Ruby Receptionists alternative
Jodie answers every call 24/7 from a flat £49/month, billed in sterling, with no per-minute meter.
Recent calls billed
Unlimited minutes, no rounding
The difference for a UK firm is currency, billing model, and what the bill says when an intake call runs long.
Starting price
Currency on the invoice
Billing model
Overage charges
Hold time billed
Who answers
Support hours
24/7 cover
Practice management integration
Setup time
Ruby pricing reflects ruby.com/pricing at the time of writing. Ruby publishes prices in USD only; sterling figures convert at an approximate 0.79 USD/GBP reference rate, before any bank or card FX fee. Ruby's overage rate is not published; the $3.19/min figure on the 100-minute plan is cited in third-party reviews. The hold-time citation references McKenzie Law Firm, P.A. et al v. Ruby Receptionists, Inc. (US District of Oregon, 3:2018cv01921), settled April 2021. Jodie publishes UK pricing in full in pounds sterling on the pricing page.
Slide the minutes you'd use - the calculator picks Ruby's cheapest tier plus overage and compares to Jodie's flat plan.
Cost calculator
Jodie Basic
£49/mo
Flat. Unlimited.
Competitor: Receptionist 100
$395/mo
roughly £299/mo
$395 base
You'd save
£250/month (£2,996/year)
Ruby tiers are from ruby.com/pricing and billed in USD. Overage rates are not published on Ruby's pricing page; figures shown reflect rates cited in third-party reviews (approximately $5.40/min on the 50-minute plan, $3.20/min on the 100 and 200-minute plans, $3.00/min on the 500-minute plan). Jodie Basic is flat monthly with unlimited minutes at your locale rate.
FX rates as of 2026-10-05. Jodie price is the published locale rate, not converted.
Verifiable differences from Ruby's pricing page, the public US court record, and ours. Not marketing claims.
Ruby has no UK office and no GBP price card - a UK firm pays USD on a card that charges FX, with a CSAT line that opens at 2pm UK. Jodie publishes sterling pricing and supports in UK business hours.
Ruby invoices in USD with no published GBP rate; Jodie publishes sterling pricing with no FX involvement.
Ruby bills in full-minute increments with a 30-second minimum on every call. Jodie is flat monthly with unlimited minutes - a fourteen-minute personal injury intake call costs the same as a thirty-second wrong number.
Ruby settled a $12M US class action in April 2021 over hold-time billing and minute rounding.
Ruby's AI is internal tooling that helps human receptionists work faster. Jodie IS the receptionist: it answers, runs intake, qualifies the matter and books the appointment.
Ruby's AI sits behind a human; Jodie's AI is on the line.
Ruby's per-minute billing model has been tested in federal court. Here's what was alleged, what was settled, and what changed.
McKenzie Law Firm, P.A. et al v. Ruby Receptionists, Inc. (US District of Oregon, 3:2018cv01921)
November 2018
McKenzie Law Firm filed a federal class action in the US District of Oregon alleging Ruby billed customers for hold time, rounded minutes up rather than to actual usage, and applied a 30-second minimum to every call including hangups.
2019-2020
The court certified the class of approximately 18,000 Ruby customers affected by the billing practices in the complaint. Ruby continued operating with the same billing structure throughout.
April 2021
Ruby agreed to settle for up to $12 million per OregonLive coverage: $8 million in customer credits and up to $4 million in attorney fees. The settlement did not require Ruby to change its billing model.
Today
Ruby continues to operate. Per-minute billing, 30-second minimum and tiered receptionist-minute plans remain part of the published pricing structure.
Jodie's flat monthly pricing makes the questions the case raised - what counts as a billable minute, how is hold time treated - not apply. The bill before you sign is the bill next month, every month.
Pricing predictability is a function of what you can see before you sign. Here's the side-by-side.
| Jodie | Ruby Receptionists | |
|---|---|---|
| Base monthly price | ||
| Per-minute overage rate Ruby does not publish overage rates on the pricing page; third-party reviews cite around $3.20/min on the 100-minute plan. | ||
| Setup fee Both are $0 setup. | ||
| Free trial (no card) Jodie offers 7 days free, no card needed. Ruby offers a 21-day money-back guarantee on paid plans. | ||
| Hold-time billing rule Jodie has no per-minute meter. Ruby's hold-time billing was the subject of the McKenzie class-action settlement (2021). | ||
| Total first-year cost calculable from public info Jodie: 12 x flat plan. Ruby: depends on undisclosed overage rate at your call volume. |
Ruby's per-minute meter punishes the call patterns common in UK small business: long intake calls, after-hours emergencies, seasonal spikes. A flat sterling plan fits better.
