What after-hours answering costs
None of the vendors we checked charges a night rate. PATLive, Posh, Ruby, AnswerConnect and Abby Connect all quote 24/7 coverage from one rate card, so an 11pm call costs exactly what an 11am call costs. That's the useful finding, and it's the opposite of what most people expect.
So pricing after-hours cover is a volume question, not a surcharge question. Count the calls arriving outside your opening hours, multiply by your average call length, and read that against the same tables you'd use for daytime.
The other half is worth saying plainly: out-of-hours calls are usually your most valuable ones. The person ringing at 9pm about a leak has already decided to spend money and is working down a list.
After-hours cover on published plans
| Service | Night or weekend surcharge | What 24/7 costs |
|---|---|---|
| PATLive | None stated | Same rate card, from $99 for 50 minutes |
| Posh | None stated | Same rate card, from $65 plus $2.30 a minute |
| AnswerConnect | None stated | Same rate card, from $350 for 200 minutes |
| Ruby | None stated | Same rate card, from $250 for 50 minutes |
| GreetKeeper | None | Same plan, from $49 for 200 answered calls |
Read on each vendor's own pricing page, September 2026. Confirm coverage hours in your own contract before you rely on this.
What decides an after-hours bill
- Your out-of-hours share. A dental practice might see one call in eight arrive after close; an emergency plumber sees more than half.
- Weekend volume, which for trades is often heavier than weekday evenings and gets forgotten when people size a plan.
- Whether the service has to reach someone. A message taken at midnight is cheap; a call patched through to an on-call engineer involves a transfer rule and, on a staffed service, a trained receptionist following it.
- Holiday cover, which is where unstaffed businesses lose the most calls and where a fixed allowance is most likely to be wrong.
- Whether you're buying after-hours only or 24/7. Buying only the nights means a smaller allowance, and every vendor above sells from the same card either way.
Worked example
An emergency plumber closes the office at 5pm but the phone rings all evening. Daytime is 90 calls a month; after 5pm and at weekends it's another 70, averaging four minutes because people describe the damage.
After-hours only, 70 calls at four minutes
280 minutes.
PATLive
the $479 plan covers 300 minutes. $479 for the evenings alone.
Posh Prestigious
$700 covers 350 minutes. $700, though the $420 Luxurious tier's 200 minutes plus 80 at $2.10 comes to $588.
GreetKeeper
70 answered calls after hours, or all 160 calls including daytime, both sit inside Starter's 200. $49 either way.
His evening cover on a minute meter costs more than ten times what full-day cover costs on a per-call plan, and it's because emergency calls are long by nature. If your out-of-hours callers describe damage before they book, you're the customer a minute meter was designed for.
Where our own price sits
There's no separate after-hours price. The same $49, $149 or $349 plan answers at 2am and 2pm, and a call at either hour counts once against the same allowance.
GreetKeeper answers every inbound call, at any hour, and each one arrives as a transcript and a short summary. If a caller asks for a person or the assistant is unsure, it transfers to your team.
| 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 |
Before you act on any of this
Every competitor figure on this page was read on that vendor's own pricing page in September 2026. Prices change. Check before you buy.
Questions people ask
Do answering services charge more at night?
None of the ones we checked will charge you a night or weekend surcharge. PATLive, Posh, Ruby and AnswerConnect all quote you 24/7 from one rate card. Your after-hours bill comes down to volume and call length rather than the hour on the clock.
Can I buy after-hours cover only?
Yes, and it's your cheapest way in. Forward your line to the service outside your opening hours and keep answering it yourself during them. You then size the plan against your out-of-hours volume alone, which is usually a much smaller number.
Is after-hours cover worth it for a small business?
Price it against what one job is worth to you, on your own figures. If an evening booking is worth several hundred and you get a few a month, a $49 plan answers itself. We won't quote you a saving, because we have no customer data to quote from.
What happens to an after-hours call that needs a person?
It transfers to whoever you nominate, or your caller's name, number and reason for calling reach you as a transcript and summary. What it can't do is judge whether to wake someone up. You set that rule and the assistant follows it.
Count your calls after 5pm
That number, times your average call length, is your whole after-hours quote. Every vendor prices it from the same card.