The best after-hours answering service for a small business
GreetKeeper ranks first of the eight after-hours answering services we checked in September 2026. A 3am call costs the same as a 3pm call, and transfer to your on-call phone is on the $49 plan. If that phone isn't picked up, a second number is tried. Starter covers 200 answered calls a month.
Night pricing splits the field in two. The AI services here charge the same at any hour. The staffed ones sell minutes. Ruby starts at $250 for 50 of them. Specialty Answering Service charges $44 a month plus $1.54 a minute, and MAP Communications $49 a month plus $1.37 a minute.
Rosie's $49 plan answers at night, and its live transfer starts on the $149 tier. Dialzara starts at $29 for 60 minutes, with the rate after that printed on every plan.
Whichever you pick, the rule matters as much as the vendor. Decide who gets woken, for which kinds of call, and what the caller hears when nobody picks up.
How this was put together
Disclosure: GreetKeeper is our product. The criteria and weights were set before scoring, for the night shift only. Every rival price was read on that vendor's own pricing page in September 2026.
What we compared
- Waking the right person (30%): live transfer to an on-call number on the entry plan, and a fallback when it isn't picked up.
- Night pricing (25%): whether a 3am call costs more than a 3pm call, and what a long call costs.
- A published overage rate (20%), because emergencies arrive in clusters after a storm or a cold snap.
- Booking the morning slot (15%) for the calls that can wait.
- Nights you don't want answered as open (10%): closure dates and hours you set yourself.
The shortlist at a glance
Billing unit first, because it decides more of the final bill than the headline price does.
| Charges by | Entry plan | After the allowance | |
|---|---|---|---|
| GreetKeeper | per answered call | $49/mo for 200 answered calls | $0.45 a call on Starter, published |
| Goodcall | per unique caller | Starter $79/mo ($66 annual) for 100 unique customers | $0.50 per additional unique customer, published |
| Ruby | per minute | $250/mo for 50 minutes | Not published on their pricing page |
| Specialty Answering Service | per minute, billed by the second | Economy at $44 a month plus $1.54 a minute | Published: $1.44 a minute on the 100- and 220-minute plans, falling to $1.09 on 10,000 |
| MAP Communications | per minute, in monthly minute plans | Pay As You Go at $49 a month with no minutes included, then $1.37 a minute | Published: $1.30 a minute on Business, $1.28 on Enterprise and Premium |
| AnswerConnect | per minute | Does not publish pricing | Does not publish pricing |
| Dialzara | per minute | Business Lite $29/mo for 60 minutes | Published on every tier, from $0.48 a minute down to $0.35 |
| Rosie | per minute | Professional $49/mo for 250 minutes | Not published |
Read from each vendor's own pricing page in September 2026.
GreetKeeper
The same price at 3am as at 3pm, with transfer and booking on the $49 plan.
Worth it for: You get real overnight emergencies and want the urgent ones put through to your on-call phone while routine calls book the first morning slot. GreetKeeper texts the on-call person the caller's details, and robocalls it screens out never count toward your plan.
Charges per answered call. Entry plan $49/mo for 200 answered calls. After the allowance: $0.45 a call on Starter, published.
Goodcall
Uncapped minutes, billed per unique customer.
Worth it for: Your overnight calls run long, and the same customer often rings twice about one problem.
Not for: A business with several numbers, since Goodcall prices per agent and each number is an agent.
Charges per unique caller. Entry plan Starter $79/mo ($66 annual) for 100 unique customers. After the allowance: $0.50 per additional unique customer, published.
Ruby
People awake through the night, billed by the minute.
Worth it for: Your overnight caller needs a human voice, and night volume is low enough to justify several hundred dollars a month.
Not for: Busy nights. 50 minutes for $250 is a handful of overnight calls, and Ruby doesn't publish its overage rate.
Charges per minute. Entry plan $250/mo for 50 minutes. After the allowance: Not published on their pricing page.
Specialty Answering Service
Staffed per-minute answering, billed by the second, with every rate published.
Worth it for: You want people on the night line and a price list you can read first.
Not for: A shop with long emergency calls, where $1.54 a minute on Economy adds up across a stormy night.
