How Much Does an AI Receptionist Cost? Eight Services Compared
The cheapest paid plans of the self-serve AI receptionists here ran from $24.95 to $199 a month on 9 November 2026, and Smith.ai has a free 25-call plan; ours start at $299. What decides the bill is the rate beyond the plan and whether booking is included: at 300 three-minute calls a month, the eight cost $129 to $500.
Searches for the best AI receptionist usually end at a pricing page, and every pricing page counts something different: minutes, calls, unique callers, or nothing at all. This page puts seven AI receptionists that publish their prices beside ours — My AI Front Desk, Dialzara, Upfirst, NextPhone, Rosie, Goodcall and Smith.ai's AI plan — and prices one made-up month on each. We sell one of the eight, so read our view with that in mind. Every competitor figure was read on that company's own pricing page on 9 November 2026; prices change, so check theirs before you decide.
How does a self-serve AI receptionist app compare with ours?
| Self-serve AI receptionist apps | OC Systems AI receptionist | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | From $24.95 a month (Upfirst, 30 calls) to $199 (NextPhone, unlimited inbound calls); Smith.ai's AI plan is free for 25 calls a month | $299 a month for Starter, which answers and takes messages; $449 for the full plan, which books and reminds |
| How it is billed | By minutes (My AI Front Desk, Dialzara, Rosie), by calls (Upfirst, Smith.ai), by unique callers (Goodcall), or a flat fee with unlimited inbound calls (NextPhone) | A flat fee, 1,000 minutes and 1,500 texts included; beyond that at our cost, no markup |
| Who sets it up | You do, usually from your website in minutes, and most list no setup fee; plans where they build it cost more, such as NextPhone Growth at $299 a month or Dialzara's Done for You from $1,500 a month | We do, with your front desk, on a test number first: $900 once (Starter $300) |
| Booking the appointment | On the entry plan at Upfirst, NextPhone and Smith.ai; from the next plan up at Dialzara ($99) and Rosie ($149); mostly into Google or Outlook calendars, Calendly or Acuity | Full plan: books, moves and cancels in your scheduler or practice-management system where it has an interface, otherwise in a calendar shared with your desk; Starter takes a message |
| Reminder before the visit | My AI Front Desk lists outbound calls such as appointment reminders, with a daily cap; NextPhone lists outbound calls and texts; Dialzara sells outbound voice as an add-on; the others' pricing pages do not list it | Full plan: a reminder call or text the day before; a reply confirms the visit or moves it |
| Contract | None at Dialzara, Upfirst, NextPhone or My AI Front Desk; Smith.ai is month to month with 30 days' notice; not stated on Rosie's or Goodcall's pricing page | Month to month |
When is a self-serve AI receptionist the better choice?
- You need the phone answered and a message taken, and are happy to set it up yourself: Upfirst, Dialzara and Rosie have plans under $50 a month, and our Starter is $299 plus $300 setup
- You book through a Google or Outlook calendar, Calendly or Acuity, which Upfirst and NextPhone connect to on their entry plans
- Your calls are long or many: NextPhone's $199 plan charges nothing per minute for inbound calls, and Rosie's $149 plan includes 1,000 minutes
- You want to try it on your own number before paying: most of these offer a free trial or a free plan, while ours is a demo at a made-up office
When is our AI receptionist the better choice?
- Your day runs on appointments, and you want them booked, confirmed, reminded and moved by one assistant that also reads the replies
- You would rather not build the agent yourself: we set it up with your front desk, test it on a test number, and watch the first weeks with you
- You run a dental or medical office and want it on telephony and AI providers that offer a business associate agreement, with what it may say and store agreed with whoever handles your privacy obligations
- The office closes for a day without warning, and you want every patient booked into that day called and offered a new time
- You are in Orange County and want a team you can meet
What do AI receptionists cost in 2026?
