Do Answering Services Charge for Spam Calls? Each Vendor's Rule for 2026

Yes: on live plans billed by the minute, published overage and pay-as-you-go rates range from $1.09 to $5.40 as of October 12, 2026. 14 of 14 live and hybrid services that publish a spam rule bill it in some cases (vendor terms, read October 5 to 9, 2026). Rounding decides what a 10-second robocall becomes.

Answering service spam calls billed: monthly plans and minutes by vendor

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.

These monthly-plan costs assume every call is a real three-minute call; spam comes on top. AnswerConnect and LEX Reception publish prices on direct plan pages. AnswerConnect, AnswerForce and LEX Reception share an owner, AnywhereWorks, and the first 30 calls under 30 seconds are free at each brand. Plan prices without spam are in answering service pricing.

Which 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 free spam only within a limit or under a condition: AnswerConnect, AnswerForce, Answering Legal, Answering Service Care, Go Answer, LEX Reception, ReceptionHQ MessageExpress, Ruby and Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists (vendor terms, read October 5 to 9, 2026). AnswerConnect, AnswerForce and LEX Reception share one company and one rule, and each brand is counted.

0 of 14 exempt spam with no limit and no condition. Posh, Moneypenny, MAP Communications and Abby Connect publish no billing rule for spam a receptionist answers (vendor files, pages read October 5 to 7, 2026).

How spam calls are billed: per minute, per call or pay as you go

Per minute with a minimum. PATLive charges $479/month for 300 minutes, then $1.89 a minute past it. Its terms say "All receptionist minutes are billed in six-second increments, with a one-minute minimum." (patlive.com/terms-of-use, read October 7, 2026) A 10-second robocall a receptionist picks up uses a full minute.

Per second. Specialty Answering Service charges $269/month for 220 minutes. Its terms say "if a call lasts six (6) seconds, then your Service Plan will be charged six (6) seconds." (specialtyansweringservice.net/terms, read October 7, 2026) A hang-up costs seconds, not a minute.

Prepaid per call. AnswerAmerica sells credits that roll over, with no monthly subscription. Its price page says "Wrong Numbers/Hoax Calls FREE" and "Automated Messages/Fax Tones FREE", while section 5.7 of its terms says "All calls will be charged one credit including hangups, wrong numbers and marketing calls" (both read October 9, 2026). The terms govern our model: $150 in prepaid purchases covers 100 calls, and $190 covers 130 if 30 junk calls use credits. Unused credits roll over. It takes messages without transfers.

Per call. ReceptionHQ charges $170/month for 100 calls, then $1.99 a call. A misdial is a whole call, whatever its length.

Pay as you go. AnswerFirst charges $30/month plus $1.60 to $1.95 a minute, and a spam call runs on that meter: "Until the call is disconnected your account will be billed in 1 second increments at your per minute, Live Time rate." (AnswerFirst KB0010331, read October 7, 2026)

What decides whether a spam call is billed

Free allowances that run out

AnswerConnect lists what its allowance covers: "This includes wrong numbers, as well as: Hung-up calls, Spam calls, No response calls. If you receive more than 30 of these short calls in a given month, the additional ones will start counting toward your bill." (AnswerConnect help center, read October 7, 2026) A spam call that runs 30 seconds or longer is outside the allowance from the first call.

AnswerForce publishes two versions. Its help center: "Charges will not be placed for calls that are disconnected within thirty seconds" (answerforce.com/support, read October 7, 2026). Its pricing page caps it: "No charge for the first 30 interactions under 30 seconds per billing cycle." (answerforce.com/plans-direct, read October 7, 2026) Neither page is the terms. LEX Reception's spam page says receptionists "mark the call as spam and hang up quickly to save your minutes" (lexreception.com, read October 7, 2026), which means the time is on the meter.

Answering Legal's marketing says "Your minutes aren't used on spam calls" (answeringlegal.com, read October 7, 2026). Its 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) The terms are the contract.

Exemptions the vendor decides

Go Answer's pricing page lists "Spam call filtering (we don't charge for obvious spam/robocalls)" (goanswer.io, read October 5, 2026) without saying who judges "obvious". Its FAQ tells customers to join the Do Not Call Registry "to limit unnecessary minutes being used" (goanswer.io/faq, read October 7, 2026).

ReceptionHQ frees telemarketing it identifies, but "RHQ makes best endeavors but takes no responsibility for the accurate identification of such calls" (receptionhq.com terms, read October 7, 2026). The same terms say misdials and callers who "do not leave messages" still "qualify as inbound calls and may result in Usage Charges". Calls under 5 seconds are free.

PATLive exempts one channel: "You will not be billed for spam or junk chats, as determined by PATLive." Calls get blocking instead: PATLive "may block those numbers from accessing Your Account to reduce Your costs" (patlive.com/terms-of-use, read October 7, 2026).

