AI receptionist cost calculator: your real monthly bill

Prices named on this page were checked 14 October 2026.

The US-dollar AI receptionist plans named on this page run from US$0 to US$789 or more a month before extra use. The plan price is rarely the bill, though. Enter your calls and call length below to see what each product would charge you, extra minutes and calls included.

Prices come from each company's own pricing page, checked 14 October 2026. We did not sign up for or test any product.

Your monthly bill, product by product

Calls a month. How many calls your business gets in a normal month. Count missed calls too.

Average call length (minutes). Your phone's call log may show it. The calculator starts at 3.

Average job value. What a typical job is worth to you. We use it only to show how many jobs would cover each bill.

The calculator starts with the example from the worked example below. Change the numbers to match your business.

Each result row shows:

• the product and plan
• the monthly price, in the currency the company publishes
• extra minutes or calls at that company's published rate
• your estimated monthly bill
• how many jobs at your job value would cover it
• the date we checked the price, with a link to the company's pricing page

Rows are ordered by your estimated monthly bill, lowest first. Plans with no published price show "price on request". Where a company publishes no overage rate, the row says "extra use: not published" instead of guessing. Your numbers stay in your browser.

No company pays us to be listed or for its place.

How AI receptionist pricing is worked out

Companies charge in four main ways. The same call volume can cost very different amounts under each one.

1. Flat monthly price. You pay one price, whatever your volume. Jodie's US page lists every plan with "Unlimited Minutes", from US$49 a month (Jodie pricing, checked 14 October 2026).
2. Plan plus extra minutes. The plan includes some minutes, then each extra minute costs more. Dialzara's Business Pro is US$99 for 220 minutes, then US$0.45 a minute (Dialzara pricing, checked 14 October 2026).
3. Plan plus extra calls. You pay per call, whatever its length. Upfirst's Starter is US$24.95 for 30 calls, then US$1.50 for each extra call (Upfirst pricing, checked 14 October 2026).
4. Prepaid minutes. You buy a block of minutes up front. Waboom AI's Australian Pay As You Go option is A$500 for 500 minutes, with "No monthly commitment" (Waboom AI pricing, checked 14 October 2026).

One product counts people instead. Goodcall charges for each "unique customer" its agent serves. Its page defines that as "One phone number, once a month" (Goodcall pricing, checked 14 October 2026). Repeat calls from one number in a month count once.

Worked example: a two-person plumbing business

Example inputs (invented for this example, not a statistic):

• 250 calls a month
• 3 minutes a call, so 750 minutes a month
• US$400 average job

Here is what the calculator shows for six of the US-dollar products in our table. Each row is the plan with the lowest bill we can work out at this volume, ordered by monthly bill, lowest first. We leave out Jodie Basic because its comparison table shows no appointment booking on Basic. Where a company publishes no rate for extra use, we cannot work out a bill above the included amount.

No company pays us to be listed or for its place.

Every bill in this example is less than the price of one job.

A low plan price is often not a low bill. Upfirst's Starter costs US$24.95 a month. At 250 calls it charges for 220 extra calls at US$1.50 each, which adds US$330.00. That makes the bill US$354.95, more than double the Pro plan.

Dialzara shows the same thing. Business Lite is US$29 a month, but 690 extra minutes at US$0.48 add US$331.20. The bill is US$360.20, against US$299.00 on Business Plus.

Two notes on the example. Jodie's cheaper Basic plan (US$49) is left out because its comparison table shows no appointment booking on Basic. Its plan card does list bookings. The "jobs" figure uses the price of a job, not your profit on it.

Costs people miss

The plan price leaves out several costs. Check each one on the company's pricing page before you sign up.

• Setup fees. Frontly charges a "$199 setup fee" on its Starter and Standard plans, shown at checkout as "$199 + GST" (Frontly pricing, checked 14 October 2026). Its page does not name a currency. Valory lists "One-time setup from $990" (its page says "All prices are in AUD") (Valory pricing, checked 14 October 2026).
• Text messages. Valory's Intro plan includes 50 text messages, then charges A$0.10 for each text message.
• Per-customer pricing. Goodcall charges for each unique customer your agent serves: one phone number, once a month.
• Tax. Jodie's prices "exclude applicable taxes", and Frontly's "exclude GST".
• Notice to cancel. Smith.ai is month to month, but asks for "30 days' notice" to cancel (Smith.ai pricing, checked 14 October 2026).
• Unpublished overage. Rosie and Sameday AI publish included minutes but no rate for going over that we could find. Check what happens at the limit before you sign up.

When an AI receptionist will cost you jobs

An AI receptionist is not the right answer for every call. Three kinds of call need a closer look.

• Emergency calls. A burst pipe or a power outage needs a person, or a fast transfer to one. Check whether the product's own page says it can transfer calls or route emergencies.
• Callers who hang up on a recording. Some customers will not talk to a machine, so ask how many of yours might not.
• Complex quotes or estimates. A job that needs a site visit or a back-and-forth may be better taken by you.

What to test in your trial week. Where a product offers a trial, run these calls yourself:

1. Call as a customer after hours.
2. Call with background noise, such as traffic or running water.
3. Call with an emergency and time how fast it reaches you.
4. Call about an unusual job.
5. Check the text summary arrives, and the booking lands in your calendar.

Some businesses use a human answering service, or voicemail that sends a text, instead. See what a human answering service costs instead.

AI, human or both: side by side

In this example, the two US-dollar human services cost US$4.83 and US$8.40 a call, against US$0.40 for Jodie Professional. Some AI plans also charge per call: Smith.ai's AI plan costs US$3.00 a call after the first 25. This section uses the same example as above: 250 calls a month, 3 minutes each, 750 minutes. We worked out each bill from the company's published plan and extra-use rate, and show each currency as published. We show no hybrid service. Abby Connect, for one, publishes no rate for extra minutes (read 14 October 2026), so we cannot work out a bill. Where an Australian company's page shows a bare "$", we write A$. Where a US company's page shows a bare "$", we write US$.