Eight AI receptionists that publish their prices, side by side, as each describes itself on its own pricing page. The lowest headline price is not the lowest bill: the column that decides it is the one for what comes after the plan.
| Item | Entry plan | Higher plans | Beyond the plan | Booking | Setup, trial, term |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| My AI Front Desk | $99 a month ($79 billed annually): 200 voice minutes, with web chat, two-way texting and a CRM | Partner and Enterprise, custom | Voice at 25 credits (25¢) a minute; 1,000 credits a month included, then $10 per 1,000 | Booking the appointment is described as part of the call; calendars not listed on the pricing page | Set it up yourself; no contract; 7-day free trial |
| Dialzara | Lite $29 a month: 60 minutes | Pro $99 for 220 minutes, Plus $199 for 500, Elite $349 for 1,000; Done for You from $1,500 | 48¢ a minute on Lite down to 35¢ on Elite | Calendar sync with Google or Outlook from Pro, not on Lite | No setup fee, no contract, 7-day free trial |
| Upfirst | Starter $24.95 a month ($20 billed annually): 30 calls | Premium $59.95 for 90 calls, Pro $159.95 for 300, Scale $299 for 600; Enterprise custom | $1.50 a call on Starter down to 70¢ on Scale; spam not counted | Every plan: Google, Outlook, Clio, Acuity, Calendly, Square | No contract; 14 days or 100 calls free, no card; set-up done for you on Scale and Enterprise |
| NextPhone | Pro $199 a month: unlimited inbound calls, set up yourself | Growth $299 (they build it), Scale $599 | No per-minute charges or overage fees, per its page | Google, Outlook, Calendly, Acuity, Cal.com, OnceHub | No setup fee on any plan; month to month; 7 days free |
| Rosie | Professional $49 a month: 250 minutes | Scale $149 for 1,000 minutes, Growth $299 for 2,000 | Not shown on the plan cards | The $49 plan texts the caller a booking link; on your calendar from $149 | 7-day free trial on every plan |
| Goodcall | $79 a month: 100 unique callers (about 150 calls, per its page) | $129 for 500 callers, $299 for 2,000 | 79¢ a caller down to 15¢; spam and wrong numbers not counted | Through a “booker” worker; each system you connect counts as an external tool (one on the $79 plan) | No setup fee listed; a free demo agent before you connect a number |
| Smith.ai (AI receptionist) | Free: 25 calls a month, then $3.00 a call | Pro from $150 for 75 calls ($270 for 150, $500 for 300); Enterprise $500 for 300 or $800 for 500, built for you | $2.50 a call down to $2.10 | AI scheduling through Calendly and similar tools, every plan | Month to month, 30 days' notice to cancel |
| OC Systems | Starter $299 a month: 400 minutes included | Full plan $449: 1,000 minutes and 1,500 texts included | At our cost, no markup | Full plan: your scheduler or practice-management system where it has an interface, otherwise a calendar shared with your desk; reminder call or text the day before | $900 setup (Starter $300), done with your desk; month to month |
Read on each company's own pricing page on 9 November 2026: myaifrontdesk.com/pricing, dialzara.com/pricing, upfirst.ai/pricing, getnextphone.com/pricing, heyrosie.com/pricing, goodcall.com/pricing and smith.ai/pricing/ai-receptionist. “Not listed” means we did not find it on that page, not that the service cannot do it. Prices change, so check each page before you decide.
What does an AI receptionist cost for 300 calls a month?
A made-up month to put the plans on one scale: 300 calls averaging three minutes, 900 minutes in all. Each service is priced on its cheapest plan that covers the month, with the published rate for anything beyond it.
