How much does an AI receptionist cost?
An AI receptionist costs about $25 to $350 a month on self-serve plans, each capped at a set number of calls or minutes. Developer platforms charge roughly $0.05 to $0.31 per minute before you build anything. Done-for-you builds typically run $1,500 to $5,000 to set up plus $300 to $2,000 a month. A full-time human receptionist costs about $55,000 a year with benefits.
We checked every price below on the vendor's own pricing page in October 2026, and the sources are linked under each table. Vendors bill in different units (minutes, calls, unique customers), so read the limits, not just the headline price.
Updated · Ventix AI Team
Self-serve AI receptionist pricing
Self-serve apps are the cheapest way in. You sign up, describe your business in a dashboard and forward your number. The trade-off is that the setup, testing and integrations are on you, and every plan has a usage cap with overage fees.
| Vendor | Price per month | What's included | Overage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upfirst | $24.95 to $299 | 30 to 600 calls | $0.70 to $1.50 per call |
| Dialzara | $29 to $349 | 60 to 1,000 minutes | $0.35 to $0.48 per minute |
| Rosie | $49 to $299 | 250 to 2,000 minutes | Not published |
| Goodcall | $79 to $299 | 100 to 2,000 unique customers | $0.15 to $0.79 per extra customer |
| My AI Front Desk | $99 ($79 billed yearly) | 200 voice minutes | $0.25 per minute |
| Smith.ai AI Receptionist | $0 to $500+ | 25 calls free, 75 to 300 calls on Pro | $2.17 to $3.00 per call |
| Quo (Sona AI) | $19 to $47 per user, plus $25 to $199 call packs | 10 AI calls included, packs of 40 to 600 calls | $0.45 to $1.00 per call |
Sources: Upfirst; Dialzara; Rosie; Goodcall; My AI Front Desk; Smith.ai; Quo
Developer platform pricing (per minute)
Voice AI platforms sell the engine, not the receptionist. The per-minute rate covers speech recognition, the language model, the voice and telephony. Writing the conversation, connecting your calendar and CRM, testing and maintaining it is engineering work you pay for separately.
| Platform | Published rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Retell AI | $0.07 to $0.31 per minute | Varies by model and voice; 20 concurrent calls included |
| Vapi | $0.05 per minute hosting, plus model, voice and transcription at cost | Vapi's own example: about $82 to $129 for 1,000 minutes |
| Bland AI | $0.12 to $0.14 per minute | $0.12 rate requires a $299 monthly plan; telephony billed separately |
Human answering services and virtual receptionists
Live answering services charge per minute or per call, and they cost several times more than AI for the same volume. Ruby's 200-minute plan is $720 a month, more than seven times My AI Front Desk's 200-minute AI plan at $99. Most human services also take messages rather than finishing the task on the call.
| Service | Price per month | What's included | Overage |
|---|---|---|---|
| PATLive | $99 to $6,899 | 50 to 5,000 minutes (200 minutes is $349) | $1.49 to $2.29 per minute |
| Ruby | $250 to $1,725 | 50 to 500 minutes | Not published |
| Smith.ai receptionists | $300 to $2,100 | 30 to 300 calls | $8.50 to $11.50 per call |
What does an in-house receptionist cost?
The median US receptionist earns $38,010 a year ($18.27 an hour), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Benefits make up 31.3% of total compensation for office and administrative support workers, which puts the full cost at roughly $55,000 a year, or about $4,600 a month. That's before recruiting, training, a desk, and cover for sick days, vacation, lunch breaks and nights.
One person also answers one call at a time. When two calls arrive together, or the phone rings at 9 PM, the second caller still gets voicemail.
Sources: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: Receptionists (May 2025 data); BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, Table 4 (June 2026)
What does a done-for-you AI receptionist cost?
A done-for-you service builds the agent around your business, does the integrations and keeps improving it. Agencies that publish pricing guides put a single agent at roughly $1,500 to $5,000 to set up and $300 to $2,000 a month to run, rising for multi-agent or heavily integrated builds. Treat those as indicative: they come from agency pricing guides, not a market survey.
Ventix works the same way: a one-time setup fee for the build, then a monthly rate that covers calls, hosting, monitoring and tuning. We quote after a free 30-minute call because the price depends on your call volume, how many systems we connect, and how custom the call flows are.
Sources: Ciela.ai agency pricing guide; GrowwStacks pricing guide
What drives the price of an AI receptionist?
- Call volume and length: every plan meters minutes, calls or customers, and overage rates add up fast in busy months.
- Integrations: booking straight into ServiceTitan, Clio, Dentrix or a CRM takes real build work; built-in connectors cover only the common tools.
- Call complexity: emergency triage, qualification scoring and multi-step intake take more design and testing than taking a message.
- Outbound calling: speed-to-lead callbacks and reminders add usage and require consent and Do-Not-Call handling.
- Who does the work: a self-serve app is cheaper in cash and more expensive in your time; a done-for-you build is the reverse.
How to compare AI receptionist prices fairly
Convert every option to cost per handled call at your real volume. Take your monthly calls, multiply by the average call length, and price that against each plan's included usage plus overage. Then add your own time for setup and maintenance on self-serve tools, and ask whether the price includes booking into your actual software or only taking a message.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an AI receptionist cost per month?
+
Self-serve AI receptionist plans cost about $25 to $350 a month in 2026, each with a cap on calls or minutes and overage fees above it. Done-for-you builds typically cost $300 to $2,000 a month after a one-time setup fee, depending on volume and integrations.
Is an AI receptionist cheaper than a human receptionist?
+
Yes, by a wide margin for most businesses. A full-time US receptionist costs roughly $55,000 a year with benefits, while even a done-for-you AI receptionist usually costs a fraction of that and answers unlimited simultaneous calls around the clock. Many businesses keep their staff and use AI for overflow and after-hours calls.
Is an AI receptionist cheaper than an answering service?
+
Usually. Human answering services charge roughly $1.49 to $2.99 per minute or $8.50 to $11.50 per call above their plan limits. AI plans cost cents per minute or call, and the AI can book the appointment on the call instead of taking a message.
Are there hidden costs with AI receptionists?
+
Watch for overage fees once you pass the included minutes or calls, per-seat phone plans, paid add-ons for texting or integrations, cancellation notice periods, and the time it takes your team to set up and maintain a self-serve agent.
How much does Ventix charge?
+
Ventix charges a one-time setup fee for the build plus a monthly rate covering calls, hosting, monitoring and ongoing tuning. There are no per-seat fees and no 12-month lock-in on a standard build. We quote after a free 30-minute call, once we know your call volume and systems.
Keep exploring
Get a quote for your call volume
Book a free 30-minute call. We'll scope your agent, place a live AI call during the session, and quote a setup fee and monthly rate for your call volume.