Filters you switch on, pay for or qualify for

• Ruby: filtered robocalls "will not count towards your billable receptionist minutes", but the filter is opt-in: "Ruby is happy to activate our complimentary Robocall Filtering feature at your request." (Ruby help center, read October 7, 2026)
• Answering Service Care: "Thanks to our spam blocker, you won't be charged for robocalls." The blocker is a paid add-on (answeringservicecare.com, read October 9, 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). Blocking real callers after the fact is "considered an abuse of the system", and Smith.ai may "reverse the blocked calls (and charge for them)" (smith.ai reasonable use policy, read October 7, 2026).

Billed in full, or capped

AnswerFirst asks "Am I billed for spam, robo calls and solicitation calls?" and answers "The answer is YES." (KB0010331, read October 7, 2026) It adds: "As your answering service, we are unable to block phone numbers/calls." (KB0010121, read October 7, 2026)

Specialty Answering Service caps machines, not people: "The following call types are limited to 30 seconds of billable time, regardless of the recording duration." The list is automated calls, fax machines and dead air (SAS article 274, read October 7, 2026). Live telemarketers bill in full.

Nexa's terms, shared word for word with Alert Communications, reserve "the right to bill the Client for inbound calls that are pre-recorded calls, robocalls, telemarketing calls, other unsolicited calls, and/or 'dead-air' calls" on per-call plans (nexa.com terms, read October 7, 2026).

No published rule

MAP Communications answered a Trustpilot complaint about junk-call charges: spam calls "are not something we have control over" (trustpilot.com, read October 7, 2026). Its terms add a per-call telecom fee (mapcommunications.com/terms, read October 7, 2026), with no exception for junk calls. Moneypenny offers to "block spam and sales callers" on your instructions (moneypenny.com, read October 7, 2026). Posh says only, in a blog post, that screened spam calls "do not consume meaningful minutes" (posh.com blog, read October 7, 2026).

AI answering services

Smith.ai's AI Receptionist lets you "remove up to 10% of your call quota from your bill, including both spam calls and test calls" (Smith.ai AI help, read October 7, 2026). Moneypenny's AI terms: "If the caller does not speak to the AI Receptionist (i.e. no noise is registered), the call will not be charged." (Moneypenny AI terms, read October 7, 2026) A robocall makes noise. Compare live vs AI answering service cost.

What billed spam minutes cost at 50, 100 and 200 calls

The example adds 30 spam calls that each bill one minute: an example, not a measured spam rate. Our cost facts price three-minute calls, so 30 spam minutes enter as 10 extra three-minute calls.

Same arithmetic as the first table. Each row assumes spam falls outside an exemption: one-minute spam calls at AnswerConnect, AnswerForce and LEX Reception, robocalls without the blocker at Answering Service Care, telemarketers Go Answer does not judge obvious, live telemarketers at Specialty Answering Service.

Worked through for PATLive: 100 three-minute calls are 300 minutes, and its $479/month for 300 minutes covers them for $479. Thirty robocalls of 10 seconds each still bill 30 minutes under the one-minute minimum. Each of those minutes costs $1.89 a minute, so the month comes to $535.70.

Per-call plans count spam in calls. On ReceptionHQ MessageExpress, 100 message calls cost $170. Add 30 misdials or silent hang-ups and the 130 calls cost $229.70, at $1.99 a call past the allowance. On ReceptionistPlus the same 130 calls cost $349.70, against $260 for 100.

Enter your own calls and billed minutes, spam included:

Calls a month

Average billed minutes per call

Billed minutes divided by calls, from your last three invoices. Rounding, time billed after the call, spam, taxes, fees and setup are not included.

Live answering services at 100 calls of 5 minutes

Service	Cheapest plan for this volume	Monthly or upfront	Per call	Yearly total
AnswerAmericaprepaid message taking, credits roll over	Prepaid credit packages	$150	$1.50	$1,430
ReceptionHQ MessageExpressmessages only, no transfers	MessageExpress 100	$170	$1.70	$2,040
ReceptionHQ ReceptionistPlus	ReceptionistPlus 100	$260	$2.60	$3,120
Go Answer	Virtual Receptionist 500	$550	$5.50	$6,600
Answering Service Care	Enterprise (500 minutes)	$639	$6.39	$7,668
MAP Communications	Premium (500 minutes)	$649	$6.49	$7,788
Specialty Answering Service	500 Minute	$649	$6.49	$7,788
AnswerForce	Growth (500 minutes)	$669	$6.69	$8,028
PATLive	500 minutes	$759	$7.59	$9,108
AnswerConnect	Standard (400 minutes)	$760	$7.60	$9,120
LEX Reception	Growth (500 minutes)	$775	$7.75	$9,300
AnswerFirst	Pay as you go	$830 to $1,005	$8.30 to $10.05	$9,960 to $12,060
Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists	90 calls	$915	$9.15	$10,980
Posh	Lavish (500 minutes)	$975	$9.75	$11,700
Moneypenny	500 minutes	$985	$9.85	$11,820
Alert Communicationslaw firms only	Alert Go (pay as you go)	$1,250	$12.50	$15,000
Abby Connectlive and AI	Growth (500 Abby Minutes)	$1,380	$13.80	$16,560
Ruby	500 minutes	$1,725	$17.25	$20,700

AnswerAmerica shows the upfront credit purchase needed for these calls. Unused credits roll over; its yearly figure prices the full year's calls from a new account. Quote only (live): Answering Legal, Nexa.

