PATLive alternatives and pricing
The short answer
PATLive’s live receptionist plans start at $49 a month plus $2.99 a minute, then $99 for 50 minutes, $189 for 100 and $349 for 200. Its terms bill in six-second steps with a one-minute minimum, and the 14-day trial needs a card. MAP Communications and Posh also sell live answering, Smith.ai bills per call, Rosie answers with software, and CoveDesk is a voice assistant our team runs.
PATLive charges for the time a receptionist is live on your call, and it says people, not a software voice agent, answer its calls. Here are its actual plans with the per-minute math, what its terms add to its pricing page, how it lines up against CoveDesk, and what else to look at if it isn’t the right fit.
Updated November 3, 2026. CoveDesk is one of the services on this page; other companies’ prices and features are from their own websites, linked below.
PATLive alternatives, by what you need
- Smith.ai: Bills per call rather than per minute, so a long call costs the same as a short one. You can pick live agents, software or both. From $0/month: 25 calls answered by software, as published.
- Ruby: Also people, month to month, with billing rules spelled out and a 21-day refund for first-time users. It costs more per minute. From $250/month: 50 receptionist minutes, as published.
- CoveDesk (that’s us): if you want calls picked up, missed callers texted, and your Google profile and website looked after, all set up and run for you. Not live receptionists. Front Desk is $249/mo with 250 minutes. Free 14-day pilot.
- AnswerConnect: Costs less than PATLive at 300 and 400 minutes and about the same at 500, and the first 30 short interactions each billing cycle are free. No plan under 200 minutes. From $350/month: 200 minutes, as published.
- MAP Communications: Lower extra-minute rates than any PATLive plan, English and Spanish listed on every plan, and a 7-day trial. It does bill post-call work, which PATLive doesn’t. From $49/month: no minutes included, as published.
- Posh: Live receptionists plus separately priced software plans that can pass a call to a person, if you want both from one company. From $65.00/month: no minutes included, as published.
- Rosie: Software with English and Spanish on every call, for owners happy to set it up themselves and do without a person. From $49/month: 250 minutes, as published.
PATLive pricing
| Plan | Price | Includes | Extra use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pay as you go | $49/month | no minutes included, all features | $2.99 per minute |
| 50 minutes | $99/month | 50 minutes, about 20 calls | $2.29 per extra minute |
| 100 minutes | $189/month | 100 minutes, about 40 calls | $2.09 per extra minute |
| 200 minutes | $349/month | 200 minutes, about 80 calls | $1.99 per extra minute |
| 500 minutes | $759/month | 500 minutes | $1.79 per extra minute |
Bundles work out to $1.98 a minute at 50, $1.89 at 100, about $1.75 at 200 and about $1.52 at 500. It also lists 300 minutes at $479, 1,000 at $1,499, and larger plans up to 5,000 at $6,899. Taxes and government fees are extra. Its pricing page says “No PATLive fees,” but its terms allow a cost recovery fee on voice invoices, which they say isn’t a government charge, with no amount given. Business texting costs $50 once and includes 100 texts a month, then 2 cents a text. Extra phone numbers are $5 a month each. Minutes on calls with no receptionist are 2 cents each beyond 1,000 a month. Live chat and outbound calling are separate products.
