Quick Answer
At 100 three-minute calls a month, published prices run from $79 (Goodcall) to $1,725 (Ruby). At 500 calls, Goodcall is $129, PATLive $2,344 and Smith.ai $3,800. Self-serve AI is cheapest. Human services cost the most because you pay for every minute. Sockly is $997 for up to 500 calls, set up for you.
Every pricing page leads with its smallest plan. That tells you nothing unless you get 30 calls a month. So we took each service's published rates and worked out two real months: 100 calls and 500 calls, three minutes each. Your call length moves the per-minute numbers, so rerun them with your own.
How we worked out the totals
We picked the cheapest published plan plus overage for each volume. A self-serve service assumes you set it up yourself. Goodcall counts unique callers, so we assumed each call came from a different number, which is its most expensive case.
- PATLive at 500 calls: 1,500 minutes is the $1,499 plan for 1,000 minutes, plus 500 extra minutes at $1.69.
- Smith.ai at 100 calls: $810 for 90 calls, plus 10 extra calls at $10.50.
- Dialzara at 100 calls: $99 for 220 minutes, plus 80 extra minutes at $0.45.
- Ruby at 100 calls: 300 minutes needs the 500-minute plan, because its page doesn't publish overage rates.
What the cheap column doesn't include
Self-serve AI is cheap because the work is yours: writing the script, connecting the calendar, testing it and fixing it when a caller gets a wrong answer. If you'll do that, Goodcall or Dialzara will save you real money, and you should buy one. If you won't, the setup never gets finished and the phone keeps ringing out.
Where Sockly sits
Sockly is not the cheapest here and doesn't try to be. It's $997 a month for up to 500 calls, with $0 setup, and we do the setup for you. At low volume a self-serve tool costs less. At 500 calls it costs less than every human service here that publishes a price.
Monthly cost at 100 and 500 three-minute calls
| Service | Type | How it bills | 100 calls a month | 500 calls a month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goodcall | AI, self-serve | Per unique caller | $79 | $129 |
| Dialzara | AI, self-serve | Per minute | $135 | $524 |
| My AI Front Desk | AI, self-serve | Per minute | $114 | $414 |
| PATLive | Human | Per minute | $479 | $2,344 |
| Smith.ai | Human + AI | Per call | $915 | $3,800 |
| Sockly | AI front office, set up for you | Per call, never per minute | $997 | $997 |
| Ruby | Human | Per minute | $1,725 | Not published |
| AnswerConnect | Human, 24/7 | Per minute | Not published | Not published |
Prices from each company's own pricing page, checked November 6, 2026. "Not published" means the vendor quotes after a form or a call. Confirm on their site. Totals are our arithmetic on those published rates, assuming 3-minute calls. AnswerConnect shows a quote form today; on October 29 we saw $350 for 200 minutes plus $49.99 setup.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does an answering service cost per month?
Published plans start under $100 for AI and around $100 to $300 for live answering, but those plans cover very few calls. At 100 calls a month, expect anywhere from about $80 to $1,700 depending on the type.
Is per-minute or per-call billing cheaper?
Short calls favor per-minute billing and long ones favor per-call. Intake calls that run five minutes or more get expensive fast on a minute plan. Check your average call length before you choose.
Are there setup fees?
Ruby's page says it has no activation or setup fees, and Sockly's setup is $0. Alert Communications says setup fees may apply. Ask before you sign with anyone else.
Price is half of it. The other half is how it sounds. Call 470-280-8910 and say your business name to hear it answer as you.
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Related Resources
Published: November 6, 2026
Last Updated: November 6, 2026