AI Receptionist True-Cost Calculator: What You'll Actually Pay (2026)

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

Every AI receptionist advertises a headline price. Almost none of them will bill you that price. Some charge by the minute, some by the caller, some by the call — and the cheapest headline is rarely the cheapest invoice. This calculator runs your call volume through each tool’s real billing model and shows what you’d actually pay. No signup, no email, your numbers never leave this page.

Not pricing a fix yet? First find the leak: the free Shop Leak Test adds up what missed calls, unfollowed estimates and stuck invoices cost you each month — in about 60 seconds.

Start from a typical shop: Typical starting points — slide to match your shop.

Calls answered per month 150

Average call length (minutes) 6

Repeat callers (%) 35%

Same number calling twice in a month counts once for Goodcall’s caller-based billing.

The receptionist must book jobs, not just take messages

Untick this if message-taking is enough — it changes Rosie and Dialzara completely.

How the maths works (so you can argue with it)

• Rosie bills by minutes: $49 for 250, $149 for 1,000, $299 for 2,000. It publishes no per-minute overage rate — its terms move you up a plan — so we pick the cheapest plan that covers your minutes. Booking starts at the $149 Scale plan.
• Goodcall bills by unique callers with unlimited minutes: $79 for 100 (79¢ per extra caller), $129 for 500 (26¢ per extra), $299 for 2,000 (15¢ per extra). We pick the cheapest plan-plus-overage combo. One agent assumed.
• Dialzara bills by minutes: $29 for 60 ($0.48/min over), $99 for 220 ($0.45/min over), $199 for 500 ($0.40/min over), $349 for 1,000 ($0.35/min over). Job booking only starts on the $99 plan.
• Smith.ai (AI Receptionist) bills by call: free for 25 ($3/call over), then per-call steps — $150 for 75 ($2.50/call over), $270 for 150 ($2.30/call over), $500 for 300 ($2.17/call over), $800 for 500 ($2.10/call over). We pick the cheapest plan-plus-overage combo.
• Jobber AI Receptionist: $29/month add-on covering 30 conversations, then $0.79 per extra conversation. It needs a Jobber subscription (Core from about $29/month after the intro price) — that’s not included above.

Month-to-month rates. Vendors move pricing around — confirm on the vendor’s own page before you buy. If a price here has changed, tell us and we’ll fix it; accuracy is the whole point of this site.

Affiliate links coming soon — when we add them, they’ll be clearly labeled, and our numbers won’t change because of them.