Charges per minute, billed by the second. Entry plan Economy at $44 a month plus $1.54 a minute. After the allowance: Published: $1.44 a minute on the 100- and 220-minute plans, falling to $1.09 on 10,000.
MAP Communications
Staffed answering in monthly minute plans, rates on the page.
Worth it for: You want a person answering and a pay-as-you-go plan while you learn your night volume.
Not for: A tight budget with busy nights. Pay As You Go is $49 a month with no minutes included, then $1.37 a minute.
Charges per minute, in monthly minute plans. Entry plan Pay As You Go at $49 a month with no minutes included, then $1.37 a minute. After the allowance: Published: $1.30 a minute on Business, $1.28 on Enterprise and Premium.
AnswerConnect
Round-the-clock staffed answering, priced through a form.
Worth it for: You want people on nights, weekends and holidays from a long-running operator.
Not for: A small business comparing published numbers, since AnswerConnect puts every price behind a quote form.
AnswerConnect does not publish its rates, so the cost is whatever the sales call produces.
Dialzara
A $29 AI plan with the overage printed on every tier.
Worth it for: Your nights are quiet, and you mostly need someone to pick up and take the details down.
Not for: Busy nights. The entry plan holds 60 minutes, and extra minutes cost $0.48 on it.
Charges per minute. Entry plan Business Lite $29/mo for 60 minutes. After the allowance: Published on every tier, from $0.48 a minute down to $0.35.
Rosie
A $49 plan that answers at night, with transfer on the $149 tier.
Worth it for: You want overnight messages taken and plan to call everyone back in the morning.
Not for: Waking an on-call tech from the entry plan, since live transfer sits on the $149 tier.
Charges per minute. Entry plan Professional $49/mo for 250 minutes. After the allowance: Not published.
How to choose a night service
Sort your night calls first. An urgent call needs a transfer, and a routine one needs a booked morning slot. GreetKeeper does both on every plan. It puts the burst pipe through to your on-call phone, and it books the dripping tap for 8am after reading the time back.
Then plan for the unanswered transfer. If your on-call phone rings out, GreetKeeper tries the second number you nominate. It also texts the on-call person the caller's details, so the job isn't left in a voicemail box.
Finally, price the worst night. Staffed services here bill every minute, and a storm fills minutes fast. GreetKeeper counts answered calls, and its extra call costs $0.45 on Starter, $0.35 on Professional and $0.25 on Scale.
Our own pricing, in full
Including the rate after the allowance, which is the number most of this list leaves off.
| Plan | Monthly | Calls included | After that |
|---|---|---|---|
| StarterFor a single location taking calls one line at a time. | $49 | 200 | $0.45 per call |
| ProfessionalBooking, routing and transfers included, not an add-on. | $149 | 750 | $0.35 per call |
| ScaleFor busy phones and longer opening hours. | $349 | 2,000 | $0.25 per call |
The short version
- Booking is included on every tier. Rosie keeps booking and live transfer behind its $149 plan.
- The overage rate is on the pricing page. Rosie, Ruby, Slang and AnswerConnect do not publish theirs.
- Calls are counted, not minutes, so a long useful conversation costs the same as a short one.
Questions people ask about this list
What is the best after-hours answering service for a small business?
On our published method, GreetKeeper ranks first. It charges the same at 3am as at 3pm and puts calls through to your on-call phone on the $49 plan. The overage is printed at $0.45 a call. Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial, and you don't need a card to start.
Do night calls cost more?
Not on the AI plans here. A call at 3am costs the same as one at 3pm. The staffed services bill by the minute at any hour, so a long night call costs more on them than a short day call.
What happens if the on-call tech doesn't answer?
GreetKeeper tries a second number you nominate. It also texts the on-call person the caller's name, number and reason, and the full transcript and summary arrive after the call.
Can it answer only after hours?
Yes. Forward your line when you close, or forward on no-answer if you still pick up in the evening. Your hours in GreetKeeper decide how it greets callers when you're closed. The ring count is set where the forwarding is set, and GreetKeeper answers the moment the call arrives.
Why is GreetKeeper first on a list it wrote?
Waking the right person carried the most weight, and GreetKeeper includes the transfer, the fallback number and the text on its $49 plan. You can check each of those on the pricing page before you start a trial.
Hear one of these handle your own call
Your scenario, your greeting, a couple of minutes.