How We Price Answering Services: Sources, Math and Dates

Of the 34 services in our price index, 31 publish a price on their own pricing page, and every one of those prices was checked on or after October 12, 2026. This page sets out where each number comes from, the arithmetic behind each cost figure, and what moves each date.

How links and rankings work

These rules apply to every vendor:

• Affiliate links: a page that carries one says so in its disclosure line. Each one is marked "(affiliate)", never sits in a Source cell, and changes neither the order of a table nor any number. This page has none.
• Table order: rows run by billing unit, then alphabetically, never by price.
• Picks: a label such as "Best for low volume" goes to the vendor the arithmetic puts ahead at a named volume, against a named set of vendors.
• Any service connected to this site: it appears through the same price index and takes a pick only where the math gives it one.
• No ratings: we do not make test calls or score answering quality. The site publishes prices and terms, with no stars, scores or "editor's choice".

What we price and what we leave out

One-vertical services keep their own rows but stay out of general ranges. All-in-one systems are excluded because seat charges change the total: Allo bills its AI receptionist per agent on top of seat-based plans (withallo.com/pricing, read October 5, 2026).

Where every price comes from

• The vendor's own pricing page, read through a text reader and saved under the date we read it. Every number in the index has to be findable in that saved copy.
• The vendor's help center, when the pricing page leaves a rate out. Ruby's pricing page shows no overage rate. Its help center does: past the 100-minute plan, Ruby charges $4.50 a minute.
• A direct plan page behind a form-led public path. AnswerForce's public pricing path asks for contact details, while its /plans-direct page publishes the table. AnswerConnect and LEX Reception also publish direct plan tables alongside public pricing forms. We price the direct tables and link each vendor's source and read date.
• One table, one row. VoiceNation's pages redirect to Moneypenny, so its plans are priced once, under Moneypenny.
• Billing terms (rounding, time billed beyond the call, spam, setup fees, contract, trial) come from each vendor's terms, FAQ and help pages, quoted word for word in 25 words or fewer, with the URL and read date. A script checks every quote in the index against the saved pages.
• When a vendor's pages disagree, we quote both and follow the terms, because the terms are the contract.
• Never: another comparison site, an old blog post, a press release, a sales call or a review site.

How a price list becomes a comparison cost

For subscription plans, at each call volume:

1. Turn calls into usage. On a per-minute plan, each call counts as 3 billed minutes. On a per-call plan, the calls are the usage.
2. Price every published plan at that usage: its monthly charge, plus its published overage rate for any usage past the allowance.
3. Keep the lowest result. That is the vendor's modeled monthly cost at that volume, and the plan behind it can change from one volume to the next.

AnswerAmerica uses a different purchase model: one prepaid credit covers one message-taking call. We find the lowest cash purchase of its published packages that covers the modeled calls, requiring an initial package purchase of $50 prepaid for 34 calls. At 100 calls, that outlay is $150. It is an upfront purchase, not a monthly subscription charge or the value of credits consumed. Unused credits roll over, so buying the same package again each month is not implied. The package page lists the rollover rule; its price page states the first-purchase minimum (read October 9, 2026).

100 three-minute calls are 300 minutes. PATLive charges $479/month for 300 minutes, so 100 calls cost $479. At 50 calls, or 150 minutes, our arithmetic lands on a different PATLive plan: $189/month for 100 minutes, plus $2.09 a minute for the other 50 minutes, which comes to $293.50.

On a per-call plan, call length drops out of our arithmetic. ReceptionHQ charges $170/month for 100 calls, so 100 calls cost $170 at any call length we could assume. Per-call plans limit length in their terms instead. ReceptionHQ's say "Extended call durations will require a Plus Pack to be added" (receptionhq.com terms, read October 7, 2026).

When a vendor publishes a rate as a band, the cost stays a band. AnswerFirst charges $30/month plus $1.60 to $1.95 a minute, with the rate falling as usage grows, in steps it does not publish. Its cost at 100 calls is $510 to $615, and we print the whole range, never its low end alone.

What the arithmetic leaves out

• Taxes, pass-through and telecom fees. PATLive's pricing page says "Prices don't include taxes and fees." (patlive.com/pricing, read October 5, 2026). The fees each vendor's terms allow are quoted in answering service hidden fees.
• Setup fees and add-ons, such as dedicated Spanish lines or call recording.
• Rounding and time billed beyond the call. The model gives each minute-billed call exactly 3 billed minutes. Per-call and prepaid-credit plans use call counts instead. Whole-minute rounding and after-call work can increase a real minute-billed invoice. Each price page quotes those terms vendor by vendor.
• Annual billing and repeat purchases. Subscription costs use monthly billing prices. AnswerAmerica costs are prepaid cash outlays for the stated calls; unused credits roll over. For an annual AnswerAmerica figure, we find packages covering the year's calls rather than multiplying one month's outlay by twelve.

