AI Receptionist and Missed-Call Text Back Cost in 2026
Ziwi Engage texts back every missed call within seconds for $99 a month, and Engage Pro answers, qualifies and books appointments to your calendar for $299, plus AI usage at cost, month to month. Other AI receptionist plans start at $24.95 to $500 a month on seven vendors' own pricing pages (checked October 2026).
Flat monthly, AI usage at cost
- $99/moZiwi Engage: missed-call text back, chat capture, an instant text answer to every lead who writes inSee what's included
- $299/moEngage Pro: the AI answers, qualifies and books, by text and callSee what's included
vsPublished AI receptionist plans$24.95 (Upfirst Starter) to $500 (Smith.ai Enterprise) a month to start
Missed-call text back, website chat capture and an instant text answer to every lead who writes in. Engage Pro adds answering calls and texts at any hour, qualifying and booking. AI usage billed at cost, no markup.
See how we compareZiwi Engage is $99 a month to text back every missed call within seconds, and Engage Pro is $299 a month to answer the call or text, qualify the caller and book the appointment, plus AI usage billed at cost, month to month. This page is for the owner who keeps missing calls and is pricing an AI receptionist or a missed-call text back service: software that answers your calls, texts and website chats on its own, day and night. About 12,100 people a month search "ai receptionist" and about 1,600 search "ai receptionist for small business" (our September 2026 pull). Every vendor price here comes from that vendor's own pricing page, checked October 2026, and the CallRail and Podium figures from September 2026.
We checked 194 Florida agency websites: 89% publish no price
How much does an AI receptionist cost a month?
At Ziwi an AI receptionist costs $99 a month for Ziwi Engage, which texts back every missed call and new lead within seconds, or $299 a month for Engage Pro, which answers, qualifies and books, plus AI usage billed at cost. Elsewhere, paid AI receptionist plans start at $24.95 to $500 a month, from Upfirst's Starter plan to Smith.ai's Enterprise entry plan, on seven vendors' own pricing pages checked October 2026.
The cheapest paid plan at each of those seven vendors runs $24.95 to $150 a month and covers 30 to 100 calls or callers, or 60 to 250 minutes, and Smith.ai also offers a free plan with 25 calls a month, then charges $3.00 a call. Past what a plan includes, most vendors bill extra, and Rosie moves you up a plan instead, so your real monthly cost depends on how busy your phone gets.
| Vendor and plan | Monthly price, checked October 2026 | What it includes | Past the included amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dialzara, Business Lite to Business Elite | $29 to $349 | 60 to 1,000 minutes | $0.48 down to $0.35 a minute |
| Goodcall, Starter to Scale | $79 to $249 per agent | 100 to 500 different callers, unlimited minutes | $0.50 per extra caller |
| My AI Front Desk, Business-in-a-Box | $99 | 200 voice minutes, 100 chat conversations, 400 texts | 25 credits a minute, about $0.25 at $10 per 1,000 credits |
| RingCentral AI Receptionist, standalone | From $49 | 100 minutes | $0.50 a minute |
| Rosie, Professional to Growth | $49 to $299 | 250 to 2,000 minutes | Moves you to the next plan, no per-minute overage |
| Smith.ai AI Receptionist, Free, Pro and Enterprise | $0, $150 and $500 | 25, 75 and 300 calls | $3.00 a call on Free, $2.50 on Pro |
| Upfirst, Starter to Scale | $24.95 to $299 | 30 to 600 calls | $1.50 down to $0.70 a call |
| Ziwi Engage | $99, plus AI usage at cost | Missed-call text back, website chat capture, an instant text answer to every lead who writes in | AI usage billed at cost, no markup |
| Ziwi Engage Pro | $299, plus AI usage at cost | The AI answers calls and texts from leads at any hour, qualifies them and books to your calendar | AI usage billed at cost, no markup |
How do AI receptionist pricing models differ?
AI receptionist pricing comes in 4 shapes: a bucket of minutes, a bucket of calls, a cap on different callers, or a flat plan fee with AI usage billed on top. RingCentral, for example, bills $0.50 for each minute past the 100 in its $49 standalone plan, while Upfirst counts calls and Goodcall counts different callers (all checked October 2026). The shape decides who pays more in a busy month.
- 01
Per minute. Dialzara, Rosie, RingCentral and My AI Front Desk sell a bucket of minutes. Long calls use it up fast, and short calls stretch it.
- 02
Per call. Upfirst and Smith.ai sell a bucket of calls. A 40-second call and a 9-minute call count the same.
- 03
Per caller. Goodcall caps how many different people can call, with unlimited minutes, and bills $0.50 for each caller past the cap (checked October 2026).
- 04
Flat plan, usage on top. The plan fee covers the software, and the AI's running cost is a separate line. Quo includes its Sona AI agent in phone plans from $19 a user a month with 1,000 credits, about 10 calls (checked October 2026).
A worked example shows how far apart the bills can land. Say you get 150 calls a month that average 3 minutes each, 450 minutes in all. On Dialzara, that fits inside Business Plus at $199 for 500 minutes. On Upfirst, it fits inside Pro at $159.95 for 300 calls, or costs $119.95 on Premium: $59.95 for 90 calls plus 60 extra calls at $1 each. All prices are from the vendors' own pricing pages, checked October 2026.
Does an AI receptionist charge a setup fee?
