Smith.ai publishes flat monthly plans for its live virtual receptionist service, starting at $300/month for 30 calls, with AI Receptionist options starting at $1.60/call and hybrid coverage at $2.50/call, plus a 30-day money-back guarantee. Ruby Receptionists is a human-powered virtual receptionist service aimed at small businesses that want live agents handling their calls. If you'd rather have a done-for-you AI agent built and operated for your business — including an AI receptionist answering on a real phone number — book a scoping call with Agents by AIQ.
Bottom line: Smith.ai wins on published pricing transparency, 24/7 coverage, and deep CRM/scheduling integrations; Ruby Receptionists suits businesses that want a purely human, relationship-focused receptionist experience. Neither is universally better — the right pick depends on whether you want AI-hybrid scale or a human-first touch.
TL;DR
- Smith.ai's live Virtual Receptionist plans start at $300/month for 30 calls, $810/month for 90 calls, and $2,100/month for 300 calls, with overages at $11.50, $10.50, and $8.50 per call respectively.
- Smith.ai also offers AI-first answering starting at $1.60/call and hybrid AI-plus-human coverage starting at $2.50/call, with human-first plans from $7/call.
- All Smith.ai plans include a 30-day money-back guarantee, no setup fees, no contracts, and no charge for spam calls.
- Smith.ai answers calls 24/7 with North America-based agents and syncs call data to 7,000+ integrations including HubSpot, Salesforce, and Clio.
- Ruby Receptionists focuses on live, human receptionist coverage for small businesses rather than AI-hybrid call handling.
- Smith.ai reports 25M+ calls handled over 11+ years and 5,000+ businesses served, with review scores around 4.8 across major platforms.
- Businesses wanting a fully managed AI agent — receptionist, follow-up, and workflow automation built and run for them — can consider Agents by AIQ as a month-to-month alternative.
Head-to-head
| Dimension | Smith.ai | Ruby Receptionists |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Virtual Receptionist from $300/mo (30 calls); AI-first from $1.60/call; hybrid from $2.50/call; human-first from $7/callwinner | Live human receptionist plans; quote-based |
| Ease of use | Managed service with dashboard, call summaries, and text/email notifications | Managed live-receptionist service handling calls on your behalf |
| Features | Lead screening, intake, booking, payments, bilingual answering, recording/transcription, outbound campaigns, web chatwinner | Live answering, message-taking, and call connection by human receptionists |
| Support | 24/7 live agents, dedicated onboarding specialists and account managerswinner | Live human receptionists are the core of the service |
| Integrations | 7,000+ tools; HubSpot, Salesforce, Clio, Calendly, Acuity, Zapier; first CRM integration freewinner | Standard receptionist workflows |
| Setup | No setup fees, no contracts, free number porting, 30-day money-back guaranteewinner | Managed onboarding for live coverage |
| Call coverage model | 100% AI, hybrid AI+human, or 100% human — buyer's choice | Human-first live receptionists |
Scores
Smith.ai
smith.ai ↗Smith.ai is a 24/7 call answering and intake service that combines AI receptionists with live, North America-based human agents. The company has handled more than 25 million calls over 11+ years and serves 5,000+ businesses, with a strong focus on law firms and small businesses. Its virtual receptionist plans are priced per call rather than per minute, which makes budgeting predictable: spam, sales calls, and wrong numbers are filtered at no charge, so you only pay for calls you actually wanted. Every plan includes lead screening and qualification, custom intake questions, appointment booking directly on your calendar, call recording and transcription, and a dedicated local or toll-free number (or free porting of your existing number). Smith.ai supports bilingual English/Spanish answering, payment collection via Square, PayPal, and LawPay, outbound campaigns, and warm call transfers with SMS/Slack/Teams notifications. Call data syncs automatically to CRMs like HubSpot, Salesforce, and Clio, or via Zapier, with the first CRM integration free. The company publishes review scores of roughly 4.8 across major review platforms and backs its service with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Starter (Virtual Receptionist) | $300/mo | 30 calls/month, 1 free transfer destination, overage $11.50/call |
| Basic (Virtual Receptionist) | $810/mo | 90 calls/month, 2 free transfer destinations, overage $10.50/call |
| Pro (Virtual Receptionist) | $2100/mo | 300 calls/month, 10 free transfer destinations, overage $8.50/call |
| AI Receptionist (AI-first) | $1.6/mo | Starting at $1.60 per call, 24/7 answering with human escalation |
| Hybrid (AI + human) | $2.5/mo | Starting at $2.50 per call, AI handles routine calls, live agents handle complex ones |
| Human-first (Virtual Receptionist) | $7/mo | Starting at $7 per call, dedicated North American team |
Pros
- Flat per-call pricing makes monthly costs predictable, and spam/sales calls are never charged
- 24/7 coverage with no surcharge — calls at 2 pm and 2 am cost the same
