AI Receptionist Price Index (2026): Every Major Tool's Price, in One Table

By Dan Miller · Last updated November 4, 2026 · Prices checked November 4, 2026

Every AI receptionist looks cheap until you read how it bills. One charges by the minute, the next by the caller, the next by the call — and a $29 plan can cost you $349 while a $79 plan costs you $79. List prices do not compare. Billing models do.

So we stopped comparing list prices. This Index prices every major AI receptionist at one fixed shop: 150 calls a month, 6 minutes per call on average, 35% of callers calling more than once. Same volume, same math, every row. If a tool moves its price next month, this page moves with it — that is the whole point of an index.

The short version

• Cheapest at our standard volume: Goodcall, $79. Per-caller billing wins when a third of your callers repeat — you pay for 98 callers, not 150 calls.
• Cheapest flat-rate option: NextPhone, $199. One price, unlimited calls, no meter running — the right shape for a shop whose volume swings wildly month to month.
• Cheapest per-minute option: EchoWin, $190. No monthly fee at all — $10 for the number plus 900 minutes at $0.20. Per-minute only wins when your calls are short.
• The human-service contrast: a human service starts at $250 for 50 minutes — and costs $1,380 to $3,325 at our volume. AI is not competing with free.

Our pick, by reader type:

Solo operator with repeat customers → Goodcall. Growing crew that needs booking built in → Rosie (Scale). Wildly uneven months where you refuse to watch a meter → NextPhone's flat $199. If you take one thing from this page, take the billing model, not the headline price.

How to read this table

Standard volume, every row: 150 calls, 900 minutes, 98 unique callers, booking required. "True cost" is what that shop actually pays for the month under the tool's real billing model — plan price plus overage, on the cheapest plan that covers the volume (or the cheapest plan that includes booking, where booking is a gated feature). Where a tool's own page does not publish an overage rate, the table says "not published" instead of guessing one. Jobber's figure excludes the Jobber subscription itself, which the AI add-on requires — that subscription is a separate bill.

The Index: every tool at one volume

Tool	Billing model	Entry plan	Included allowance	Overage	True cost at standard volume	Booking?
Goodcall	Per unique caller, unlimited minutes	Starter $79	100 callers	79¢ per extra caller	$79 — 98 callers fit inside Starter	Yes
Upfirst	Per call	Premium $59.95	90 calls	$1.00 per extra call on Premium	$119.95 — $59.95 + 60 × $1.00	Yes, all plans
Jobber AI Receptionist	Per conversation (add-on)	$29 add-on	30 conversations (see Movers note)	$0.79 per extra conversation	$123.80 — $29 + 120 × $0.79 (subscription excluded)	Yes
Rosie	Per-minute bundles	Professional $49	250 min	Not published — terms move you up a plan	$149 — booking starts at Scale ($149/1,000 min), which covers 900 min	From Scale plan
XBert (Nextiva)	Per conversation	$99	100 conversations	$1.50 per extra conversation	$174 — $99 + 50 × $1.50	Yes
EchoWin	Pay-as-you-go	No monthly fee	None ($10 credits to start)	$0.20/min	$190 — $10 (one number) + 900 × $0.20	Yes
Phonely	Per-minute bundle	Starter $50	200 min on plan cards, 250 min on matrix — vendor page inconsistent	$0.25/min (monthly view) vs $0.35 (annual view)	$195–$225 range, unconfirmed — see Movers	Yes
NextPhone	Flat monthly	Pro $199	Unlimited inbound calls	None	$199 flat	Yes
Marlie	Per-minute bundle	Pro $199	1,000 min	$0.30/min on Pro	$199 — 900 min fits inside Pro; booking from Standard ($99)	From Standard plan
Smith.ai AI Receptionist	Per call	Pro 150-call step $270	150 calls	$2.50/$2.30/$2.17 per extra call by step	$270 — the 150-call step covers the volume exactly	Yes
My AI Front Desk	Per-minute bundle	$99 ($79 annual)	200 min	$0.25/min	$274 — $99 + 700 × $0.25 ($254 on annual billing)	Yes
Dialzara	Per-minute bundle	Elite $349	1,000 min	$0.35/min on Elite	$349 — Elite covers 900 min; booking from Pro ($99)	From Pro plan
RingCentral AI Receptionist	Per-minute bundle	Standalone $49	100 min	$0.50/min, billed in 30-second increments	$449 — $49 + 800 × $0.50	Yes
Human / hybrid contrast — not AI-only
Ruby (human)	Per minute	$250	50 min	Not published on pricing page	$3,325 at our volume (500-min plan + overage basis)	Yes
PATLive (human)	Per minute	$49 + $2.99/min pay-as-you-go	None on pay-as-you-go	$2.99/min pay-as-you-go	$1,475 at our volume (500-min plan basis)	Yes
Abby Connect (hybrid)	Per minute (AI minute = half an Abby Minute)	$164	50 Abby Minutes	At the plan's own per-minute rate	$1,380 at our volume for AI minutes	Yes

The pattern in that table is the story. Per-caller billing (Goodcall) rewards repeat customers. Per-minute billing punishes long calls — Dialzara's $29 headline becomes $349 at a realistic volume. Per-call billing (Upfirst, Smith.ai) ignores call length entirely, which is why both sit near the cheap end. Flat-rate billing costs more than the cheapest metered plan at a calm volume and less than all of them at a wild one. Pick the model that matches your phone, then the cheapest tool inside it — as our full plumber review shows.

