TL;DR - AI receptionist cost in 2026 runs from $0 to roughly $500 a month for most small businesses, and the number depends less on the brand than on the billing unit. As of September 2026, Smith.ai's AI plan is free for 25 calls then $150 for 75 calls, Upfirst starts at $24.95 for 30 calls, Rosie at $49 for 250 minutes, Goodcall at $79 per agent, and Boulevard's Beau at $125 for 200 minutes. A human option costs far more: about $54,400 a year for an in-house receptionist once benefits are counted, or $250 to $2,100 a month for a staffed service like Ruby or Smith.ai's human plans. LeadResponse prices a different channel, Instagram comments and DMs, at $1 for a 3-day trial and then $99 a month for 100 leads ($0.99 per lead).
Most "what does it cost" pages quote one headline price and stop. That is how a $29 plan turns into a $140 bill: the plan covered 60 minutes, your calls averaged four, and overage billed at $0.48 a minute. Below, every major option is priced the same way, so you can compare per-minute, per-call, per-caller, and per-lead billing on your real volume.
How Much Does an AI Receptionist Cost in 2026?
An AI receptionist costs between $0 and about $500 a month in 2026, with most small businesses landing between $25 and $200. OnceHub's September 2026 cost guide puts AI receptionists at "$25 to $300 a month, with most full-featured options between $50 and $200," against $175 to $700 for human-staffed answering services.
Our own check of vendor pricing pages in September 2026 fits that range. The cheapest paid plans start near $25 (Upfirst, $24.95 for 30 calls). Mid-range plans cluster at $79 to $150 (Goodcall, Nextiva's XBert, Frontdesk, Boulevard's Beau). Only the high-volume tiers, like Smith.ai's 300-call plan, reach about $500.
Two things move the price more than the vendor: how many contacts you get, and how the vendor counts them.
Per-Minute, Per-Call, or Per-Lead: Which AI Receptionist Pricing Model Costs Less?
No pricing model is always cheapest. Per-call billing wins for short calls, per-minute billing wins for very brief ones, and flat unlimited plans win at high volume. AI receptionist pricing in 2026 falls into five billing units, and each one punishes a different habit.
| Billing unit | Who uses it | What you pay for | Where it gets expensive |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per minute | Rosie, Dialzara, Frontdesk, Boulevard's Beau, CloudTalk | Talk time, usually with a monthly allowance | Long, chatty calls; overage of $0.25 to $0.60 a minute |
| Per call | Smith.ai, Upfirst, Beside (Baseline) | Each answered call | Many short calls; extra calls at $1 to $3 each |
| Per unique caller | Goodcall | Distinct phone numbers that talk to the agent | Many different callers; $0.50 per extra caller |
| Per resolution | Nextiva XBert | Calls, texts, or chats that reach a real outcome | $0.99 per resolution beyond the first 100 |
| Per lead | LeadResponse | Each new Instagram lead engaged | Large lead volume; you pay per lead, not per message |
Per-caller billing is the friendliest to repeat customers. Goodcall's pricing page says a client who calls ten times in a month counts once, and it does not charge for minutes or tokens. Per-call billing is friendlier to long conversations, because a 12-minute call costs the same as a 40-second one.
Upfirst also skips billing for spam, calls under 15 seconds, and calls where the caller never speaks, which matters if your line gets robocalls. The point is that "calls" are not "minutes" are not "leads," so convert everything to your real volume before comparing.
What Does Each Major AI Receptionist Actually Cost?
Here is what each phone-based AI receptionist charges, straight from its own pricing page as of September 2026. Prices are USD, monthly billing unless noted.
| Provider | Entry price | What it includes | Beyond the plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smith.ai AI Receptionist | $0 | 25 calls a month | $3.00 per call (overages are off by default); Pro is $150 for 75 calls; about $500 for 300 calls |
| Upfirst | $24.95 | 30 calls | $1.50 per extra call; 90 calls $59.95; 300 calls $159.95; 600 calls $299; 20% off annually |
| Dialzara | $29 | 60 minutes | $0.48 per extra minute; $99 for 220 minutes; $199 for 500 |
| Rosie | $49 | 250 minutes | $149 for 1,000 minutes (adds direct calendar booking); $299 for 2,000 |
| Goodcall | $79 per agent | 100 unique callers | $0.50 per extra caller; $129 for 250; $249 for 500 |
| Frontdesk (formerly My AI Front Desk) | $99 | 200 voice minutes | 25 credits per extra minute at $0.01 a credit, or $0.25 a minute |
| Nextiva XBert | $99 | 100 resolutions | $0.99 per extra resolution; 30-day money-back guarantee |
| Beside Phone | $29 | 30 AI receptionist calls | Unlimited AI calls is $99 a month; extra lines $4.99 each |
| CloudTalk | $99 | 200 AI minutes | 50 minutes free on trial |
| Boulevard Beau | $125 per location | 200 minutes | $0.60 per extra minute; built into Boulevard's salon software |
| GlossGenius Reception | $50 add-on | 100 minutes and 200 texts | $0.50 per minute, $0.05 per text; free through Nov 30, 2026 |
| RingCentral AIR | Quote | Not published | Pricing goes through an account rep |
Three notes on reading that table. First, prices move often: older roundups, including some of ours, list different figures for Smith.ai and Beside than their pages show today, so confirm on the vendor's page before you buy. Second, "entry price" is rarely the price you pay. Third, booking is sometimes gated: Rosie's Professional plan sends appointment links by text, and direct calendar booking starts at the $149 Scale plan.
