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AI receptionist for small business: what it costs and what it can do
An AI receptionist costs a small business between $0 and about $500 a month in October 2026. Most owners land between $79 and $150 a month for a few hundred calls. A human answering service costs more: Ruby starts at $250 a month for 50 minutes. A full-time receptionist costs about $38,000 a year in wages alone (BLS median, 2025).
The price matters less than one question: does it only answer and take messages, or does it finish the job? That means booking the slot, taking the order or getting the payment.
AI receptionist prices, plan by plan
Every number below is from the vendor's own pricing page, read in October 2026. Vendors change prices often, so check the page before you sign.
| Monthly price | What is included | How extra use is billed | Best fit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smith.ai AI ReceptionistAI, general small business | Free, Pro $150, Enterprise $500 | Free: 25 calls. Pro: 75 to 300 calls. Enterprise: 300 to 1,000+ calls and vendor-built setup | Per call: $3.00 on Free, $2.17 to $2.50 on Pro | Service firms that book appointments |
| GoodcallAI, general small business | Starter $79, Growth $129, Scale $299 | 100, 500 or 2,000 unique callers a month | Per extra unique caller: 79c, 26c or 15c. No per-minute charge | Shops with many repeat callers |
| My AI Front DeskAI, general small business | $99, or $79 billed yearly | 200 voice minutes, plus chat, SMS and form tools | About $0.25 a minute in credits | Owners who want calls, texts and web chat in one place |
| MapleAI, restaurants | Voice $150, Pro $350 (yearly $85 / $220) | Voice answers questions only. Pro takes orders into the POS and payment on the call | No per-minute fees (vendor claim) | Restaurants on Toast, Square, Clover, Shift4 |
| ServiioAI, restaurants | No monthly fee | Orders submitted to the POS | 2% of each submitted order. Free 3-month trial | Restaurants that want to pay only when it works |
| RubyHuman answering service | $250 to $1,725 | 50 to 500 minutes of live human answering | Not stated on the page | Law, medical and high-value calls where a person matters |
| AZbuilt and run with you | No price list. Quoted per business | Phone host connected to your ordering, payments, kitchen and guest list | Quoted up front | Owners who want the phone to finish the sale and the rest of the business connected to it |
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
What an AI receptionist can actually do
Vendors use the same word for very different products. Sort them into three levels before you compare prices.
So what do you do? Write down the five calls you get most. If most of them end with "can you book me" or "I want to order", a level 1 product will save you time but will not make you money. Buy for the level your calls need.
How to work out your monthly bill
- Count your calls. Your phone carrier's call log shows inbound calls per month. Count missed calls separately: those are the ones you are paying to catch.
- Match the billing unit. Smith.ai bills per call, Goodcall per unique caller, My AI Front Desk per minute, Serviio per order. A shop with 300 short calls from 120 regulars pays very differently on each.
- Add setup time. Self-serve tools need you to write the answers. Budget a few evenings. Enterprise tiers and done-for-you services write them for you.
- Add the integrations. Calendar, POS or CRM connections sit on higher tiers on most price pages. Check yours is on the plan you priced.
- Compare against the missed sale. One booked job or one large order a week often covers a $150 plan. If calls rarely turn into money, a voicemail-to-text service may be enough.
AI receptionist vs a person
Where the AI wins
- Answers at 2 a.m., on holidays and during your busiest hour, every time.
- Costs a fraction of a person: $79 to $150 a month against an $18.27 median hourly wage (BLS, May 2025).
- Never forgets to log the call. Most tools keep a recording and transcript.
- Handles several calls at once.
Where a person still wins
- Upset callers, complaints and anything with legal or medical weight.
- Calls where trust closes the sale, like a $5,000 job estimate.
- Unusual requests the knowledge base never covered.
- Heavy accents and noisy lines still cause misheard names. We see it on our own line.
What a level 3 phone host did in its first three weeks
real calls answered from 171 phone numbers, Sep 25 to Oct 15, 2026.
of those calls became paid orders, each paid before the kitchen started it.
calls came in outside posted opening hours. Every one was answered.
From the call archive at our proof restaurant in Houston. A new business runs it alongside its staff for about three months: the AI takes some calls, people take the rest, and we tune it on every call it gets wrong. After that it carries nearly all of them. For restaurants, see the full AI phone host comparison and restaurant phone answering prices.
Where these facts come from
- Smith.ai AI Receptionist pricing - read Oct 2026
- Goodcall pricing - read Oct 2026
- My AI Front Desk pricing - read Oct 2026
- Maple pricing - read Oct 2026
- Serviio - read Oct 2026
- Ruby pricing - read Oct 2026
- BLS Occupational Outlook: Receptionists - median pay 2025, read Oct 2026
Questions owners ask
How much does an AI receptionist cost for a small business?
Published prices in October 2026 run from free to about $500 a month. Smith.ai has a free 25-call plan and a $150 Pro plan. Goodcall starts at $79 for 100 unique callers. My AI Front Desk is $99 a month for 200 minutes. Restaurant tools like Maple ($150 to $350) and Serviio (2% per order) price differently.
Is an AI receptionist cheaper than an answering service?
Usually, yes. Ruby, a human answering service, starts at $250 a month for 50 minutes and reaches $1,725 for 500 minutes. AI plans with a few hundred calls cost $79 to $150. A person still handles upset callers and high-stakes calls better.
Can an AI receptionist book appointments?
Yes. Smith.ai, Goodcall and My AI Front Desk all book into calendars such as Google or Outlook and send confirmation texts. Check that the calendar connection is included in the plan you are pricing, since some vendors keep integrations on higher tiers.
Can an AI receptionist take orders and payments?
Some can. Maple Pro takes restaurant orders into the POS with payment on the call, and Serviio submits orders to the POS for 2% per order. AZ's phone host builds the order, texts a pay link and sends the ticket to the kitchen only after it is paid.
Will callers know they are talking to AI?
Many will, and most callers care more about getting a fast, correct answer than about who gives it. On our own line some callers still hang up during the greeting. A short greeting, quick answers and a clear way to leave a message keep hang-ups down.
How long does it take to set up an AI receptionist?
Self-serve tools can answer basic questions within a day once you write your answers. Getting it to handle your real calls well takes longer. We plan on about three months running alongside staff before an AI phone host carries nearly all calls on its own.
Tell us what is eating your week. We show you it automated on your own setup.
Same-day reply. No vendor commissions, so we recommend whatever fits, including a tool that is not ours.
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