The short answer
An AI receptionist costs $24.95 to $150 a month if you set it up yourself: that’s the cheapest paid plan at each of seven companies we checked. For a month of about 100 calls, five of them can be totalled from their list prices and come to $39 to $212.50. A service that sets it up and runs it for you, like ours, costs more. The bill depends mostly on what’s counted: minutes, calls, callers or a flat price.
The price on the box is rarely what you pay. One company counts minutes, another counts calls, a third counts callers, and the feature you need may sit two plans up. Here are eight companies’ published prices, the same month worked out wherever the prices allow, and what changes the bill. CoveDesk is in the month table too, and it isn’t the cheapest.
Updated November 12, 2026. CoveDesk is one of the services on this page; other companies’ prices and features are from their own websites, linked below. How we check our facts
These are each company’s cheapest paid plan, as its own pricing page lists it, billed monthly. Seven sell it on its own, and Jobber sells it as an add-on to its job software. Smith.ai also lists a free plan: 25 calls answered by software, self-serve, then $3.00 a call, from a prepaid balance.
| Company | Billed by | Cheapest paid plan | Extra use | Free trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upfirst | The call | $24.95/month: 30 calls | $1.50 a call | 14 days or 100 calls, whichever comes first, with full plan access and no card. |
| Dialzara | The minute | $29/month: 60 minutes, blind transfer, message taking, a prompt you can edit yourself | $0.48 a minute | 7 days on every voice plan. |
| Rosie | The minute | $49/month: 250 minutes, 2 message scenarios, scheduling links by text | No per-minute rate; you move up a plan | 7 days of all features on every plan. |
| RingReady | A flat monthly price | $39/month: unlimited calls and minutes, 1 mid-call text link, text and email summaries | None | 7 days, one per user, starting when your first number is assigned. |
| Goodcall | The caller, each number once a month | $79/month: 100 unique customers (about 150 calls by its count), 5 workers, 1 outside tool | 79 cents per extra unique customer | No timed trial. You can build and test a free demo agent, and payment starts when you connect a number. |
| My AI Front Desk | Minutes, then credits | $99/month: 200 voice minutes, 400 texts, 100 web chats, 1,000 credits for extra use | From credits: $0.25 a voice minute, $0.04 a text, $0.05 a chat | 7 days, with no card required per its pricing page. |
| Smith.ai | The call | $150/month: 75 calls answered by software, onboarding and an account manager | $2.50 a call | No timed trial stated. |
| Jobber | The conversation, on top of a Jobber plan | $29/month: Calls and texts answered by software. Jobber’s pages say both 30 and 100 conversations | $0.79 per extra conversation | 14 days of Jobber with no card, but add-ons can’t be bought during a trial. |
Each name links to that company’s page here, with all its plans, its terms and what to check before you sign.
The same month of calls can cost very different amounts depending on what the company counts. There are five models among these eight companies:
To see which model fits you, look at last month’s phone log: how many calls, how long they ran, and how many were the same people calling back.
Worked out from each company’s published list prices: the cheapest plan, or plan plus extras, that covers the month, lowest first at 250 minutes. For companies that bill by the call we count one call as 2.5 minutes, which is the ratio PATLive’s own pages use. These are our sums, not quotes, and they leave out tax, add-ons and one-time fees.
