AI Receptionist Cost: What 300 Calls Really Cost — And the $49 Office That Answers Them
The honest ai receptionist cost is not the number on the pricing page — it is your total bill at your real call volume, in your busiest month. So we published the whole table: what metered AI plans, flat-rate answering, live answering services and a human receptionist actually cost at 100 and 300 calls a month, next to what Alice costs. Every competitor figure below is a published price, read and date-stamped — the same standard we hold our own price to.
The published-price table
| Option | At 100 calls/mo | At 300 calls/mo | What you actually get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Metered AI receptionist plans (median) | $149/mo | $362/mo | Phone answering, billed per minute or per call — the bill climbs with your volume |
| Metered AI plans (full published range) | $75–$270/mo | $129–$765/mo | Entry prices buy a fixed allowance; overages bill on top |
| NextPhone Pro (flat) | $199/mo | $199/mo | Phone answering only, unlimited inbound calls — no web chat, no office |
| Live answering services | $180–$1,160/mo (median $444) | Higher — priced per minute/call | Human message-taking; Ruby alone runs $1,160 at 100 calls |
| Full-time receptionist | About $3,170/mo in wages alone | One person, business hours, one call at a time | |
| Alice AI Office Hub — Founding | $49/mo, locked for Founding Members | The whole office: answering, booking, web chat, follow-up, Second Line number — Spanish included | |
Sources: competitor figures from the NextPhone AI Receptionist Price Index and vendor pricing pages, read November 2, 2026; receptionist wage is the BLS median (May 2025) as cited in that index. Prices in this category change fast — re-check any figure before you sign anything, including ours.
What does your bill look like in your busiest month?
That is the question every flat-rate seller tells you to ask — so ask it of everyone. On a metered plan, your busiest month is your most expensive month: the published median jumps from $149 at 100 calls to $362 at 300 calls, and the top of the range reaches $765. A storm week, a busy season, or an ad that works is exactly when the meter runs fastest. On Alice Monthly — $49, everything included — there is no per-minute meter on the membership, so the month your phone rings most is not the month you pay most. And the $49 does not buy a phone answerer standing alone: it buys the office the phone rings into — booking, web chat, quote follow-up and call summaries included.
They bill the minute. We bill the second.
Most per-minute plans round every call up to the next full minute: a 20-second "are you open today?" bills as 60 seconds. Alice's Second Line credits tick by the second — one credit is one second of call time, and nothing rounds up. The business number itself is free at signup, with 1,000 credits included; more credits are $10 per 1,000, or take Alice Monthly at $49 and the phone rides with everything else, no per-minute meter.
Cheapest AI Receptionist? Read the Allowance, Not the Price
The lowest sticker prices in this category buy the smallest allowances. Published roundups (October 2026) show a $24.95 plan that covers 30 calls, a $29 plan that covers 60 minutes, and a "free" plan that covers 25 calls — after which per-call and per-minute charges take over, usually in your busiest month. We will not claim Alice is the cheapest AI receptionist by sticker. The claim we will defend with published numbers: at real call volumes, $49 for the complete office — answering, booking, chat, follow-up, Spanish included — is the cheapest complete way to stop missing calls.
Spanish is included — not a tier, not a surcharge
For comparison, a live bilingual answering service runs $499–$2,165 a month for 200 calls, and AI Spanish answering runs $149–$385 (customerexperience.io, rates checked September 2026). With Alice, Spanish is inside the same $49 — your Spanish-speaking customers get answered, quoted and booked in Spanish at no extra charge. See how it works on our recepcionista virtual para negocios page.
Run your own numbers
Vendor averages are a starting point; your calls are the truth. Our receptionist cost calculator runs your call volume, missed-call rate, job value and current coverage cost — live, on this page:
Prefer it full-screen? Open the Receptionist Cost Calculator.
Founding membership: $49/mo, locked. Regular plans: Starter $97/mo · Pro $197/mo · White-label $497/mo · Founding Annual $490/yr. Optional one-time Done-For-You Setup: $1,500. Founding guarantee: 10 qualified leads in your first 60 days, or your marketing is free — a qualified lead is a real person, with a name and a reachable phone or email, asking for a service your business sells.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an AI receptionist cost?
On published prices read November 2, 2026, metered AI receptionist plans run a median of $149 a month at 100 calls and $362 a month at 300 calls (NextPhone AI Receptionist Price Index). Flat-rate NextPhone Pro is $199 a month for phone answering. Alice AI Office Hub is $49 a month for Founding Members — the whole AI office: answering, booking, web chat, follow-up and a Second Line business number, Spanish included.
What is the cheapest AI receptionist?
Read the allowance, not the price. The lowest sticker prices buy tiny allowances — published roundups show $24.95 plans that cover 30 calls and $29 plans that cover 60 minutes. Past the allowance, per-call and per-minute charges take over. The honest comparison is your total bill at your real call volume, in your busiest month.
What does my AI receptionist bill look like in my busiest month?
On a metered plan, your busiest month is your most expensive month: the published median at 300 calls is $362, and the metered range runs to $765. On Alice Monthly — $49, everything included — there is no per-minute meter, so a busy month does not raise the membership price.
Is Spanish included, or is it an extra charge?
With Alice, Spanish is included in the same $49 — no surcharge and no higher tier. For comparison, published rates for a live bilingual answering service run $499–$2,165 a month for 200 calls, and AI Spanish answering runs $149–$385 (customerexperience.io, rates checked September 2026).
How does Alice bill phone time on Second Line?
By the second. One credit is one second of call time — per-minute plans round a 20-second call up to a full minute; Alice does not round. The business number is free at signup with 1,000 credits included; additional credits are $10 per 1,000, or Alice Monthly at $49 covers the phone with everything else included and no per-minute meter.
Built by Madison Hoskins, Founder, Alice AI Office Hub — the office he needed at his own company, Capital 7 Logistics in Wilkes-Barre, PA, before he offered it to anyone else.