---
title: "The Answering Service Price Index — 19 Providers, Verified Prices | CallsAround"
description: "A living index of published answering-service prices: 19 human and AI providers, entry and mid-tier plans, overage rates, billing models, and who hides pricing behind a quote form. Verified from first-party pricing pages, re-checked quarterly."
lang: en
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    "name": "The Answering Service Price Index",
    "description": "Published pricing for 19 answering-service providers (human and AI): entry plans, mid tiers, overage rates, billing models, free trials, and whether pricing is public. First-party figures verified from each provider's own pricing page; third-party estimates labeled with sources.",
    "url": "https://callsaround.com/answering-service-price-index",
    "creator": {
      "@type": "Organization",
      "name": "CallsAround",
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    "dateModified": "2026-08-08",
    "temporalCoverage": "2026-07/2026-08",
    "isAccessibleForFree": true
  }
---

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Original data

# The Answering Service Price Index

Published pricing for 19 answering-service providers — human and AI — in two tables: entry plans, mid tiers, overage rates, billing models, free trials, and whether the provider publishes pricing at all. Every first-party figure was read from the provider's own pricing page; estimates are labeled and attributed. Re-verified quarterly.

Prices verified July 30, 2026 · Index updated August 8, 2026

## The headline numbers

-   Typical small-business spend on a **human** answering service: **$135–$400/mo** (Ambs Call Center (July 2025), Housecall Pro (May 2026)); the full range runs $100–$1,000+/mo (Nextiva (July 2026)).
-   Human per-minute rates: roughly $0.65–$1.75 per minute, with most 2026 sources centering on ~$0.75–$1.50 (Nextiva (July 2026), Upfirst (May 2026), Housecall Pro (May 2026)).
-   The cleanest AI-vs-human comparison in the dataset: Smith.ai's own published pricing charges ~$8.50–$11.50 per call for human receptionists and $1.67–$3.00 per call for its AI — a 4–6× gap at the same company.
-   **11** of the 19 competitor price lists in this index are not fully published by the provider — quote-gating is itself a data point, and those rows say so instead of guessing.

## Table 1 — Human answering services

First-party prices fetched July 30, 2026 from each provider's own pricing page.

Human answering service prices

Provider

Entry plan

Mid-tier

Overage / rate

Billing model

Free trial

Pricing public?

**Smith.ai (human receptionists)**

$300/mo — 30 calls

$810/mo — 90 calls (Pro: $2,100/mo — 300 calls)

$11.50/call, falling to $8.50/call on higher tiers

Per-call

No free trial; 30-day money-back guarantee (up to $1,000)

Published

**Ruby**

$250/mo — 50 min

$720/mo — 200 min ($395/100 min, $1,725/500 min)

Not published

Per-minute

Not published

Published (overage rate not shown)

**AnswerConnect†**

Third-party reporting also cites a ~$75 setup fee on most tiers and a 90-day minimum commitment — estimates, not AnswerConnect-published figures.

Not published — quote required (est. ~$325/mo for 100 min)

Est. ~$425/mo — 300 min

Est. ~$1.85–$2.95/min

Per-minute

Est. 14 days or 150 min

Form-gated

**AnswerForce†**

Not published — quote required

Not published

Est. ~$1.50–$3.00/min effective

Per-minute

Unknown

Form-gated

**PATLive**

$75/mo pay-as-you-go (0 min included) or $250/mo — 75 min

$460/mo — 200 min (Premium $720/350, Pro $1,170/600)

$2.60/min, falling to $2.00/min on higher tiers

Per-minute

14-day free trial

Published

**MAP Communications**

$49/mo pay-as-you-go or $179/mo — 125 min

$339/mo — 250 min (Premium $649/500)

$1.37/min, falling to $1.28/min

Per-minute

7-day free trial, no card required

Published

**AnswerFirst**

A one-time customization fee “may apply” per their site; amount not published.

$30/mo base + usage (no bundles)

N/A — pure pay-as-you-go

$1.55–$1.90/min published, billed per second

Pay-as-you-go per-minute

Not published

Published

**Nexa**

Their site acknowledges a setup fee exists; the amount is not published.

Not published — quote required

Not published

Not published

Per-minute

Not published

Quote-only

**Abby Connect (human receptionists)**

Spanish answering and weekend coverage included on all human tiers.

$329/mo — 100 min

$599/mo — 200 min (Growth $1,380/500 min)

Not published

Per-minute

Not published for human plans

Published (fetched Aug 1, 2026)

**Moneypenny US**

VoiceNation was folded into Moneypenny in 2025 — if you're comparing against a VoiceNation quote, this is now the same company.

$165/mo — 50 min

$422/mo — 200 min ($265/100 min, $985/500 min)

$2.28/min, falling to $1.67/min by tier

Per-minute

Not verified on their site

Published

† Third-party estimates (AnswerConnect: serviceagent.ai, June 2026 · AnswerForce: dialzara.com, May 2026), not provider-published prices. Verify directly.

## Table 2 — AI answering services

Same rules, AI vendors — including CallsAround, stated the same way we state everyone else.

AI answering service prices

Provider

Entry plan

Mid-tier

Overage / rate

Billing model

Free trial

Pricing public?

