 calls sit between its plans: the 90-call plan plus 110 calls of overage. The per-minute services fall steadily as bigger plans lower the rate.
One full-time receptionist on the BLS median wage costs $4,399 a month with benefits and turnover, at any volume. That is 2.1 times Ruby, the dearest service in the table, at 200 calls ($2,125). The full model is on hire vs AI receptionist.
Where an AI receptionist is the cheaper option
At 13 three-minute calls a day, every AI receptionist with a published price costs less than ReceptionHQ ReceptionistPlus, the least of the live services at that volume.
| 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 |
Our arithmetic: cheapest published plan plus overage at 3-minute calls over 30 days. Goodcall bills per unique caller; we count every call as a new caller.
At 13 calls a day ReceptionHQ ReceptionistPlus costs $990 and Goodcall, the least of the AI receptionists, $129: $861 a month apart. The AI side is priced in full on AI receptionist cost, and the trade-off on virtual receptionist vs AI receptionist.
Which virtual receptionist plan fits which situation
Best for under 10 calls a month: ReceptionHQ ReceptionistPlus
At 10 calls it costs $39, the least of the 12 services in the table. It may not fit if most calls end in a transfer, which its terms charge per transfer.
Best for long calls: Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists
A call costs the same whatever its length, within the 120-second average Smith.ai sets for extended intake. At 100 calls it costs $915. It may not fit if you need several add-ons, each charged on every call of the plan.
Best if some calls can go to AI: Abby Connect
Every AI minute uses half an Abby Minute, so the plan stretches as you move routine calls to the AI. All human, 100 calls cost $898. It may not fit if you want out quickly: the terms ask 30 days' notice after the first month.
Best per-minute bill at 100 to 200 calls: Go Answer
At 100 calls Go Answer costs $345, and at 200 calls $700. At both volumes that is the least of the table's other 11 services, all but ReceptionHQ's per-call plan. It bills by the second. It may not fit if you want a setup-free start: its marketing says no setup fees, while its terms list one.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a virtual receptionist cost per month?
The live virtual receptionists in our table cost $260 to $1,160 a month for 100 three-minute calls (prices checked October 26, 2026). Abby Connect, which mixes live and AI answering, costs $898 at the same volume. Entry plans of the live services run $30 to $300.
Do virtual receptionists charge per minute or per call?
8 of the 12 services in our table charge per minute, including Ruby, Posh and PATLive. Smith.ai and ReceptionHQ ReceptionistPlus charge per call, so call length does not move the bill. Specialty Answering Service sells both kinds of plan. Abby Connect charges per Abby Minute, where an AI minute counts as half.
What is the cheapest virtual receptionist?
At 50, 100 and 200 three-minute calls a month, ReceptionHQ ReceptionistPlus costs the least of the 12 live services we compared: $260 at 100 calls. Without it, Go Answer costs the least at 100 calls, $345. Transfer fees, rounding and after-call work are not in those figures.
Do virtual receptionists round calls up to the minute?
Ruby and Posh round every call up to a full minute in their terms. Abby Connect rounds to 30 seconds, but its total includes ring time and transfer time. PATLive bills in 6-second steps after a one-minute minimum.
Is a virtual receptionist cheaper than hiring one?
Yes, at 200 three-minute calls a month every service in our table costs less than one full-time receptionist. On the BLS median wage, with benefits and turnover, a hire costs $4,399 a month. Ruby, the dearest, costs $2,125 at 200 calls. A hire also greets visitors and does office work no phone service prices.
Is an AI receptionist cheaper than a virtual receptionist?
Yes, at 13 three-minute calls a day every AI receptionist with a published price costs less than every live virtual receptionist in our table. AI receptionists cost $129 to $695.30 a month, against $990 to $3,970.50 for the live services. The median live service costs 3.8 times the median AI receptionist at 100 calls.
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)
- AnswerFirst: answerfirst.com/pricing (read October 26, 2026); answerfirst.com/terms-of-service (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)
- MAP Communications: mapcommunications.com/pricing (read October 26, 2026); mapcommunications.com/terms (read October 7, 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)
- ReceptionHQ ReceptionistPlus: receptionhq.com/service/live-call-answering/virtual-receptionist (read October 26, 2026); receptionhq.com/call-answering-service-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)
- Specialty Answering Service: specialtyansweringservice.net/pricing (read October 26, 2026); specialtyansweringservice.net/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)
Other pages quoted
- Ruby help center, "How long is an average call?": rubyhelpcenter.helpjuice.com, read October 7, 2026.
- Abby Connect, human receptionist page: abby.com/products/human-receptionist, read October 7, 2026.
- Abby Connect terms and conditions: abby.com/resources/terms-and-conditions, read October 7, 2026.
- PATLive terms of use: patlive.com/terms-of-use, read October 7, 2026.
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.
- Specialty Answering Service: cancellation and setup-fee summaries corrected.
- Smith.ai AI Receptionist: billing terms added.
- ReceptionHQ ReceptionistPlus added as its own live row (messages and call transfers; read October 5, 2026): from $35 a month plus $2.99 a call to $2,440 for 1,000 calls, from its ReceptionistPlus page and the price table in ReceptionHQ's terms (read October 7, 2026), with its own billing terms ($0.30 a call after hours, $0.30 per transfer).
- Specialty Answering Service: 2,500, 5,000 and 10,000 minutes ($2,929, $5,649 and $10,599, overage $1.19 to $1.09 a minute) added from its pricing page (read October 5, 2026), and hold time added to what its per-minute billing covers, from its rates page (read October 7, 2026).
- 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.
- ReceptionHQ ReceptionistPlus: 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.
- MAP Communications: 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.
- AnswerFirst: 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.
- Specialty Answering Service: 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.
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The first table on this page (CSV, 12 rows). The full price index (CSV), free to reuse under CC BY 4.0.
How to cite this page
ReceptionistPrices.com, Virtual Receptionist Pricing 2026: Per Minute, Per Call and What Low Entry Prices Leave Out, prices checked October 26, 2026, https://www.receptionistprices.com/virtual-receptionist-pricing/