Virtual receptionist pricing in the US runs from about $39 a month for an AI receptionist to $99 to $1,725 a month for a live receptionist plan with 50 to 500 included minutes. The biggest names sit far apart at the same volume: 50 minutes costs $99 at PATLive and $250 at Ruby, and Smith.ai sells 30 calls for $300. If callers only need to reach the right person, an automated phone menu does the job for a flat per-user price, $17 a seat on Phoner Team billed yearly, with no meter running.
Every live figure below was read on the providers' own pricing pages on October 5, 2026: ruby.com, patlive.com and smith.ai. The AI receptionist figures come from Talkroute's published rate card on the same day. We left out anything a vendor does not print.
How much does a virtual receptionist cost per month?
A live virtual receptionist costs $99 to $1,725 a month on published US plans, depending on how many minutes or calls you buy. Per-minute plans start at $99 for 50 minutes (PATLive) and $250 for the same 50 at Ruby. Per-call plans start at $300 for 30 calls (Smith.ai). AI receptionists start near $39 a month plus usage, and an automated menu costs a flat per-user fee.
| Provider and plan | Monthly price | Included volume | Effective rate | Overage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PATLive pay as you go | $49 | None | $2.99 per minute | $2.99 per minute |
| PATLive 50 | $99 | 50 minutes | $1.98 per minute | $2.29 per minute |
| PATLive 200 | $349 | 200 minutes | $1.75 per minute | $1.99 per minute |
| PATLive 500 | $759 | 500 minutes | $1.52 per minute | $1.79 per minute |
| Ruby 50 | $250 | 50 minutes | $5.00 per minute | Not published |
| Ruby 100 | $395 | 100 minutes | $3.95 per minute | Not published |
| Ruby 200 | $720 | 200 minutes | $3.60 per minute | Not published |
| Ruby 500 | $1,725 | 500 minutes | $3.45 per minute | Not published |
| Smith.ai 30 calls | $300 | 30 calls | $10.00 per call | $11.50 per call |
| Smith.ai 90 calls | $810 | 90 calls | $9.00 per call | $10.50 per call |
| Smith.ai 300 calls | $2,100 | 300 calls | $7.00 per call | $8.50 per call |
The effective rate column is ours: the plan price divided by what it includes. No vendor prints it, and it is the only number that lets you compare a minute plan with a call plan. Taxes are extra on all of them, and add-ons such as appointment booking ($1.50 a call at Smith.ai) or call recording and transcription ($0.25 a call at Smith.ai) are priced on top.
Live, AI or automated, three different purchases
The phrase "virtual receptionist" now covers three products that cost very different amounts, and most pricing guides blur them together.
A live virtual receptionist is a person at a remote answering company who picks up in your business name, takes a message, screens the caller or transfers the call. You pay for their time, so the bill tracks your call volume and call length. This is what Ruby, PATLive and Smith.ai sell.
An AI receptionist is software that speaks to the caller, answers common questions, takes a message or books a slot. It is usually billed per minute of AI talk time on top of a base fee. Talkroute, for example, sells its AI receptionist as an add-on to its phone plans: $39 a month plus $0.40 a minute, or $59 with 100 minutes, $99 with 250 and $199 with 750.
An automated attendant is the phone menu itself: a recorded greeting, "press 1 for sales, 2 for service", business hours rules and voicemail that gets transcribed and emailed. Nobody talks to the caller, so there is no meter. On Phoner's automated phone answering this sits on the Team plan at $17 a user billed yearly, with a 3-user minimum.
Which one you need depends on what callers want. If they want a person to take a detailed message or book an appointment, you need a live or AI receptionist. If they mostly need to reach the right person or department, a menu does it for a fraction of the cost.
Is a virtual receptionist cheaper than hiring a receptionist?
Yes, for nearly every small business. A full-time in-house receptionist costs tens of thousands of dollars a year in wages before benefits and payroll taxes, while even Ruby's 500-minute plan is $20,700 a year and PATLive's 500 minutes is $9,108. A business that takes fewer than 20 calls a day rarely needs a full-time person just to answer the phone.
The comparison changes if the receptionist also greets visitors, handles mail and runs the front office. A remote service only answers the phone. Price the in-person duties separately before you decide that a virtual receptionist replaces the role.
