Answering Service Statistics 2026: Prices, Billing and Contract Terms

At 100 three-minute calls, the median live answering price or prepaid purchase is $406 (price index, prices checked October 12, 2026). 0 of 14 live and hybrid answering services that publish a spam rule let spam calls go unbilled with no limit or condition (vendor terms, read October 5 to 9, 2026).

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

Key answering service statistics for 2026

• For a month with 100 three-minute calls, published live plans and prepaid package purchases run $150 to $1,160 (low end AnswerAmerica, prepaid message-taking only, no transfers; unused credits roll over); prices checked October 12, 2026.
• Of 34 services checked, 3 do not publish a plan price on the vendor pages we read (price index, checked October 12, 2026).
• 6 of 10 live and hybrid answering services that publish a per-call minimum bill at least a full minute for every answered call: AnswerConnect, AnswerForce, LEX Reception, PATLive, Posh and Ruby (vendor terms, read October 7, 2026).
• 5 of 14 live and hybrid answering services that publish a spam rule bill spam and robocalls like any other call: AnswerAmerica, AnswerFirst, Nexa, PATLive and Specialty Answering Service (vendor terms, read October 5 to 9, 2026).
• 3 of 17 live and hybrid answering services that publish their contract terms set a minimum term longer than a month: AnswerConnect, AnswerFirst and AnswerForce (vendor terms, read October 5 to 9, 2026).
• 3 of 16 live and hybrid answering services that publish a holiday rule charge extra on holidays: MAP Communications, Nexa and ReceptionHQ MessageExpress (vendor terms, read October 5 to 9, 2026).

Our arithmetic: each vendor's cheapest published plan plus overage, or the least cash purchase of prepaid packages covering that volume, at 3-minute calls. Unused prepaid credits may roll over. Taxes, pass-through fees, setup fees and add-ons are not included. How we price.

"Live and hybrid" means the live answering services in our price index plus its two hybrid services, Abby Connect and Nexa, which sell human receptionists and an AI receptionist on one plan. Each term count covers only the services that publish that term.

Answering service prices

• At 50 three-minute calls in a month, the median live plan price or prepaid purchase is $282 (price index, checked October 12, 2026).
• At 200 three-minute calls in a month, the median live plan price or prepaid purchase is $871 (price index, checked October 12, 2026).
• At 50 three-minute calls, live plan prices and prepaid purchases run $80 to $620 (low end AnswerAmerica, prepaid message-taking only, no transfers; unused credits roll over), equivalent to $0.53 to $4.13 per talk minute before extra fees (price index, checked October 12, 2026).
• At 100 three-minute calls, live plan prices and prepaid purchases run $150 to $1,160 (low end AnswerAmerica, prepaid message-taking only, no transfers; unused credits roll over), equivalent to $0.50 to $3.87 per talk minute before extra fees (price index, checked October 12, 2026).
• At 200 three-minute calls, live plan prices and prepaid purchases run $280 to $2,125 (low end AnswerAmerica, prepaid message-taking only, no transfers; unused credits roll over), equivalent to $0.47 to $3.54 per talk minute before extra fees (price index, checked October 12, 2026).
• Live service entry plans and first prepaid purchases run $25 to $425 (low end ReceptionHQ MessageExpress, message-taking only, no transfers); prices checked October 12, 2026.
• At 100 three-minute calls, the median AI answering service costs $174 a month, and AI answering services cost $75 to $270 (price index, checked October 12, 2026).
• At 100 three-minute calls, the median live plan price or prepaid purchase is 2.3 times the median AI plan price (price index, checked October 12, 2026).
• Abby Connect, a hybrid service, costs $898 a month for 100 three-minute calls answered by its receptionists (price index, checked October 12, 2026).

Each median covers services whose published plans or prepaid packages can price that volume, so the set changes with volume. The chart shows the live services behind the 100-call figures.