What each price does NOT include

Goodcall counts unique callers, so a month of one-time callers costs more than a month of regulars. Jobber AI is an add-on, not a standalone product: no Jobber subscription, no AI receptionist, and that subscription is not in the $123.80. Rosie does not publish a per-minute overage rate, so a month over your bundle moves you up a tier. Smith.ai's 150-call step is the deal — the smaller 75-call step would cost $337.50 at our volume. Dialzara's $29 plan does not book; booking starts at $99. NextPhone's $199 tier is self-configured. RingCentral rounds every call up to 30 seconds. Marlie's $49 tier neither books nor transfers. XBert counts a call only after 30 seconds. EchoWin bundles can reach $0.14/min, but bundle prices are unpublished. If a missed call is what started this search, our missed-call cost walkthrough prices that leak first.

Which to pick

Tool	Booking	Repeat-caller friendly	Long-call friendly	Volume swings	Winner for
Goodcall	✓	✓	✓	◐	Repeat-customer shops
Upfirst	✓	◐	✓	◐	Call-count shops
Jobber AI	✓	◐	✓	◐	Existing Jobber users
Rosie	◐	◐	✗	◐	Booking-first crews
XBert	✓	◐	✓	◐	Voice + text + chat shops
EchoWin	✓	◐	✗	✓	No-monthly-fee shops
NextPhone	✓	✓	✓	✓	Wild-swing months
Marlie	◐	◐	✗	◐	Trade-tuned crews
Smith.ai AI	✓	✗	✓	✗	Long-call shops
My AI Front Desk	✓	◐	✗	✗	Chat + SMS shops
Dialzara	◐	◐	✗	✗	Short-call, low-volume shops
RingCentral AI	✓	◐	✗	✗	Existing RingCentral users

Goodcall — pros: cheapest at our volume; unlimited minutes removes meter anxiety. Cons: one-time-caller months cost more; the model only wins if callers repeat. NextPhone — pros: the bill never moves. Cons: the highest entry price in the Index; you pay $199 in a quiet month too. Rosie — pros: booking built in from Scale; bundle pricing is predictable. Cons: no published overage rate; the cheap Professional tier does not book. Jobber AI — pros: lives inside the Jobber system many shops already run. Cons: add-on only, subscription excluded. EchoWin — pros: no monthly fee; the cheapest per-minute seat. Cons: every minute is metered, so a storm month has no ceiling.

Answer 3 questions → your pick

1. Do you need the tool to book jobs into your calendar? Yes → drop every plan that gates booking and compare only the booking tiers. No → the cheapest metered plan is back on the table.
2. Do the same customers call you again and again? Yes → per-caller billing (Goodcall) is built for you. No → per-caller loses its edge; compare per-minute and flat-rate instead.
3. Are your calls long? Yes → avoid per-minute plans; per-call or flat-rate wins. No → per-minute plans stop punishing you and can be the cheapest seat in the house.

Movers this month

This is the first edition of the Index, so there is no previous edition to move against. Four things we resolved — or refused to smooth over — while building it. Goodcall changed its plans since our earlier article: Growth is now 500 customers (not 250) and overage is 79¢/26¢/15¢ (not a flat $0.50); the $79 headline is unaffected, but our earlier article's Growth and Scale figures are now stale and are logged for refresh. Jobber's own help pages disagree: the Receptionist article says 30 included conversations, the add-ons article says 100 — we costed the 30 figure ($123.80); if 100 applies, the true cost is $68.50. Phonely is unconfirmed: its own page disagrees with itself on minutes (200 vs 250) and overage ($0.25 vs $0.35), and its price cards did not render for a direct read — so its row is a range, not a quote. Synthflow is out: its old $29 plan is retired and it now sells developer pricing plus enterprise contracts from $30,000 a year, so it cannot be ranked like a receptionist. Ruby's overage is unpublished on its pricing page; PATLive's 200-minute tier price conflicts across sources.

FAQs

Why do two sources quote different prices for the same tool?

Because most roundups copy each other instead of the vendor's pricing page, and vendors move prices without announcing it. This Index quotes the vendor's own page, dated, and re-checks it monthly — if a figure here disagrees with a roundup, the roundup is usually the stale one.

Which tool is cheapest for a solo operator vs. a 5-person crew?

At our standard volume the solo operator and the crew face the same math — the Index prices calls, not headcount. What changes with crew size is booking load and after-hours volume, which is why the decision flow asks about booking first. A solo operator who answers half his own calls needs a smaller allowance; run your own numbers through our True-Cost Calculator.

How often is the Index updated?

Monthly. Every edition re-verifies each row against the vendor's pricing page and notes what moved. If you spot a price change before we do, tell us through the contact page and we will check it.

Want your own numbers instead of our standard volume? Calculate my true cost →

Prices checked November 4, 2026 against each vendor's own pricing page, at the standard volume stated above. Prices change; verify before buying.

Disclosure: TradeAI Tools may earn a commission if you buy through links on this page, at no extra cost to you. We quote vendor prices whether or not a commission exists.