What an answering service costs
A human answering service costs between $65 and $1,725 a month, and where you land in that range depends almost entirely on how many minutes you buy up front. Posh starts at $65 with no minutes included and charges $2.30 for each one you use. Ruby starts at $250 and gives you 50. PATLive sits between them at $99 for 50 minutes. All three prices were read on the vendors' own pricing pages in September 2026.
AI answering services are a different order of magnitude. Dialzara opens at $29, Rosie and GreetKeeper at $49, Goodcall at $79, and Slang.ai at $399 a location. You're buying software rather than somebody's shift, so the floor is roughly a tenth of what a staffed service costs.
The number that decides your actual bill isn't the headline price, though. It's the rate you pay once the included minutes run out, and four of the vendors above don't print it anywhere.
Human answering services, monthly
| Service | Entry plan | Higher tiers | Rate past the bundle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ruby | $250 / 50 min | $395 for 100, $720 for 200, $1,725 for 500 | Not published |
| PATLive | $99 / 50 min | $189 for 100, $349 for 200, $759 for 500 | $2.29/min falling to $1.79 |
| Posh | $65 / 0 min | $130 for 50, $215 for 100, $420 for 200 | $2.30/min falling to $2.10 |
| AnswerConnect | $350 / 200 min | $395 for 300, $575 for 400 | $2.50/min, then $1.85 |
| Abby Connect | $165 / 50 min | $329 for 100, $599 for 200, $1,380 for 500 | Not published |
Read on each vendor's own pricing page, September 2026. Posh's rate card is marked effective 1 January 2026.
AI answering services, monthly
| Service | What it counts | Entry plan | Rate past the bundle |
|---|---|---|---|
| GreetKeeper | Per answered call | $49 / 200 calls | $0.45, $0.35, $0.25 by tier |
| Rosie | Per minute | $49 / 250 min | Not published |
| Dialzara | Per minute | $29 / 60 min | $0.48/min falling to $0.35 |
| Goodcall | Per unique caller | $79 / 100 callers | $0.50 per extra caller |
| Smith.ai | Per call | $0 / 25 calls, then $3.00 | $2.00–$2.17 on the $150 plan |
| Slang.ai | Per location | $399 per location | No allowance published |
Read on each vendor's own pricing page, September 2026.
What moves your bill
- Minutes, not calls. Most human services sell time, so the conversation that goes well costs you more than the wrong number that lasts nine seconds.
- Rounding. AnswerConnect rounds every interaction up to the whole minute and bills in one-minute increments, so twenty forty-second calls bill as twenty minutes rather than about fourteen.
- Setup fees. AnswerConnect charges $49.99 on its 200-minute and 400-minute plans, and nothing on the 300-minute one. Ruby states no activation or setup charge at all.
- After-hours and weekend coverage, which some services price as an add-on and others fold in.
- The overage rate, which is the single biggest variable and the one least often published.
Worked example
A two-van plumbing outfit takes about 120 calls a month, averaging three minutes each. That's 360 minutes.
Ruby
the $720 plan covers 200 minutes. You need 360, and Ruby doesn't publish what the extra 160 cost. Step up to the $1,725 plan and you're paying $1,725 for 500 minutes you won't use.
PATLive
the $759 plan covers 500 minutes, so 360 fits with room. $759.
Posh
the $700 Prestigious plan covers 350 minutes, then $2.00 for each of the remaining 10. That's $720.
GreetKeeper
120 answered calls fits inside Starter's 200, whatever length each one runs. $49.
On identical call volume, the spread between the cheapest and dearest published option is roughly fifteen to one. Your call length is what creates it, and only the AI services here stop charging you for it.
Where our own price sits
GreetKeeper is $49 a month for 200 answered calls, $149 for 750, and $349 for 2,000. Past each allowance you pay $0.45, $0.35 and $0.25 a call, and those three numbers are printed on our pricing page rather than quoted on request.
We count the answered call and not the minutes inside it, so the four-minute conversation where somebody describes a burst pipe properly costs you exactly what a wrong number costs. Appointment booking is on all three plans.
| 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
Is an answering service cheaper than hiring someone?
Work it out on your own numbers rather than ours. A part-time receptionist at 20 hours a week costs you the same whatever your phone does; a $99 answering service plan gives you 50 minutes. Put both against a month of your real call log, including the evenings and weekends nobody would be sitting there for you.
Why do so few services publish an overage rate?
Because it's the number that turns a cheap headline price into an expensive invoice for you. Ruby, Rosie, Abby Connect and Slang.ai all leave it off their pricing pages. PATLive, Posh, AnswerConnect, Dialzara, Goodcall and we all print it where you can read it.
What's the cheapest answering service that still books appointments?
Among the ones we've checked, ours at $49, because you get booking on every tier. Rosie's $49 plan keeps booking on the $149 tier above it. Dialzara is $29, but that buys you 60 minutes, which is roughly twenty conversations.
Do prices in this market change often?
Often enough to matter to you. Posh's current rate card is dated 1 January 2026. We read everything on this page in September 2026, and you should check the vendor's own page before you sign anything.
Price it against your own call log
Count last month's calls and their length, then read the rate cards above. The arithmetic takes ten minutes and saves you a year of surprises.