Smith.ai vs Ruby

Smith.ai sells an AI receptionist by the call. Ruby sells live receptionists by the minute. Smith.ai's Pro plan is $150 a month for 75 to 300 calls, at $2.00 to $2.17 each. Ruby's plans run from $250 for 50 minutes to $1,725 for 500, with the same team and features on every tier.

That makes average call length the deciding number. If your callers talk for a minute, Ruby's minutes stretch a long way. If they talk for five, each call eats five of Ruby's minutes and still counts as one on Smith.ai.

Smith.ai fits an office with longer calls and a need to price every month in advance, because its overage rate is on the page. Ruby fits an office that wants a person on every call and short calls to spend its minutes on. Both vendors' pages 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.

	Smith.ai	Ruby
Billing unit	Per call	Per minute
Entry plan	Free tier at $0 for 25 calls, then $3.00 a call	$250/mo for 50 minutes
Higher tiers	Pro $150/mo covers 75 to 300 calls at $2.00–$2.17 each; Enterprise $500/mo covers 300 to 1,000+ at $1.60–$1.67	Basic $395 (100 min), Standard $720 (200 min), Professional $1,725 (500 min)
Overage rate	Published, and the per-call rate falls as the tier rises	Not published on their pricing page

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.

	Smith.ai	Ruby
Who answers	An AI receptionist, per its own pitch	Live human receptionists, with AI as an included extra
A five-minute call costs	One call	Five minutes of the plan
Cheapest way in	Free tier: $0 for 25 calls, then $3.00 a call	$250 a month for 50 minutes
Rate past the plan	Printed, and it falls as the tier rises	Not printed on the pricing page
What a busy month adds	Extra calls at the tier's printed rate	Extra minutes at a rate you ask Ruby for

Smith.ai: its pricing page. Ruby: ruby.com/pricing. Both read September 2026. Ruby's help site returned a 403 error that month.

Your average call length picks the cheaper meter

Start with last month's call log. Count the calls, then add up the minutes. Divide one by the other and you have the single figure this comparison turns on.

Say you get 150 calls a month at two and a half minutes each. That's 375 minutes. On Ruby it lands between the 200-minute plan at $720 and the 500-minute plan at $1,725, with no printed rate for the minutes in between. On Smith.ai it's 150 calls, inside the Pro range, priced from the per-call rate on its page.

Now halve the length. At 75 seconds a call, those 150 calls take under 190 minutes and fit Ruby's 200-minute plan. Smith.ai's count doesn't move, because length never enters it.

What Smith.ai's per-call tiers look like

Smith.ai's pitch is to answer, qualify and win more business with an AI receptionist you can train and test. It prints three levels. The free tier is $0 for 25 calls and $3.00 for each call after. Pro is $150 a month for 75 to 300 calls at $2.00 to $2.17 a call. Enterprise is $500 for 300 to more than 1,000, at $1.60 to $1.67.

Because the rate is printed, you can budget a spike. A month that brings 40 extra calls costs 40 times your tier's rate, and you know that number before the month starts.

What Ruby's minute bundles include

Ruby's four plans are $250 for 50 minutes, $395 for 100, $720 for 200 and $1,725 for 500. Ruby says the minutes are the only difference between them, so a small office gets the same receptionists and features as a large one.

Every plan lists 24/7 answering, robocall filtering and flexible call forwarding. Scheduling and client intake are optional add-on features. Ruby also states there are no fees for activation, onboarding, setup or customization.

The one figure you'll need to ask for is the rate past your bundle. It isn't on the pricing page, and Ruby's help site was returning an error when we checked. Get it in writing, because it prices every busy week.

Person or software on the line

There's a non-price question here too. Ruby puts a trained person on every call, and AI is an extra. Smith.ai leads with AI you train and test yourself.

Think about your hardest calls. An upset client, a caller with a messy question, someone who needs a judgment call. Then think about your most common calls: hours, directions, a booking, a message. The mix of the two tells you what you're paying a person for, and how often.

A third meter: GreetKeeper

Disclosure: GreetKeeper is our product, and it appears only here on this page. It's an AI receptionist that bills per answered call, like Smith.ai, with every rate printed. Starter is $49 a month for 200 answered calls, with $0.45 for each call after. Professional is $149 for 750 at $0.35. Scale is $349 for 2,000 at $0.25.

The 150-call month above fits inside Starter, at any call length. Robocalls and spam callers are screened out before the greeting, and they don't count toward the plan. Neither do very short calls.

Booking is on every plan. GreetKeeper reads the name, number and time back, then writes the appointment into Google Calendar or Outlook. When a caller wants a person, it transfers to your team. You start with a 14-day free trial, every feature on and no card.

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

Is Smith.ai cheaper than Ruby?

It depends on your average call length. Smith.ai's Pro plan is $150 for 75 to 300 calls, and length doesn't matter. Ruby starts at $250 for 50 minutes. The longer your calls run, the more a per-call meter works in your favour.

Does Ruby use AI as well as people?

Yes, as an extra. Ruby's positioning is live human receptionists, with AI offered as an included extra rather than the product. Every plan has the same receptionists and features. The only difference between plans is the number of minutes.

What does Smith.ai charge after my plan runs out?

Smith.ai prints the rate, and it falls as the tier rises. Past the 25 free calls it's $3.00 a call. On Pro it's $2.00 to $2.17, and on Enterprise it's $1.60 to $1.67. You can price a busy month before it happens.

Does Ruby charge a setup fee?

No. Ruby's pricing page states there are no additional or hidden fees for activation, onboarding, setup or customization, read September 2026. The rate for minutes past your plan isn't on that page, so ask Ruby for it in writing.

Price your call log per call

Count last month's calls and set them against a printed rate. GreetKeeper starts at $49 for 200.

See it answer a call See pricing