How Much Does an AI Receptionist Cost in 2026?

Search for the price of an AI receptionist and the answers run from $29 a month to several thousand dollars before the first call. Both ends are honest. They are prices for different products that share a name: software you set up yourself, a per-call service with people behind it, and an agent someone builds and runs for your business.

This guide sorts them into the four ways answering is priced, quotes each provider's own published price list as checked on October 9, 2026, lists the costs that sit outside the plan, and works through an illustrative example at two call volumes. OWNIT sells one of the four, so its prices are here too, with a plain account of why they are higher than a $49 plan and what the difference pays for.

The four pricing models at a glance

Self-serve AI plans: $29 to $349 a month

Self-serve AI answering tools price like phone plans: a monthly fee buys a block of minutes, and minutes above the block cost extra.

• Dialzara charges $29 a month for 60 minutes, $99 for 220, $199 for 500 and $349 for 1,000, with extra minutes from $0.48 down to $0.35. It lists no setup fees, and even the cheapest plan includes appointment booking and calendar or CRM integration.
• Rosie charges $49 a month for 250 minutes, $149 for 1,000 and $299 for 2,000, with two months free on annual billing. The $49 plan sends booking links by text; booking straight onto your calendar and live transfers start on the $149 plan. Rosie says it learns from your Google profile and website, and only its top plan includes white-glove onboarding. Its pricing page does not list a rate for minutes above the plan, so ask before you sign.

These plans are a fair deal for a simple call flow: hours, prices, a booking link and a message for anything else. The cost you do not see on the price page is your own time. Someone has to write the answers, set the transfer rules, test awkward calls and update the knowledge every time a price or policy changes.

Per-call AI plans: about $1.60 to $3.00 a call

Smith.ai's AI receptionist bills by the answered call instead of the minute. A free plan covers 25 calls a month, with extra calls at $3.00. Paid tiers cost $2.00 a call at 75 calls a month, $1.80 at 150, $1.67 at 300 and $1.60 at 500, with extra calls at $2.10 to $2.50 depending on the tier. Calls from known spam numbers are filtered out and not billed, and complex calls can be handed to Smith.ai's live receptionists.

Per-call pricing is simple to budget, and it favors long calls. Per-minute pricing favors short ones: at Dialzara's overage rates of $0.35 to $0.48 a minute, a three-minute call costs about $1.05 to $1.44. Check your average call length before choosing between the two.

People: answering services and virtual receptionists

Human answering is the benchmark AI is usually measured against, and it still handles upset or unusual callers better.

• Answering services. PATLive's plans start at 50 minutes for $99 a month, 500 minutes cost $759, and larger plans run to 5,000 minutes, with extra minutes from $2.29 down to $1.49. MAP Communications charges $179 for 125 minutes, $339 for 250 and $649 for 500.
• Virtual receptionists. Ruby charges $250 a month for 50 minutes up to $1,725 for 500. Smith.ai's human receptionists cost $300 for 30 calls, $810 for 90 or $2,100 for 300, with booking on your calendar listed as a $1.50 per call add-on.
• A receptionist on payroll. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median receptionist wage at $18.27 an hour, or $38,010 a year, in May 2025. That is before payroll taxes and benefits, and it buys one person for one shift, not every hour of the week.

Our comparison of AI receptionists, answering services and virtual receptionists sets out what each one does with the same call.

Done-for-you builds: why OWNIT costs more than a $49 plan

OWNIT builds and runs the AI receptionist for you. There are three plans, each with a one-time setup and a monthly fee that includes minutes:

That is more than a self-serve tool charges for the same minutes, and a buyer should know why before paying it.

The setup fee pays for the build. OWNIT loads your services, prices, service area and policies, writes the call flows, sets up booking and transfers, and tests the agent before it takes a real call. Setup usually takes two to four weeks. With a self-serve plan, that work is yours.

The monthly fee pays for running it. Every plan answers 24/7 on your existing business number, books appointments, sends SMS confirmations and transfers calls to your team. Growth adds calendar and CRM integration, missed-call recovery, automated text follow-up, call transcripts and summaries, call analytics and monthly tuning of the agent. Pro adds multiple locations, outbound follow-up, lead reactivation and review requests.

What you keep. The agent's knowledge, call flows and call data belong to you under the agreement, so a change of provider does not mean starting again.

When a self-serve plan is the better buy, take it. A business with low call volume, a simple booking link and someone happy to maintain the setup will get good value from a $49 or $99 plan. The done-for-you route earns its price when the phone is the sales funnel, the booking rules are specific to your trade, and nobody on the team has time to build and tune an agent.

The costs that sit outside the plan

• Overage. Minutes or calls above the plan are billed extra: $0.35 to $0.48 a minute on Dialzara, $2.10 to $3.00 a call on Smith.ai's AI plans. OWNIT bills minutes beyond a plan as overage and shows usage in your dashboard. Get every overage rate in writing.
• Setup and onboarding. Self-serve plans often have none. Done-for-you builds charge for the work, so spread the fee over a year when you compare.
• Text messages. U.S. carriers require business texts sent from 10-digit numbers to be registered under A2P 10DLC, and registration carries fees. Some tools also charge for the texts themselves: Dialzara's SMS agent is $19 a month plus $0.05 per AI message.
• Integrations. Booking onto your calendar or syncing a CRM may sit on a higher tier, as it does on Rosie and OWNIT.
• Human backup. Transfers to live receptionists, extra transfer numbers and add-ons such as a Spanish line or call recording are often priced per call or per month.
• Your time. Every hour spent writing prompts, testing and updating answers is a cost, even when it does not appear on an invoice.

A worked example at two call volumes

This example is illustrative. It assumes calls average three minutes and uses list prices checked on October 9, 2026, before taxes, add-ons and each provider's own rounding. Business A answers 100 calls a month (300 minutes). Business B answers 500 calls a month (1,500 minutes).

Read the table the right way. The cheapest line is not automatically the cheapest outcome, because the useful number is cost per booked job. A message that waits until morning, a transfer that rings out or an agent that cannot see your calendar each lose work the invoice never shows. In its first year, OWNIT's Starter plan costs $5,088 in total for Business A, more than any other AI option on this list. What that money buys is the build, the integrations and someone else tuning the agent every month.

When an AI receptionist is not worth paying for

• You already answer. If someone picks up almost every call within a few rings, during the hours your customers call, keep doing that.
• Volume is very low. A few calls a week rarely justifies any plan with a setup fee. A clear voicemail greeting and fast callbacks may be enough.
• Most calls need judgment. If callers are often distressed or every job needs a detailed quote, pay for people and use software for overflow at most.
• There is nothing to book into. Without a calendar and booking rules, an AI can only take messages, which a cheaper service can also do.

How to get a real number for your business

1. Export last month's call log. Note total calls, total minutes, missed calls and how many came after hours.
2. Decide what the agent must do. Answer questions only, book appointments, update a CRM, or transfer emergencies to someone on call.
3. Price three options on your own volume. One self-serve plan, one per-call or human service, and one done-for-you build, with setup spread over twelve months.
4. Add the extras you would really use. Texting, recordings, extra transfer numbers and overage at your busiest month.
5. Call every demo like a customer. Ask an awkward question, then ask for a person, and time the handoff.

To put a dollar figure on the calls you miss today, use the method in what a missed call really costs.

Where OWNIT fits

OWNIT's AI receptionist plans and live demo are on one page: call the agent, hear how it books and transfers, and see what each plan includes. Trade versions are there to hear for HVAC companies and plumbers, pest control companies, dental offices and law firms. Every other service OWNIT builds, with fixed prices, is on the full price list.