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AI receptionist or answering service?
Both pick up when you can't. One puts a person on the line and bills for their time; the other answers every ring herself and books straight into your Google Calendar.
No card · No setup · Keep your number · No website? Start here
Which one should answer your phone?
Both pick up the calls you can't. An answering service puts a trained person on the line, takes a message or books into your scheduling tool, and bills you by the minute or by the call. An AI receptionist answers every ring herself, books straight into your Google Calendar, and costs a fraction of that per minute.
Prices on this page were checked September 2, 2026. Every competitor figure comes from that company's own pricing page on that date, with a link and the date in the cell where it appears. Vendors reprice often, so follow the link before you decide.
As of September 2, 2026, none of Ruby, Abby Connect or Smith.ai lets a prospect talk to their own auto-built receptionist in the browser before creating an account. Smith.ai comes closest: their free plan takes no card and includes browser test calls to your own AI receptionist once you sign up. Abby's own route is to forward your real line after signup and listen to the AI answer real calls; Ruby's online demo is a recorded video walkthrough.
What does a minute cost?
A human service publishes a monthly fee and the minutes or calls it buys. Divide one by the other and you have the number that decides most of this. Read the middle column first: the two services here that publish minutes land between $2.76 and $5.00 per included minute, against $0.33 to $0.50 on Heyline. Ruby adds one wrinkle worth knowing: their help center states minutes are billed in 60-second increments, rounded up, and don't roll over.
| Service | Published plans | Per included minute | What you can try free |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heyline — AI receptionist | $99/mo · $199/mo · $499/mo for 200, 500 and 1,500 included minutes | $0.50 · $0.40 · $0.33 | Build her from your website and talk to her in your browser, no card. Going live starts 14 days with 60 minutes included. |
| Ruby — human receptionists | $250/mo for 50 minutes, up to $1,725/mo for 500 minutesFour plans; the 200-minute plan is badged Most popular.source, checked | $3.45–$5.00source, checked | No free trial or money-back guarantee is publishedTheir public entry points are a recorded demo and a sales consultation.source, checked |
| Abby Connect — human minutes | $165/mo for 50 Abby Minutes, up to $1,380/mo for 500Their sign-up page shows $164 for the same entry plan.source, checked | $2.76–$3.30 per Abby MinuteOne Abby Minute buys one human minute or two AI minutes.source, checked | A 14-day free trial on every planSign-up selects a paid plan and takes payment details.source, checked |
| Smith.ai — human receptionists | $300/mo for 30 calls, up to $2,100/mo for 300 callsOverage runs $11.50 a call on the entry plan.source, checked | Not published on their site — they bill per call, not per minute. | A free AI plan with 25 real calls a month, no cardPaid plans carry a 30-day money-back guarantee.source, checked |
Prices in USD. Heyline's rate is each plan's monthly price divided by its included minutes. Smith.ai sells calls rather than minutes, so a two-minute call and a twenty-minute one cost the same there. Every competitor cell links to the page it came from and the date it was read.
Decide with your ears — not a sales deck.
Paste your website and talk to your own receptionist, free, in your browser.
What can a person do that she can't?
Plenty. A person improvises. The caller who is upset, confused, or describing something on no list gets a human being who can read the room, ask a sideways question, and decide what to do next. Heyline answers from your Business Brief; when the answer isn't in there, she says so and takes a message rather than guessing.
A person can also put your caller straight through to you mid-call. Heyline can't — there is nobody behind her to hand the call to. She takes the name and number, opens a call-back to-do, and emails you the recap. Ruby and Abby Connect both answer in English and Spanish. Heyline speaks English, works in the US and Canada, and books into one calendar.
So the split is this. If a real share of your calls need judgment or a live handoff, pay for people. If most of them are "are you open, what do you charge, can you come Thursday", she books those for a fraction of the per-minute rate. She also answers the four-hundredth call exactly as she answered the first.
What do the human services do well?
A comparison that only attacks isn't worth reading. Here is what each does better than a sales page admits.