On those numbers the eight ran from $129 (Goodcall) to $500 (Smith.ai (AI receptionist)) a month. Change the length of the calls and the order changes: per-minute plans grow with long calls, per-call plans do not, and a flat plan with unlimited calls does not move at all.
| Service | Plan that covers the month | A month |
|---|---|---|
| Goodcall | $129 plan, 500 unique callers a month | $129 |
| Rosie | Scale, 1,000 minutes | $149 |
| Upfirst | Pro, 300 calls, billed monthly | $159.95 |
| NextPhone | Pro, unlimited inbound calls, set up yourself | $199 |
| My AI Front Desk | $99 plan: 200 minutes, 40 more from the monthly credit pool, the other 660 at 25¢ a minute in credits | $264 |
| Dialzara | Elite, 1,000 minutes | $349 |
| OC Systems | AI Phone Receptionist, 1,000 minutes and 1,500 texts included; plus $900 setup once | $449 |
| Smith.ai (AI receptionist) | 300 calls a month | $500 |
Hypothetical: 300 calls of three minutes are chosen for easy arithmetic, not taken from any business. Monthly billing, before tax, without annual discounts or add-ons. Goodcall bills per unique caller, so its row assumes the calls come from no more than 300 people. The plans do not all do the same things; the table above shows what each includes.
Why do AI receptionists bill in such different ways?
Each one counts the thing it prefers to sell. Per-minute plans, such as Dialzara's, Rosie's and My AI Front Desk's, suit short calls: a caller who spends eight minutes on a question costs eight times a one-minute hang-up. Per-call plans, such as Upfirst's and Smith.ai's, charge the same for both, so long calls come out cheap and short ones relatively costly. Goodcall counts unique callers, so a customer who calls three times in a month counts once. NextPhone's plans charge nothing per call or per minute for inbound calls.
Two details change the sum more than the headline price: whether spam and wrong numbers count, which Upfirst and Goodcall say they do not, and what the next minute or call costs once the plan runs out. Price your busiest month from last year, not an average one.
Which AI receptionist is best for a small business?
None is best for every business; the right one depends on how your calls end. If they end with a message, a cheap self-serve app does the job. If they end with an appointment, these questions matter more than the price.
- Does the plan I am pricing book the appointment, or only take a message or text a link?
- Which calendar or scheduler does it book into, and will my desk see the booking where it sees every other one?
- What does the next minute or call cost once the plan runs out, and do spam calls count?
- Who sets it up and keeps it current: me or them, and at what price?
- Does it call or text the day before, and can the customer confirm or move the visit by replying?
- Does it say it is an AI, and does it hand the caller to a person on request?
- Is there a contract or a notice period?
- For a healthcare practice: which providers carry the calls, and what will they sign before patient calls start?
What does the OC Systems AI receptionist cost?
AI Phone Receptionist: $449 a month plus a one-time $900 setup, 1,000 minutes and 1,500 texts included; beyond that, minutes and texts are billed at what they cost us, with no markup. It books, moves and cancels appointments, sends the confirmation text, places the reminder call the day before and reads the replies.
AI Receptionist Starter: $299 a month plus $300 setup, 400 minutes included. It answers, takes a message with the caller's name, number and reason, and hands the call to a person on request; it does not book or remind.
On price alone, most of the apps above cost less. What the setup fee buys is the setup itself: we connect your scheduler, load the answers you approve, and test it with your desk on a test number before anything forwards. Both plans are month to month.
So which AI receptionist should you choose?
If your calls end with a message and you are happy to set the agent up yourself, one of the self-serve apps will cost less than we do, and Upfirst and NextPhone book into common calendars on their entry plans. If your calls are long or many, NextPhone's flat plan and Rosie's minute bundles stretch furthest. If your day runs on appointments — booked, confirmed, reminded and moved — and you would rather have it set up with your front desk than build it yourself, that is the job our full plan is priced for. Make the same test call to each before you choose.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an AI receptionist cost?
What is the cheapest AI receptionist?
Which AI receptionist is best for a small business?
Do AI receptionists charge a setup fee?
Is an AI receptionist cheaper than a live answering service?
Can an AI receptionist book into the scheduling software we already use?
Make the test call
The demo is our assistant at a made-up dental office: call it, book a visit, get the reminder, move it by text. Then make the same call to anyone else on this page.
Try the AI receptionist demo