The average cost of an answering service, and why the average misleads
Take the published entry plans of the services we've checked and the arithmetic mean is around $160 a month. Take the mid-tier plans, the ones most businesses actually land on, and it's roughly $400. Those are real numbers from real rate cards, and they will still probably mislead you.
The reason is the spread. The same 300 minutes costs $395 at AnswerConnect and $700 at Posh. A business with 200 short calls pays $49 on a per-call plan and $525 on Posh's entry tier. An average across that distribution describes nobody.
What's genuinely useful is knowing which of the three bands you're in, because the bands are far apart and your own call log tells you which one you're in within about five minutes.
The three bands, and who lands in each
| Band | Monthly | Who's in it | Typical vendors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Software only | $29–$149 | One line, no human fallback needed | Dialzara, GreetKeeper, Rosie, Goodcall |
| Light staffed cover | $165–$479 | A few dozen calls needing a person | Posh, PATLive, Abby Connect, AnswerConnect |
| Full staffed service | $700–$1,900 | High volume or high-value calls | Ruby, Posh Exclusive, PATLive 1,000+ |
Bands derived from the published rate cards read September 2026. They describe prices, not quality.
Mean and median of the published entry plans
| Measure | Value | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest entry price | $29 (Dialzara) | The floor of the whole market |
| Median entry price | $99 (PATLive) | More representative than the mean |
| Mean entry price | About $160 | Pulled up by AnswerConnect's $350 |
| Highest published plan | $1,900 (Posh Exclusive) | 1,000 minutes with a person on them |
| Spread, low to high | About 65 to 1 | Why one average can't serve this question |
What decides which band you're in
- Whether a person has to answer your phone. That single decision accounts for most of the 65-to-1 spread.
- Your average call length, which sets how fast you climb through the minute bundles.
- How many of your calls arrive outside business hours, because that's mostly what you're buying from a 24/7 service.
- Whether one badly handled call costs you a relationship or just an appointment slot. If your calls are high-stakes, the top band earns its price.
- Your volume, which matters less than you'd expect: call length moves most bills further than call count does.
Worked example
Compare two businesses with identical call counts, 150 a month, to see where the average breaks.
A nail salon, calls averaging 90 seconds
225 minutes. PATLive's $349 plan covers 200, then 25 at $1.99. $398.75.
An estate agency, calls averaging five minutes
750 minutes. PATLive's $1,499 plan covers 1,000. $1,499.
On GreetKeeper both pay $49, because both made 150 answered calls.
The 'average' of $949 for these two businesses is a number neither one will ever be billed.
Same call count, four times the bill. If someone quotes you an average cost for an answering service without asking how long your calls run, they're quoting you a number they made up.
Where our own price sits
We sit in the software band: $49 for 200 answered calls, $149 for 750, $349 for 2,000, with $0.45, $0.35 and $0.25 printed for anything past the allowance.
Because we count calls rather than minutes, the two businesses in the example above pay the same, which is either the fairest thing on this page or irrelevant to you depending on how long your calls run.
| 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
What does the average small business spend on answering?
We won't quote you a figure for that, because we'd be making it up. What we can give you is what the published plans cost and how a bill moves: 150 short calls and 150 long ones can differ fourfold at the same vendor.
Why is the median more useful than the mean here?
The mean entry price is around $160 and the median is $99, because AnswerConnect's $350 and Ruby's $250 pull the average up while most vendors sit well below. In a distribution this skewed, the median is likelier to describe you.
Is a more expensive service better?
It's usually more staffed, which is a different thing. The top band buys you trained people answering in real time. Whether that's better for you depends entirely on whether your calls need judgment or just need answering.
How do I find my own number quickly?
Pull last month's call log, count your calls, total your minutes, and divide. Then run those two figures through three rate cards. Twenty minutes of your arithmetic beats any average you'll read, including this one.
Find your band in five minutes
Count last month's calls, total the minutes, and read the three bands above. One of them is yours.