PATLive vs CoveDesk
| What to compare | PATLive | CoveDesk |
|---|---|---|
| Who answers | People, 24/7 including holidays, with no night or weekend surcharge. It says it doesn’t use a software voice agent to answer calls. Source: PATLive, who answers (opens in a new tab) | A trained voice assistant, set up and run by our team, in your business’s name, day or night. Not live receptionists. Callers hear a short notice at the start of the call. |
| Published price | $49 a month plus $2.99 a minute, or bundles from $99 for 50 minutes up to $6,899 for 5,000. Source: PATLive, published price (opens in a new tab) | Front Desk: $249/mo with 250 minutes. Text-Back alone: $99/mo. |
| How use is counted | Six-second steps with a one-minute minimum, from when the receptionist answers. Hold time and transfer attempts count. Time waiting in the queue doesn’t, and its pricing page says after-call notes don’t. Source: PATLive, how use is counted (opens in a new tab) | By the minute. Seconds are added up over the month and rounded once, not per call. Extra minutes $0.35 each. Alerts at 80% and 100% of your minutes. |
| Setup fee | None listed. Business texting has a one-time $50 activation. Source: PATLive, setup fee (opens in a new tab) | None. |
| Contract | No contracts. Upgrade, downgrade or cancel by phone or online, with no change fees or penalties. Source: PATLive, contract (opens in a new tab) | Front Desk is month to month. See pricing for other plans. |
| Free trial | Up to 14 days on any plan. Its terms require a credit card, and the account converts to paid at the end unless you cancel. Source: PATLive, free trial (opens in a new tab) | Free 14-day pilot. We set it up, it’s live within 48 hours, and you can start with just your after-hours calls. |
| Money-back guarantee | Not stated on the pages we read. Source: PATLive, money-back guarantee (opens in a new tab) | 30-day money-back guarantee. If it isn’t working for you, tell us within 30 days of your first plan payment and we’ll end the plan and refund your first month’s plan fee. |
| Who sets it up | You can configure it online, or an onboarding specialist builds a custom call flow with you. Source: PATLive, who sets it up (opens in a new tab) | Our team sets it up, writes your script and runs it. |
| Urgent calls | Screens and transfers calls by your rules and each team member’s status in its apps. Urgent details get passed to your team, and it can help dispatch a technician. Source: PATLive, urgent calls (opens in a new tab) | Urgent calls are put straight through to you. No on-call rotation yet. |
| Booking | Receptionists book, move and cancel appointments in your calendar or scheduling software. Scheduling is in every plan. Source: PATLive, booking (opens in a new tab) | Takes the details and sends them to you to call back. No calendar booking yet. |
| Job software and CRMs | Its trade page names Jobber, ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, Service Fusion, FieldEdge, Calendly, Google Calendar and Zapier, among others. Its integrations hub shows a different, partial list. Source: PATLive, job software and crms (opens in a new tab) | None yet. Details arrive by text and in your CoveDesk account. |
| Spanish | No extra cost. Its trade and HVAC pages give bilingual receptionist hours as 8am to 10pm Eastern, not 24/7. Source: PATLive, spanish (opens in a new tab) | Not yet. |
| Text back after a missed call | Not mentioned on the pages we read. Source: PATLive, text back after a missed call (opens in a new tab) | Yes, included in Front Desk or on its own with Text-Back. |
| Review requests | Not mentioned on the pages we read. Source: PATLive, review requests (opens in a new tab) | Done for you with Google Business Profile Management, $149/mo. |
| Google profile care | Not mentioned on the pages we read. Source: PATLive, google profile care (opens in a new tab) | Done for you, $149/mo, or included in Front Office. |
| Website | No website building listed. Sells staffed live chat for your own site. Source: PATLive, website (opens in a new tab) | Built and looked after for you, or included in Front Office. See pricing. |
Stay with PATLive if
- You want to test real people on real calls first. Its 14-day trial covers any plan. CoveDesk’s free 14-day pilot starts with a talk with our team, since we set it up for you.
- Your business runs on job software. Its trade page names native connections to Jobber, ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, FieldEdge and others. CoveDesk has no job software connection yet.
- Appointments should land on the calendar during the call. Scheduling is in every plan, and receptionists can move or cancel bookings too. CoveDesk takes the details for a callback.
- Calls should find whoever’s free. Transfers follow each team member’s status in its apps. With CoveDesk, urgent calls come to you, the owner.
- Your calls take a lot of note-writing. After-call notes and wrap-up aren’t billed here, where Ruby, Posh and MAP Communications all bill that time. CoveDesk doesn’t have receptionists to write them.
What does a short call cost at PATLive?
Its terms bill the first minute in full, then six-second steps. On the $99 plan, where included minutes come to $1.98 each, that works out like this:
- A 10-second wrong number. One minute: $1.98.
- A 70-second question. 72 seconds, or 1.2 minutes: about $2.38. Ruby’s 60-second blocks would count that call as two minutes.
- A 3-minute call with 30 seconds on hold. 3.5 minutes: about $6.93, since hold time counts.
Time in the queue and after-call notes aren’t billed.
