How answering services charge
Three models, one pattern.
Per minute: you buy a bucket of minutes and pay overage past it. Budget services run about $1.30 to $2.00 a minute inside a plan; premium virtual receptionists about $2.75 to $5.00. Per call: a bucket of calls regardless of length, about $7 to $11.50 each. Flat or near-flat: mostly AI receptionists, priced by minutes, customers or conversations at a fraction of human rates.
The pattern across the human models: a busy month is an expensive month, and the after-hours emergency season, when calls matter most, is when the meter spins fastest.
Published rates
What the well-known services charge.
| Service | Model | Entry plan | Larger plans | Overage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Specialty Answering Service | Per minute (per second) | $44, no minutes | $159 / 100 min, $649 / 500 min | $1.29 to $1.54 a min |
| MAP Communications | Per minute | $49, no minutes | $179 / 125 min, $649 / 500 min | $1.28 to $1.37 a min |
| PATLive | Per minute | $99 / 50 min | $349 / 200 min, $759 / 500 min | $1.79 to $2.99 a min |
| Abby Connect | Per minute | $165 / 50 min | $599 / 200 min, $1,380 / 500 min | Plan rate |
| Ruby | Per minute | $250 / 50 min | $720 / 200 min, $1,725 / 500 min | Not published |
| Smith.ai | Per call | $300 / 30 calls | $810 / 90 calls, $2,100 / 300 calls | $8.50 to $11.50 a call |
Monthly cost by call volume
What a trade line actually spends.
| Service | 100 calls / month | 200 calls / month | 400 calls / month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Specialty Answering Service | $312 | $649 | $1,199 |
| MAP Communications | $339 | $649 | $1,289 |
| PATLive | $449 | $759 | $1,499 |
| Abby Connect (human) | $749 | $1,380 | $2,760 |
| Ruby | About $940 | $1,725 | Over $1,725 |
| Smith.ai | $915 | $1,965 | $2,950 |
| Jobber Receptionist (AI) | $29 to $84 | $108 to $163 | $266 to $321 |
| Linq (AI receptionist + the platform) | $179 | $179 | $179 |
How the table is built
About 2.5 minutes a call, so 100 calls is 250 minutes. Each figure is the service's cheapest published plan plus overage, before tax and add-ons such as appointment booking. Jobber Receptionist is $29 a month plus $0.79 per conversation past its allowance (30 or 100, its help articles disagree). The Linq row is the whole Growth plan, of which the AI receptionist is one part.
Night and holiday surcharges
The big names do not charge extra.
Ruby, PATLive, Smith.ai, Abby and Specialty Answering Service all state they charge nothing extra for nights, weekends or holidays. Some smaller services do add an after-hours premium, so ask before you sign. And that money buys message-taking: with most services the job still has to be booked by a human the next morning, which is the hidden second cost.
The AI receptionist math
The model where the meter disappeared.
AI receptionists changed the structure, not just the price: they answer instantly at any hour and, when built into your field service platform, book the job into the actual schedule instead of taking a message about it. Standalone ones run about $49 to $300 a month (Rosie by minutes, Goodcall by customer). Platform add-ons meter per conversation: Jobber's is $0.79 each past the allowance. On Linq the 24/7 AI receptionist is part of Growth and up, with no per-minute anything.
Which model fits
Match it to the calls you get.
Complex intake that needs human judgment: a human service, priced accordingly. Low volume, business hours only: voicemail plus fast callbacks might genuinely be fine. Emergency trades where the after-hours call is the business: the AI math is hard to beat, because your busiest month costs the same as your slowest.
Try it on a real week
Fourteen days. Your actual jobs.
Not a sandbox with fake customers in it. Put a real week through the board, answer real calls with it, and see what the Friday number looks like. Fourteen days, no card, cancel any day.
Answering service cost questions
How much does an answering service cost per month?
For a trade line, about $300 to $950 a month at 100 calls, $650 to $2,000 at 200 calls and $1,200 to $3,000 at 400, depending on the service and model. Entry plans start from $44 to $300 a month.
How much is an answering service per minute?
About $1.30 to $2.00 a minute at budget services such as Specialty Answering Service, MAP and PATLive, and $2.75 to $5.00 at premium virtual receptionists such as Abby and Ruby. Overage runs $1.09 to $2.99 a minute.
What does a virtual receptionist cost?
Ruby is $250 a month for 50 minutes up to $1,725 for 500; Abby is $165 for 50 minutes up to $1,380 for 500; Smith.ai is $300 for 30 calls up to $2,100 for 300.
Is an AI receptionist cheaper than an answering service?
Usually, by a lot: about $30 to $330 a month at volumes where a human service costs $300 to $3,000. The deeper difference is output: an answering service takes a message; an AI receptionist built into your platform books the job. Linq includes one on Growth plans and up.
Do answering services charge more after hours?
The large ones do not: Ruby, PATLive, Smith.ai, Abby and Specialty Answering Service include nights, weekends and holidays at the same rate. Some smaller services add a premium, so ask.
Sources
Rates from each service's own pricing page as of October 2026, in USD: Ruby, Smith.ai, PATLive, Abby Connect, MAP, Specialty Answering Service, and Jobber's Receptionist help article. Rechecked monthly; corrections welcome.
Get started
Hear tomorrow's calls book themselves.
The 24/7 AI receptionist is included on Growth and up, inside the platform that schedules, dispatches and invoices the job. Start free, or see what missed calls already cost you with the missed call calculator.