| Service | 100 minutes (about 40 calls) | 250 minutes (about 100 calls) | 500 minutes (about 200 calls) |
|---|---|---|---|
| RingReady | $39Professional, unlimited | $39Professional, unlimited | $39Professional, unlimited |
| Rosie | $49Professional | $49Professional | $149Scale |
| Upfirst | $39.95Starter + 10 extra calls at $1.50 | $69.95Premium + 10 extra calls at $1 | $159.95Pro |
| Dialzara | $48.20Business Lite + 40 extra minutes at $0.48 | $112.50Business Pro + 30 extra minutes at $0.45 | $199Business Plus |
| Smith.ai | $45Software receptionist, Free + 15 extra calls at $3 | $212.50Software receptionist, Pro + 25 extra calls at $2.50 | $385Software receptionist, Pro, 150 calls + 50 extra calls at $2.30 |
| CoveDesk (that’s us) | $149Front Desk Starter | $249Front Desk | $319Front Desk 500 |
Try your own numbers in the cost calculator
Three of the eight are left out because a month can’t be totalled from minutes or calls: Goodcall counts callers, My AI Front Desk draws extra use from a pool of credits shared with texts and chats, and Jobber’s add-on needs a Jobber plan under it. Smith.ai’s row uses its software plans; its live receptionists cost more. Rosie’s terms round each call up to the next minute, so 250 minutes of talk time can bill as more than 250 and move you to its next plan: treat its 250-minute figure as a floor.
Most low prices are for software you set up yourself, and some companies help you get started at no charge: Upfirst offers a free 30-minute onboarding call, and RingReady’s pricing page offers a 10-minute setup call with a teammate. Having the company’s own team build it for you is on these plans:
| Company | Plan | Price | What its page lists |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smith.ai | Software receptionist, Enterprise | $500/month | 300 calls answered by software, full-service setup and ongoing optimization by its team, a dedicated success manager |
| Upfirst | Scale | $299/month | 600 calls, white-glove onboarding, integration setup done for you |
| Rosie | Growth | $299/month | 2,000 minutes, unlimited message scenarios, waterfall transfers, training from your documents, white-glove onboarding |
| Dialzara | Business Elite | $349/month | 1,000 minutes, initial prompt setup, priority support and SLA, API access |
| Dialzara | Done for You | From $1,500+ a month (quote only) | Ongoing prompt work, custom integrations, blind and warm transfer |
| My AI Front Desk | Partner / Enterprise | Custom | Volume pricing with voice from $0.07 a minute, API access, custom integrations, white-glove onboarding |
Smith.ai’s $150/month Pro plan includes onboarding and an account manager, though its page describes Pro as set up yourself with dedicated support. Goodcall lists onboarding on its Enterprise plan, which is by quote.
With CoveDesk, setup isn’t a bigger plan: on every front desk plan our team writes how your calls are answered with you, sets it up, tests it with you and changes it when you ask. That’s the main reason our plans cost more than a self-setup app at the same number of minutes.
For owners who answer most calls themselves and want the missed ones covered.
$99 a month
Or $990 for the year: 2 months free
What you get:
Recommended
For owners who are busy with customers all day and lose business to voicemail.
$249 a month
Or $2,490 for the year: 2 months free
Everything in Text-Back, plus:
For owners who want the phones and the online side handled together.
$449 a month
Everything in Front Desk, plus:
Paying for the year? Tell us within 30 days of paying and you get the whole year back. After that, the plan runs to the end of the year with no refund for the months left, then moves to month-to-month.
Free 7-day pilot on phone plans, so you can see the calls it catches before you pay. What CoveDesk doesn’t do yet. No calendar booking yet. Job software integrations: none yet. Nobody else is tried if the person on call misses an urgent call. Everything CoveDesk’s phone answering includes, with its limits.
Work out a monthly bill from your calls and call length, and compare it with a receptionist on payroll.
See what the calls you don’t answer may be worth in a month and a year, from your own numbers.
What this page says about other companies comes from their own websites, read on November 12, 2026:
Prices and terms change, so check each company’s website before you buy. Company names are the trademarks of their owners and are used only to identify their services; none of them is affiliated with or endorses CoveDesk. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we’ll fix it.
What it is, what published plans cost, when callers accept one, and the options side by side.
How answering services bill, published prices, and the extra fees to ask about.
Picks by need with prices, contracts, trials and languages, and who each service suits.
Tell us how your calls come in today and we’ll suggest the simplest setup, even if it isn’t CoveDesk.
