Best Virtual Receptionist in 2026: 8 Compared on Real Cost

Looking for the best virtual receptionist for your small business? We compared 8 services, live and AI, on what they cost at 100 calls a month, when they answer and what you sign.

Our pick for most small businesses is Jodie: it answers every call, day and night, for a flat $49 a month with unlimited minutes.

Jodie is our own product, so we also show where others win, like Smith.ai for very quiet phones and Ruby if you want a person on every call.

Key takeaways

What a virtual receptionist actually is (and what it is not)

A virtual receptionist is a person or an AI that answers your business phone from somewhere else, in your company's name, and passes on what the caller needs.

A good one does five jobs:

• Answers in your business name.
• Takes the caller's name, number and reason for calling.
• Books appointments on your calendar.
• Puts urgent calls through to your cell phone.
• Covers nights, weekends and holidays, if your plan does.

You may also see it called a virtual answering service, a remote receptionist service or a live virtual receptionist. The firms that sell it call themselves virtual receptionist companies or receptionist services, and the job itself is remote phone answering.

If you searched for "a virtual assistant to answer phones", this is what you want. A virtual assistant does other work too, as the list below explains.

Live, AI or hybrid: the three types

Every service on this page is one of three types:

• Live: a person at an answering company. Ruby, AnswerConnect and PATLive use trained staff. People handle unusual or upset callers better.
• AI: software that talks to the caller. Jodie, Rosie and Goodcall answer every call at once. They cost the same at 3am as at 3pm.
• Hybrid: both. Smith.ai and Abby Connect mix AI and live receptionists, so a hard call can reach a person.

What a virtual receptionist is not

It is easy to mix these up. A virtual receptionist is not:

• A virtual assistant. A VA does admin and email, not your phone line.
• Voicemail. The caller talks to someone, and the job gets written down.
• A phone menu (IVR). Nobody is told to "press 1". A menu can route a call, but it cannot take down the job.
• A virtual office. Some providers sell a business address too, but that is a different thing.
• Someone at your front door. It cannot greet visitors or sign for packages.

If you only need messages taken, our guide to answering services compares that market.

If you are still deciding between a person and an AI, read AI receptionists vs answering services.

How we ranked these virtual receptionists

We scored every service on six things you can check yourself:

• Cost at 100 calls a month. That is 100 calls of 2 minutes each (200 minutes) from 100 different callers. We used the cheapest published plan for that volume, before sales tax, and show any setup fee on its own.
• What the cheapest plan includes. Messages only, or booking and transfers too.
• Hours covered. Does the cheapest plan answer 24/7, or office hours and then voicemail?
• Contract and notice. The minimum term, and how long it takes to leave.
• Free trial. Can you test it with real calls before you pay?
• Who answers. A person, an AI, or both.

Services price in four ways:

• Flat fee: some charge one flat monthly fee.
• Bundle of minutes: some sell a set number of minutes.
• Per call: some charge for every call.
• Per caller: one charges for each caller.

Our 100-call test puts them all on the same footing.

We took every price and term from each provider's own website in October 2026. Where a provider does not publish a figure, we say so instead of guessing.

Jodie is our product. We ranked it first because it wins on cost and hours for most small businesses, and we say plainly where another service is the better buy.

The best virtual receptionists in the US in 2026

Here are 8 services, live and AI, for owner-run and small US businesses. Each one is the best virtual receptionist service for a certain kind of business and budget, which is why these are our top virtual receptionists.

Every entry starts with the facts and who the service suits. Then it shows what you get, what it costs and one thing to watch out for.

1. Jodie, best for owner-run businesses that miss calls while they work

Jodie is an AI receptionist. It answers in your business name, asks the questions you set and takes down the job.

What you get

• A summary after every call, by email. The call also sits in the Jodie app, with the recording and transcript.
• Lead capture, which means getting a new customer's details down before they call someone else. Say you are under a sink, or you are a real estate agent showing a home, when the phone rings. The caller's name, number and job still reach your inbox.
• You keep your number and forward your calls to Jodie. Setup takes under 10 minutes, because Jodie learns your business from your website.
• 24/7 answering on every plan, holidays included. Your greeting can tell callers it is an AI and that the call may be recorded.

What it costs

• Basic: $49 a month, with unlimited minutes under fair use of up to 1,000 calls a month. The price does not move with your calls, so 50, 100 or 200 calls all cost $49.
• Professional: $99 a month. It adds appointment booking, call transfers and team members.
• Premium: $199 a month. It adds priority support and links to other apps through Zapier, so call details can reach your CRM.
• Month to month, with no setup fee, and you can cancel any time. Paying yearly gets you two months free. All prices are before sales tax.

