How much does an AI receptionist cost in 2026?

How much does an AI receptionist cost?

Most AI receptionists cost a monthly fee that covers a set number of calls, minutes or credits. In October 2026, Aivah’s phone answering starts at $99 a month, plus Twilio’s phone charges. Smith.ai lists a paid AI plan at $150 for 75 calls, while the human answering services we checked start at $250 to $300.

Your call volume decides the rest. Below are published prices, a worked example for a small business and the questions to ask before you pay.

• You pay per call, per minute or in credits. Compare a typical month, not the headline price.
• The phone line may be billed separately. Twilio lists a US local number at $1.15 a month.
• The human services we checked cost about $5 a minute or $10 a call on their smallest plans.
• US receptionists earned a median of $18.27 an hour in May 2025, or $38,010 a year.
• With Aivah, you build and test in chat for free. Phone answering starts on Starter, at $99 a month.

What are you paying for?

Most phone answering bills have four parts. Knowing them makes quotes much easier to compare.

• The plan: a monthly fee that includes some calls, minutes or credits.
• Usage above the plan: extra calls, extra minutes or credit top-ups in a busy month.
• The phone line: a number and per-minute call charges, sometimes from a separate phone company.
• Your time: writing the instructions, testing them and returning the calls it took messages for.

How does Aivah price phone answering?

Every Aivah account starts on the Free plan, with no card. It gives you 3 AI employees and 1,000 credits, once, to build and test in chat. Phone answering starts on Starter, at $99 a month with 100,000 credits.

Credits are what your AI employee spends when it talks, chats or creates. What a call uses depends on the AI model and how long the call lasts. Insights → Call history, Aivah’s call log, shows the credits each call used, from your first test call.

Busier lines can move up. Standard is $150 a month with 150,000 credits, and Business is $300 with 500,000 credits and 2 AI employees. Yearly billing saves up to 31%.

Credit packs top up a busy month, from $10 for 2,000 credits to $60 for 40,000. That’s $1.50 to $5 per 1,000 credits, against about $1 on Starter. So if you top up every month, a bigger plan is usually cheaper.

Twilio, the phone service your number runs on, bills you directly. It lists a US local number at $1.15 a month. Incoming calls over Elastic SIP Trunking, the Twilio setup Aivah uses, cost $0.0034 a minute.

What would a month cost a small business?

Take Ridgeway Plumbing, a fictional two-van business. Say it gets 100 calls a month, averaging 3 minutes each. That’s 300 minutes of calls.

Here is roughly what list prices would mean for that month. Taxes are left out, and every figure is for illustration only.

• Hiring: the US median receptionist pay of $38,010 a year is about $3,170 a month, before payroll taxes and benefits.
• A human service, per call: Smith.ai’s 90-call plan ($810) plus 10 extra calls at $10.50 comes to $915.
• A human service, per minute: 300 minutes falls between Ruby’s 200-minute plan ($720) and its 500-minute plan ($1,725).
• An AI service, per call: Smith.ai’s AI plan ($150 for 75 calls) plus 25 extra calls at $2.50 comes to $212.50.
• Aivah: Starter at $99, plus about $2.17 in Twilio charges for the number and 300 incoming minutes.
• Aivah doesn’t publish credits per minute. A week of real calls in Call history shows whether Starter covers your month. If it doesn’t, add a credit pack or move to Standard.

Is the cheapest option the right one?

Not always. Price per call is only part of the story. Smith.ai’s AI plan can pass callers to its live receptionists; Aivah’s AI employee takes a message instead.

If many of Ridgeway’s calls were emergencies, a live transfer might be worth paying for. If most are quote requests and opening hours, a message and a quick callback do the job.

So price the calls you actually get. Sort a week of calls into “needed a person now” and “could wait an hour”. The second pile is what an AI receptionist handles well.

Then ask every provider these questions before you pay:

• What counts as a billable call or minute, and are spam calls free?
• What does each extra call, minute or credit cost in a busy month?
• Is the phone number included, or billed by someone else?
• What happens when a caller needs a person: a transfer or a message? Does a transfer cost extra?
• Can you cancel monthly, and does yearly billing lock you in?

What should you watch after launch?

Costs settle after a few weeks, but a few things push them up early. Check these in your first month, with any provider.

• Long calls. A rambling call uses more minutes or credits, so keep answers short in your instructions.
• Robocalls and wrong numbers. Look through Call history weekly for calls that wasted time.
• The AI model. In Aivah, credits depend on the model, so compare a week on each if you switch.
• Callbacks. Aivah takes messages and doesn’t book or transfer, so plan who returns calls and when.
• Forwarding. If you forward calls from your current number, your phone provider may charge for that.
• Your balance. Aivah tells you when credits run low. Top up with a pack, or move up a plan if it happens every month.

Questions people ask about AI receptionist pricing

Ready to see what your own calls would cost?

Start free, with no card, and build your AI employee in chat. Move to Starter when you’re ready to connect your number, then watch the credits in Call history.