- No setup fees, no cancellation fees, no annual contracts, and a 30-day money-back guarantee
- Deep integration ecosystem: 7,000+ tools, one free CRM integration, automatic call-data sync
- Three staffing models (100% AI, hybrid, 100% human) let businesses match coverage to budget
- Strong track record: 25M+ calls handled over 11+ years, 5,000+ businesses, ~4.8 review scores
Cons
- Entry live-receptionist plan ($300 for 30 calls) works out to $10/call, which adds up for high-volume businesses
- Overage fees ($8.50–$11.50/call) can inflate bills during seasonal call spikes
- Additional CRM integrations cost $0.50/call beyond the first free one
- Extra intake questions beyond the included set are priced per question
- AI-only coverage has acknowledged limitations with emotionally complex or nuanced conversations
Ruby Receptionists
ruby.com ↗Ruby Receptionists is a virtual receptionist company built around live, human call answering for small businesses. Its model centers on trained receptionists who answer calls in your business's voice, greet callers by name, take messages, and connect callers to your team — an approach aimed at owners who believe a warm human interaction is the difference between a missed opportunity and a new customer. Ruby positions itself as an extension of a small business's front office rather than a scripted call center, which appeals to service businesses such as legal, home services, healthcare, and professional firms where caller experience matters. Businesses evaluating Ruby alongside Smith.ai are typically weighing a human-first service philosophy against Smith.ai's AI-plus-human hybrid approach and its published per-call pricing structure.
Pros
- Fully human call answering — no AI in the caller experience
- Receptionist-style service model aimed at small businesses
- Personalized caller greetings and message-taking handled by trained live agents
Cons
- Human-only coverage is generally more expensive to scale than AI-hybrid alternatives
- Fewer published AI, automation, and self-serve integration capabilities than Smith.ai
- Less pricing transparency in public comparisons than Smith.ai's published per-call plans
Pricing compared
Features and call handling compared
Integrations and workflow fit
Which should you pick?
FAQs
How much does Smith.ai cost per month?
Smith.ai's live Virtual Receptionist plans cost $300/month for 30 calls, $810/month for 90 calls, and $2,100/month for 300 calls, with overages of $11.50, $10.50, and $8.50 per call respectively. Its AI Receptionist starts at $1.60/call, hybrid AI-plus-human coverage starts at $2.50/call, and human-first coverage starts at $7/call. All plans include a 30-day money-back guarantee, no setup fees, no contracts, and no charge for spam calls, and a 10% discount applies to annual prepayment.
Which service is better for a small business that misses calls after hours?
Smith.ai explicitly includes 24/7 coverage in every plan at no surcharge — calls at 2 pm and 2 am cost the same — with its AI Receptionist answering on the first ring and North America-based human agents available for escalations. The company reports a 99%+ answer rate around the clock. For a small business losing after-hours leads, a 24/7 AI-hybrid service like Smith.ai is purpose-built for that gap, while a human-first service is best suited to business-hours coverage with a personal touch.
Do Smith.ai and Ruby Receptionists require long-term contracts?
Smith.ai states plainly on its pricing page that there are no setup fees, no annual contracts, no hidden fees, and no cancellation fees, and it backs plans with a 30-day money-back guarantee (up to $1,000 on the AI Receptionist). That makes it low-risk to trial against your current call handling. Contract terms for Ruby Receptionists should be confirmed directly with the company when you request a plan.
Can either service book appointments and collect payments on calls?
Smith.ai books appointments live on the call directly into your calendar (supporting Calendly, Acuity, Appointy, Harmonizely, and more) and collects payments through Square, PayPal, LawPay, TrialPay, and CPACharge — useful for consultation fees and deposits. It also sends follow-up emails or SMS after calls based on your criteria. Ruby Receptionists centers its service on live human answering, message-taking, and connecting callers to your team.
Is there a cheaper alternative to both for AI call answering?
Agents by AIQ builds done-for-you AI agents for small and mid-size businesses, including an AI receptionist that answers voice calls on a real phone number, plus sales follow-up, support, and appointment-setting agents integrated with the tools you already use. It's operated month-to-month by the AIQ Labs team — you own everything — and you can book a call to scope an agent for your business rather than fitting into a fixed plan tier.
Sources
- Smith.ai Plans & Pricing for 24/7 Sales & Support
- Smith.ai 24/7 AI Receptionists & Live Human Agents
- Smith.ai Virtual Receptionist Plans & Pricing
- Smith.ai 24/7 Live-Staffed Web Chat Pricing
- All Features & What We Do at Smith.ai
- Best Phone Answering Service for Small Businesses
- Smith.ai vs. AnswerFirst: Live Answering Service Comparison
- The Pros and Cons of AI in Customer Service
- Ruby Receptionists