If you are weighing Smith.ai specifically, our Smith.ai alternatives roundup covers where its per-call model gets expensive.
What Is Virtual Receptionist Pricing With a Human on the Line?
Virtual receptionist pricing, meaning services staffed by real people, runs about $137 to $325 a month at entry level and $400 to $900 for realistic volume, according to OnceHub's September 2026 guide. The major vendors publish their numbers, and they are steep by comparison.
- Ruby: $250 for 50 minutes, $395 for 100, $720 for 200, and $1,725 for 500 minutes a month. OnceHub lists Ruby's overage at $3.30 to $5.40 a minute.
- Smith.ai (human receptionists): $300 for 30 calls, $810 for 90, and $2,100 for 300, with $8.50 to $11.50 per call over the plan. Booking an appointment adds $1.50 a call, and each CRM integration beyond the first adds $0.50 a call.
- Other answering services: OnceHub's roundup lists entry plans of about $137 (Posh), $175 (ReceptionHQ), and $250 (PATLive) for 50 to 100 minutes.
The trade-off is judgment. A human can calm an upset caller or handle a truly odd request. An AI receptionist will not sigh, and it will not take a lunch break, but it also will not improvise.
How Does AI Receptionist Cost Compare With Hiring a Human Receptionist?
An AI receptionist typically costs 1% to 10% of what an in-house hire does. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median receptionist wage of $38,010 a year ($18.27 an hour, May 2025). OnceHub estimates about $54,400 a year once payroll taxes and benefits are added, which is roughly $4,533 a month.
Put that next to the numbers above:
- A $99 plan is about 2% of a loaded receptionist's monthly cost.
- Even the $500 Smith.ai tier is about 11%.
- The in-house hire covers roughly 40 of the week's 168 hours. The AI covers all of them.
The comparison is not entirely fair, because a front-desk employee also greets clients, handles payments, and cleans the treatment room. If you only need the phone answered, AI wins on price. If you need a person in the building, it does not replace one. We break down the human side of the ledger for booking roles in our appointment setter cost guide.
What Will 100 and 300 Contacts a Month Actually Cost?
At 100 contacts a month, most options cost $70 to $150, and at 300 the spread widens from about $99 to $500. The table uses one assumption you should replace with your own: each phone call averages 3 minutes, so 100 calls is 300 minutes.
| Option | 100 contacts | 300 contacts | How it was calculated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upfirst | $69.95 | $159.95 | Premium plan plus 10 extra calls at $1; Pro plan at 300 calls |
| Goodcall | $79 | $154 | Starter covers 100 callers; Growth plus 50 callers at $0.50 |
| Nextiva XBert | $99 | $297 | $99 covers 100; 200 more at $0.99 |
| Beside Phone | $99 | $99 | Unlimited AI calls plan |
| Frontdesk | about $124 | about $274 | $99 plus overage minutes at $0.25 |
| Dialzara | about $135 | $349 | Pro plus overage; Elite plan for 1,000 minutes |
| Rosie | $149 | $149 | Scale plan covers 1,000 minutes |
| Smith.ai AI | $225 | about $500 | Free tier with overages on, then the 300-call tier |
| LeadResponse | $99 | in-app upgrade | $99 covers 100 leads ($0.99 each); higher volumes are an upgrade inside the app, so check that price before you scale |
Two takeaways. Flat unlimited plans (Beside) and big-allowance plans (Rosie) get cheaper per contact as volume grows, while per-resolution and per-call plans scale linearly. And there is no universal winner: a business with few, long calls should compare per-call plans, and one with many short calls should compare per-minute plans.
What Hidden Costs Should You Watch For?
The biggest surprises are overage rates, add-on features, and minimum allowances that vanish quickly. Ask about each before you sign.
- Overage: Dialzara charges $0.48 a minute over its Lite plan, Boulevard charges $0.60, and Smith.ai's free tier charges $3.00 a call, but only if you turn overages on.
- Feature gating: Rosie's booking and live transfers start at $149, and Beside's lowest plan caps AI calls at 30.
- Extra lines and locations: Beside charges $4.99 for each extra line, Boulevard prices per location, and Goodcall prices per agent.
- Auto-reload credits: Frontdesk's plan includes a pool of overage credits, then auto-reloads 1,000 credits for $10.
