The three ways AI receptionists bill you
How a vendor counts usage changes your bill more than the headline price does.
- Per call (Upfirst, Smith.ai). You pay for each answered call, however long it runs. This favors long calls, like an HVAC customer explaining a no-cool problem. Upfirst doesn’t bill spam, silent calls or calls under 15 seconds. Smith.ai counts answered spam by default but lets you remove up to 10% each cycle.
- Per minute (Rosie, My AI Front Desk, Ruby). You buy a bucket of minutes. This favors short calls. Rosie rounds every call up to the next full minute.
- Per unique customer (Goodcall). You pay for each different phone number the agent helps in a month. Callbacks from the same person are free, and spam and wrong numbers don’t count.
Published plans side by side (official pricing, Oct 26 2026)
| Vendor | Plan | Monthly price | Included | Overage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upfirst | Starter | $24.95 ($20 annual) | 30 calls | $1.50/call |
| Upfirst | Premium | $59.95 ($48 annual) | 90 calls | $1.00/call |
| Upfirst | Pro | $159.95 ($128 annual) | 300 calls | $0.75/call |
| Upfirst | Scale | $299 ($240 annual) | 600 calls | $0.70/call |
| Rosie | Professional | $49 | 250 min | Auto-upgrade to next plan |
| Rosie | Scale | $149 | 1,000 min | Auto-upgrade to next plan |
| Rosie | Growth | $299 | 2,000 min | Not stated |
| My AI Front Desk | Business-in-a-Box | $99 ($79 annual) | 200 voice min, 100 chats, 400 texts | $0.25/voice min (credits) |
| Smith.ai AI | Free | $0 | 25 calls | $3.00/call |
| Smith.ai AI | Pro | $150 | 75 calls | $2.50/call |
| Smith.ai AI | Enterprise | $500 | 300 calls | $2.17/call |
| Goodcall | Starter | $79 | 100 unique customers | $0.79/customer |
| Goodcall | Growth | $129 | 500 unique customers | $0.26/customer |
| Goodcall | Scale | $299 | 2,000 unique customers | $0.15/customer |
Smith.ai Pro also comes in 150-call ($1.80/call) and 300-call ($1.67/call) sizes, with $2.30 and $2.17 overage. Enterprise also has a 500-call size at $1.60/call with $2.10 overage. Custom pricing applies above 600 calls on Upfirst and above 1,000 calls on Smith.ai.
What the human options cost
| Vendor | Plan | Monthly price | Included | Works out to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ruby | 50 min | $250 | 50 min | $5.00/min |
| Ruby | 100 min | $395 | 100 min | $3.95/min |
| Ruby | 200 min | $720 | 200 min | $3.60/min |
| Ruby | 500 min | $1,725 | 500 min | $3.45/min |
| Smith.ai human-first | Starter | $300 | 30 calls | $10.00/call ($11.50 over) |
| Smith.ai human-first | Basic | $810 | 90 calls | $9.00/call ($10.50 over) |
| Smith.ai human-first | Pro | $2,100 | 300 calls | $7.00/call ($8.50 over) |
Ruby has no setup fees and puts every feature on every plan. Its pricing page doesn’t list a per-minute overage rate. Smith.ai’s human-first add-ons include appointment booking at $1.50/call, call recording at $0.25 and a Spanish line at $1.00. It also has a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Worked example: a busy two-truck shop
Assume 100 answered calls a month that average 3 minutes each (300 minutes), from about 80 different callers. Here’s what each vendor’s published pricing implies:
| Vendor | Cheapest fit | Estimated monthly cost |
|---|---|---|
| Upfirst | Premium (90 calls) + 10 extra calls at $1 | $69.95 |
| Rosie | 300 min is over Professional’s 250, so Scale | $149 |
| My AI Front Desk | 200 min included + 100 extra min | About $114 to $119 (see below) |
| Goodcall | Starter (80 unique customers) | $79 |
| Smith.ai AI | Pro 75 calls + 25 extra at $2.50 | $212.50 |
| Ruby | 300 min doesn’t fit the 200-min plan | $720 plus unlisted overage, or $1,725 |
How we got the My AI Front Desk number: 100 extra minutes at 25 credits each is 2,500 credits. The plan’s 1,000-credit monthly pool covers 40 of those minutes. The other 1,500 credits come from auto-reloads of $10 per 1,000 credits, so you’d pay $20 for two reloads and keep 500 leftover credits, which don’t expire. That’s about $99 plus $15 to $20.
