How much does an AI receptionist cost?
Guide For any business Updated 10 min read By the Solwees team
An AI receptionist costs from $24.95 to $1,199 a month on monthly plans published in October 2026; Smith.ai has a free plan for 25 calls and Bite Buddy charges per order with no monthly fee. In Solwees chats cost €99 a month; calls from €99 a month on Solo plus a pack of 100 minutes for €39 bought once, or €249 a month on Studio with 100 minutes every month.
Key takeaways
- The unit matters more than the headline price: minutes, calls, conversations, active clients or a flat fee per location.
- A human answering service costs several times more per minute: Ruby charges $395 a month for 100 minutes, Rosie $49 for 250.[1, 2]
- With Solwees the bill follows active clients and call minutes: Solo €99, Studio €249, minute packs from €39.[3]
What you pay for in an AI receptionist
An AI receptionist is software that answers calls and messages for a business, books appointments and hands the conversation to a person when it should. Its price is a monthly subscription for one location plus usage: the minutes it talks, the calls it takes or the clients it serves. Languages, integrations and extra channels can move a business to a higher plan.
All prices below come from the vendors’ own pricing pages, read on 2 October 2026, in the currency each vendor uses.
The six pricing models on the market
AI receptionist vendors charge in six ways: by the minute, by the call, by the conversation or order, by the number of clients served, by a flat monthly fee per location, and by quote. Most combine a monthly fee with one of these units. The table gives published examples of each model.
| Model | How it works | Published examples |
|---|---|---|
| Per minute | A monthly fee includes a number of minutes; extra minutes are billed | Rosie: $49 for 250 minutes, $149 for 1,000, $299 for 2,000.[2] Dialzara: $29 for 60 minutes, $99 for 220, $199 for 500, overage $0.40 to $0.48 a minute.[4] CloudTalk: €99 for 200 minutes.[5] Viva AI: $349 for 4,000 credits, 10 credits per call minute.[6] |
| Per call | A monthly fee includes a number of calls, whatever their length | Upfirst: $24.95 for 30 calls, then $1.50 a call; $159.95 for 300 calls.[7] Smith.ai AI Receptionist: free for 25 calls, $150 for 75 calls, $500 for 300.[8] |
| Per conversation or order | Only a completed result is billed | Bite Buddy: $1.50 per completed phone order.[9] Rosie website texting: $50 for 25 conversations, then $1 each.[2] |
| Per client served | The plan counts people, not minutes or messages | Goodcall: $79 a month per agent for 100 unique customers, $0.50 for each one above.[10] Solwees: €99 a month for 400 active clients.[3] |
| Flat fee per location | One price per site; usage limits are not published | Slang AI: from $399 per location, Premium from $599.[11] |
| By quote | No public price; a demo comes first | Loman AI: “Request Pricing”, with “No per minute fees”. |
Setup fees are the exception, not the rule. None of the pricing pages read for this guide lists one, and Dialzara, CloudTalk, Smith.ai, Abby and Ruby state that there is none.[1, 4, +3] Vendors that sell by quote do not say either way, so ask. For prices by industry see the comparisons for restaurants and clinics.
What drives the bill: volume, languages, integrations
Three things move an AI receptionist bill: how much it is used, which languages it must speak and which systems it must write into. Usage decides the plan. Languages and integrations often sit in higher plans or add-ons, so the plan a business actually needs can cost several times the entry price.
- Call volume. Dialzara plans step from 60 to 220, 500 and 1,000 minutes ($29 to $349); Upfirst from 30 to 600 calls ($24.95 to $299).[4, 7]
- Languages. Rosie includes English and Spanish on every plan. Slang AI puts Spanish in its Premium plan or sells it as an add-on. Smith.ai charges $1.00 a call for a dedicated Spanish line with human receptionists.[2, 11, 12] The Solwees price list has no charge for languages.
- Integrations. Rosie books on a calendar from the $149 plan. CloudTalk moves work inside other systems to its AI Specialist tier, from €349 a month. Smith.ai charges $1.50 a call for appointment booking by human receptionists.[2, 5, 12] In Solwees integrations with booking systems and CRMs start at the Solo plan.