Watch out for: Jodie is an AI, not a person, and its $49 Basic plan cannot book appointments or transfer calls.

2. Smith.ai, best for AI first with live receptionists behind it

Smith.ai sells both AI and live receptionists, and it bills per call, not per minute. Its AI can hand a hard call to a live receptionist based in North America, at any hour, so you get AI speed with a person behind it.

What you get

• Both kinds answer 24/7, and a call at 2am costs the same as one at 2pm.
• The free AI plan still gives you 24/7 call answering, booking, call routing and call summaries. It even links to Zapier and to Clio, the legal practice software.
• The live plans have no setup fees, and they connect to CRMs such as HubSpot, Salesforce and Clio.

What it costs

• Free AI plan: 25 calls a month, then $3.00 a call.
• AI Pro: $150 for 75 calls, then about $2.50 a call. At 100 calls, that is about $212.50.
• Live plans: from $300 for 30 calls on Starter, with $11.50 for each extra call. Booking appointments costs $1.50 a call more. At 100 calls, the live Basic plan is about $915.
• Terms: the AI plans are month to month, but you give 30 days' notice to leave. The live plans come with a 30-day money-back promise, up to $1,000, which does not cover extra calls.

Watch out for: every call counts, so a busy month costs more, and at 100 calls AI Pro costs more than four times Jodie's $49.

3. Ruby, best for a premium live receptionist team

Ruby is one of the best-known US names for live receptionists. A real person answers every call, in your business name, 24 hours a day, including nights, weekends and holidays.

What you get

• The same features on every plan. Only the minutes change.
• Scheduling, client intake, and answering in English and Spanish.
• Alerts through its mobile app and by email. You can get a local or toll-free number from Ruby too.
• HIPAA-compliant services, and optional AI tools at no extra cost.

What it costs

• Bundles of minutes: $250 a month for 50 minutes, $395 for 100, $720 for 200 and $1,725 for 500.
• No fees for activation, onboarding or setup.
• At 100 two-minute calls, you use 200 minutes, so Ruby costs $720 a month. Of the 8 picks, only Smith.ai's live plans cost more at that volume.
• Not published: a free trial, a contract length or its rate for extra minutes. Ask about all three before you sign.

Watch out for: a busy month can push you past your bundle, and Ruby's website does not say what the extra minutes cost.

4. AnswerConnect, best for 24/7 live answering at higher volumes

AnswerConnect is a large answering service with live receptionists on the phones 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. A person answers at 2am, which no AI-only service can offer.

What you get

• Bundles of minutes, on three published US plans. Its plan list now sits behind a sign-up form, so check the latest prices with AnswerConnect.
• Your minutes include after-call work. That is the time an agent spends writing up each call, so 200 minutes of talk time can bill as more than 200 minutes.
• Month to month terms. We found no free trial on its website.

What it costs

• Entry: $350 a month for 200 minutes. Growth: $395 for 300 minutes. Standard: $575 for 400 minutes.
• Extra minutes cost $2.50 each on Entry, or $1.85 on Growth and Standard.
• Setup fee: Entry and Standard add $49.99.
• At 100 two-minute calls, Entry covers the talk time for $350. Once you add the writing-up time, Growth at $395 is the safer choice, so budget $350 to $395 a month, plus the setup fee on Entry.

Watch out for: you pay for writing-up time, not just phone time, and its starting price is the highest of the 8 picks.

5. Rosie, best for a low-cost AI with a big minute allowance

Rosie is an AI answering service for small businesses. Its $49 Professional plan includes 250 minutes a month, which covers 100 two-minute calls with 50 minutes to spare.

What you get

• On Professional, Rosie answers 24/7, takes messages for 2 kinds of call and spots spam.
• A booking link: it can send callers a link to book an appointment in a text message.
• A chat box for your website.
• On Scale, Rosie books straight into your calendar. Scale also adds live transfers and warm transfers, where Rosie briefs your team before it connects the caller.

What it costs

• Professional: $49 a month for 250 minutes. At our test volume, Rosie costs the same as Jodie.
• Scale: $149 a month for 1,000 minutes. At 200 two-minute calls, you use 400 minutes, which is more than Professional covers, so you would need Scale.
• Growth: $299 a month for 2,000 minutes.
• Trial and terms: there is a 7-day free trial, and paying yearly gets you two months free. Rosie does not publish its rate for extra minutes, its contract terms or a setup fee.