Comparison cost of each live answering service at 100 calls

Monthly plans or upfront prepaid credits, 3-minute calls, lowest first

1. AnswerAmericaprepaid message taking, credits roll over$150AnswerAmerica at 100 calls: $150. Cheapest published plan for that volume: Prepaid credit packages.
2. ReceptionHQ MessageExpressmessages only, no transfers$170ReceptionHQ MessageExpress at 100 calls: $170. Cheapest published plan for that volume: MessageExpress 100.
3. ReceptionHQ ReceptionistPlus$260ReceptionHQ ReceptionistPlus at 100 calls: $260. Cheapest published plan for that volume: ReceptionistPlus 100.
4. Go Answer$345Go Answer at 100 calls: $345. Cheapest published plan for that volume: Virtual Receptionist 300.
5. Specialty Answering Service$384.20Specialty Answering Service at 100 calls: $384.20. Cheapest published plan for that volume: 220 Minute.
6. AnswerForce$389AnswerForce at 100 calls: $389. Cheapest published plan for that volume: Best value (300 minutes).
7. AnswerConnect$395AnswerConnect at 100 calls: $395. Cheapest published plan for that volume: Growth (300 minutes).
8. MAP Communications$403MAP Communications at 100 calls: $403. Cheapest published plan for that volume: Enterprise (250 minutes).
9. Answering Service Care$409Answering Service Care at 100 calls: $409. Cheapest published plan for that volume: Pro (250 minutes).
10. LEX Reception$450LEX Reception at 100 calls: $450. Cheapest published plan for that volume: Best value (300 minutes).
11. PATLive$479PATLive at 100 calls: $479. Cheapest published plan for that volume: 300 minutes.
12. AnswerFirst$510 to $615AnswerFirst at 100 calls: $510 to $615. Cheapest published plan for that volume: Pay as you go.
13. Moneypenny$613Moneypenny at 100 calls: $613. Cheapest published plan for that volume: 200 minutes.
14. Posh$630Posh at 100 calls: $630. Cheapest published plan for that volume: 200 minutes.
15. Alert Communicationslaw firms only$750Alert Communications at 100 calls: $750. Cheapest published plan for that volume: Alert Go (pay as you go).
16. Abby Connectlive and AI$898Abby Connect at 100 calls: $898. Cheapest published plan for that volume: Professional (200 Abby Minutes).
17. Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists$915Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists at 100 calls: $915. Cheapest published plan for that volume: 90 calls.
18. Ruby$1,160Ruby at 100 calls: $1,160. Cheapest published plan for that volume: 200 minutes.

No published price at 100 calls: Answering Legal (quote only), Nexa (quote only).

For the vendor table, see answering service pricing, and for the category comparison see live vs AI answering service cost.

How answering services round each call

A short call costs what the per-call minimum says, and fewer vendors state one.

LEX Reception: "if your call lasts for 2 minutes 28 seconds, we record that as a 3 minute call." (lexreception.com/faqs, read October 7, 2026)

Moneypenny adds wrap-up before rounding: "a call that lasts for 62 seconds, then has 8 seconds of Wrap-up Time, will be billed at 90 seconds" (Moneypenny phone answering terms, read October 7, 2026).

Specialty Answering Service: "We do not round up. So if a call lasts six (6) seconds, then your Service Plan will be charged six (6) seconds." (specialtyansweringservice.net/terms, read October 7, 2026)

Posh's terms say "call times are rounded up to the next 60-second increment" (posh.com/terms, read October 7, 2026). Its blog says "a 90-second call counts as 1.5 minutes, not two" (Posh blog, read October 7, 2026). The counts follow the terms, which are the contract.

Time billed beyond the call

14 of 14 live and hybrid answering services that say what their billable time includes name time beyond the conversation as billable (vendor terms, read October 7 to 9, 2026).

0 of 14 live and hybrid answering services that say what their billable time includes state that they bill the conversation alone (vendor terms, read October 7 to 9, 2026).

Answering Service Care: "Usage is billed from cradle to grave; from the inception of a call in our systems through its completion and any post-call related work" (answeringservicecare.com terms, read October 9, 2026).

Nexa: "System time may be billed as a percentage of work and/or talk time" (nexa.com terms, read October 7, 2026). Nexa publishes no percentage.

