Virtual receptionist pricing, vendor by vendor
Virtual receptionist pricing has two parts, and vendors emphasise whichever one flatters them. There's a monthly base, which buys you a block of receptionist minutes, and there's a per-minute rate for everything past that block. Posh leans hard on the first: $65 a month, which sounds like the cheapest entry in the category until you notice it includes zero minutes and every one you use costs $2.30.
Ruby goes the other way, at $250 for 50 minutes, and publishes no per-minute rate at all. PATLive splits the difference with $99 for 50 minutes and $2.29 after. Nexa publishes plan names and minute counts, Nexa 100, Nexa 300 and Nexa 500, with no dollar figure anywhere on the page.
If you're comparing these, convert everything to an effective cost per minute at your own volume. It is the only way the four rate cards become comparable.
Base fee, included minutes and the rate after
| Vendor | Monthly base | Minutes included | Each extra minute |
|---|---|---|---|
| Posh (Chïc) | $65 | 0 | $2.30 |
| PATLive | $99 | 50 | $2.29 |
| Posh (Vogue) | $130 | 50 | $2.20 |
| Posh (Elegant) | $215 | 100 | $2.15 |
| Ruby (Starter) | $250 | 50 | Not published |
| AnswerConnect | $350 plus $49.99 setup | 200 | $2.50 |
| Nexa 100 | Not published | 100 | Not published |
Every figure read on the vendor's own pricing page, September 2026. Posh's card is marked effective 1 January 2026. Nexa's plans page lists minute counts and no prices.
Effective cost per minute at 100 minutes used
| Vendor | What you pay | Per minute |
|---|---|---|
| Posh Chïc | $65 + 100 × $2.30 = $295 | $2.95 |
| Posh Elegant | $215 flat | $2.15 |
| PATLive $99 plan | $99 + 50 × $2.29 = $213.50 | $2.14 |
| PATLive $189 plan | $189 flat | $1.89 |
| Ruby Professional | $395 flat | $3.95 |
Arithmetic on the published rate cards above. Picking the wrong tier from the same vendor costs more than picking the wrong vendor.
What the rate card doesn't tell you
- Whether the plan is pre-loaded. Posh's entry tier carries no minutes, so its $65 is a subscription fee rather than an allowance.
- Whether unused minutes roll over. Most of these reset monthly, which means buying a bigger tier to avoid overage wastes whatever you don't use.
- How the vendor rounds. AnswerConnect bills in whole-minute increments, and short calls are where rounding bites hardest.
- Whether the quote covers after-hours. A service priced for business hours and a service priced for 24/7 are not the same product at the same number.
- Whether you can see a price at all. Nexa cannot be compared on this page because Nexa does not publish one.
Worked example
A three-lawyer firm runs 60 intake calls a month. Intake is slow, so calls average six minutes. That's 360 minutes.
Posh Prestigious
$700 covers 350 minutes, then 10 more at $2.00. $720.
PATLive
$759 covers 500 minutes. $759, with 140 minutes unused.
Ruby
360 minutes sits between the $720 plan's 200 and the $1,725 plan's 500. Ruby publishes no overage rate, so the middle case cannot be priced from public information.
GreetKeeper
60 answered calls, comfortably inside Starter. $49, and the six-minute length never enters the sum.
Long calls are what virtual receptionist pricing is built to charge you for. If your calls run six minutes you pay roughly double what you would at three, for exactly the same number of conversations. Time your own before you read another quote.
Where our own price sits
We price per answered call: $49 for 200, $149 for 750, $349 for 2,000, with $0.45, $0.35 and $0.25 for anything past the allowance. There's no base-plus-usage split to reconcile, and no setup fee.
That model is worse for you than a minute meter in exactly one case, which is a phone that rings often with calls lasting seconds. Below about 25 short calls a month, Dialzara's $29 plan beats our $49 and we'd rather say so here than have you work it out later.
| 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
Why does Posh look cheapest and often isn't?
Because the $65 Chïc plan gives you no minutes. Use 100 and it works out at $2.95 each, dearer than their own $215 Elegant tier at $2.15. Treat that cheap entry price as a floor rather than a forecast of your bill.
What does Nexa charge?
Nexa does not publish a price. Their plans page shows Nexa 100, Nexa 300 and Nexa 500 with the minute counts and no dollar figures, and directs you to contact sales. We won't guess at a number on their behalf.
Is per-minute or per-call pricing better for me?
Divide last month's total minutes by your call count. If you're under two minutes a call, a minute meter usually wins. Over three, per-call billing wins, and your gap widens with every conversation that goes well.
Do any of these charge a setup fee?
AnswerConnect charges you $49.99 on its 200-minute and 400-minute plans, and nothing on the 300-minute plan. Ruby's page promises no activation, onboarding or setup fee. Neither Posh nor PATLive lists one, and we don't charge you one.
Convert every quote to cost per minute
Take your own monthly minutes, run them through each rate card, and divide. The rankings change once you do.