Not long ago, having an “answering service” meant hiring an in-house receptionist — a costly move for most small businesses. The alternative wasn’t much better: sending callers straight to voicemail and risking missed opportunities.
Today, things look different. Affordable AI and human-powered answering services make it possible to answer every call without blowing your budget.
Let’s break down what an answering service is, how it works, and how much an answering service costs.
What is a phone answering service?
A phone answering service answers calls when your team can’t, so customers don’t get sent to voicemail. This might be live receptionists, AI agents, or a mix of the two, so you get the best of both worlds.
An answering service for small business can cover you 24/7, or only after hours as a fallback solution. The best services also assist with call handling tasks so you can automatically:
- Transfer calls
- Screen spam calls
- Book appointments
- Take messages
- Capture and save key customer details
- Provide business information for frequently asked questions
Why do businesses use call answering services?
Call answering services help growing businesses:
- Reduce spam calls: This keeps the lines clear for real callers and saves resources. Plus, most answering services don’t charge for answering spam calls, so you can free up more time without spending extra.
- Capture more leads: Missed calls equal missed opportunities. When every call is answered, it’s easier to capture leads. It can also make sales easier — you can follow up with full context on what was discussed.
- Provide multilingual support: If you have a multilingual customer base, you can create dedicated AI or human answering services in other languages.
- Create better customer experiences: An answering service gets customers help faster than voicemail — and keeps them from turning to a competitor.
- Work more efficiently: No more feeling rushed to answer every call — answering services give your team more time to work on higher-impact tasks without sacrificing customer support.
Types of answering services and costs compared
You can choose from three types of answering services: AI, live answering, and automated answering (IVR).
Here’s how these options compare side-by-side:
| Features | AI answering service | Live answering service | Automated answering service (IVR) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price per month | ~$25-$100 per month | ~$250-$300+ per month | ~$23-$50+ per month |
| Setup time | 1 business day | 2-4 weeks | Instant |
| Brand voice and tone | Consistent | Highly variable | Consistent |
| Oversight | 100% in-app with some VoIP solutions | Custom solution or daily email summary | 100% in-app with some VoIP solutions |
| Integrations | HubSpot, Salesforce, Zapier, Make, Jobber, and more | Limited integrations | Slack, CRMs, Zapier, Make, Jobber, and more |
Keep reading for a detailed breakdown of each type.
AI answering service
An AI answering service is an AI agent that automatically picks up phone calls to answer questions, transfer calls, and capture details for follow-ups. It starts as low as $25 per month, depending on the features or call volumes you want.
Most AI answering services are affordable and work right out of the box. Upload your business information or website link, and then let the AI agent handle the rest. Add-on AI voice agents with your VoIP service keep call data in-app, which helps you stay organized.
That said, callers may get impatient with AI if it’s not optimized. And watch for pricing plans that don’t scale well with high call volumes or long messages.
Live answering service
Live answering services, also called traditional answering services, refer to outsourced teams that answer calls on your behalf. Pricing starts at $250 per month for call handling and lead qualification.
Live receptionists are engaging, but they’re often too expensive for growing businesses. They also need extensive training to reflect your brand — and call data will be stored on a separate platform.
Automated answering service (IVR)
An automated answering service is just an IVR phone menu that routes callers based on their menu selections. For example, a caller might hear a recorded message telling them to “Press one for Sales” or “Press two for Billing.”
IVR is usually cost-effective and often built into phone systems like Quo. But it’s less engaging than live or AI answering services — and can increase call abandonment.
💡Related: What’s the difference between a virtual receptionist vs automated answering service?
How much does an answering service cost?
Most virtual receptionist costs follow one of two pricing models:
Per-minute pricing
Some AI answering services offer a monthly package with a set number of minutes. Then, any minutes over your limit are charged at per-minute rates — so you might pay $100 per month for a package of 100 minutes, plus $3 extra per additional minute.
Other answering services bill by the minute and don’t offer bundled minutes. This can make up-front costs hard to predict, especially if call lengths vary.
Example per-minute pricing: Abby Connect is a live answering service that charges $329 per month for 100 minutes plus $3.29 per additional minute. This unlocks features like their Spanish answering service, appointment scheduling, and 24/7 support.
Per-call (flat rate) pricing
Some AI answering services offer flat rates up to a certain number of calls. Then, any calls over your limit are charged per-call rates — so you might pay $100 per month for a package of 100 calls, plus $3 extra per call.
Other services bill per call without bundles — like $0.99 per call. The per-call pricing model makes it easier to budget, since you only need to estimate your average number of calls each month.
Example per-call pricing: Quo’s Sona AI agent plans offer a tiered system so that you pay only for what you need. Easily scale to a different tier as your business grows without needing to hire additional reps. That way, you can reduce your customer service costs. Plans start at $25 per month for 40 calls.
| Tier 1 | Tier 2 | Tier 3 | Tier 4 | Tier 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sona tiers | Free | $25 per month | $49 per month | $99 per month | $199 per month |
| Included credits | 1,000 credits/10 calls | 4,000 credits/40 calls | 10,000 credits/100 calls | 25,000 credits/250 calls | 60,000 credits/600 calls |
| Overage rate per credit | $0.01 | $0.0075 | $0.0065 | $0.0055 | $0.0045 |
| Overage rate per call | $1.00 | $0.75 | $0.65 | $0.55 | $0.45 |
You’ll also get access to features like message-taking, call transcripts and summaries, and integrations with HubSpot, Salesforce, Zapier, Make, and Jobber.
