Telephone answering service cost, by type of service
Telephone answering covers three quite different products that get quoted from the same page. Message-taking, where somebody notes who rang and passes it on. Receptionist work, where calls get screened, routed, and appointments get booked. And dispatch or call-centre work, where the service acts on your behalf against a script.
The price bands follow the job. Message-taking is what the $29 to $99 plans are really for. Receptionist work is the $165 to $479 band. Dispatch and anything scripted sits above that, and most vendors quote it rather than publishing it.
Most quotes get compared wrongly because of this. A $99 message-taking plan and a $395 receptionist plan aren't the same product at different prices.
What each band actually does
| Job | Typical monthly | What happens on the call | Who sells it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Message taking | $29–$99 | Details captured, passed to you | Dialzara, PATLive entry, Rosie entry |
| Receptionist work | $149–$479 | Screened, routed, appointments booked | GreetKeeper, PATLive, Posh, AnswerConnect |
| Dispatch and scripted work | $700+ | The service acts against your script | Ruby, Posh upper tiers, Nexa |
Bands derived from the published rate cards read September 2026. Vendors appear in more than one band because their tiers span the jobs.
The same 200 minutes, priced three ways
| Service | Plan | Monthly |
|---|---|---|
| PATLive | $349 plan, 200 min | $349 |
| Posh | Luxurious $420, 200 min | $420 |
| AnswerConnect | $350 plan, 200 min, plus $49.99 setup | $399.99 in month one |
| Ruby | Business $720, 200 min | $720 |
| Abby Connect | Professional $599, 200 Abby Minutes | $599 |
Identical quantity, published prices, a spread of more than two to one.
What separates a cheap quote from an expensive one
- Which of the three jobs you're actually buying, which is the single biggest factor and the one most often left vague in a quote.
- Whether the receptionists are shared across many clients or trained on your account specifically.
- Script complexity. A greeting and a message is cheap; a decision tree with escalation rules is not.
- Rounding rules, which matter most for message-taking where calls are short. AnswerConnect rounds up to the whole minute.
- Whether the price covers 24/7 or just your opening hours.
Worked example
A commercial cleaning firm with 110 calls a month: 70 are 'can you quote for this' and 40 are staff calling in. Calls average two and a half minutes, so 275 minutes.
Message taking on PATLive's $479 plan, 300 minutes
$479, and somebody at the firm still has to call all 70 prospects back.
Receptionist work on Posh Prestigious, $700 for 350 minutes
$700, with quotes routed and staff calls handled separately.
AnswerConnect Growth, $395 for 300 minutes and no setup fee
$395.
GreetKeeper
110 answered calls inside Starter's 200, with routing by what the caller needs. $49.
Their real problem is that message-taking moves the work instead of removing it. Seventy call-backs a month is what the cheapest band actually costs them, and you won't find it on any rate card. Count how many call-backs your own quotes would generate before you buy on price.
Where our own price sits
We sell the middle job at the bottom band's price: $49 for 200 answered calls with routing, transfers, booking and transcripts on every plan, then $0.45 a call.
What the assistant does on the call is what you train it on. It answers the questions you give it, routes by what the caller needs, and transfers to your team when a caller asks or it's unsure.
| 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's the difference between an answering service and a call center?
Scale and scripting. An answering service takes your calls as an extension of your front desk; a call center runs a structured script at volume, usually with outbound work attached. Your pricing differs accordingly, and most call-centre work is quoted rather than published.
Why do two quotes for 200 minutes differ by $370?
Because 200 minutes of message-taking and 200 minutes of trained receptionist time are different products. PATLive's $349 and Ruby's $720 both give you 200 minutes; what happens to your caller during them is not the same.
Does a cheaper service mean longer hold times?
Not reliably either way, and neither we nor anyone else should quote you an answer-speed figure without measurement behind it. Ask each vendor how they measure it and what they'll put in your contract.
Is a telephone answering service worth it below 50 calls a month?
At that volume Smith.ai's free tier covers 25 of your calls and Dialzara's $29 covers 60 minutes. Both cost you less than we do. Your question is whether the calls you're missing are worth more than $29.
Decide which job you're buying first
Message-taking, receptionist work or dispatch. Every quote you compare should be for the same one.