Watch out for: booking and transfers cost $149 on Rosie against $99 on Jodie Professional, and Rosie's minutes run out, while Jodie's are unlimited.

6. Goodcall, best for long calls and repeat callers

Goodcall is an AI receptionist that bills by the caller, not by the minute or the call. A 30-second call and a 9-minute booking cost the same.

What you get

• A local US phone number on every plan. You can keep your own number and forward your calls to it.
• Unlimited transfer numbers on every plan.
• A free demo agent. There is no free trial, but you can build a demo agent and hear it answer before you pay. Billing starts when you add a phone number.

What it costs

• Starter: $79 a month for 100 different callers. After that, each new caller costs 79 cents. Goodcall says that is about 150 calls a month.
• Growth: $129 a month for 500 callers. Scale: $299 for 2,000. Every plan is month to month.
• A caller is one phone number, once a month. If the same person calls back five times in March, that counts as one. Spam and wrong numbers do not count at all.
• At 100 two-minute calls from 100 different people, Goodcall costs $79. At 200 different callers, it costs $158.

Watch out for: if most of your callers are new each month, you pay for every one past 100, and Goodcall only offers US numbers today.

7. Abby Connect, best for mixing live and AI minutes on one plan

Abby Connect is a US answering service with live receptionists at its Las Vegas headquarters, plus an AI receptionist. You can use people, AI or both on one plan.

What you get

• Each call goes to a person or the AI, based on the type of call.
• You choose your answering hours, including a 24/7 option, with no weekend upcharge.
• Answering in English and Spanish.
• A free trial on every plan, and no setup fee. It is month to month, with no long-term contract.

What it costs

• Usage is counted in Abby Minutes. One minute with a person uses one Abby Minute. One minute with the AI uses half of one, so the more you lean on AI, the further your plan goes, up to twice as far.
• Plans: $165 a month for 50 Abby Minutes, $329 for 100, $599 for 200 and $1,380 for 500.
• If you go over, you pay your plan's rate for each extra Abby Minute.
• At 100 two-minute calls, all-live costs $599, because you use 200 Abby Minutes. All-AI costs $329, because 200 AI minutes use only 100 Abby Minutes.

Watch out for: even all-AI, Abby costs more than six times Jodie's $49 at 100 calls.

8. PATLive, best for 100% US-based people with no night or weekend fees

PATLive is a live answering service with 100% US-based receptionists. 24/7 cover is on every plan, with no extra fees for nights, weekends or holidays.

What you get

• No extra fee for Spanish-speaking callers.
• Call screening, call transfers and appointment scheduling on every plan.
• Links to your CRM and calendar, so a booked job shows up there.
• A 14-day free trial on any plan. There are no contracts, so you can change plans or cancel any time.

What it costs

• Pay as you go, the cheapest way in: $49 a month, then $2.99 for every minute.
• Bundles bring the rate down: 100 minutes cost $189, 200 minutes cost $349 and 300 minutes cost $479. On the 200-minute plan, each extra minute costs $1.99.
• At 100 two-minute calls, the 200-minute plan covers you for $349. At 50 calls, it is $189. At 200 calls, it is about $668.
• No fees of its own on top, but government taxes and fees are added.

Watch out for: every minute counts, so long calls cost more, and one busy month can push you into extra minutes at $1.99 or more each.

Other options we looked at

These providers came up often when we looked at the US market, but did not make our top 8.

Moneypenny is a UK company with a US service. See Jodie vs Moneypenny.

• Plans: live from $165 a month for 50 minutes, and AI from $69 for 25 calls.
• At 100 calls: $199 on AI, or $422 on its 200-minute live plan.
• Hours and terms: every plan answers 24/7. There is no contract, but you give 30 days' notice.
• Up front: a setup fee plus the first and last month. It does not publish the setup amount.

Davinci Virtual, which also sells virtual offices, sells live receptionist plans. See Jodie vs Davinci Virtual.

• Business 50: $129 a month for 50 live minutes, with a toll-free number and call forwarding.
• Biggest plan: 100 minutes. It does not publish its rate for extra ones, so we could not price 100 calls.

AnswerForce is a live answering service. Its prices sit behind a sign-up form, so we could not compare them. See Jodie vs AnswerForce.

