AI Answering Service Pricing 2026: Plans and Call Rules

As of October 12, 2026, published AI answering services cost $75 to $270 for 100 three-minute calls a month. The bill changes with the billing unit: a per-call plan counts conversations, while a per-minute plan grows with call length. One service in the table serves home businesses alone.

AI answering service pricing compared

Prices checked against each vendor's own pricing page on October 12, 2026.

Our arithmetic: each vendor's cheapest published plan for that volume plus its published overage, at 3-minute calls. Taxes, pass-through fees, setup fees and add-ons are not included. How we price.

Not computable: Simple Phones does not publish an overage rate past its included call allowance. The AI category range excludes Sameday AI because it serves home service businesses alone.

The table prices AI answering plans rather than voice-agent builder tools. NextPhone's higher plans also include business phone features, including calls and two-way texting on Scale (NextPhone pricing, read October 12, 2026). Go Answer and Moneypenny also sell separate live answering services; those prices are not part of their AI rows. The live versus AI answering cost guide puts both categories side by side at the same volumes.

How does AI phone answering charge for calls?

Per call. Moneypenny AI charges $199/month for 100 calls and $2.19 a call past the allowance. Smith.ai AI charges by answered call. A short call and a long call draw the same base call count; a live agent on Smith.ai carries a separate charge. Smith.ai's free plan is free for 25 calls. Its paid entry plan starts at $150/month (75 calls).

Per minute. Go Answer's AI receptionist charges $270/month for 300 minutes. At 100 three-minute calls, that is $270. RingCentral AI Receptionist bills in 30-second increments, rounded up, according to its pricing page (read October 5, 2026). For calls that run just past an increment, that rounding matters; the table uses exactly three minutes per call.

Minutes with a range. Phonely's Starter plan is $50/month for 200 minutes, but its pricing cards and comparison grid disagree on the included minutes and overage. The index follows the cards and keeps the stated overage range. At 100 three-minute calls, the result is $75 to $85, a range rather than a point estimate. Do not compare one end of that range with a rival's exact bill as though it were a guaranteed price.

Flat monthly, unlimited calls. NextPhone's Pro plan is $199/month for unlimited calls. Its pricing page says all plans include unlimited calls with no per-minute charge or overage fee (read October 12, 2026). At 50, 100 and 200 calls, the modeled monthly bill stays $199. The Growth and Scale plans have the same usage allowance, with additional service and product features; the table uses the cheapest plan that covers the modeled calls.

A published floor without a usable overage. Simple Phones lists $97/month for 100 calls and no overage rate. It is possible to price 50 and 100 calls at the stated allowance, but not 200. Sameday AI publishes a starting plan and a larger plan for home service businesses, with no public rate for minutes past those allowances. Ask each vendor to state the higher-volume price in writing.

What is the bill at 50, 100 and 200 calls?

The first price difference is at low volume. Smith.ai AI's free plan plus paid extra calls puts 50 three-minute calls at $75. My AI Front Desk costs $99 for the same workload. At 100 calls, My AI Front Desk costs $124 and Smith.ai AI costs $212.50. Those two change order as volume rises; neither wins at every volume.

NextPhone costs $199 at 50 calls and $199 at 200 calls. My AI Front Desk reaches $199 at 200 calls, while its published minute overage keeps growing after the included allowance. NextPhone's published unlimited usage means the modeled base bill does not grow with calls or minutes. This comparison covers the plan charge; it does not measure call quality or features.

Phonely is the lowest priced AI service with a computable bill at 50, 100 and 200 three-minute calls among the AI services in the index. Its cost is $50, $75 to $85 and $150 to $190, respectively. That price range and its card-versus-grid conflict are reasons to confirm the allowance before choosing it.

For a more direct volume test, use the answering service calculator. It changes call count and call length together. A per-call plan holds its base cost when calls grow longer; a per-minute plan does not. The general answering service pricing guide gives the human-service context without repeating this AI table.

What does the AI plan leave out?

Human handoff can carry two bills

Moneypenny's AI plan advertises human escalation, but its AI terms require an active Phone Answering Service plan alongside it. The terms say the customer must maintain "an active Phone Answering Service plan alongside the AI Receptionist Service" (Moneypenny AI terms, read October 7, 2026). Escalated calls may have more charges. The table does not include that second plan.

Smith.ai's AI line can also transfer to a human, but its help article says live agent involvement is billed separately per call (Smith.ai help, read October 7, 2026). Confirm the live-agent charge on the current AI billing page before budgeting it. Sameday AI transfers to your own staff rather than supplying live answering staff, according to its handoff article (read October 7, 2026).

