# AI receptionist cost in 2026: published prices, and what a month really costs 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](https://getcovedesk.com/about#how) ## AI receptionist pricing at a glance 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. **AI receptionist pricing: the cheapest paid plan at eight companies, as published on November 12, 2026** | Company | Billed by | Cheapest paid plan | Extra use | Free trial | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Upfirst](https://getcovedesk.com/compare/upfirst-alternatives) | 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](https://getcovedesk.com/compare/dialzara-alternatives) | 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](https://getcovedesk.com/compare/rosie-alternatives) | 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](https://getcovedesk.com/compare/ringready-alternatives) | 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](https://getcovedesk.com/compare/goodcall-alternatives) | 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](https://getcovedesk.com/compare/frontdesk-alternatives) | 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](https://getcovedesk.com/compare/smithai-alternatives) | The call | $150/month: 75 calls answered by software, onboarding and an account manager | $2.50 a call | No timed trial stated. | | [Jobber](https://getcovedesk.com/compare/jobber-receptionist-alternatives) | 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. ## Cost by pricing model The same month of calls can cost very different amounts depending on what the company counts. There are five models among these eight companies: - **By the minute** (Dialzara, Rosie, My AI Front Desk). Cheapest when your calls are short. Ask how a minute is counted: Dialzara says it tracks talk time to the second, and Rosie’s terms round each call up to the next minute. - **By the call** (Upfirst, Smith.ai). A ten-minute call costs the same as a one-minute call, which suits long calls. Ask which calls count: Upfirst says it doesn’t bill spam, calls under 15 seconds, or calls where the caller never speaks. - **By the caller** (Goodcall). Each phone number counts once a month however often it calls, which suits a business with repeat callers. - **A flat price** (RingReady). $39/month whatever the number of calls, with no charge for going over, so your cost per call falls as you get busier. Its terms add a fair-use policy. - **An add-on to software you already pay for** (Jobber). The Receptionist add-on is $29/month on top of a Jobber plan, which starts at $49/month. It only makes sense if you run your jobs in Jobber. 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. ## What the same month costs at 100, 250 and 500 minutes 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. **Monthly cost at three call volumes, from prices published on November 12, 2026** | Service | 100 minutes (about 40 calls) | 250 minutes (about 100 calls) | 500 minutes (about 200 calls) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [RingReady](https://getcovedesk.com/compare/ringready-alternatives) | **$39**Professional, unlimited | **$39**Professional, unlimited | **$39**Professional, unlimited | | [Rosie](https://getcovedesk.com/compare/rosie-alternatives) | **$49**Professional | **$49**Professional | **$149**Scale | | [Upfirst](https://getcovedesk.com/compare/upfirst-alternatives) | **$39.95**Starter + 10 extra calls at $1.50 | **$69.95**Premium + 10 extra calls at $1 | **$159.95**Pro | | [Dialzara](https://getcovedesk.com/compare/dialzara-alternatives) | **$48.20**Business Lite + 40 extra minutes at $0.48 | **$112.50**Business Pro + 30 extra minutes at $0.45 | **$199**Business Plus | | [Smith.ai](https://getcovedesk.com/compare/smithai-alternatives) | **$45**Software receptionist, Free + 15 extra calls at $3 | **$212.50**Software receptionist, Pro + 25 extra calls at $2.50 | **$385**Software receptionist, Pro, 150 calls + 50 extra calls at $2.30 | | CoveDesk (that’s us) | **$149**Front Desk Starter | **$249**Front Desk | **$319**Front Desk 500 | [Try your own numbers in the cost calculator](https://getcovedesk.com/tools/answering-service-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. ## What drives the real cost - **The feature you need may be on a bigger plan.** Putting a caller through to you is the common one. Upfirst lists warm transfer on every plan. Dialzara lists it from its $99/month plan, and Rosie lists transfers on its $149/month plan. - **What happens when you go over.** Upfirst charges a listed rate for each extra call. Dialzara lists a rate for each extra minute, but its pricing FAQ says you have to turn on auto-recharge or buy minutes, and callers go to voicemail if they run out. Rosie has no extra-minute rate: its pricing FAQ says you’re moved up to the next plan at that plan’s price. - **What counts as a call or a minute.** Spam, wrong numbers and hang-ups can be a real share of a small business’s calls. Ask whether they count, and whether calls are rounded up. - **Paying for a year.** Several of these companies list lower prices billed yearly. Upfirst’s help pages say annual prepayments aren’t refundable if you cancel, so try a month first. - **Add-ons.** Texting, a second phone number, website chat and extra team logins are often priced separately. Each company’s page here lists the ones it publishes. - **Your own time.** With a plan you set up yourself, you write what it says, test it, and fix it when callers get stuck. That’s unpaid work the price doesn’t show. ## What it costs to have it set up for you 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: **Plans that list setup by the company’s own team, as published on November 12, 2026** | Company | Plan | Price | What its page lists | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Smith.ai](https://getcovedesk.com/compare/smithai-alternatives) | Software receptionist, Enterprise | $500/month | 300 calls answered by software, full-service setup and ongoing optimization by its team, a dedicated success manager | | [Upfirst](https://getcovedesk.com/compare/upfirst-alternatives) | Scale | $299/month | 600 calls, white-glove onboarding, integration setup done for you | | [Rosie](https://getcovedesk.com/compare/rosie-alternatives) | Growth | $299/month | 2,000 minutes, unlimited message scenarios, waterfall transfers, training from your documents, white-glove onboarding | | [Dialzara](https://getcovedesk.com/compare/dialzara-alternatives) | Business Elite | $349/month | 1,000 minutes, initial prompt setup, priority support and SLA, API access | | [Dialzara](https://getcovedesk.com/compare/dialzara-alternatives) | Done