Posh is a US live answering company. So if you have wondered what a Posh virtual receptionist is, that is the company. See Jodie vs Posh.

• Chic plan: $65 a month plus $2.30 a minute.
• At 100 two-minute calls: its 200-minute plan costs $420.
• Hours and trial: it answers 24/7 and has a free trial of 7 days or 250 minutes, with no card.

My AI Front Desk is an AI receptionist.

• Price: $99 a month for 200 voice minutes, or $79 a month if you pay yearly.
• Trial and terms: a 7-day free trial and no contracts.

Phone systems with an AI add-on suit firms that want a new phone system, not just someone to answer.

• RingCentral: its AI Receptionist costs $49 a month for 100 minutes, then 50 cents a minute, so 100 calls cost about $99. It has a 14-day trial.
• Aircall: $30 a license a month on annual billing, for at least 3 licenses, plus AI minutes. At 100 calls, that is about $163.50.
• Nextiva: the Core plan is $15 a user a month on annual billing. It does not publish what its AI add-on costs to use.

Virtual receptionists compared side by side (US)

Here is the virtual receptionist comparison for the US, using the six things from our method.

How to read the table:

• Cost at 100 calls means 100 calls of 2 minutes each, before sales tax, on the cheapest plan that covers them.
• Setup fees are extra.
• AnswerConnect's range allows for after-call work.
• Goodcall's price assumes 100 different callers.

Which virtual receptionist fits your business?

Find the row that sounds most like you. The pick is the one we would choose for that kind of business and call volume.

If you run a trade or another home services business, the calls that matter most come when you cannot pick up. Think of a burst pipe at 9pm, or a no-heat call on a Sunday.

Look for three things:

• It answers 24/7.
• It takes down the address and the job.
• It puts urgent calls through to you.

Jodie Basic does the first two for $49. Professional, at $99, adds transfer rules, so the callers you choose reach your cell. It can also book jobs into your open slots while the caller is on the line.

How to choose: five questions to ask before you sign

1. What hours do your customers actually call, and what happens after the plan's hours?
2. Will it ask the questions your trade needs, such as the address, the ZIP code, how urgent the job is, and whether it is a new or existing customer?
3. How fast does the message reach you, and how? What happens when a caller asks something it does not know, and how does a hard call reach a person?
4. What will it cost at your call volume, including setup fees, extra minutes and notice periods?
5. Can you try it with real calls first, and does it connect to your calendar or CRM?

During any trial, call it yourself, after hours too, and ask it something awkward. Listen to the voice quality and how it handles the call.

You will learn more in five minutes than from any sales call.

What results look like: the monthly bill at 50, 100 and 200 calls

Say 100 people call you in a month, and each call lasts 2 minutes. That is 200 minutes. Here is what that month costs, before sales tax:

• Jodie: $49.
• Rosie: $49 on Professional, which has 250 minutes.
• Goodcall: $79, if all 100 callers are different people.
• Smith.ai: about $212.50 on AI Pro.
• PATLive: $349 on its 200-minute plan.
• AnswerConnect: $350 to $395, once the writing-up time is counted.
• Abby Connect: $329 all-AI, or $599 all-live.
• Ruby: $720 on its 200-minute plan.

Now change the number of calls. The table shows the same two-minute calls at 50, 100 and 200 a month. All prices are before sales tax.

What the numbers show:

• Quiet phones: Smith.ai's free AI plan costs less than Jodie up to about 41 calls a month (25 calls free, then $3 a call). Above that, Jodie's flat $49 wins, and it stays $49 up to 1,000 calls.
• Booking and transfers: Rosie ties Jodie at 100 calls. But if you need booking and live transfers, Rosie's plan is $149, while Jodie Professional is $99.
• AI against live: an AI also costs far less than a live service. At 100 calls, Jodie's $49 is about a seventh of PATLive's $349, and about a fifteenth of Ruby's $720.

A flat price does not grow with your calls. Per-minute bills grow with every minute, and per-call bills with every call.

On a per-minute plan, one 6-minute call costs three times as much as a 2-minute one. On Jodie, it costs nothing extra.

Here is what owners who use Jodie say about it.

Try Jodie free for 7 days

Here is what happens next:

1. Set Jodie up in under 10 minutes from your website.
2. Forward your calls to it and keep your number.
3. Jodie answers every call, day and night, and emails you a summary with the recording and transcript.

You pay nothing for 7 days, and you do not need a card. If it is not right for you, cancel before then and you pay nothing.

Start your free trial and call your own number to hear it.