- Add-on channels: Rosie's website texting add-on is $50 a month for 25 conversations, and Smith.ai's human plans bill extras like Spanish calls ($1.00) and complex routing ($1.50) per call.
- Integration limits: A receptionist that cannot write to your calendar leaves you keying appointments by hand, which is a cost too.
Where Does LeadResponse's Instagram Pricing Fit?
LeadResponse is not a phone receptionist, and it does not answer calls or texts. It is an AI appointment setter for Instagram: it answers comments and DMs within seconds and books the appointment in the DM. Pricing is a $1 trial for 3 days (10 lead credits), then $99 a month for 100 leads, which works out to $0.99 per lead. Each lead gets as many AI messages as the conversation needs, at no extra cost.
For a business that gets leads on both the phone and Instagram, the two are complementary. Pair the cheapest useful phone plan with LeadResponse and the total is modest: Upfirst's Starter plan ($24.95) plus LeadResponse ($99) is about $124 a month, or under 3% of a loaded in-house receptionist. Our best AI receptionists roundup compares the phone tools in depth, and the small-business edition narrows it down by budget.
To model your own numbers, use the DM automation ROI calculator.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does an AI receptionist cost per month?
Most AI receptionists cost between $25 and $300 a month in 2026, and many small businesses pay $50 to $150. Smith.ai's AI plan is free for 25 calls, Upfirst starts at $24.95 for 30 calls, Rosie at $49 for 250 minutes, and Goodcall at $79 per agent. Costs rise with volume and overage rates. LeadResponse, which handles Instagram comments and DMs instead of phone calls, is $99 a month for 100 leads after a $1 three-day trial.
What is the difference between AI receptionist pricing and virtual receptionist pricing?
AI receptionist pricing covers software that answers calls automatically, typically $25 to $300 a month. Virtual receptionist pricing covers human-staffed services, which run about $137 to $325 a month at entry level and $400 to $900 at realistic volume. Ruby starts at $250 for 50 minutes, and Smith.ai's human plans start at $300 for 30 calls. AI is cheaper and always on, while humans handle unusual or emotional calls better.
Is a free AI receptionist good enough for a small business?
A free tier can be enough if you get a few calls a day or want to test before paying. Smith.ai's free plan includes 25 calls a month with 24/7 answering and lead qualification, but calls over the cap cost $3.00 each if you enable overages. Beyond about 30 calls a month, paid plans from $24.95 usually cost less per call. Trials from Upfirst, Goodcall, and CloudTalk last 14 days.
Is per-minute or per-call pricing cheaper for an AI receptionist?
It depends on call length. Per-call plans like Upfirst and Smith.ai are cheaper when calls run long, because a 10-minute call counts as one. Per-minute plans like Rosie and Dialzara are cheaper when calls are short. If you do not know your average call length, look at 30 days of call logs first, or pick a per-caller plan like Goodcall that ignores minutes entirely.
Is an AI receptionist cheaper than hiring a human?
Yes, by a wide margin for phone answering. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median receptionist wage of $38,010 a year, and OnceHub estimates about $54,400 once benefits and payroll taxes are included. Even the most expensive AI plans in this guide cost around $500 a month, or roughly $6,000 a year. AI cannot greet clients in person or handle payments at the counter, so it replaces the phone job rather than the whole role.
What does an Instagram-only AI receptionist cost?
LeadResponse costs $1 for a 3-day trial that includes 10 lead credits, then $99 a month for 100 leads, or $0.99 per lead. Pricing is per lead rather than per message, so long conversations do not raise the bill. It answers Instagram comments and DMs only, with no phone, SMS, or website chat, so many businesses pair it with a phone receptionist.
What hidden fees do AI receptionists charge?
The common ones are overage per minute or call, paid tiers that unlock calendar booking or call transfers, extra lines or locations, and add-on channels such as website texting. Examples include Dialzara's $0.48 per extra minute, Boulevard's $0.60, Beside's $4.99 per extra line, and Rosie's $50 website texting add-on. Ask what counts as a billable call and whether spam and short calls are excluded.
Final Verdict
AI receptionist cost in 2026 is low enough that price should rarely decide the question. Between $25 and $150 a month covers most small-business phone volume, and a free tier or 14-day trial lets you test on real calls first. The mistake to avoid is comparing headline prices without converting to your own volume: a per-minute plan, a per-call plan, and a per-caller plan can differ by hundreds of dollars for the same 300 contacts.
Choose the phone tool by call length and volume, then ask about overage, booking, and transfers before you commit. Human-staffed services still make sense for high-stakes calls, but they cost several times more.
If a large share of your leads arrive as Instagram comments and DMs, no phone receptionist will see them. That is the gap LeadResponse fills, at $0.99 per lead.
Try LeadResponse for $1 and answer every Instagram comment and DM within seconds, with the appointment booked right in the chat.