An AI receptionist answers the phone when you cannot: it greets the caller, answers from your information, books the appointment and tells you what needs you. In 2026 the label covers dedicated phone agents priced by the minute, services that blend human receptionists with AI, business phone systems with an agent built in, and AI employees that answer on their own number. The cheapest listed plans run from $15 to $250 a month before you count the one we build.
This page ranks twelve of them. Every price was read off the vendor’s own pricing page on September 24, 2026, in a real browser. We build one of the twelve and rank it first, so every claim about ourselves below is dated and linked, and the product that beats us when the phone rings constantly is named in the second row. Check the receipts, then discount us as you see fit.
On this page · 8 sectionsOpen
Our ranking of twelve AI receptionists for small business: CellCog first for a receptionist that is also an employee (it answers on its own number and turns the call into follow-up work), Rosie second, My AI Front Desk third. We build CellCog and rank it first, so every self-claim below is dated and linked.
Three pricing models sell under one label: a bucket of minutes with overage (Rosie, Dialzara, My AI Front Desk, Ruby, Abby), a count of calls or callers (Upfirst, Goodcall, Quo), and flat unlimited (NextPhone). Compare them on your real call volume, not the headline price.
Cheapest listed plans run from $15 a month (Quo, billed annually, with 10 AI calls of credits included) to $250 a month (Ruby, 50 minutes of human receptionists). Every price was read off the vendor’s live pricing page on September 24, 2026; Smith.ai and RingCentral quote through sales.
If many calls arrive at once, a dedicated receptionist wins: Rosie says it answers with no busy signals. A CellCog employee holds one live conversation at a time; a second caller hears busy and the employee follows up.
CellCog’s AI employees have held their own phone numbers since September 18, 2026, and placed calls since September 19: a transcript and notes for every call, transfers to your verified number, and outbound calls only to people who expect them.
A local number in about fifty countries is available to CellCog employees, on your business’s registration in that country. Most dedicated receptionists here list US phone numbers first and other countries on request.
§ 01Three ways AI receptionists are priced
The headline price tells you little until you know what it meters.
- By the minute. A bucket of talk minutes, then overage: Rosie, Dialzara and My AI Front Desk for AI answering, and Ruby and Abby for human-backed answering.
- By the call or the caller. Upfirst counts calls, Goodcall counts unique callers a month with unlimited minutes, and Quo includes a bucket of AI call credits with each seat.
- Flat and unlimited. NextPhone charges one monthly price with no meter.
Our ranking rewards how much of the front-desk job a product owns end to end: answering, booking, handing over and following up. The Best for column tells you when a narrower tool is the better buy.
§ 02The AI receptionist rankings
| Rank | Receptionist | Cheapest listed plan | What it does | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CellCog | Plans from $8/mo; usage-based; you pay for the work, not the hire | An AI employee with its own phone number and inbox: answers, transfers, places calls to people who expect them, and does the follow-up | Calls that turn into work (our product; conflict declared below) |
| 2 | Rosie | Professional $49/mo, 250 minutes | 24/7 AI answering, message taking, booking and warm transfers on higher plans, simultaneous calls | Busy phones on a clear per-minute plan |
| 3 | My AI Front Desk | $99/mo, or $79/mo billed annually, 200 voice minutes | AI receptionist plus web chat, two-way SMS, a CRM and automations | Calls, chat and texts in one plan |
| 4 | Smith.ai | Quote through sales | AI receptionists backed by live human agents | Lead intake with a human safety net |
| 5 | Goodcall | Starter $79/mo per agent, $66 billed annually | Unlimited minutes, 100 unique callers a month, then $0.50 per caller | Long calls from a steady set of customers |
| 6 | NextPhone | Pro $199/mo, flat | Unlimited calls and users, booking to Google or Outlook, intake questions, transfers | High volume with no meter |
| 7 | Upfirst | Starter $24.95/mo, 30 calls | 24/7 answering, summaries, booking, transfers, 35+ languages | A few calls a week |
| 8 | Dialzara | Business Lite $29/mo, 60 minutes | AI answering with message taking and transfers, overage $0.48 a minute | Light volume, cheapest per-minute entry |
| 9 | Ruby | $250/mo, 50 minutes | Trained human virtual receptionists, AI enhancements included | A person on every call |
| 10 | Abby | Starter $165/mo, 50 Abby minutes | Human, AI or both; an AI minute goes twice as far | Mixing human and AI answering |
| 11 | RingCentral AI Receptionist | Quote through sales | Answers calls and texts and books appointments inside RingCentral’s phone system | Teams already on RingCentral |
| 12 | Quo (formerly OpenPhone) | Starter $15/user/mo, billed annually | A business phone with the Sona AI agent and 10 AI calls of credits included | A business phone first, AI answering second |
We publish this ranking and we are in it, at the top. That is a conflict of interest, so the section after the price chart is written to be audited rather than believed, and the caveats at the foot of this page apply to us hardest.