**CallsAround**

$149/mo — 300 min + 100 SMS

$229/mo — 600 min ($299/mo — 1,000 min)

Flat $0.25/$0.22/$0.20 per minute by tier

Flat monthly bundles

7-day trial

Published

**Goodcall**

“Unlimited minutes” is real, but plans meter unique customers per month — a busy season raises the tier.

$79/mo per agent — unlimited minutes, capped at 100 unique customers

$129/mo — 250 unique customers (Scale: $249/500)

$0.50 per unique customer over the cap

Flat per-agent, metered by unique customers (not minutes)

Not verified

Published (15% annual discount)

**Dialzara**

$29/mo — 60 min

$99/mo — 220 min (Plus $199/500, Elite $349/1,000)

$0.48/min, falling to $0.35/min

Per-minute bundles

7-day free trial

Published

**Avoca†**

Third-party estimates put typical spend at ~$1,000–$3,500/mo and warn of implementation fees and 12-month minimums. Estimates only — Avoca publishes no pricing.

Not published — demo required (pricing page returns a 404)

Not published

Not published

Per-minute (per third-party reporting)

None

Not published — demo-gated

**Sameday AI**

From $449/mo — 500 min

From $789/mo — 1,000 min

Not published (their blog says “no surprise overage fees”; no rate given)

Flat “from” pricing + minute bundles

Not verified on their site

Published as “from” prices

**Rosie (heyrosie.com)**

$49/mo — 250 min

$149/mo — 1,000 min (Growth: $299/2,000)

Not published

Per-minute bundles

7-day free trial

Published

**Smith.ai AI Receptionist**

$0/mo — first 25 calls free, then $3.00/call

Pro $150/mo at $2.00/call (Enterprise $500/mo at $1.67/call)

Per-call rates; overages can be toggled off

Per-call

Free tier serves as the trial

Published

**Abby Connect AI Receptionist**

Same company as the human service above — their own price sheet puts AI at roughly half the human rate per included minute.

$99/mo — 50 min

$165/mo — 100 min ($299/200, $690/500)

Not published

Per-minute bundles

14-day free trial

Published (fetched Aug 1, 2026)

**Slang.ai**

Core from $399/mo per location

Premium from $599/mo per location

Not published; plan inclusions not published

Flat per-location

Not stated

Partially published (restaurant-focused)

**Numa**

Not published — quote only

Not published

Not published

Quote-only, per-dealership (auto-dealer-focused)

Not published

Quote-only

† Third-party estimates (Avoca: serviceagent.ai, June 2026), not provider-published prices. Verify directly.

## Methodology

Each first-party figure is read directly from the provider's public pricing page and dated; where a provider gates pricing behind a sales form, the index says "Not published — quote required" and, where a reputable third party has published an estimate, shows that estimate with attribution instead of presenting it as fact. No figure is ever invented, no estimate is laundered into a published price, and rows are re-verified on a quarterly rotation (next pass: October 2026). Prices verified July 2026 from each provider's own pricing page; third-party estimates are labeled as such. Verify current rates with each vendor before deciding.

First-party sources (fetched July 30, 2026): smith.ai/pricing · smith.ai/pricing/ai-receptionist · ruby.com/pricing · answerconnect.com/plans · answerforce.com/plans · patlive.com/pricing · mapcommunications.com/pricing · answerfirst.com/pricing · nexa.com/pricing · moneypenny.com/us/plans-pricing-people · abby.com/pricing (fetched Aug 1, 2026) · goodcall.com/pricing · dialzara.com/pricing · avoca.ai · gosameday.com/pricing · heyrosie.com/pricing · slang.ai/pricing · numa.com. Third-party sources: serviceagent.ai (June 2026) · dialzara.com/alternatives/answerforce (May 2026) · nextiva.com/blog/answering-service-cost (July 2026) · upfirst.ai (May 2026) · ambscallcenter.com (July 2025) · housecallpro.com (May 2026).

## Using this data

Cite freely with a link: _"CallsAround Answering Service Price Index, August 2026, callsaround.com/answering-service-price-index."_ If you spot a price that has changed, email [support@callsaround.com](mailto:support@callsaround.com) and we'll update the row with a changelog note. For the editorial version of this data — what the models mean, where the hidden fees live, and how to compare quotes — read [the full cost guide](/blog/answering-service-cost) or [the AI answering service roundup](/blog/best-ai-answering-service-for-small-business).

## Wondering how your own line stacks up?

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## Changelog

-   **Aug 8, 2026** — Index launched with the July 30, 2026 verification pass (19 providers).

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Compare

-   [Smith.ai alternative](/compare/smith-ai-alternative)
-   [Rosie alternative](/compare/rosie-alternative)
-   [Goodcall alternative](/compare/goodcall-alternative)
-   [Avoca AI alternative](/compare/avoca-alternative)
-   [Avoca vs Sameday](/compare/avoca-vs-sameday)
-   [AnswerForce alternative](/compare/answerforce-alternative)
-   [Dialzara alternative](/compare/dialzara-alternative)
-   [Aira alternative](/compare/aira-alternative)
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