AI receptionist services compared, using public prices
AI receptionist services compared on published price, billing model and what happens at the cap. Where a company doesn't publish a price, we say so.
Most "best AI receptionist" roundups are written by a vendor who quietly ranks its own product first and leaves out anyone who might beat it on price. We're a vendor too, so we'll show our work.
The services differ in what they can do on a live call, how clearly they publish prices, and whether they still make sense for a small team once real call volume arrives. An AI receptionist can answer every call, day or night, and turn it into a captured lead or a booked appointment. The hard part is picking one.
Booking and calendar features work through your existing scheduling system and depend on that system offering a compatible API. Availability varies by provider.
CallSprout is in the comparison. We're telling you how we scored, and we only use each provider's own published numbers. Where a company doesn't publish a price, we say that instead of guessing.
How we scored
We judged each service on three things a busy owner cares about. Can you see what it costs before a sales call? Does the meter match the work, or do you pay for minutes you never use? And when you hit a limit, do calls keep getting answered, or does the service stop?
We scored only on published capabilities and pricing. We didn't invent feature claims, and we didn't paste in review quotes we can't verify. All competitor figures below come from each vendor's own public pricing or support pages, checked in August 2026. Vendors change pricing often, so confirm the current number on their site before you decide.
For the longer view on how these services differ from each other and from live agents, see AI receptionist vs answering service, compare Sage with Smith.ai, Ruby, and Rosie, and our guide to how much an AI receptionist costs.
The comparison table
| Service | Published price (as of Aug 2026) | Billing model | What happens at the cap | |---|---|---|---| | CallSprout (Sage) | $0.39/min after the first 30 free seconds of each call | Billed by the second | No caps | | RingCentral | No AI receptionist price published (quote only) | Not published | Not published | | Dialpad | No AI receptionist price published (quote only) | Not published | Not published | | 8x8 | No AI receptionist price published (quote only) | Not published | Not published | | GoTo Connect | No AI receptionist price published (quote only) | Not published | Not published | | Nextiva AI Receptionist | $99/mo including 100 interactions, then $0.99 each | Monthly bundle plus per conversation | Not published | | Ooma AI Receptionist | From $49.99 per license for 100 minutes | Monthly minute bundle | Higher tier | | Zoom | $0.30/min, or prepaid minute bundles | Per minute or prepaid bundle | Not published | | Grasshopper (with Smith.ai) | Starts at $95/mo, billed separately | Monthly tier | Overage per tier | | Smith.ai | Tiered, plus $3.00 per call when a live agent takes over | Per call plus live-agent fee | Overage per tier | | Ruby | $250/mo at 50 minutes up to $1,725/mo at 500 minutes | Monthly minute bundle | Overage per bundle | | Dialzara | Overage runs $0.35 to $0.48/min | Monthly plus overage | Overage per minute | | Rosie | Tiered minute bundles of 250, 1,000, and 2,000 | Monthly minute bundle | Moves you up to the next tier | | Simple Phones | From $97/mo for 100 calls | Monthly call bundle | Numbers released if you exceed your tier |
What the table tells you
Put the numbers side by side and a few patterns jump out.
RingCentral, Dialpad, 8x8 and GoTo Connect all publish no AI receptionist price at all. You have to get on a call with sales to learn what you'd pay. When a provider won't show the number before you talk to a rep, notice that.
Bundles hide your real rate. Nextiva includes 100 interactions in its $99 a month and then charges $0.99 for each one after, so your cost per call depends on where you land against the bundle. Ooma starts at $49.99 for 100 minutes, and Zoom sells both a $0.30 per minute rate and prepaid minute packs. In every case the AI sits on top of a base phone bill instead of being included in it.
Human-backed services carry human-backed prices. Grasshopper partners with Smith.ai and bills it separately from your Grasshopper plan, starting at $95 a month, and Smith.ai adds $3.00 to a call when a live agent takes over from the AI. Ruby's published plans run from $250 a month for 50 minutes up to $1,725 a month for 500. Look at which way that scales: the entry plan works out to $5.00 a minute and the largest to $3.45, so the smallest plan carries the worst rate per minute. Those can be fine choices, but you're paying answering-service rates.
Bundles are also where it gets risky. Rosie sells minute bundles of 250, 1,000, and 2,000 and moves your account to the next tier once you pass one, so a busy month raises your bill without you deciding anything. Simple Phones counts calls rather than minutes, starting at $97 a month for 100 calls, and releases your phone numbers if you exceed your tier or cancel. Losing the number is the worst version of this problem, because the calls you most need answered are the ones that stop getting through.
Where CallSprout lands
We built Sage, CallSprout's AI voice agent, around the three things the scoring rewards.
AI is included, not a costly add-on. Sage is part of the phone system, not an upsell you bolt on later, so you aren't paying a platform fee just to unlock the receptionist. Pricing is transparent and published: per-seat prices are on our pricing page, and Sage is billed only when she answers, with no usage minimums. Compare that with the quote-only providers above.
Sage is billed by the second, with no caps. She runs $0.39 per minute after the first 30 free seconds of every call, and the meter counts actual seconds. There's no rounding up to the next minute, no monthly minute bundle to burn through, and no cap that shuts your number off.
That last point matters most for calls you can't predict. Sage keeps answering through your after-hours rush, your seasonal spike and your busiest afternoon, without a limit that quietly turns callers away. See the AI voice agent page for how it works, and our pricing page for the details.
Which one fits you
It depends on your call volume and how much you value a live human on transfers.
If you want a person to physically pick up transferred calls and you can absorb the cost, a service like Ruby or Smith.ai fits, as long as you've read AI receptionist vs human receptionist first. If you already run RingCentral or Nextiva and just want to add AI, get the quote and set it against a by-the-second plan before you commit. If you want every call answered, clear pricing and no cap that cuts you off, a by-the-second AI receptionist is the simpler math.
Whatever you pick, the real cost is the call nobody answers. It helps to know how many calls small businesses miss and the true cost of a missed call before you decide. If you run a specific trade, our industry pages show how Sage handles calls for your kind of business.
Listen before you decide
A table only goes so far. The quickest way to judge an AI receptionist is to hear one answer a call the way your customers would.
Ask for a live callback and Sage will show you how she greets a caller, captures the details, and books the appointment through your connected scheduling system. See our pricing or contact us to set it up.