The reasoning, briefly. CellCog takes the top slot because it is the only entry where the receptionist is also the employee who does the work the call creates: it answers on its own number, then sends the email, files the task and remembers the caller, and it can place calls to people who expect them. It also has a real limit a busy front desk will feel: one live conversation at a time. That is why Rosie is second and, for many readers, the real first: it says it answers with “no busy signals, ever” on plans that start at $49. My AI Front Desk is third for bundling voice, web chat, SMS and a CRM. Smith.ai ranks fourth for its human safety net. Goodcall and NextPhone suit heavy volume on unmetered minutes or calls. Upfirst and Dialzara are the cheap entries for light use. Ruby and Abby put people on the line and cost more for it. RingCentral and Quo are phone systems first, with AI answering inside them.
§ 03Cheapest listed plan, side by side
| Receptionist | Cheapest listed plan | What it includes | Billing basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quo | $15/user | 10 AI calls of credits | billed annually |
| Upfirst | $24.95 | 30 calls | monthly |
| Dialzara | $29 | 60 minutes | monthly |
| Rosie | $49 | 250 minutes | monthly |
| Goodcall | $66 per agent | unlimited minutes, 100 callers | billed annually |
| My AI Front Desk | $79 | 200 voice minutes | billed annually |
| Abby | $165 | 50 Abby minutes | monthly |
| NextPhone | $199 | unlimited calls | monthly |
| Ruby | $250 | 50 human minutes | monthly |
Read the bars with the middle column. $15 buys ten AI calls a month on top of a business phone; $199 buys unlimited calls; $250 buys fifty minutes of trained people. Three of these prices assume a yearly commitment, and the monthly price is higher. Smith.ai, RingCentral and CellCog are left off the chart: the first two quote through sales, and CellCog is usage-based rather than a flat plan.
§ 04Where CellCog stands, angle by angle
Here is the audit trail for the top row.
| Angle | Where we stand | The receipt |
|---|---|---|
| Answering | Its own number, its voice answers within seconds and tells callers they are speaking with an AI employee at your company | Our September 19, 2026 launch post |
| Handing over | Transfers the caller to your verified number when a person is needed | Same post |
| Record | A transcript, the outcome and the employee’s notes for every call; the audio is not kept | Same post |
| Follow-up | Files a task, sends an email or writes a note from the same desk it works at every day | The AI receptionist role page |
| Outbound | Places calls to people who expect them (an applicant, a customer, someone who asked for a call back), inside calling hours and daily limits, once your business is verified | Same post |
| Limits | One live conversation at a time; no voicemail; no text messages yet | Same post and role page |
| Reach | A local number in about fifty countries, on your business’s registration there | Same post |
| Cost | Plans from $8 a month; usage-based; a number is a monthly charge at the carrier’s price | Pay for the work, not the hire: the cost depends purely on how much work you assign |
The answering claim is the easiest to check: each AI employee can hold its own phone number, with incoming calls live since September 18, 2026 and placed calls since September 19. The follow-up claim is the one that separates an employee from a phone agent: the employee that picks up is the same one that owns the inbox and the task board, and it already sits in Google Meet and Zoom calls under its own name. What a receptionist does day to day, with the prompts we would hand one, is on the AI receptionist page.
The limit deserves the same prominence as the claims. A CellCog employee on a call, in a meeting or in a chat meeting is busy, so a second caller hears a busy signal and the call shows as missed; the employee then follows up the way a person would. If your phone rings back to back all morning, a dedicated receptionist from rows two to six will serve you better, and you can still hand the follow-up to an AI employee.
§ 05The other eleven, briefly
Rosie. The clearest per-minute plans on the page: Professional $49 a month for 250 minutes, Scale $149 for 1,000 and Growth $299 for 2,000, after a 7-day trial. Booking on your calendar and warm transfers start on Scale. It says it handles several calls at once, “no busy signals, ever”.