PATLive bills hold during lookups and transfer attempts, and stops there: "You are not billed for anytime a call sits in queue waiting for a receptionist, or for any time after a receptionist is disconnected." (patlive.com/terms-of-use, read October 7, 2026)

Spam, robocalls and short calls

AnswerFirst asks "Am I billed for spam, robo calls and solicitation calls?" and answers "The answer is YES." (support.answerfirst.com, read October 7, 2026)

AnswerConnect: "You won't be charged for the first 30 calls under 30 seconds that you receive during each billing cycle." (answerconnect.com help center, read October 7, 2026) AnswerForce and LEX Reception state the same allowance. All three contract as AnywhereWorks, Inc. and count separately here; see who owns which answering service.

Answering Legal's terms: "Telemarketing calls are free, but must not exceed 10% of your plan's total minutes and may not exceed 100 minutes in total." (answeringlegal.com/terms-of-service, read October 7, 2026) Its marketing says "Your minutes aren't used on spam calls" (answeringlegal.com, read October 7, 2026).

Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists: "as long as the lines you forward to us pass Caller ID, you won't be charged for spam or unsolicited sales calls" (smith.ai/pricing/receptionists, read October 5, 2026). Every rule is in which answering services charge for spam calls.

Setup fees and pass-through fees

Where the amount is published, live and hybrid answering service setup fees run $0 to $75 (vendor terms, read October 5 to 9, 2026).

Go Answer counts as charging one because its terms say so. Its pricing page says "No, we don't charge any setup fees." (goanswer.io pricing, read October 5, 2026) Its terms list setup fees by plan (read October 7, 2026).

Fees outside the plan price, none of them in any price on this page:

• MAP Communications: its terms add a per-call telecom fee (mapcommunications.com/terms, read October 7, 2026).
• Nexa: a "Service Fee ... based on a percentage of the Client's monthly invoice" (nexa.com terms, read October 7, 2026), percentage not published.
• PATLive: a compliance fee whose "amount is established quarterly" (help.patlive.com, read October 7, 2026).
• Answering Service Care: an annual maintenance fee that "is billed in advance for the upcoming year" (answeringservicecare.com terms, read October 9, 2026), amount not published.
• Answering Legal: its terms add a carrier recovery fund (answeringlegal.com terms, read October 7, 2026).
• Ruby, Posh and Nexa: "payments made by credit card will incur a 3.0% surcharge" (ruby.com/terms, posh.com/terms and nexa.com terms, read October 7, 2026).

The full list is in answering service hidden fees.

Nights, holidays and Spanish-speaking callers

ReceptionHQ surcharges calls "outside of 5am to 7pm Monday to Friday local time in Phoenix, Arizona", which covers every weekend (receptionhq.com terms, read October 7, 2026). Nexa names eight holidays for its "Holiday-related fee", without an amount (nexa.com terms, read October 7, 2026). See after-hours answering service pricing and bilingual answering service pricing.

Contracts, notice periods and minimum terms

6 of 6 AI answering services that publish their contract terms are month-to-month: Go Answer AI Receptionist, Moneypenny AI Answering (US), My AI Front Desk, NextPhone, Simple Phones and Smith.ai AI Receptionist (vendor terms, read October 5 to 12, 2026).

AnswerConnect's marketing says "No fixed contract. We don't need a commitment" (answerconnect.com/why, read October 7, 2026). Its terms say "This Agreement will be in effect for a minimum period of 90 calendar days." (answerconnect.com/termsofservice, read October 7, 2026)

Moneypenny's terms: "if Services are canceled after the 1st calendar day of the month, the Customer will be responsible for payment of another full month" (Moneypenny phone answering terms, read October 7, 2026). Every contract is in month-to-month answering services.

Trials and money-back guarantees

Abby Connect's trial converts on its own: "Upon expiration of the Free Trial period, we will automatically charge your payment method" (abby.com terms, read October 7, 2026).