Why we use 3-minute calls

One call length lets every vendor be priced on the same calls. We took it from what vendors say about their own calls:

Three minutes matches Answering Service Care's average and the low end of PATLive's help-center range. PATLive's pricing page assumes shorter calls than its help center reports.

For your own call length, use the answering service cost calculator.

Ranges and medians

A range runs from the lowest to the highest modeled cost at one volume across one category: live, AI or hybrid. A median is the middle of those costs. Subscription rows are monthly charges; AnswerAmerica contributes the upfront cash purchase needed to cover that volume. Its unused credits roll over, so a live range or median that includes AnswerAmerica mixes purchase models and is not a recurring-bill estimate for every row.

At 100 three-minute calls, the live comparison spans $150 to $1,160 (low end AnswerAmerica, prepaid message-taking only, no transfers; unused credits roll over), and the median of those modeled figures is $406. The note in parentheses names a narrower service when it sets an end of a range.

Which vendors count:

• In: every vendor in the category with a published price we can compute at that volume, including AnswerAmerica's prepaid package outlay in the live set.
• Out: quote-only vendors, one-vertical services, free tiers (so a range never starts at zero), and any vendor whose published numbers cannot cover that volume.
• Banded costs: AnswerFirst's whole band sits inside the range. Its low end is the figure that enters the median.

The set changes with volume. Simple Phones charges $97/month for 100 calls and publishes no rate past that allowance. It counts in the AI figures at 100 calls and drops out at 200, so we never compare medians at two volumes as if they covered the same vendors.

When a category holds a single priced vendor, its figure is one number, not a range. Abby Connect is the hybrid figure today: $898 at 100 calls.

What "quote only", "not published" and "not computable" mean

Of the 34 services in our price index, 3 have no published price on the vendor pages we found. Eligible answering services stay in price tables as quote-only rows; build-your-own platforms stay out of those tables. We fill no gap with an estimate, and we never submit a quote form under a false identity.

How we re-check, and how the dates move

A source-check script compares a new read with each saved vendor page:

1. It reads each page twice, the second time skipping the reader's cache.
2. It pulls out the price-bearing parts: dollar amounts, minute and call counts, percentages. Wording and layout changes are ignored.
3. It compares them with the last saved copy and marks each page unchanged, changed, unstable (the two reads disagree) or unreadable.
4. A changed price goes into the index as a reviewed edit, with a dated entry in the change log.
5. Each vendor whose page was verified gets the date of that read.

If the prices-checked date grows older than 30 days, the site's build stops until the vendor holding it back is re-read by hand or taken out of the index.

Billing terms are read in their own passes, and each quote carries the date of that read. When a vendor's terms page is re-read, every quote taken from it is checked again.

Corrections and vendor requests

• What we need: the page on this site, and the vendor's own public page that shows a different price or term.
• What we do: re-read the vendor's page, fix the index, and add a dated entry to the change log. Every page that shows that vendor picks up the new number through the index, and its updated date moves.
• What we do not do: change a number because a vendor asks, without a public page that shows it.
• Sentences that compare vendors ("costs less than", "the lowest at 100 calls") are checked against the index on every build. When a price change makes one false, the build fails and the sentence is rewritten.

How to cite and download our data

• Every page with a price table offers that table as a CSV and links the full index.
• The full index is on our data page: every price row and every billing term, as CSV and JSON, under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. You may reuse it, commercially too, if you credit answeringprices.com.

Cite a page by title, prices-checked date and URL. For this page: answeringprices.com, How We Price Answering Services: Sources, Math and Dates, prices checked October 12, 2026, https://answeringprices.com/how-we-price/.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where do your answering service prices come from?

From each vendor's own pricing page, read and saved with its date; every price was checked on or after October 12, 2026. Billing terms come from each vendor's terms, FAQ and help pages, quoted with their URLs and read dates. We never take a price from another comparison site, a review site or a sales call.

Why do you assume 3-minute calls?

Vendors' own figures sit around it. PATLive's help center says "Most calls fall within the 3 to 3.5-minute range", and Ruby says a typical call is "around 2 receptionist minutes". Minute-billed costs use 3-minute calls; per-call and prepaid-credit services use the same call counts.

What does "quote only" mean on an answering service price table?

We found no published price on the vendor pages checked, including direct plan pages. Of the 34 services in our price index, 3 have no published price. Eligible answering services stay in tables as quote-only rows; build-your-own platforms do not appear there. We do not estimate their prices.

Can I reuse your answering service price data?

Yes. The full index is free to download as CSV and JSON under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Credit answeringprices.com with the page title, the prices-checked date and the URL.