How each bill is worked out:

• PATLive: US$759 for 500 minutes, plus 250 extra minutes at US$1.79 = US$447.50. Total US$1,206.50. PATLive also lists larger plans that we have not priced, so this is the lowest bill among the plans in our table.
• Smith.ai Pro: US$2,100 includes 300 calls, so 250 calls add nothing. Booking an appointment costs a further US$1.50 a call, and text follow-up US$0.50 a call.
• Virtual Reception: A$115 for 50 calls, plus 200 extra calls at A$2.45 = A$490.00. Total A$605.00. The page marks its extra-call rate "* Plus GST" and does not say whether the A$115 monthly fee includes GST.

PATLive and Smith.ai say they answer calls 24 hours a day with live staff. Virtual Reception's pricing page has a "24 hours Answering Service" subheading. Each page says there is no long-term contract: PATLive, Smith.ai, Virtual Reception, all checked 14 October 2026.

Where a person still helps. Some calls need judgement, such as an upset customer or an emergency. A person can decide what to do. Check each product's own page for how it passes a call to you.

If you already use Jobber or Housecall Pro

Jobber sells an AI Receptionist add-on for US$29 a month, on top of a Jobber plan. Jobber's page says its prices are in US dollars. It also says subscription plan prices leave out sales tax where applicable (Jobber pricing, checked 14 October 2026). The calculator includes it as a row.

Housecall Pro does not publish a price for its AI receptionist (CSR AI). Its own page offers a free trial and a demo (Housecall Pro CSR AI, checked 14 October 2026).

Built for trades businesses in Australia and the UK

These products are made for trades and publish their own prices. Prices are as published, with the tax wording each page uses. We did not test any of them.

Sources: Chime Labs, CallCatch and Sayora. Sayora calls its price an early-access price. CallCatch's page shows an Australian price and no New Zealand price.

Prices in Canada, the UK, Australia and elsewhere

The calculator shows each product in the currency its company publishes. We do not convert currencies, so no exchange rate can go out of date.

• Australian dollars: Jodie (Australian page), Valory, Chime Labs and Waboom AI.
• British pounds: Jodie (UK page).
• Canadian dollars: Dialbox.
• New Zealand dollars: Waboom AI (New Zealand page, read 14 October 2026).
• Singapore dollars: Ah Va.

Most other AI products with a published price show US dollars. Some companies charge different amounts by country. Jodie's Basic plan is US$49 on its US page, £49 on its UK page and A$99 on its Australian page (each read 14 October 2026).

For the full list of products, features and links, compare the products in detail. To see the human option, read what a human answering service costs instead. How we check prices explains our method.

What AI costs a trades business, from free to a custom build

An AI receptionist is one step on a ladder. Here is one published price per step for Australia, the UK and the US. Each is the seller's own price, in its own currency, on the date shown. None is a recommendation.

Notes on the table. ServiceM8's phone page offers its free month "with a ServiceM8 subscription". Jodie's comparison table shows no appointment booking on Basic, although its plan cards list bookings. Softomate says its prices exclude VAT, and that licences, hosting and usage are confirmed separately. Vapi lists the AI model, the voice and transcription as separate costs beside hosting. Jodie says its prices exclude applicable taxes. Google also sells a cheaper plan, AI Plus, at A$7.99, £4.49 or US$4.99 a month on the same pages.

Sources, checked 14 October 2026: Google Gemini (US), Google Gemini (Australia), Google Gemini (UK), ServiceM8 (Australia), ServiceM8 (UK), ServiceM8 (US), Jodie (Australia), Jodie (UK), Softomate Solutions and Vapi.

Questions

How much does an AI receptionist cost per month?
US-dollar plans in our table run from US$0 to US$789 or more a month before extra use. Smith.ai's free plan includes 25 calls, then charges US$3.00 a call. Sameday AI's Scale plan starts at US$789 for 1,000 minutes. Your real bill depends on your call volume, so use the calculator above.

Is there a free AI receptionist?
Yes, with limits. Smith.ai has a US$0 plan with 25 calls a month, then US$3.00 for each extra call. At 100 calls a month that adds US$225.00. It stays free only up to 25 calls.

How much does Jobber's AI receptionist cost?
Jobber's pricing page lists its AI Receptionist add-on at US$29 a month, on top of a Jobber plan. The page says its prices are in US dollars. It also says subscription plan prices leave out sales tax where applicable.

How much does an AI answering service cost?
AI answering services and AI receptionists are priced the same ways: a plan price plus extra minutes or calls. In our example of 250 calls at 3 minutes, six US-dollar plans come to US$99.00 to US$299.00 a month. Your bill depends on your own call volume, so use the calculator above.

What does an AI receptionist cost compared with a human receptionist?
In our example of 250 calls a month, a human answering service came to US$1,206.50 (PATLive) or US$2,100.00 (Smith.ai Pro), against US$99.00 for an AI plan. The side-by-side table shows the working. Prices are as published and leave out tax where the page says so. Our human or AI answering service page goes further.

About this page: written by Trades AI Guide from each company's own pricing page (linked on this page) and checked against those pages. Prices named on this page checked 14 October 2026.

General information only, not financial, legal or purchasing advice for your business. Prices are taken from each company's own pricing page on the date shown, in that company's currency, and may change or leave out tax: check the company's page before you buy. Your result is an estimate worked out from the numbers you enter, not a quote. We have not signed up for or tested these products.