Pricing guide · 2026
How much does an AI receptionist cost?
Short answer: most AI receptionists cost between $20 and $300 per month — a fraction of the $250–$1,700+ you'd pay a live answering service, or $3,000+ for a full-time hire. What you actually pay comes down to how it's billed (flat vs per-minute), your call volume, and the features you need.
Typical monthly cost
What affects the price
Flat vs per-minute billing
Flat monthly plans are predictable. Per-minute or per-call billing scales with volume and can surprise you in a busy month.
Included minutes & overage
Cheap headline plans often cap minutes (30–250) then charge ~$0.25/min over. Check the cap, not just the sticker price.
Setup & onboarding fees
Some services charge a one-time setup fee; many self-serve AI tools don't.
Features you need
Appointment booking, live transfers, CRM sync, and bilingual answering usually sit on higher tiers.
The real cost is the call you miss
About 82% of people whose call goes unanswered won't call back — they call a competitor. For most solo professionals, recovering a single customer a month pays for the entire service many times over.
What are your missed calls actually costing?
The price of the service only matters next to what you lose without one. Put in your own numbers:
Estimated revenue lost per month
$2,600 /mo
Ringly costs $39/month. That is what you would recover: 67× the monthly price
Rough arithmetic, not a promise — but it is the only number that decides whether any of these plans is worth paying for. The 82% figure above means most of those callers never ring back.
Where Ringly fits
Ringly uses flat, predictable pricing — $39, $69, or $129/month — with no per-minute meter. Every plan includes a dedicated number, call recordings, transcripts, and AI summaries. It starts below most AI plans and a fraction of a live answering service, with a 7-day free trial.
- Flat monthly price — no per-minute surprises
- Dedicated number, recordings, transcripts & summaries
- Answers, screens, and even makes calls 24/7
Frequently asked questions
Is an AI receptionist cheaper than a human?
Yes — typically 5–40× cheaper than a live answering service, and a small fraction of a full-time receptionist's salary, while answering 24/7.
Are there hidden fees?
Watch for per-minute overage once an included allowance runs out, and one-time setup fees. Flat plans like Ringly's avoid these surprises.
Is it worth it for a solo business?
If you miss even a few calls a month, recovering one customer usually covers the entire cost — and you stop losing callers to competitors.
Hear it before you pay for it
No signup, no card. Call the demo line and try to sell it something — it screens the call the way it would screen yours. Or have it call you and book a table.
Keep reading
Pricing ranges reflect publicly listed US plans as of 2026 and change frequently; verify current rates with each provider.