- Channels and seats. Rosie sells website texting as a $50 add-on.[2] In Solwees messengers are part of the plan; Viber is €25 a month and a team seat above the included ones is €15.[3]
- Billing period. Rosie gives two months free on annual billing, Upfirst 20% off.[2, 7] Solwees takes 5, 10 or 15% off everything for 3, 6 or 12 months: plans, modules, minute and client packs, seats.[3]
Worked examples with Solwees prices
The two examples below use Solwees prices as of October 2026. The volumes are illustrations, not measurements: put your own numbers in their place. Solwees counts active clients (people the assistant answered in a chat or on a call that month) and call minutes. Minute packs are bought once and do not expire, so a figure with a pack is a monthly average. The figures are without the term discount.[3]
Example: a salon with 250 active clients and 80 call minutes a month
A salon with 250 active clients and 80 call minutes a month pays about €130 on Solo with a minute pack, or €249 on Studio.
| Option | Arithmetic | Per month |
|---|---|---|
| Solo plus a minute pack | €99 plan (400 active clients). Calls from a 100-minute pack for €39 (enough for 1.25 months), so €0.39 a minute: 80 × 0.39 = €31.20 | €130.20 |
| Studio | €249 plan with 100 call minutes and 1,000 active clients included | €249 |
At this volume Solo with a pack is the cheaper way to have calls answered. Studio adds outbound calls and calling campaigns, advanced analytics and weekly conversation summaries, and raises the limit from 400 to 1,000 active clients. Reminders and win-back messages are the Marketing module, €19 a month more on either plan.
Example: a restaurant with 600 active guests and 400 call minutes a month
A restaurant with 600 active guests and 400 call minutes a month pays about €238 on Solo with packs, or about €324 on Studio with a minute pack.
| Option | Arithmetic | Per month |
|---|---|---|
| Solo plus packs | €99 plan, 200 more active clients for €39 (600 is exactly the limit). Calls from a 1,000-minute pack for €249 (enough for 2.5 months), so €0.249 a minute: 400 × 0.249 = €99.60 | €237.60 |
| Studio plus a minute pack | €249 plan with 100 minutes. 300 more from a 1,000-minute pack: 300 × 0.249 = €74.70 | €323.70 |
| Studio with paid overage | €249 plus 300 minutes at €0.40 = €120. Overage works only with a spending cap you set | €369 |
| Network | €499 plan with 300 minutes. 100 more × 0.249 = €24.90 | €523.90 |
At this volume Solo with packs is the cheapest way, €237.60 a month. It has no outbound calls or calling campaigns, no advanced analytics and no weekly summaries; with those, Studio with a minute pack is €323.70. Network pays off for several branches with one shared channel and a quality check of answers, not for minutes alone. The full price list is on the pricing page; the 7-day trial needs no card.
How the cost compares with a human answering service
A human answering service is priced per minute or per call, and its published rates are several times higher than those of an AI receptionist. For 100 minutes a month Ruby charges $395, Abby $329 and PATLive $189; Smith.ai charges $300 for 30 calls.[1, 12-14] In Solwees 100 call minutes are a €39 pack on top of a €99 plan.
| Provider | Unit | Published monthly prices |
|---|---|---|
| Ruby | Receptionist minutes | $250 for 50 minutes, $395 for 100, $720 for 200, $1,725 for 500[1] |
| Abby | Abby Minutes: one human minute or two AI minutes | $165 for 50, $329 for 100, $599 for 200, $1,380 for 500[13] |
| PATLive | Minutes | $49 plus $2.99 a minute pay as you go; $99 for 50 minutes, $189 for 100, $349 for 200[14] |
| Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists | Calls | $300 for 30 calls, $810 for 90, $2,100 for 300; overage $8.50 to $11.50 a call[12] |
What the higher price buys is a person on every call, which matters for legal intake or an upset customer. Abby and Smith.ai now sell both human and AI answering.[8, 13] See how Solwees compares with Smith.ai and Ruby.
What the monthly price does not include
The monthly price of an AI receptionist rarely covers everything. Check three things before signing: what happens above the included volume, what happens at the limit, and what third parties bill on top. With the official WhatsApp API, for example, WhatsApp bills the business directly for template messages and, since October 2026, for replies above the first 1,000 a month per number; Solwees adds nothing on top.[15]
- Overage. Dialzara bills $0.35 to $0.48 for each extra minute, Upfirst $0.70 to $1.50 for each extra call, Viva AI $0.08 to $0.10 for each extra credit.[4, 6, 7] Solwees bills €0.40 a minute above the plan, only with a spending cap set by the client.[3]
- The limit. In Solwees calls stop when the cap or the pack is used up, and above the active client limit plus 10% new clients get a short auto-reply.[3] Ask every vendor what a caller hears when the plan runs out.
