Per-minute vs per-call billing
Per-minute plans charge for the time a receptionist spends on your calls. Short calls are cheap and long ones cost more. Ruby bills this way.
Per-call plans charge the same for every call, whether it lasts 30 seconds or 8 minutes. That’s easier to predict if your calls run long, and expensive if most calls are quick. Smith.ai’s live receptionist plans bill this way.
Either way, look at how many minutes or calls a plan includes, what each extra one costs, and how the provider counts spam calls, wrong numbers and calls that hang up.
Live answering service prices
Prices from each company’s own pricing page, checked in October 2026. Prices change, so check their sites before you decide.
| Plan | Monthly price | Works out to |
|---|---|---|
| Ruby, 50 minutes | $250 | $5.00 a minute |
| Ruby, 100 minutes | $395 | $3.95 a minute |
| Ruby, 200 minutes | $720 | $3.60 a minute |
| Smith.ai live receptionists, 30 calls | $300 | $10.00 a call, $11.50 per extra call |
Smith.ai also sells an AI receptionist, priced separately from its live plans.
What an AI receptionist costs
With 2Line.AI, an AI receptionist is a plan plus usage. The plan is $19.99 a month, or $99.99 a year with a 3-day free trial. It includes a local number and starts with 100 credits, once. Mia uses 48 credits a minute, counted from when she picks up. Missed calls and ring time are free, and the AI summary is 1 credit per call.
What a credit costs depends on the pack you buy:
| Credit pack | Price | Mia per minute |
|---|---|---|
| 150 credits | $4.99 | about $1.60 |
| 950 credits | $19.99 | about $1.01 |
| 4,000 credits | $59.99 | about $0.72 |
For example, 100 minutes of Mia is 4,800 credits, about $72 at the 4,000-credit pack price, plus the plan.
Work out your own cost
- Count the calls you miss or can’t take in a typical month. Your phone’s call log is a good start.
- Estimate how long those calls last. Note whether most are quick questions or long conversations.
- Per-minute plan: calls × minutes per call × price per minute.
- Per-call plan: calls × price per call, plus overage if you go over.
- AI receptionist: calls × minutes per call × 48 credits, times your credit price, plus the plan.
A worked example
Say you get 30 calls a month that you can’t pick up, and each lasts about 2 minutes. That’s 60 minutes of answering.
On Ruby’s plans, 60 minutes is more than the 50-minute plan includes, so you’d look at the 100-minute plan at $395 a month. On Smith.ai’s live plan, 30 calls fit the $300 plan. With Mia, 60 minutes is 2,880 credits, about $43 at the 4,000-credit pack price, plus the $19.99 plan.
Change the numbers to match your own call log. If your calls are long, per-call pricing looks better. If they’re short, per-minute pricing does.
Questions to ask any provider
- Are there setup fees or a minimum contract?
- What happens when I go over my minutes or calls?
- Are spam calls and hang-ups counted?
- Can it book appointments into my calendar or hours?
- Can it hand an urgent call to me?
- Do I get a written summary of every call?
When a live service is worth it
People are still better at complex, emotional or sensitive calls, such as legal intake or upset customers. If most of your calls need judgment, a live service may be worth the price. If most are “can you do this, how much, when can you come?”, an AI receptionist covers them for much less, and Mia can hand anything urgent straight to you.
Sources (checked October 2026): Ruby plans and pricing (ruby.com); Smith.ai receptionist pricing (smith.ai).