Change the assumptions and the order changes:
- Short calls (1 minute average): 100 minutes fits easily in Rosie Professional ($49).
- Lots of repeat callers: Goodcall gets cheaper, because callbacks from the same number count once.
- Long calls (5+ minutes): per-call plans like Upfirst don’t charge more for the extra time.
Hidden costs to check before you sign
- Overage rules. Rosie’s terms say an overage upgrades you to the next plan for the current period and at least the next two billing periods, and payments aren’t refundable. Read this before choosing the smallest plan.
- Spam. Upfirst doesn’t bill spam or calls under 15 seconds. Smith.ai lets you remove up to 10% of answered calls as spam. If you get a lot of robocalls, this matters.
- Rounding. Rosie bills in 60-second increments, rounded up. Twenty 10-second hang-ups use 20 minutes.
- Trial usage. My AI Front Desk’s terms say usage fees can still apply during the 7-day free trial, and the subscription starts automatically when the trial ends.
- Extra locations. Upfirst charges $9.95/mo for each additional agent if you run more than one business or location.
- Integrations. Most of these connect to Jobber, Housecall Pro or ServiceTitan through Zapier, which has its own plans. Our Jobber pricing and Housecall Pro pricing pages cover the software side.
- Cancellation. Smith.ai’s AI plans are month to month with 30 days’ notice. My AI Front Desk cancels at the end of your billing period. Upfirst says there’s no contract.
Is it worth it?
The math is simple. If one missed emergency call is worth a few hundred dollars in a trade like plumbing, HVAC or electrical, an AI receptionist at $25 to $150 a month pays for itself with one extra booked job. A human service at $250 to $720 a month needs more booked jobs, or bigger tickets, to cover its cost.
You don’t need to answer every call to start. Forward only missed or after-hours calls, which all of these tools support, and see how many real leads come in during the trial.
Our picks by budget
- Under $30/mo: Upfirst Starter ($24.95, 30 calls) or Smith.ai Free (25 calls).
- $50 to $150/mo: Upfirst Premium or Pro, Rosie Scale, Goodcall Starter or Growth, or My AI Front Desk.
- $150 to $300/mo: Rosie Growth, Upfirst Scale or Smith.ai Pro, for higher volume or human backup.
- $250+/mo for people: Ruby, or Smith.ai human-first.
Next steps: compare features in best AI receptionist for small business, read the Upfirst review or the My AI Front Desk review, or see Rosie vs Goodcall.
FAQ
What’s the cheapest AI receptionist? Smith.ai’s Free plan costs $0 for 25 calls a month, then $3 a call. The cheapest paid plan we found is Upfirst Starter at $24.95 a month, or $20 a month billed annually.
Are there setup fees? Upfirst says none and offers a free 30-minute onboarding call. Ruby says none. None of the other pricing pages we checked list a setup fee.
Do I pay for a phone number? Upfirst, Rosie and Goodcall include a number, and all of these tools let you forward your existing line.
Sources
- Upfirst pricing and FAQ: https://upfirst.ai/pricing (checked Oct 26 2026)
- Rosie pricing: https://heyrosie.com/pricing (checked Oct 26 2026)
- Rosie terms: https://heyrosie.com/legal/terms (checked Oct 26 2026)
- My AI Front Desk pricing and billing help: https://www.myaifrontdesk.com/pricing, https://www.myaifrontdesk.com/help/billing/plans (checked Oct 26 2026)
- My AI Front Desk terms: https://www.myaifrontdesk.com/terms-of-service (checked Oct 26 2026)
- Smith.ai AI Receptionist pricing: https://smith.ai/pricing/ai-receptionist (checked Oct 26 2026)
- Smith.ai human-first pricing: https://smith.ai/pricing (checked Oct 26 2026)
- Goodcall pricing: https://www.goodcall.com/pricing (checked Oct 26 2026)
- Ruby pricing: https://www.ruby.com/pricing (checked Oct 26 2026)