Is it better to pay per minute or per call?
Per minute is better when calls are short, and per call is better when calls are long. A 40-second "are you open Saturday" call costs about $2 on a per-minute plan and $10 on Smith.ai's per-call plan. An eight-minute intake call costs about $16 to $40 per minute and still $10 per call. Work out your average call length from your phone bill before you pick a model.
Two billing details push per-minute costs up. Ruby bills in 60-second increments rounded up, so a 25-second call is a full minute. AnswerConnect, another per-minute service, counts the time its receptionist spends writing up your message after the caller hangs up. Short, frequent calls therefore bill well above their talk time.
What is the cheapest virtual receptionist service?
For live answering with included minutes, PATLive is the cheapest published plan we found: $99 for 50 minutes, or $1.98 a minute, against $5.00 a minute at Ruby for the same 50. For very low volume, PATLive's $49 pay-as-you-go plan at $2.99 a minute can cost less still. AI receptionists are cheaper again per call but answer from a script.
The cheapest option overall is not a receptionist at all. If your callers can choose from a menu, an automated attendant answers every call for a flat fee. On Phoner Team, three people with a menu, ring groups, business texting and call recording pay $51 a month billed yearly, about one fourteenth of Ruby's 200-minute plan, and the price does not move in your busiest month.
What to check before you sign
- The overage rate. Smith.ai charges more per extra call ($11.50) than its smallest plan works out to ($10.00). Ruby does not publish an overage rate at all, so ask for it in writing.
- Your busiest month, not your average one. A tax practice in April or a roofer after a storm can double its minutes. Price the tier above if two busy months of overage would cost more.
- Setup and add-ons. Booking, intake questions, Spanish answering, recording and CRM entries are often per-call add-ons. Smith.ai lists appointment booking at $1.50 a call and a Spanish line at $1.00.
- The refund terms. Smith.ai offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on the plan, up to $1,000, excluding overage. Check whether your provider has one before the first invoice.
- Who owns the number. Make sure calls reach the service by forwarding from a number you own, so you can leave without reprinting your cards.
How a phone menu and a receptionist work together
Many offices end up with both. The phone menu answers every call first and sends sales, billing and existing clients straight to the right person or ring group. Only the calls nobody picks up, or calls outside business hours, roll over to the live answering service. That cuts the minutes you buy, often to the smallest plan, because routine calls never reach the receptionist.
On Phoner you build that in the visual menu editor on the Team plan: a greeting, menu options, a ring group per department, business hours, and an after-hours rule that forwards to your answering service's number. A salon or clinic that takes most of its calls to book appointments can cut them further by moving bookings online with salon booking software, so the phone is left for the calls that need a person.
If you are pricing the live side in detail, our answering service cost page breaks down every PATLive tier, Ruby's four plans, AnswerConnect's setup fee and add-ons, and the per-call model. To see the whole phone system around it, the small business phone system page compares the published plans.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a virtual receptionist cost per hour?
Live services do not bill by the hour; they bill by the minute of receptionist time or by the call. On published plans that works out to about $1.50 to $5.00 per minute, which is $90 to $300 for a full hour of talk time. Most small businesses use far less than an hour a day.
Do virtual receptionists answer 24/7?
The major live services do. Smith.ai states that calls at 2 pm and 2 am cost the same, and Ruby and PATLive answer around the clock. AI receptionists and automated menus answer at any hour by design, with an after-hours greeting and voicemail transcription.
Can a virtual receptionist transfer calls to my cell phone?
Yes. Live services transfer to the destinations you set, and Smith.ai includes one transfer destination on its 30-call plan, two on 90 calls and ten on 300 calls, with extra destinations at $15 a month. An automated menu on Phoner rings a person's cell or a whole ring group directly.
What is the difference between a virtual receptionist and an answering service?
Mostly the depth of the work. An answering service takes messages; a virtual receptionist also screens, transfers, books appointments and handles intake questions in your business name. Prices overlap, and the same companies sell both, so compare the tasks included per call or minute rather than the label.
For the full live-answering rate cards, see answering service pricing per month, and for an auto attendant that answers every call for a flat fee, see automated business call answering.
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