Spam and silent calls are not the same

• Moneypenny AI: A silent call is free; calls with registered noise are charged
• Smith.ai AI: Answered spam counts by default; up to 10% of the quota can be removed for spam and test calls
• Go Answer AI: Not published for AI plans

Moneypenny's terms say a call with no speech or registered noise "will not be charged" (Moneypenny AI terms, read October 7, 2026). A robocall that makes noise has no stated exemption. Smith.ai says "Every call answered by your AI Receptionist counts toward your call quota by default" (Smith.ai AI pricing, read October 5, 2026), with a limited removal allowance for spam and test calls. A business with noisy automated calls should ask how a call is classified before comparing per-call plans.

Setup, cancellation and the first invoice

• Moneypenny AI: One-time fee, amount not published
• Smith.ai AI: None
• Go Answer AI: 14 days, up to 500 minutes; card required

Moneypenny's AI terms say "A one-off setup fee is payable in advance before the Services are set up" (Moneypenny AI terms, read October 7, 2026). The amount is not public and is excluded from the table. The same terms require "one full calendar month advanced notice" to cancel. Go Answer says its AI trial needs a credit card and converts to a paid plan when it ends (Go Answer AI pricing, read October 5, 2026). Compare the cash due at signup as well as the recurring calculation.

An allowance does not tell you what happens past it

The 200-call column is a useful stress test. My AI Front Desk's minute overage lets the index calculate $199. Simple Phones has a published allowance but no overage price, so that cell remains unpriced. Sameday AI sells a larger minute tier, yet its public pricing does not state the charge after that tier. A claim of fixed monthly pricing needs an answer about what happens after the allowance.

Phonely creates a different uncertainty: its pricing cards and comparison grid disagree. The index uses the cards, while preserving the conflicting overage as a range. This makes its 200-call result $150 to $190. Ask Phonely which card or grid terms apply to the account before treating either endpoint as a quote.

The model cannot show call quality

The table calculates a bill from public plans. It does not measure whether the agent understands a caller, books the right appointment, or passes along a usable message. For each service, request a demonstration of your actual call paths: a new inquiry, a transfer to an unavailable employee, a wrong number and a caller who changes the request mid-call. Then ask whether those calls consume the same units shown in the rate card. Without that billing answer, a demo says little about your invoice.

Ask for the recording or transcript policy as part of the same demonstration. A transcript may make a message easier to act on, but it does not prove the caller's request was captured correctly. Have the vendor show what reaches your inbox, what happens when the AI cannot finish a task, and which employee receives the handoff. The public plan figures do not price your staff's time to correct a bad booking or return a call. The comparison therefore stops at published service charges, while the buying decision still needs a call-path review.

Which AI answering service fits each job?

For low-volume calls with a free allowance: Smith.ai AI

At 50 three-minute calls, Smith.ai AI costs $75, below My AI Front Desk at $99. It bills per answered call, so call length does not increase the base charge. It is a poorer fit if the calls frequently need live backup, which carries a separate charge.

For a minute-based plan at 100 calls: My AI Front Desk

At 100 three-minute calls, My AI Front Desk costs $124, below Smith.ai AI at $212.50. Its minute plan is a less predictable fit when the average call runs long. Its pricing page says the plan includes overage credits, so confirm how those credits apply to your usage.

For home-service scheduling: Sameday AI

Sameday AI's plans are for home service businesses. Its pricing page lists scheduling for field-service tools on the published plans (Sameday pricing, read October 5, 2026). The 100-call modeled price is $449. Its customer agreement is not public, and the published overage rate is missing, so request those terms before buying.

Sameday's own pricing calculator highlights Scale rather than Launch at the sample minute volumes recorded in the pricing page capture (read October 7, 2026). The index uses the advertised Launch floor when the modeled minutes fit its allowance. Ask which tier a new customer can actually buy at your volume; the site's calculator and plan card do not answer that consistently.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an AI answering service?

An AI answering service answers business calls with a software voice agent, captures information and may route or book a follow-up. The nine products in this guide publish AI answering plans rather than developer tools for building an agent. Their bills depend on calls, minutes, a vendor-set usage level or a flat unlimited plan.

How much does an AI phone answering service cost monthly?

At 100 three-minute calls a month, published AI plans cost $75 to $270 (prices checked October 12, 2026). The range excludes Sameday AI, which serves home service businesses alone. A setup fee or human handoff can raise the invoice beyond those plan figures.

Can an AI answering service transfer a call to a person?

Yes, but the bill depends on whose person answers. Moneypenny AI requires a separate live answering plan for human escalation. Smith.ai adds a charge when a live agent joins, while Sameday transfers callers to your own staff.

Are spam calls charged by AI answering services?

Some answered spam calls count. Smith.ai AI counts answered calls by default, with a limited allowance to remove spam and test calls. Moneypenny AI exempts calls with no registered noise, while Go Answer's AI spam policy was not published on the pages checked.

Does a longer call cost more on an AI plan?

It does on a per-minute plan once the included minutes are used. A per-call plan counts the answered call rather than its duration for the base price. Compare your own call lengths in the calculator before choosing a plan.