Ruby
Ruby answers with real people, in English or Spanish, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year — a second language Heyline doesn't have. Every Ruby plan carries the identical feature set — scheduling, lead intake, payment collection — so the only variable is minutes, and their pricing page states there are no activation, onboarding or setup fees. Their help center adds that porting your existing number to Ruby costs nothing.
Abby Connect
Twenty years of human answering with AI folded into the same subscription rather than sold beside it. One pool of Abby Minutes covers both, an AI minute costs half a human one, and their AI can hand a caller to a US-based receptionist mid-call — an escape hatch no pure-AI product, Heyline included, can offer. They state there is no after-hours or weekend upcharge on any plan.
Smith.ai
The most generous risk reversal here, and not a countdown trial: their free AI plan takes no card and does not expire. Behind it sit North America-based receptionists who can be pulled into an AI call for a published flat fee, and billing is per call, not per minute.
What happens when a caller wants an appointment?
Sat · 8:12 AM — incoming call · you're in a crawl space
Half the outlets in my basement went dead overnight. Is anyone around today?
Saturday's full, I'm afraid. The next openings are Monday at 9:00 AM or Monday at 1:00 PM. Which one works?
Monday at nine.
Monday at 9:00 AM it is. Can I take your name and the address?
Marcus Whitlow, 1490 Fernwood Drive.
Booked — Monday, 9:00 AM, Marcus Whitlow at 1490 Fernwood Drive. Let me read your callback number back before we finish, and Dana gets the recap by email.
Outcome: Booked · in your Google Calendar before you're back out · recap emailed
Conversation is illustrative.
What she never does
She can't put a caller through to you mid-call. There is no person waiting behind her and no way to hand the call over. If a caller needs you, she takes their name and number, opens a call-back to-do, and emails you the recap.
She answers only from what your Business Brief says. A policy your notes don't cover is an unknown, and she says so rather than guessing. She answers pricing questions from your own price sheet and offers a free estimate when there is no figure to give. She never gives medical, legal or safety advice, and she stops a caller who starts reading out a card number.
She never rings a caller back herself either. There are no outbound calls, no reminders and no follow-ups of any kind — chasing a customer down is still your job, not hers.
She speaks English, in the US and Canada, and she never sends text messages. Every greeting says she is an AI and that the call may be recorded — that is enforced in the code, not left to chance.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between an AI receptionist and an answering service?
An answering service is staffed by people. They answer under your business name, take a message or book into your scheduling tool, and charge for the time they spend, usually by the minute. An AI receptionist is software that answers the call itself, on every ring, at any hour, and charges for a block of minutes each month instead of for a person's time.
Do answering services book appointments?
Most do. Ruby and Abby Connect both state that booking is included on every plan, with a receptionist working inside the scheduling tool you already use. The mechanics differ. A person clicks through your calendar while the caller waits; Heyline checks when you're busy, offers two or three real openings, and writes the event during the call. Ruby also notes it sees only what your scheduling tool shows.
Is an AI receptionist more consistent than a person?
In one narrow way, yes. She works from the same Business Brief every time, so your hours and your prices come out the same at 2 AM as at 10 AM. A person brings judgment she can't, but their answer moves with who picked up and how the shift has gone. Neither is better across the board. The honest test is which kind of call you get most.
Can I use an answering service and Heyline together?
You can, though most shops end up choosing one. A number forwards to a single place, so you would split by rule: send the busy and no-answer calls to Heyline and keep the service for the line that needs people, or the reverse. Heyline is month to month, so running both for a few weeks is a cheap way to find out. The one that books more calls wins.
Skip the table. Make the call.
Build her from your website, ask her the questions your callers ask, and decide with your ears.
No card · No setup · Keep your number · No website? Start here
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Sources
- Prices on this page were checked September 2, 2026 against each vendor's own pricing page.
- Ruby — Plans and pricing
- Ruby Help Center — Ruby billing basics
- Ruby — Online demo
- Abby Connect — Pricing
- Abby Connect — Sign up
- Smith.ai — Virtual Receptionist pricing
- Smith.ai — AI Receptionist pricing
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