What the same month costs
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 and one-time fees.
| Service | 100 minutes (about 40 calls) | 250 minutes (about 100 calls) | 500 minutes (about 200 calls) |
|---|---|---|---|
| CoveDesk | $249Front Desk | $249Front Desk | $336.50Front Desk + 250 extra minutes at $0.35 |
| MAP Communications | $179Business | $339Enterprise | $649Premium |
| AnswerConnect | $350Entry | $395Growth | $760Standard + 100 extra minutes at $1.85 |
| PATLive | $189100 minutes | $448.50200 minutes + 50 extra minutes at $1.99 | $759500 minutes |
| Posh | $215Elegant | $525Luxurious + 50 extra minutes at $2.10 | $975Lavish |
| Ruby | $395100 minutesOr $250: 50 minutes + 50 extra minutes at a rate it doesn’t list | $1,725500 minutesOr $720: 200 minutes + 50 extra minutes at a rate it doesn’t list | $1,725500 minutesOr $720: 200 minutes + 300 extra minutes at a rate it doesn’t list |
Why owners look past PATLive
- Pay as you go stops making sense quickly. The $49 plan charges $2.99 for every minute. Past about 17 minutes a month, the $99 plan with 50 minutes is the cheaper one.
- Going over costs more than staying in. On the 200-minute plan, included minutes come to about $1.75 and extras are $1.99. On the 50-minute plan it’s $1.98 against $2.29. A busy month is worth planning for.
- Every call bills at least a minute. Its terms set a one-minute minimum, then six-second steps, and hold time and transfer attempts count. A 10-second wrong number uses a full minute.
- “No PATLive fees” has a footnote in the terms. The terms allow a cost recovery fee on voice invoices and say it isn’t a government charge, with no amount given. Ask what yours would be.
- Spanish keeps shorter hours. It costs nothing extra, but its trade and HVAC pages put bilingual receptionists at 8am to 10pm Eastern while English runs 24/7.
Where CoveDesk is different
- Our team does the setup. CoveDesk is set up and run for you, in your business’s name, with no setup fee.
- Short calls stay short. Seconds add up across the month and get rounded one time. PATLive’s terms bill at least a full minute per call.
- Your missed callers get a text. That’s included in Front Desk, and we can take on your Google profile and website for extra or in the Front Office plan. PATLive’s site mentions neither missed-call texts nor Google profiles.
- What you give up. A human voice, which is what PATLive sells. Callers reach a trained voice assistant and hear a short notice at the start. There’s no booking or Spanish yet either.
Switching from PATLive
- Port your number first. You have to finish moving a number out before the account closes. Any number left on it becomes PATLive’s. Source: PATLive’s terms (opens in a new tab)
- Cancelling. Service renews monthly until you cancel, which its terms say you can do at any time by phone or online. No notice period or cancellation fee is described. Source: PATLive’s terms (opens in a new tab)
- Final bill. Any balance goes on the card on file. Leftover plan allowance isn’t paid back in cash, though its terms say negative balances go back to your card after an account closes. Source: PATLive’s terms (opens in a new tab)
- Coming back. It may charge a reactivation fee to restart service after it ends. Source: PATLive’s terms (opens in a new tab)
Before you cancel anything, forward your calls to the new service and make three test calls of your own: a new customer, an urgent problem and a wrong number.
How we checked this
We make CoveDesk, so we’re not neutral, and this page isn’t a review. Everything about PATLive comes from its own website, read on November 3, 2026, with the pages linked below. We haven’t bought its service, and we don’t quote ratings or anyone’s opinion as fact. Where we couldn’t find a fact, we say so instead of guessing, and “not mentioned” means not on the pages we read, which isn’t a search of its whole site.
Common questions
How much is Patlive?
How much does PATLive cost per minute?
Does PATLive have a free trial?
Does PATLive charge a setup fee?
Can I keep my number if I leave PATLive?
How do I cancel PATLive?
Is CoveDesk a live receptionist service?
Sources
What this page says about PATLive comes from these pages of its website, read on November 3, 2026:
- https://www.patlive.com/pricing/ (opens in a new tab) (plans and prices, who answers, setup fee, contract, money-back guarantee, text back after a missed call, website)
- https://www.patlive.com/terms-of-use/ (opens in a new tab) (how use is counted, free trial, switching)
- https://www.patlive.com/how-it-works/ (opens in a new tab) (who sets it up)
- https://www.patlive.com/industries/hvac/ (opens in a new tab) (urgent calls)
- https://www.patlive.com/industries/home-services-trades/ (opens in a new tab) (booking, job software and crms, spanish, review requests, google profile care)
- CoveDesk: our pricing page
Prices and features change; check PATLive’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.
Related comparisons
Answering service pricing
How answering services bill, published prices, and the extra fees to ask about.
Is an answering service worth it?
When it pays for itself, when it doesn’t, and the math to check.
Best answering service for small business
Ten services side by side: who answers, what they charge and who each 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.