Factors that can influence answering service pricing
Other factors besides call volume may increase pricing:
- Call transfers: Some platforms won’t let you transfer or forward calls at all without upgrading your plan for more transfer destinations.
- Appointment scheduling: Tools like Rosie require you to upgrade before sending appointment links to callers.
- Bilingual support: For example, tools like Smith.ai charge an extra $1 per call for agents who are fluent in both English and Spanish.
- CRM integrations: There might be extra fees to connect with popular platforms like HubSpot, Salesforce, and Zendesk.
- Voicemail to email: Some platforms automatically send notifications to your inbox, while others tack on extra fees to do the same.
- Local or toll-free numbers: You might be able to port an existing number, but even then, look out for sneaky porting fees.
Speaking of hidden costs…
Hidden fees to watch for with answering service costs
Not all answering services charge only what you see on the pricing page.
Keep your eyes peeled for those not-so-transparent additional costs, including:
- Setup fees: Some services charge an onboarding or setup fee for first-time customers. For example, Abby Connect charges a one-time setup fee of $95 before starting any receptionist subscription.
- Overage charges: Per-minute pricing will add up fast when your call volume exceeds your plan’s limits. If you get lots of calls during the holidays, for example, you might get an unexpected bill at the end of the month.
- Long contracts: Month-to-month plans often cost more than annual ones. But annual pricing usually means a contract — and you could get stuck with a service you no longer want.
- Early termination fees: If you do decide to end a contract early, or if you don’t cancel within the fine-print window, you might get charged high fees.
Top 5 answering services and their costs
Below are the five best AI phone answering services you might want to consider:
1. Quo Sona: Best answering service for small businesses
Pricing: $25 per user per month for 40 calls with additional tiers based on your team’s needs
Sona is Quo’s AI voice agent that greets callers 24/7, answers common questions, and captures messages so you never miss a call. It’s designed to work seamlessly in the app, giving you full insight into every conversation without switching between platforms.
Sona captures caller details with AI summaries and transcripts so you can call back later with clear context into what was said. You can also train Sona on key business info — think pricing, business hours, and FAQs — so callers can get answers without needing a human agent. If you have an upset customer or someone with an urgent request you can also train Sona to transfer calls to specific members of your team, a specific OpenPhone inbox, or an external number. s
2. Rosie: Best for call notifications
Pricing: $49 per month for unlimited minutes
Rosie is an AI answering service that sends you email and text notifications so you know if you’ve missed a call. You can also train your AI agent using your website or business documents, which makes it easier to get started quickly.
Rosie isn’t a standalone phone system, so you’ll have to forward calls from your existing provider to your AI agent. You’ll also need to upgrade if you want to send texts — more than double the cost of the base plan at $149 per month.
3. Dialzara: Best for recordkeeping
Pricing: $29 per month for 60 minutes
Dialzara is an AI answering service designed to help with record keeping. After every call, your AI agent will send a summary email or text, which includes links to the call recording and a full transcript of what was said.
Dialzara does offer built-in phone numbers with tools like call recording and AI summaries, but you’ll have to give up additional features you might find on other business phone systems — like text messaging. You could get around this by setting up third-party integrations via Zapier, but this will require an upgraded plan.
4. Abby Connect: Best for HIPAA compliance
Pricing: $329 per month for 100 minutes
Abby Connect offers live virtual receptionist services that act like an extension of your team. These agents can answer inbound calls 24/7, manage appointment scheduling, and support HIPAA compliance if you handle sensitive conversations.
You’ll notice Abby Connect is more expensive than other plans, since you’re essentially paying for human receptionists rather than AI. That said, it still beats the cost of a full-time receptionist, especially if you only manage a few missed calls per month.
5. Smith.ai: Best for lead qualification
Pricing: $292.50 per month for 30 calls
Smith.ai offers live receptionists who help with lead screening, qualification, and intake calls. They also offer AI agents that can escalate calls to human receptionists when necessary.
You should know Smith.ai’s best features are priced per call, which tacks on extra expense if you need more advanced services. For example, you’ll pay extra for booking appointments, sending callers to bilingual agents, or setting up complex call flows.
Never miss an incoming call with Quo’s AI answering service
Every missed call is a missed opportunity — but the right answering service makes sure you never lose them.
That’s why many growing businesses rely on AI voice agents like Sona to turn unanswered calls into value for their teams.
Sona was designed to be easy to set up and work seamlessly on mobile right out of the box. It’s fully built into Quo — so no need to juggle tools — with every call visible alongside full transcripts and summaries.
You can rely on Sona for predictable per-call pricing, with no surprise usage fees or hidden answering service costs.
You can also get started 100% for free.
Sign up today and try Quo free for seven days. Then, try test-calling Sona to confirm that it’s a fit for your team.
FAQs
Most answering service providers charge between $50 and $300+ per month, depending on the type and pricing structure. There might be additional costs for minutes that exceed your plan amount or specialty features such as sending booking links via text or scheduling appointments.
Most virtual receptionists in New York City charge the same amount as other US-based answering services: $50 to $300+ per month. Be sure to factor in additional fees like the MTA Tax Surcharge and the Intrastate Access Recovery Charge.
First, consider your up-front costs. Then, factor in call volume and your average business call duration.
Finally, decide on per-minute or per-call rates.
You might also need to consider additional costs for specific features such as appointment scheduling or bilingual answering.
An answering machine lets callers leave voicemail messages if you’re out for the day or away from your phone. In contrast, an answering service picks up the phone call and gives callers next steps when you’re busy with other tasks.