for You | From $1,500+ a month (quote only) | Ongoing prompt work, custom integrations, blind and warm transfer | | [My AI Front Desk](https://getcovedesk.com/compare/frontdesk-alternatives) | 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. ## What CoveDesk costs ### Text-Back For owners who answer most calls themselves and want the missed ones covered. $99 a month Or $990 for the year: 2 months free - No setup fee - Month-to-month, cancel any time - 30-day money-back guarantee What you get: - Missed callers get a text from your business right away - Emergency words in a reply ring your phone - A weekly summary of what we caught - Review requests to customers after the work is done [Talk to us about Text-Back](https://getcovedesk.com/contact?interest=front_desk) Recommended ### Front Desk 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 - 250 front desk minutes a month included, then $0.35 a minute - No setup fee - Month-to-month, cancel any time - 30-day money-back guarantee Everything in Text-Back, plus: - Every call answered, day or night, by a trained voice assistant, set up and run by our team - Answers in English and Spanish, at no extra cost - Urgent calls put straight through to you - Call details texted to you, with transcripts and recordings [Talk to us about Front Desk](https://getcovedesk.com/contact?interest=front_desk) ### Front Office For owners who want the phones and the online side handled together. $449 a month - 250 front desk minutes a month included, then $0.35 a minute - No setup fee - 12-month term - 30-day money-back guarantee Everything in Front Desk, plus: - Google Business Profile cleanup - Monthly Google Business Profile care - A website with hosting and 30 minutes of edits a month - A “Text us” button on your website (coming soon) [Talk to us about Front Office](https://getcovedesk.com/contact?interest=both) 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. [See every plan and add-on](https://getcovedesk.com/pricing) 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](https://getcovedesk.com/services/answering-service), with its limits. - ### [Answering service cost calculator](https://getcovedesk.com/tools/answering-service-cost-calculator) Work out a monthly bill from your calls and call length, and compare it with a receptionist on payroll. - ### [Missed call calculator](https://getcovedesk.com/tools/missed-call-calculator) See what the calls you don’t answer may be worth in a month and a year, from your own numbers. ## Common questions **How much does an AI receptionist cost per month?** $24.95 to $150 a month if you set it up yourself: the cheapest paid plan at each of seven companies we checked on November 12, 2026. For a month of about 100 calls, the five that can be totalled from list prices come to $39 to $212.50. CoveDesk, which is set up and run for you, costs more than those five. Its row is in the month table, and its prices are on [the pricing page](https://getcovedesk.com/pricing). **How much should an AI receptionist cost?** Less than the calls it catches are worth. Count the calls you missed last month, estimate how many would have become jobs, and multiply by what a job brings in. If the plan costs less than that, it pays for itself. The [missed call calculator](https://getcovedesk.com/tools/missed-call-calculator) does the sum. **What is the cheapest AI receptionist?** Of the eight companies here, Upfirst has the lowest paid monthly price: $24.95/month for 30 calls, then $1.50 a call. The lowest price isn’t always the cheapest month. At 250 minutes, about 100 calls, RingReady comes to $39, Rosie to $49 and Upfirst to $69.95, by our sums from their list prices. **Is there a free AI receptionist?** One of the eight lists a free plan: Smith.ai, with 25 calls answered by software, self-serve, then $3.00 a call, from a prepaid balance. Goodcall has no timed trial, but you can build and test a demo agent free and pay when you connect a number. The other six have free trials of 7 or 14 days, listed in the table above. CoveDesk’s is a free 7-day pilot that our team sets up for you. **Is an AI receptionist cheaper than a live answering service?** Usually, per minute. Among live services, [PATLive](https://getcovedesk.com/compare/patlive-alternatives) lists $99 a month for 50 minutes, then $2.29 a minute. Among software plans, Rosie lists $49 a month for 250 minutes. A live service puts a person on every call, which is what you’re paying for. The [answering service price guide](https://getcovedesk.com/compare/answering-service-pricing) compares the live ones. **Is CoveDesk an AI receptionist?** Yes, that’s the common name for it. We usually call ours a front desk: a trained voice assistant that our team sets up, writes the script for and runs. Our prices are on [the pricing page](https://getcovedesk.com/pricing), which also lists the smaller and larger front desk plans used in the month table above. **Are these prices current?** Each one was read on the company’s own pricing page, terms or help pages on November 12, 2026, and the links are under Sources. They’re the monthly-billed list prices, before tax. Check the company’s site before you buy, because prices change. ## Sources What this page says about other companies comes from their own websites, read on November 12, 2026: - Upfirst: - Dialzara: - Rosie: - RingReady: - Goodcall: - My AI Front Desk: - Smith.ai: - Jobber: - Upfirst: - Dialzara: - Rosie: - RingReady: - Goodcall: - Smith.ai: - Jobber: - PATLive: 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](https://getcovedesk.com/contact) and we’ll fix it. ## Related comparisons - ### [AI receptionists](https://getcovedesk.com/compare/ai-receptionist) What it is, what published plans cost, when callers accept one, and the options side by side. - ### [Answering service pricing](https://getcovedesk.com/compare/answering-service-pricing) How answering services bill, published prices, and the extra fees to ask about. - ### [Best answering service for small business](https://getcovedesk.com/compare/best-answering-service-for-small-business) Picks by need with prices, contracts, trials and languages, and who each service suits. ## Want every call answered? Tell us how your calls come in today and we’ll suggest the simplest setup, even if it isn’t CoveDesk. [How our phone answering service works](https://getcovedesk.com/services/answering-service) [Talk to us](https://getcovedesk.com/contact) [See pricing](https://getcovedesk.com/pricing) --- This is the plain-text copy of https://getcovedesk.com/compare/ai-receptionist-cost. Every page: https://getcovedesk.com/llms.txt