AI answering services at the same volume

Service	Cheapest plan for this volume	Monthly or upfront	Per call	Yearly total
Simple Phones	Entry	$97	$0.97	$1,164
Phonely	Starter	$125 to $155	$1.25 to $1.55	$1,500 to $1,860
My AI Front Desk	Business-in-a-Box	$174	$1.74	$2,088
Moneypenny AI	100 calls	$199	$1.99	$2,388
NextPhone	Pro	$199	$1.99	$2,388
Smith.ai AI Receptionist	Pro (75 calls)	$212.50	$2.13	$2,550
RingCentral AI Receptionist	Standalone	$249	$2.49	$2,988
Go Answer AI Receptionist	AI Receptionist 500	$425	$4.25	$5,100
Sameday AIhome services only	Launch	$449	$4.49	$5,388

Which answering service fits which spam situation

Best if most of your junk is robocallsSpecialty Answering Service

At 50, 100 and 200 three-minute calls, Specialty Answering Service costs $231, $384.20 and $783, less than PATLive and AnswerFirst, the other monthly-plan services in the table that bill spam like any call. It bills by the second and stops robocalls at 30 billable seconds. It may not fit if live telemarketers are your problem: they bill in full.

Best low-cost spam exemption with transfers: ReceptionHQ ReceptionistPlus

At 50, 100 and 200 calls, ReceptionHQ ReceptionistPlus costs $135, $260 and $505, less than Go Answer, AnswerForce, Answering Service Care, Ruby and Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists, the other services in the table with a published price, a conditional spam exemption and transfers. Calls under 5 seconds and telemarketing it identifies are free. Misdials and no-message hang-ups bill as full calls.

Best per-minute plan with a spam exemption: Go Answer

At 100 and 200 three-minute calls, Go Answer costs $345 and $700, less than AnswerForce, Answering Service Care and Ruby, the other per-minute services in the table with a published price and a conditional spam exemption. It does not publish who decides which spam is "obvious", and its terms charge a setup fee its pricing page denies.

Best if telemarketers and wrong numbers are the problemSmith.ai Virtual Receptionists

Smith.ai's terms say "Inbound calls made by telemarketers, misdialed numbers, promotional companies, or callers not wanting to leave a message are not counted as Receptionist Calls." (smith.ai/receptionists/terms, read October 7, 2026) The condition is caller ID on the forwarded line. At 100 calls it costs $915, or 2.7 times Go Answer.

Best monthly plan for message-taking only: ReceptionHQ

At 100 three-minute calls, ReceptionHQ MessageExpress costs $170, less than any other monthly-plan service in the table with a published price. It takes messages and transfers no calls, and its spam rule is the same as ReceptionistPlus.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do answering services charge for wrong numbers?

It depends on the vendor. AnswerAmerica's price page says wrong numbers are free, but its terms say they use a prepaid credit. AnswerConnect frees wrong numbers only among the first 30 calls under 30 seconds each month, and ReceptionHQ's terms say misdials "qualify as inbound calls and may result in Usage Charges". Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists does not count misdialed numbers on lines that pass caller ID.

Are spam calls billed as minutes on an answering service plan?

AnswerFirst, PATLive and Specialty Answering Service bill answered spam on minute plans. AnswerAmerica instead uses a prepaid credit per call, including spam under its terms despite contrary wording on its price page. Specialty Answering Service caps robocalls, faxes and dead air at 30 billable seconds.

Does Ruby charge for spam calls?

Robocalls caught by Ruby's robocall filter are not billed, because they no longer reach a receptionist. The filter is opt-in: Ruby activates it at your request. Ruby publishes no rule exempting solicitors who reach a receptionist, and it bills receptionist time in 60-second increments per call.

Does Smith.ai charge for spam calls?

Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists does not count telemarketers, misdials or callers who leave no message, as long as the forwarded line passes caller ID. Smith.ai's AI Receptionist counts every answered call by default and lets you remove up to 10% of the call quota as spam or test calls.

Can an answering service block spam calls?

Several block numbers on request, but blocking is not the same as not billing. AnswerConnect adds reported numbers to a block list, PATLive may block repeat spam numbers, and Moneypenny blocks spam and sales callers on your instructions. AnswerFirst says it is unable to block phone numbers.

Do hang-ups and very short calls use plan minutes?

It depends on the rounding rule. PATLive bills at least one minute for any answered call, while Specialty Answering Service and Go Answer bill by the second. ReceptionHQ does not bill calls under 5 seconds, and AnswerConnect, AnswerForce and LEX Reception free the first 30 calls under 30 seconds each month. AnswerAmerica's terms charge a credit for every call, despite the free short-call wording on its price page.