My AI Front Desk. $99 a month, or $79 billed annually, for 200 voice minutes plus web chat, two-way SMS, a CRM and automations. The best bundle here if your customers text as much as they call.
Smith.ai. AI receptionists backed by live human agents, priced by quote after a short intake form on its pricing page. The pick when a missed lead costs more than the service.
Goodcall. Starter is $79 a month per agent, $66 billed annually, with “Unlimited minutes and tokens” and 100 unique callers a month, then $0.50 per caller. Good for long calls from a steady customer base.
NextPhone. Pro is $199 a month, flat: “Never miss a client. Never pay per minute.” Unlimited calls and users, calendar booking and transfers, with CRM integrations from $299.
Upfirst. Starter is $24.95 a month for 30 calls, then $1.50 a call; Premium is $59.95 for 90 calls. The easiest low-volume start.
Dialzara. Business Lite is $29 a month for 60 minutes with overage at $0.48 a minute; warm transfers start on Business Pro at $99.
Ruby. Trained human receptionists, $250 a month for 50 minutes up to $1,725 for 500, and “optional AI enhancements are available in all our plans, at no extra cost”.
Abby. Human, AI or both, from $165 a month for 50 Abby minutes: “Double your Abby minutes when you choose AI”.
RingCentral AI Receptionist. Answers calls and text messages and books appointments inside RingCentral’s phone system; pricing through sales. The natural first try for a RingCentral customer.
Quo. The business phone formerly called OpenPhone: Starter $15 a user a month billed annually, with its Sona AI agent and 1,000 automation credits (about 10 calls) included. A phone system first, AI answering second.
§ 06How to choose
- Heavy call volume: NextPhone for unlimited calls, Goodcall for unlimited minutes, or Rosie on a large minute bucket.
- You want a person on the line: Ruby, Smith.ai or Abby.
- A few calls a week: Upfirst or Dialzara.
- You need a business phone too: Quo, or RingCentral if you already run on it.
- Calls, chat and texts together: My AI Front Desk.
- The caller turns into work, an email, a booking, a follow-up call: CellCog. Our ranking of AI executive assistants covers the inbox and calendar side of the same front office.
§ 07The honest caveats
Prices in this category move monthly, and several assume a yearly commitment; ours were read on September 24, 2026. Minutes, calls, callers and credits are not comparable across products, so price your real month on each. Builder platforms such as Retell and Synthflow sit underneath many of these products and are not ranked here: they are for teams building their own voice agent. If you handle health information, check each vendor’s compliance terms before connecting anything. Every capability claim about a competitor is the vendor’s own until independent tests accumulate, and we quoted their own words where we could. And we are a participant here, not a referee: treat our self-placement with the skepticism you would apply to any vendor, check the links, and give your two shortlisted receptionists the same test call.
§ 08Update log
- September 24, 2026: First edition. Prices read on each vendor’s pricing page in a real browser.
Q1What is an AI receptionist?
Software that answers your business phone: it greets callers, answers common questions from your information, books appointments, takes the details and transfers calls that need a person. Some products are phone agents only; others add web chat, SMS or a CRM; a CellCog AI employee is a receptionist that also has an inbox, memory and a task board, so the call turns into follow-up work.
Q2Is Rosie or CellCog better as an AI receptionist?
CellCog is our product, so weigh the source. Rosie is the stronger pick when the phone rings constantly: plans start at $49 a month for 250 minutes and it says it answers with no busy signals. CellCog is the stronger pick when a call is the start of work: the same employee that answers also sends the follow-up email, files the task and remembers the caller next time, though it holds one live conversation at a time. CellCog is usage-based, plans from $8 a month; you pay for the work, not the hire, and the cost depends purely on how much work you assign.
Q3Do AI receptionists tell callers they are AI?
They should, and several do by design. A CellCog employee tells every caller at the start that they are speaking with an AI employee at your company. Human-backed services like Ruby and Smith.ai put trained people on the line, with AI assisting.
Q4Can an AI receptionist make outbound calls?
Some can. A CellCog employee places calls from its own number once your business is verified, only to people who expect them (an applicant, a customer, someone who asked for a call back), inside calling hours and daily limits. Many dedicated receptionists focus on inbound calls, with outbound sold as an add-on.
Q5How were these rankings researched?
Prices were read off each vendor’s live pricing page on September 24, 2026, in a real browser; product claims come from each vendor’s own site, quoted where we quote. The ranking rewards how much of the front-desk job a product owns end to end, and the Best for column names the narrower tool that wins its own job.