AI receptionist software usually costs $0 to set up: none of the 7 AI receptionist vendors we checked in October 2026 prints a setup fee on its self-serve plans. Hands-on setup is often a feature of the higher tiers instead, such as the white-glove onboarding in Upfirst's $159.95 Pro plan and Rosie's $299 Growth plan.
On cheaper plans, you type in your hours, services, prices and common questions yourself. Large custom builds are another matter: Synthflow says its enterprise contracts start at $30,000 a year, with implementation and launch support scoped into the price (checked October 2026).
- Hours and service area. So the AI knows when you are closed and where you work.
- Services and prices. The questions callers really ask, answered in your words.
- Calendar rules. Which jobs book straight in and which need a call back from you.
- A handoff rule. Who on your team takes over when a caller needs a person.
What do you need first?
Pick one and see every line priced before you sign. No form.
People searching nearby find you first.
Essentials covers your Google Business Profile, business listings and fixes to your own pages.
Per location, Local SEO Essentials.
- Essentials$297/mo
- Plus two new pages or posts a week$597/mo
- Bigger markets$997/mo
Month to month, per location.
30 minutes on Google Meet. You own the site, the domain and the accounts.
A site that turns a visit into a call.
Designed and written for your business, and yours to keep.
With a 12-month plan.
- Hosting and maintenance$99/mo
- Ziwi Care$299/mo
30 minutes on Google Meet. You own the site, the domain and the accounts.
Your ads show up when people search for what you do.
Google, Facebook and Instagram ads, with the fee set by what you spend.
Management fee, by monthly ad spend.
- Ad spend up to $1,500$297/mo
- $1,500 to $3,500$497/mo
- Above $3,500$797/mo
Ad spend is paid to Google or Meta directly.
30 minutes on Google Meet. You own the site, the domain and the accounts.
Everyone you invite gets the same review request.
Review asks, replies, monitoring and profile cleanup, handled for you.
Per location.
- Reviews and reputation$197/mo
Month to month, per location.
30 minutes on Google Meet. You own the site, the domain and the accounts.
What do cheap AI receptionist plans leave out?
Cheap AI receptionist plans usually leave out calendar booking, live transfers, enough minutes for a busy week and hands-on setup, based on the plan lists vendors printed when we checked in October 2026. Rosie's $49 Professional plan, for example, sends appointment links by text, and booking straight onto your calendar starts at its $149 Scale plan, which also adds live call transfers.
A low price that skips booking only moves the callback to tomorrow morning.
Check each of these against a plan before you compare prices.
- Booking. Some entry plans take a message or text a booking link instead of putting the job on your calendar.
- Enough volume. A 30-call plan covers about one call a day, so a busy week runs past it and the extra charges start.
- Text and website chat. Some plans answer the phone only. Dialzara sells its website chatbot for $39 a month on its own (checked October 2026).
- Call history. Goodcall's $79 Starter plan keeps 7 days of call and customer details, and its $249 Scale plan keeps them with no limit (checked October 2026).
- Signed privacy paperwork. A medical or dental office should ask any vendor for a signed business associate agreement. Upfirst's pricing page lists these agreements on its Custom plan (checked October 2026).
When is a human service a better buy than an AI receptionist?
A human service is the better buy when most of your calls need judgment, like an upset customer, a messy intake or a caller in a crisis, and you get few enough calls that paying by the minute stays small.
An AI receptionist is the better buy for routine calls at any hour, from $24.95 a month on the paid plans we checked in October 2026, because it answers at 2 AM the same way it does at 2 PM.
Human services bill for a person's time, by the minute or by the call, and those rates are compared on a separate page, what an answering service costs, which covers live and hybrid services instead of AI software. Hybrid plans sit in between: Abby Connect sells human and AI answering on one plan, where 1 Abby Minute buys 2 minutes of AI answering, from $165 a month for 50 Abby Minutes (checked October 2026).
Is there a service that texts back missed calls and books appointments for a small business?
Yes: Ziwi Engage texts back every missed call within seconds for $99 a month, and Engage Pro answers the call or text at any hour, qualifies the caller and books the appointment to your calendar for $299 a month, plus AI usage billed at cost with no markup. Both run month to month with no long contract, and the difference is the conversation: Engage starts it by text, and Engage Pro holds it and books the job. The plan fee has no minute limit, because the usage charge is what the AI costs to run, passed on at what we pay, and you can see it add up. We do not print a typical usage amount, because your own call volume sets it.
- Engage, $99 a month. Missed-call text back, website chat capture and an instant text answer to every lead who writes in.
- Engage Pro, $299 a month. The AI answers calls and texts from leads at any hour, qualifies them and books to your calendar.
- Month to month. No long contracts, and every price is printed on the pricing page before you talk to anyone.
Ziwi Engage is $99 a month and Engage Pro is $299, plus AI usage at cost, and the paid AI receptionist plans we checked in October 2026 start at $24.95 to $500 a month, so price your busiest month, not your slowest. Two other companies that AI assistants name for missed calls publish prices: CallRail's Voice Assist starts at $95 a month with Lead Tracking at an additional $55, and Podium lists Core at $399 a month and Pro at $599 (each company's pricing page, checked September 2026), as set out in our CallRail pricing and Podium pricing guides. For why a reply in seconds matters, read how fast to follow up with a lead. For AI and human options side by side, see how to choose an answering service for a small business. To put missed-call text back on your line, start with Ziwi Engage at $99 a month, or Engage Pro at $299, plus AI usage at cost.