How Much Does an AI Receptionist Cost in 2026? Real Prices From 10 Vendors
AI receptionist pricing in 2026 runs from $29 to $399+ per month. Real prices from 10 vendors, the four pricing models, and the overage traps to avoid.
If you are pricing out an AI receptionist for your business, the honest answer is that "AI receptionist" now covers everything from a $29 stripped-down answering bot to a $399-per-location restaurant platform. This guide breaks down what vendors actually charge in 2026, using prices taken from each vendor's own pricing page and linked so you can check them yourself.
Full disclosure: we make District AI, one of the products in the comparison below. The numbers are real either way, and we link every source.
The four pricing models
Every AI receptionist on the market prices one of four ways:
- Per-minute plans. You buy a monthly bundle of call minutes, then pay a per-minute overage. Most of the market works this way, including District AI, Rosie, and Dialzara. The number to compare is the effective per-minute rate: monthly price divided by included minutes.
- Per-call plans. You buy a bundle of answered calls regardless of length. Smith.ai works this way at $1.80 to $3.00 per call. Fine for short reception calls, expensive if your callers need real conversations.
- Flat plans with usage caps. "Unlimited minutes" with a cap on something else. Goodcall is unlimited minutes but caps unique customers per month (100 on the $79 Starter tier, then $0.50 per extra customer).
- Per-location vertical platforms. Restaurant and multi-location products like Slang.ai price per location at $399 and up.
What 10 vendors actually charge
| Vendor · plan | Monthly | Included | Effective $/min | Overage | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| District AIVoice Solo | $39 | 250 minutes | $0.156 | $0.20/min, with a spending cap you set in Billing | Google Calendar booking, CRM contact records, and caller-ID/line-type lookup included at entry tier. |
| District AIVoice Starter | $79 | 500 minutes | $0.158 | $0.18/min, with a spending cap you set in Billing | Same feature set as Solo with double the included minutes. |
| DialzaraBusiness Lite | $29 | 60 minutes | $0.483 | $0.48/min | Top inbound tier is $349 for 1,000 minutes with $0.35/min overage. |
| RosieProfessional | $49 | 250 minutes | $0.196 | Not published on the pricing page | Calendar appointment booking and warm transfer start at the $149 Scale tier (1,000 min). |
| GoodcallStarter | $79 | 100 customers | n/a | $0.50 per unique customer over the monthly cap | Unlimited minutes, but capped at 100 unique customers per month on Starter. |
| Smith.aiAI Receptionist Free | Free | 25 calls | n/a | $3.00 per call after 25 calls | Paid AI tiers: $150/mo for 75 calls ($2.00/call) or $270/mo for 150 calls. |
| My AI Front DeskBusiness-in-a-Box | $99 | 200 minutes | $0.495 | Credit-based, roughly $0.25/min | $79/mo on annual billing. $20 Basic tier is chatbot-only with no voice minutes. |
| Ask BennyStarter | $99 CAD | 300 minutes | $0.330 | $0.45/min | Canadian vendor (Toronto). C$149 Business PRO and C$399 Enterprise tiers. |
| Slang.aiCore | $399 | Unlimited / per location | n/a | Per-location pricing | Restaurant-focused; priced per location, $399 to $599/mo. |
| Ruby (human)Starter | $250 | 50 minutes | $5.000 | Higher tiers: $395/100 min, $720/200 min, $1,725/500 min | Human receptionists, not AI. Included for cost context. |
Prices from each vendor's own pricing page (linked), last verified 2026-09-02. CAD prices marked; all others USD.
Three things stand out in that table:
- The per-minute spread is wide. Dialzara's entry tier works out to $0.48 per minute, Rosie's to about $0.20, and District AI's to about $0.16. On identical call volume, that spread is the difference between $29 buying one hour of coverage and $39 buying more than four.
- Feature gating changes the real price. Rosie's $49 plan cannot book calendar appointments; that starts at the $149 Scale tier. If booking is why you want a receptionist, Rosie's real price for you is $149. District AI includes calendar booking, a built-in CRM, caller-ID and line-type lookup, and repeat-caller recognition at $39.
- Human services anchor the top. Ruby charges $250 per month for 50 minutes. That is the market AI receptionists are replacing, at roughly one twentieth of the per-minute cost.
The overage trap
The headline price only covers the included minutes. What happens after them matters just as much, because a busy month is exactly when you cannot afford your receptionist going dark or your bill exploding.
Overage rates across the vendors above range from $0.14 to $0.48 per minute, more than a 3x spread. Two questions to ask any vendor:
- What exactly is the overage rate at my tier?
- Can I cap my spending?
Most vendors publish the first number reluctantly and do not offer the second at all. District AI publishes both: overage runs $0.14 to $0.20 per minute depending on tier, and every workspace can set a hard spending cap in Billing so the meter physically cannot run away.
$0.14-0.48/min
The overage spread across named AI receptionist vendors in 2026. Always compare the after-bundle rate, not just the monthly price.
How to choose at each budget
- Under $50/month: you are choosing between stripped-down minutes (Dialzara at 60 minutes) and complete-but-small (District AI Solo at 250 minutes with booking and CRM included). Decide whether you need the receptionist to actually do things (book, text, remember callers) or just answer.
- $50 to $150/month: this band buys 500+ minutes or unlimited-with-caps. Check the caps and the feature gates carefully; this is where "unlimited" plans quietly limit customers or gate transfers.
- $150+/month: you should be getting live transfers, integrations, and multi-number support. If you run a restaurant, this is also where the $399 vertical platforms start; a general-purpose receptionist at a fraction of that price handles reservations for most independent operators.
Try before you pay anything
Most vendors in this market gate their product behind a "book a demo" form. We think you should hear an AI receptionist handle a real conversation before giving anyone your email address, which is why the District AI demo runs live in your browser.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an AI receptionist cost per month?
In 2026, entry plans run $29 to $99 per month for roughly 60 to 500 minutes of calls. Mid-tier plans run $129 to $349. Vertical specialists like restaurant platforms charge $399 or more per location. District AI starts at $39 per month for 250 minutes.
What is a good price per minute for an AI answering service?
Effective in-plan rates across named vendors range from about $0.16 to $0.48 per minute. Anything under $0.20 per minute is at the value end of the market. Watch the overage rate too: it ranges from $0.14 to $0.48 per minute depending on the vendor.
Are AI receptionists cheaper than human answering services?
Substantially. Human receptionist services run $3.45 to $5.00 per minute ($250 per month for 50 minutes at the entry tier), roughly 20 to 30 times the per-minute cost of an AI receptionist handling the same call volume.
Do AI receptionist plans have hidden fees?
The common surprises are overage rates after included minutes, features gated to higher tiers (like appointment booking), and per-customer caps on so-called unlimited plans. Compare the overage rate and the feature list at the tier you would actually buy, not the headline price.