Nexa vs PATLive answering service

Nexa and PATLive both put a live receptionist on your line around the clock, and both meter that work in minutes. They part ways on what you can see before you talk to sales. PATLive prints its whole rate card: eleven tiers from $49 to $6,899 a month, with the price of an extra minute on each. Nexa names three plans, Nexa 100, Nexa 300 and Nexa 500, by their voice minutes, and gives the price by quote.

So the first question is how you like to buy. If you want to price your own month from a spreadsheet, PATLive lets you. If you'd rather describe your calls to a salesperson and get a tailored script and quote, that's how Nexa sells.

Nexa suits a business that wants custom scripting, outbound follow-up and, on its larger plans, sales calls and CRM integration in one arrangement. PATLive suits a business that wants a fixed per-minute price at any size and a free trial before it signs. Both sites were read in September 2026.

Published pricing, side by side

What each vendor prints on its own site. The billing unit decides more of the final bill than the headline price does.

	Nexa	PATLive
Billing unit	Per minute	Per minute
Entry plan	Not published. Their plans page lists Nexa 100, Nexa 300 and Nexa 500 by included voice minutes with no dollar figures	$49/mo pay as you go with no minutes included, at $2.99 a minute; $99 for 50 minutes
Higher tiers	Nexa 100, Nexa 300 and Nexa 500, by voice minutes; no prices published at any tier	$189 (100 min), $349 (200), $479 (300), $759 (500), $1,499 (1,000), $2,899 (2,000), up to $6,899 (5,000)
Overage rate	Not published, because no pricing at all is published	Published on every tier: $2.99 a minute pay as you go, $2.29 on the $99 plan, $1.99 at $349, $1.79 at $759, down to $1.49 at $6,899 (re-read on patlive.com/pricing 2026-09-24)

Read on each vendor's own website in September 2026. Prices move, so check before you buy.

What decides it

The dimensions that change the bill or the service, each as a fact read on the vendor's own site.

	Nexa	PATLive
Plan prices on the website	None: plans are named by minutes and priced by quote	Yes: eleven tiers, $49 to $6,899 a month
Plan sizes	100, 300 or 500 voice minutes	Pay as you go, then 50 up to 5,000 minutes
Rate for an extra minute	Not published	Printed on every tier, from $2.99 down to $1.49
Setup	A setup fee covers programming, onboarding and training	Your script is built with you
Free trial	Not stated on the plans page	Any plan free for 14 days
Outbound calls	Follow-up and outbound calls on every plan	A separate outbound rate card
CRM integration	Listed on Nexa 300 and Nexa 500	Not covered on the pricing page
Spanish	Not covered on the plans page	English and Spanish at no additional cost

Nexa: nexa.com/plans and its FAQ. PATLive: patlive.com/pricing. Both read September 2026. Nexa prints no dollar figure, so none appears for it here.

Nexa quotes the price, PATLive prints it

Nexa's plans page shows three plans and a count of voice minutes for each. No figure appears beside them. To get one, you contact Nexa's sales team and ask for a quote. That's a buying process, and it suits some owners fine.

PATLive goes the other way. Its pricing page lists a $49 pay-as-you-go plan with no minutes, then bundles from $99 for 50 minutes to $6,899 for 5,000. Each tier carries its own rate for the minutes past the bundle.

What this means for you is timing. With PATLive you can price a normal month and a busy one tonight. With Nexa you'll know your number after a call, and the quote can be shaped around your script.

What each plan includes

Every Nexa plan lists 24/7 live answering, 365 days a year, with appointment scheduling, lead qualification and a local or toll-free number. You also get a client portal with analytics, call reporting and follow-up calls. Nexa 300 and Nexa 500 add inbound and outbound sales, client intake and CRM integration.

Nexa's pitch rests on customized scripting. Its own wording is that every caller should get the same experience of your company and brand. If your calls need a long, exact script, that's the feature you're buying.

PATLive lists appointment scheduling as included with every plan. It describes its receptionists as US-based and lets you switch on English and Spanish service at any time at no additional cost. Web chat and outbound calling each have their own rate card.

The setup fee and the trial

Nexa's FAQ says a setup fee covers the programming, onboarding and training your account needs before it goes live. The fee itself isn't printed, so ask for it with your quote, and ask whether it changes with the plan.

PATLive's page doesn't mention a setup charge. It does offer any plan free for 14 days, which lets you forward a line and read real messages before you pay.

Nexa's plans page doesn't state a trial or a contract length. Both belong on your list of questions for the sales call, next to the per-minute rate past your bundle.

Pricing a busy month on each

Take a practice that uses about 250 minutes in a normal month and 400 in its busiest. On PATLive's card, the 300-minute plan at $479 covers the normal month. The busy month then needs 100 extra minutes at that tier's printed rate, or a step up to the $759 plan for 500.

On Nexa, 250 minutes falls between Nexa 100 and Nexa 300. You'd ask which plan Nexa recommends, what it costs, and what a minute past 300 costs. Get all three figures in writing, because the busy month is the one that sets your real annual cost.

Whichever you pick, you forward your number to them. The forwarding mode and the ring delay are set at your carrier or phone system, so you can start with after-hours calls only.

Where GreetKeeper fits

Disclosure: GreetKeeper is our product, and it appears only in this section. It's an AI receptionist with a price list you can read before any call: $49 a month for 200 answered calls, $149 for 750 and $349 for 2,000.

Past the allowance, each call is $0.45, $0.35 or $0.25 by plan. It counts calls rather than minutes, so a long intake call doesn't cost more than a short one, and robocalls it screens out don't count.

Booking is on every plan. GreetKeeper writes the appointment into Google Calendar or Outlook while the caller is on the line, then sends the caller one text with the confirmation. When a caller wants a person, it transfers to your team.

There's no setup fee. Each plan comes with a dedicated local number and starts with a 14-day free trial, every feature on and no card needed.

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

Questions people ask about this comparison

How much does Nexa cost?

Nexa doesn't publish a price. Its plans page lists Nexa 100, Nexa 300 and Nexa 500 by voice minutes, and pricing comes by quote from its sales team (September 2026). Its FAQ also mentions a setup fee for programming, onboarding and training, so ask for that figure too.

What does PATLive charge per minute?

PATLive prints a rate for extra minutes on every tier. It's $2.99 on the $49 pay-as-you-go plan, $2.29 on the $99 plan, $1.99 on the $349 plan, $1.79 on the $759 plan and $1.49 on the $6,899 plan (September 2026).

Does Nexa or PATLive offer a free trial?

PATLive lets you try any plan free for 14 days. Nexa's plans page doesn't state a trial, so ask its sales team when you request a quote. A trial is the cheapest way to hear how either handles your real calls.

Which one integrates with a CRM?

Nexa lists CRM integration on its Nexa 300 and Nexa 500 plans. PATLive's pricing page doesn't cover CRM connections, so ask PATLive which systems it supports before you sign.

Read the price before the sales call

GreetKeeper prints every plan and overage rate. Hear it answer a call written for your business.

See it answer a call See pricing