AI Receptionist Cost in 2026: What You Will Actually Pay

An AI receptionist usually costs between $29 and $500 a month for a small business, depending on how many calls you get and how the vendor counts them. Turnkey tools charge a monthly plan with minutes, calls or callers included. Custom-built agents charge per minute of usage on top of a one-time build. Either way it is a small fraction of a full-time hire, though it does not replace everything a person does.

How is AI receptionist pricing structured?

There are four common models, and which one is cheapest for you depends on the shape of your calls.

Setup fees vary. Dialzara's pricing page says its plans have no setup fees, while its done-for-you service starts at $1,500 or more. CloudTalk's breakdown says Smith.ai has no separate setup fee on its AI tiers. Custom builds always carry a build cost, because someone has to write the call flows and connect your systems.

What do turnkey AI receptionists cost?

• Dialzara: $29 a month for 60 minutes up to $349 for 1,000 minutes, with overage from $0.48 to $0.35 a minute, per its pricing page.
• Rosie: $49 for 250 minutes, $149 for 1,000 and $299 for 2,000, per its pricing page.
• My AI Front Desk: $99 a month, or $79 billed yearly, for 200 minutes, then $0.25 a minute, per its pricing page.
• RingCentral AI Receptionist: $49 a month standalone with 100 minutes, then $0.50 a minute, per its pricing page.
• Goodcall: $79, $129 or $249 a month for 100, 250 or 500 unique callers, with unlimited minutes, per Toolradar's November 2026 check.
• Smith.ai: free for 25 calls, then Pro from $150 for 75 calls up to $500 for 300 calls, per ReceptionistCost's October 2026 check.

Our best AI receptionist comparison covers what each one actually does, not just what it costs.

What does a custom AI receptionist cost to run?

A custom agent is built on a voice platform and billed by the minute. You also pay for the language model, the phone line and any texting. The platform fees as of November 2026:

• ElevenLabs Agents: $0.08 per platform minute on every paid plan, with the model and phone line billed separately at cost, per ElevenLabs' pricing guide. Plans run from $6 a month for 75 minutes to $990 for 12,375 minutes, and calls over your concurrency limit bill at $0.16.
• Retell: roughly $0.07 to $0.31 a minute all in, depending mostly on the language model, per its pricing page.
• Vapi: $0.05 a minute for hosting plus each provider at cost. Its own example puts 1,000 minutes at about $82 to $129, per its pricing page.
• Bland: $0.14 a minute on its free Start plan, or $0.12 on Build at $299 a month, per its pricing page.
• GoHighLevel Voice AI: $0.045 a minute for the voice engine from May 20, 2026, plus a voice that ranges from $0.015 to $0.17 a minute, per HighLevel's AI pricing article.

Then add the phone line. Twilio's US voice pricing lists a local number at $1.15 a month, inbound calls at $0.0085 a minute and outbound at $0.014. Our ElevenLabs vs Retell vs Vapi post compares the platforms in detail.

What does texting add?

Most AI receptionists text confirmations, booking links or a missed-call reply. In the US, business texting from a regular local number has to be registered under A2P 10DLC. Twilio's fee breakdown lists:

• A one-time brand registration of $4.50, or $46 for a standard brand with secondary vetting.
• A $15 vetting fee per campaign.
• A monthly campaign fee of $10 for standard campaigns, $2 for sole proprietors and $1.50 for low-volume mixed use.
• Per-message carrier fees on top of Twilio's own texting price.

Turnkey tools usually bundle some texting. Dialzara, for example, lists carrier fees of $0.0083 per segment passed through on its SMS agent. Our missed call text back guide explains registration in plain terms.

How does it compare with hiring a receptionist?

Take a business that gets about 300 calls a month averaging three minutes, so roughly 900 minutes. Here is what that looks like on a few options, using November 2026 list prices and monthly billing:

The custom line assumes a language model costing about $0.008 to $0.045 a minute, the range Vapi's pricing page gives for OpenAI models, plus Twilio inbound minutes and a local number. It leaves out the one-time build and any ongoing support.

Wages are not the whole cost of a hire. The BLS reports that benefits made up 30% of private industry compensation in June 2026. Applied to the median wage, that puts one full-time receptionist closer to $54,000 a year, for one shift. Covering every hour of the week would take about four people.

That comparison flatters AI a little. A good receptionist greets walk-ins, handles upset customers, does admin and knows your regulars. In practice, most small businesses use AI for after-hours, overflow and booking, and keep people for the work that needs them. That is the setup we usually recommend in our AI answering service work.

What costs catch people out?

• Overage. A cheap plan with a high per-minute overage can cost more than the next tier in a busy month.
• Features on higher tiers. Booking, transfers and integrations are often on the second or third plan, not the one on the banner.
• Human escalations. Services with live backup can bill extra when calls go to a person.
• Connector subscriptions. If the tool talks to your CRM through Zapier, you may need a paid Zapier plan too.
• Concurrency. Platforms cap simultaneous calls by plan. ElevenLabs bills burst calls above your limit at double the normal rate.
• Your own time. Someone has to write the answers, test the calls and review summaries in the first weeks, whichever option you pick.

How do you know if it is worth it?

Compare the cost with what missed calls cost you now. If a business misses 20 new-customer calls a month and wins a third of the ones it answers, at $400 a job, that is over $2,600 a month walking to competitors. Put your own numbers into our missed call calculator, then compare with the plans above. Most businesses find even a modest plan pays for itself quickly, which is also why answering fast matters so much.

Roenic Natarelli

Founder, Virtual Horizons

Roenic runs Virtual Horizons and is a Base44 Legend Partner, Ambassador and Community Pillar, Base44 Shark Tank winner and multiple-time Vibe Sprint winner. The studio builds web and mobile apps, AI voice agents and automations, with more than 10 apps live on the App Store and Google Play. More about us