- A person for the hard cases. An AI receptionist hands some conversations to staff. Someone on the team has to take them, and that time is not on the invoice.
How to estimate your own cost
To estimate what an AI receptionist will cost your business, take three numbers from last month: how many calls came in, how long they lasted on average, and how many different clients wrote in chats. Calls multiplied by length gives minutes. Then price that volume on two or three price lists, overage included.
- Take the number of calls and their total length from the phone bill or the telephony report.
- Count the clients who wrote in WhatsApp, Instagram and website chat.
- Find the plan that includes your booking system and your languages; the entry plan often does not.
- Run a trial on real calls: Solwees and Rosie give 7 days, Upfirst and PATLive 14 days.[2, 3, +2]
Questions about AI receptionist prices
How much does an AI receptionist cost per month?
On monthly plans published in October 2026 an AI receptionist costs from $24.95 (Upfirst, 30 calls) to $1,199 (Viva AI Diamond). Monthly plans built for dental offices and restaurants start at $349 (Viva AI) and $399 (Slang AI).[6, 7, 11] In Solwees chats cost €99 a month; calls from €99 a month on Solo plus a pack of 100 minutes for €39 bought once, or €249 a month on Studio with 100 minutes every month.[3]
Is an AI receptionist cheaper than an answering service?
On published prices, yes. A human answering service charges $189 to $395 for 100 minutes a month (PATLive, Abby, Ruby), while AI plans include 250 minutes for $49 (Rosie) or 200 minutes for €99 (CloudTalk).[1, 2, +3] The human service gives a person on every call; decide which calls need that.
Are there setup fees for an AI receptionist?
Usually not on self-serve products. Dialzara, CloudTalk, Smith.ai, Abby and Ruby state that they charge no setup fee, and none of the pricing pages read for this guide lists one.[1, 4, +3] Vendors that sell by quote do not publish their terms, so ask about onboarding and integration work.
What is the cheapest AI receptionist?
The lowest published prices in October 2026 are the Smith.ai free plan (25 calls a month, then $3.00 a call), Upfirst at $24.95 for 30 calls and Dialzara at $29 for 60 minutes.[4, 7, 8] The cheapest plan is rarely the one that books into your system, so compare the plan you would actually use.
How much does Solwees cost?
Solwees is priced per location, per month: Hub €39 (a shared inbox, no assistant), Solo €99 (the assistant in chats, 400 active clients), Studio €249 (adds answering phone calls, outbound calls and calling campaigns, 100 minutes, 1,000 active clients), Network €499 (adds a network of branches with one shared channel, quality check of answers, 300 minutes, 2,500 active clients), Enterprise from €999. Minute packs cost €39, €149 or €249 for 100, 500 or 1,000 minutes. As of October 2026.[3]
Do AI receptionists charge for chat and WhatsApp messages?
It depends on the model. Solwees counts active clients, not messages. Rosie bills website texting by conversation, and Viva AI spends 5 credits on each AI-answered message.[2, 3, 6] Separately, on its official API WhatsApp bills the business directly for template messages and, since October 2026, for replies above the first 1,000 a month per number; Solwees adds nothing on top.[15]
Sources (15)
All sources were accessed on .
- Ruby. Ruby plans and pricing.
- Rosie. Rosie AI plans and pricing.
- Solwees. Solwees pricing.
- Dialzara. Dialzara AI receptionist pricing.
- CloudTalk. CloudTalk pricing.
- Viva AI. Viva AI: AI dental receptionist, pricing.
- Upfirst. Upfirst pricing.
- Smith.ai. Smith.ai plans and pricing for AI Receptionist.
- Bite Buddy. Bite Buddy: pricing.
- Goodcall. Goodcall pricing.
- Slang AI. Slang AI pricing.
- Smith.ai. Smith.ai plans and pricing for Virtual Receptionists.
- Abby Connect. Abby virtual receptionist pricing.
- PATLive. PATLive pricing.
- Meta. Pricing on the WhatsApp Business Platform.
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