• Ruby: "within 21 days of your purchase, or before your usage exceeds 500 receptionist minutes/50 billable chats, whichever occurs sooner" (Ruby help center, read October 7, 2026).
• Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists: its pricing page caps the refund (smith.ai/pricing/receptionists, read October 5, 2026), less "Any overage charges incurred for calls beyond the service plan quota" (smith.ai/receptionists/terms, read October 7, 2026).
• AnswerFirst: "30-days risk-free - you're refunded if we can't deliver as agreed" (answerfirst.com/pricing, read October 5, 2026).
• Go Answer: "All plans include a 30-day money-back guarantee" (goanswer.io pricing, read October 5, 2026), while its sign-up terms call fees "non-refundable except as required by law" (goanswer.io sign-up terms, read October 7, 2026).
• Abby Connect: "a 22-day money-back guarantee on our Services", and in the same terms, "we enforce a strict no refund policy" (abby.com terms, read October 7, 2026).

Every trial is in answering service free trials.

Published plans and missing price details

AnswerConnect and LEX Reception publish prices on their direct plans pages, even though the usual pricing path asks for contact details. Answering Legal and Nexa still require a quote. Alert Communications publishes plans but does not state an overage rate or setup fee amount on the pages we read. The table shows those differences; it does not treat every row as quote only.

Alert Communications, which Nexa owns, serves law firms alone and stays out of the category price ranges and billing term counts here.

AnswerAmerica uses prepaid credits for message-taking calls. One credit covers one call, and unused credits roll over (answeramerica.com/packages, read October 9, 2026). Its $150 at 100 calls is a package cash purchase, not a recurring monthly bill. Its terms say hangups, wrong numbers and marketing calls use a credit, although its price page calls wrong numbers and hoax calls free (both read October 9, 2026).

Posh, Moneypenny (US), MAP Communications and Abby Connect publish no rule for spam calls a receptionist answers, and Posh and MAP Communications none for hold time (vendor files, pages read October 5 to 7, 2026).

Vendors' own call-length figures disagree:

• Ruby: "a typical inbound call results in around 2 receptionist minutes" (Ruby help center, read October 7, 2026).
• PATLive: "Most calls fall within the 3 to 3.5-minute range" (help.patlive.com, read October 7, 2026), while its pricing page puts 50 minutes at "About 20 calls" (patlive.com/pricing, read October 5, 2026).
• Answering Legal: "Our average call time is less than 3 minutes" (answeringlegal.com, read October 7, 2026).

How these statistics were made

Prices come from our price index, read from each vendor's own pricing page and checked on October 12, 2026, at 3-minute calls. Billing and contract counts come from the vendors' own pricing, terms, FAQ and help pages, each dated. Category ranges and term counts leave out services restricted to one industry; services without published prices still enter term counts when their terms are public. AnswerConnect, AnswerForce and LEX Reception share an owner and count separately. Where a vendor's pages disagree, the count follows its terms.

This is the first edition; each quarterly edition re-counts everything and says what changed. Changes between editions are on the changes page, the index downloads from the data page, and the answering service cost calculator prices any volume.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does an answering service cost on average?

For a month with 100 three-minute calls, the median live plan price or prepaid purchase is $406 (price index, checked October 12, 2026). At 50 calls the median is $282, and at 200 calls $871. Prepaid credits may roll over to later months.

Do answering services charge for spam calls?

5 of 14 live and hybrid answering services that publish a spam rule bill spam like any other call: AnswerAmerica, AnswerFirst, Nexa, PATLive and Specialty Answering Service (vendor terms, read October 5 to 9, 2026). 9 of 14 live and hybrid answering services that publish a spam rule exempt spam only within a limit or under a condition, such as a monthly allowance of short calls.

Are answering services month-to-month?

14 of 17 live and hybrid answering services that publish their contract terms are month-to-month (vendor terms, read October 5 to 9, 2026). AnswerConnect, AnswerFirst and AnswerForce set a minimum term longer than a month.

Do answering services bill a full minute for a short call?

6 of 10 live and hybrid answering services that publish a per-call minimum bill at least a full minute for every answered call: AnswerConnect, AnswerForce, LEX Reception, PATLive, Posh and Ruby (vendor terms, read October 7, 2026).

Do answering services charge a setup fee?

8 of 17 live and hybrid answering services that publish their setup terms charge a setup fee (vendor terms, read October 5 to 9, 2026). Where the amount is published, the fees run $0 to $75.

Is an AI answering service cheaper than a live one?

At 100 three-minute calls, the median AI plan costs $174 a month; the median live plan price or prepaid purchase is $406 (price index, checked October 12, 2026).