Personal injury and conveyancing intake calls run long. A flat £49 plan, with LEAP, Actionstep and Clio handoff via Zapier on Professional, gives a sole practitioner predictable monthly cost in sterling - and the practice systems UK firms actually run.
See Jodie for solicitors & law firmsEmergency callouts run long - burst pipe, leak through a tenant's ceiling. Ruby's per-minute meter charges for every minute; Jodie's £49 flat plan answers all of them - no minute round-up, no dollar invoice.
See Jodie for plumbersA buyer on Rightmove at 8pm calls the next agent if you don't pick up. 24/7 cover comes standard on Jodie Basic at £49, not gated behind a higher USD receptionist-minute tier.
See Jodie for estate agentsSelf-assessment season volumes spike fast every January. A flat £49 plan with unlimited minutes beats a metered USD invoice when half the client list is calling about an HMRC letter at once.
See Jodie for accountantsNo. Ruby is a Portland, Oregon company with no UK office, no ruby.com/uk path, no GBP price card, and a support window of 6am-5pm PT - 2pm-1am UK time, with the line closed during a UK morning. UK firms forward a number to Ruby's US team and are billed in USD. Jodie is UK-built, supports UK numbers natively, and bills in pounds.
Ruby publishes four tiers in USD only: $250 for 50 minutes (around £198), $395 for 100 minutes, $720 for 200 minutes and $1,725 for 500 minutes. Overage is not published; third-party reporting cites around $3.19/min on the 100-minute plan. UK customers also pay card FX on top. Jodie publishes £49, £99 and £199 plans with unlimited minutes.
Ruby holds 4.2 out of 5 on Capterra, with praise for receptionist friendliness and law-firm-tailored intake scripts. The recurring critical theme is billing surprise once minute rounding, the 30-second minimum and overage rates apply. For UK customers, FX adds another layer of variance.
A US federal class action (McKenzie Law Firm v. Ruby Receptionists, 2018) alleged Ruby billed for hold time, rounded billable minutes up, and applied a 30-second minimum to every call. It settled in April 2021 for up to $12M. The same billing model applies to a UK firm signing up today; Jodie's flat sterling pricing makes those questions not apply.
Yes - the page is built around that case. Personal injury, conveyancing and family intake calls run long. UK firms more often run LEAP or Actionstep alongside Clio - and Jodie's £99 Professional plan routes calls into all three via Zapier at a flat sterling rate.
For new client intake, scheduling, common questions and message-taking - yes. Jodie answers, captures the caller's reason, books appointments where the integration exists, and sends a summary within seconds. For complex calls it can warm-transfer to your team.
Probably yes, by design. Jodie identifies as the AI receptionist on answer - surveys show callers prefer clear AI identification over feeling deceived. If the AI cannot answer, it captures the lead and tells the caller someone will be in touch.
Move your phone answering to Jodie without a coverage gap. Most switchers run both for a week, then cancel Ruby.
Total time: Under 1 hour active time, 5-7 days for safe parallel running
Sign up at the register page. No card needed. You get your Jodie phone number on the spot.
Set conditional forwarding (busy / no answer / always) from your phone provider to the Jodie number. Most providers support this from their app.
Jodie picks up first via the forward; if you change your mind, you cancel Jodie and your old Ruby line is still live. Listen to a few call recordings to check the AI is doing the job.
Ruby plans are month-to-month per their site. Settle any outstanding overage charges first - the per-minute meter and 30-second minimum apply right up to the cancellation date.
Once Ruby is cancelled, leave the forward to Jodie in place. Confirm a test call lands on Jodie and a summary arrives in your inbox.
Buyer's guides
This comparison is part of our independent buyer's guides ranking the whole field.
7 days free. Self-serve onboarding. Flat £49/month. Cancel in one click.
First 7 days free, then pricing from £49/month
Looking past Ruby Receptionists? Looking for an alternative to Ruby Receptionists?
Jodie from £49/mo, unlimited minutes Jodie answers every call 24/7 from £49 a month, with unlimited minutes.
