Short answer: anywhere from $29 to $400+ per month depending on what you're buying. The range is wide because the products are genuinely different — a $29 tool that takes messages is not the same thing as a $200 service that handles your emergency calls, books jobs, and gets reviewed by a human team every day.
This guide breaks down what you actually get at different price points, explains the pricing models you'll encounter, and flags the traps that make cheap plans expensive in practice.
The price range and what drives it
Three things drive the price: how much customization is involved, whether humans are part of the service, and how the product handles your call volume.
A $29 product is a software tool you configure yourself. It answers calls based on what you set up. No one is watching it, tuning it, or available to fix it when something goes wrong. That's fine for basic coverage.
A $200 product either includes contractor-specific AI built from industry data, a done-for-you setup model, daily human oversight, or some combination. You're paying for the expertise and ongoing management, not just the software.
Human answering services price even higher because you're literally paying for people's time. Entry-level human services start around $279/month and costs scale with call volume.
Pricing models explained
Understanding pricing models matters more than the headline price. Two products at the same starting price can cost very different amounts at contractor call volumes.
Flat rate: One price per month regardless of call volume. NextPhone at $199/month is an example. This is the most contractor-friendly model. Busy months cost the same as slow ones. No surprises.
Volume-based, set upfront: Price is determined by your expected call volume before the month starts. You know the number in advance and it doesn't change based on actual volume within a reasonable range. Dolfyn uses this model. Predictable and scales sensibly as your business grows.
Per-minute: You pay for the actual minutes used, often with a monthly base that includes a set number. The rest is billed at an overage rate. Common with human answering services. Can be cost-effective at low volume and expensive at high volume.
Per-call or per-caller: Charged based on the number of calls or unique callers. Goodcall's model, for example, prices per unique caller. Works until you have a busy period.
Tiered: Features are locked behind higher plans. Rosie's appointment booking is $149/month while the base plan is $49. The headline price only tells you the starting point, not what the product actually costs to use fully.
Pricing traps to watch for
The biggest trap in AI receptionist pricing is the gap between the advertised price and what you actually pay during your busiest months. Those are the months you most need the service to work reliably.
What happens to my cost if I have double my normal call volume in a month? Is appointment booking included or a higher plan? Are there setup fees? What's the overage rate and at what usage does it kick in?
Per-minute models are the biggest overage risk for contractors. Human answering services like AnswerForce charge $2/minute past included minutes. An HVAC company during a heat wave can blow through a month's included minutes in a few days. Make sure you model what a peak month actually costs — not just a typical month.
Feature gating is the second trap. Several platforms advertise a low starting price but lock the features most contractors actually need — appointment booking, call transfers, custom routing — behind higher plans. Always check what the plan you're likely to use actually costs, not the entry price.
Annual contract lock-in is less common than it used to be but still exists. Most quality AI receptionist products now offer month-to-month pricing. If a service requires an annual commitment upfront, that's worth asking about before you get locked in to something that doesn't work for your business.
What you get at each price tier
| Price range | Typical product | What's included | What's missing |
|---|---|---|---|
| $29 to $49/mo | Dialzara, Rosie (base) | Message-taking, basic FAQ, spam filtering | Booking, emergency triage, oversight |
| $59 to $99/mo | Goodcall, Rosie (scale) | Call answering, some booking features | Contractor-specific training, oversight |
| $100 to $200/mo | SkipCalls, NextPhone, Dolfyn | Full AI receptionist, booking, emergency routing | Varies — check oversight and customization |
| $200 to $300/mo | Smith.ai, Dolfyn | Full features, hybrid or custom options | Human on every call (AI products) |
| $279 to $400+/mo | AnswerForce, Ruby | Live human receptionists, contractor scripts | Cost predictability at volume |
The ROI math
The simplest way to think about this: what is one recovered job worth to your business?
For a plumber, average job value ranges from $300 to $600 for a service call. For HVAC, $200 to $800 depending on the job type. For roofing, $500 to $3,000. For electrical, $200 to $1,000.
Industry data consistently shows that contractors miss 25 to 35% of inbound calls. A 3-truck plumbing company getting 150 calls a month is potentially missing 40 to 50 of them. Even if only a third of those would have converted to paid jobs, that's 13 to 17 jobs per month going to competitors.
At $400 average job value, that's $5,000 to $7,000 per month in missed revenue. The most expensive AI receptionist on this list is a rounding error in comparison.
The right question isn't "how much does an AI receptionist cost?" It's "how much is it costing me to not have one?"
See what Dolfyn costs for your specific volume
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