How Much Does an Answering Service Cost?
A live answering service for a small contracting business costs roughly $250 to $2,100 a month at the two vendors priced below, depending on how many calls you get. Here are the listed prices, what each call works out to, and how that compares with a missed-call text back.
Updated 2026-10-13. Disclosure: FoxDevLabs sells missed-call text back, so we have a stake in the comparison. Vendor prices are copied from their own pricing pages on the date shown and may have changed. Only two vendors are priced here, so this is not a market survey.
Listed prices
| Plan | Price per month | Included | Per included unit (our arithmetic) | Over the allowance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smith.ai Starter | $300 | 30 calls | $10.00 a call | $11.50 a call |
| Smith.ai Basic | $810 | 90 calls | $9.00 a call | $10.50 a call |
| Smith.ai Pro | $2,100 | 300 calls | $7.00 a call | $8.50 a call |
| Ruby Starter | $250 | 50 minutes | $5.00 a minute | Not listed |
| Ruby Standard | $395 | 100 minutes | $3.95 a minute | Not listed |
| Ruby Popular | $720 | 200 minutes | $3.60 a minute | Not listed |
| Ruby Professional | $1,725 | 500 minutes | $3.45 a minute | Not listed |
Fact: plan names, prices, allowances and Smith.ai overage rates are from the vendors' pricing pages, accessed 2026-10-13. Smith.ai also lists a custom Enterprise plan and a 10% discount for 12-month billing; Ruby says to call for larger plans. The per-unit column is our division of price by allowance.
What the price does not tell you
- Calls versus minutes. A per-call plan charges the same for a 30-second wrong number as for a 10-minute quote. A per-minute plan charges more for long calls. Which is cheaper depends on your calls.
- Going over. Smith.ai lists its overage rates. Ruby's pricing page does not, so ask.
- Every call counts. Sales calls and spam may use up the allowance too; ask each vendor how it counts them.
How a text back compares
FoxDevLabs Core is $197 a month with texts included, no setup fee and a money-back guarantee if not one missed caller texts back in your first 30 days live (our terms). It sends a text to the missed caller within seconds and does not talk to them, so it is a different tool, not a cheaper copy of an answering service. Answering service vs missed call text back sets out when each one fits. These are our own terms; see the pricing section.
Is it worth the money? A way to check
Put a number on what your missed calls cost, then compare it with the plan price.
Monthly revenue lost = missed calls per week × 4.33 × booking rate × average job value
The 4.33 is the average number of weeks in a month (52 ÷ 12). The booking rate is the share of missed callers who would have become a paying job, and it is the input people overestimate most, so keep it low.
Assumption (example inputs, not benchmarks): 2 missed calls a week, a 30% booking rate and a $350 average job gives 2 × 4.33 × 0.30 × $350, about $910 a month. Against a $300 plan that is about three times the plan price; against $197 it is about four and a half times. Use the missed-call calculator with your own numbers.
Questions
How much does an answering service cost?
On 2026-10-13, Smith.ai listed plans from $300 a month for 30 calls to $2,100 a month for 300 calls, and Ruby listed plans from $250 a month for 50 minutes to $1,725 a month for 500 minutes. Prices are per plan, so your cost depends on how many calls you get.
Is an answering service priced per call or per minute?
It depends on the vendor. Smith.ai prices by calls included, with a per-call rate once you go over ($11.50 on its Starter plan). Ruby prices by minutes included. Check what happens when you exceed the allowance before you buy.
What does each call cost on those plans?
Dividing the monthly price by the calls included gives $10.00 a call on Smith.ai Starter, $9.00 on Basic and $7.00 on Pro. Ruby works out to $5.00 a minute on Starter and $3.45 a minute on its 500-minute plan. This is our arithmetic on the listed prices, not a vendor figure.
Is a missed call text back cheaper than an answering service?
On listed prices, yes: FoxDevLabs Core is $197 a month with texts included, against $250 to $300 a month for the cheapest answering-service plans above. They do different jobs, though. A text back does not talk to the caller. See the comparison guide for when each fits.
How do I know if an answering service is worth the money?
Work out what your missed calls cost you: missed calls per week, times 4.33, times the share who would have booked, times your average job value. If that number is well above the plan price, the plan can pay for itself. The booking rate is the input to be careful with.
Sources
- Smith.ai pricing page: https://www.smith.ai/pricing (accessed 2026-10-13)
- Ruby pricing page: https://www.ruby.com/pricing/ (accessed 2026-10-13)