Compare AI phone answering services for US businesses. See what each plan really costs once your calls run past the included allowance, and which vendors can actually give you a US number.
25 live calls a month on the free plan. Pro and Enterprise publish no included-call count at all.
None published. There is no allowance to exceed.
None. Exceeding your tier's call count releases your phone numbers, which is a cutoff rather than a charge.
$0.25 a minute on every plan, sold as prepaid Booster Packs: "Add extra minutes to any plan with a Booster Pack. Only $0.25/minute, and they never expire."
$0.50 per unique customer above the plan allowance, on every plan. Talk minutes are never charged: "We DO NOT charge any fees for number of calls, call minutes, or tokens."
$0.25 a voice minute, metered as 25 credits a minute at $0.01 a credit. Credits auto-reload at $10 per 1,000 and never expire, so calls are not cut off.
$0.48 a minute (Business Lite), $0.45 (Pro), $0.40 (Plus), $0.35 (Elite). Live talk time only, tracked to the second, with partial minutes not rounded up.
None. Past the allowance Rosie moves you up to the next plan at that plan's standard price, and above the top band it asks you to get in touch.
$3.00 a call above the free plan's 25 calls. Pro is $2.00 a call and Enterprise $1.67 a call, and neither publishes an included-call count, so we cost them as the fee plus every call.
Not stated either way
Not stated either way
Not stated either way
Not stated either way
Not stated either way
None, "No setup fees"
Not stated either way
None, and the vendor says so twice on the page
Yes, 7 days
Yes, 14 days
Yes, 3 days, "cancel anytime"
Yes, length not published
Yes, 7 days
Yes, 7 days
Yes, 7 days, "cancel anytime"
Yes, a free forever plan rather than a time-limited trial: "Not a trial. Real capability, every month, for free."
Monthly, or a yearly term labelled "Save 15%"
Monthly. The vendor's own pricing feed publishes no annual term.
Monthly, or an annual term
Monthly, or an annual term at 15% off
Monthly, or an annual term at 20% off
Monthly. Annual pricing is said to be available but is not priced anywhere on the page.
Monthly, or an annual term at two months free
Monthly. A six-month plan with rollover calls is referenced on the page with no price.
What the AI Does
24/7 answering, custom greetings and questions, and outbound calling on the base plan. Pro adds business-trained AI, automated text follow-ups and personal contact exclusion.
Books appointments, takes messages and answers questions on every plan. The tier buys AI agents, languages and phone numbers (1, 5 or 20), not features.
Answers calls and transfers to nominated contacts: the owner only on Essential, 2 on Starter, 5 on Solopreneur, and 20 plus multi-number and SIP or VoIP transfers on the top tier.
Answers calls with unlimited talk minutes, using logic flows (1 on Starter, 3 on Growth, 25 on Scale) and a directory of contacts it can put callers through to. Call detail is kept for 7 days on Starter, 30 on Growth and indefinitely on Scale.
Answers calls from a knowledge base (2 pages on the excluded cheaper plan, 20 on Business-in-a-Box) and runs agent actions, SMS, chatbot and form-fill channels off the same credit meter. Outbound calls carry a hard cap of 20 a day.
Answers calls and takes messages on every plan. Warm transfers, after-hours escalation, bilingual English and Spanish and calendar sync are on Pro and above; custom prompt engineering and multi-location are on Plus and above.
Answers calls in English and Spanish. Appointment booking and transfers to a person are on Scale and above.
AI scheduling, lead qualification, call routing, recording, transcription and native integrations, on every plan including the free one.
Not published on any plan. Clara publishes its product as answering calls and taking messages.
Yes, on every plan
Yes, from Starter: "Google Calendar Integration, connect your Google Calendar for automated appointment scheduling". Not on Essential.
Yes, "books appointments", and scheduling is one of the AI skills you configure: "Tell it how to schedule appointments, answer FAQs, route complex support tickets, or capture new leads"
Yes, "Booking & Appointments" is one of the tools the plan replaces: "AI handles complex services, rescheduling and no-show follow-ups automatically"
Calendar sync on Pro and above
Yes, on Scale and above. Not on Professional.
Yes, AI scheduling on every plan including free
Not on either purchasable plan. The only routing line on the pricing page, "Call routing to the right person", sits on the Teams tier, which the vendor marks "Coming Soon".
Yes, "the call transferred to a member of your team", and calls can be routed or escalated to different numbers
Yes, to nominated transfer contacts: owner only on Essential, up to 20 on the top tier
Yes, and it is the default: "your agent will transfer the call to your business line", or to a named person, department, message, self-service link or callback. Directory contacts are capped at 3 on Starter, 25 on Growth and 500 on Scale.
Yes, but capped: transferring a call is an "Agent Action", and the plan allows 2 of each action (1 on the excluded cheaper plan)
Yes, blind transfers on every plan; warm transfers on Pro and above
Yes, warm and live transfers on Scale and above, waterfall transfers on Growth. Not on Professional.
Yes, call routing on every plan including free
No
No vendor-supplied humans. Transfers reach your own team.
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No
None published
No vendor-supplied humans. Transfers reach your own team.
No, this is AI only
Yes, its own North America based receptionists through a Live Agent Network, as a per-call add-on
Calls & Coverage
Yes, use a Clara number as a dedicated second business line, or forward your existing one
Yes, and the vendor publishes its full country list, including the United Kingdom (+44) and Australia (+61). It covers the cost of the line.
Yes, in the United States and Canada only: "Currently, we provide phone numbers and service in the United States and Canada."
Yes, included, and you choose the area code. United States only: "Do you have local phone numbers outside the US? We're currently available in the US."
A verified outbound number is included on Business-in-a-Box; no inbound number is stated on the cheaper plan
Yes, but charged separately: $3/mo for a US or Canada local number, $5/mo for a US toll-free number. The plan card contradicts the FAQ by listing the number as included.
Yes, a Rosie number is included and you pick the area code
Yes, a dedicated number on every plan including the free one
Yes, 24/7: "24/7 voice, chat, SMS, an AI-native CRM, and sequence automations in every plan"
Yes, 24/7, listed under "All plans include"
Yes, 24/7: "Rosie never sleeps, never takes breaks"
Yes, 24/7: "Your 24/7 AI Receptionist for the whole intake journey"
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English in US, British and Australian accents, among others. The tier buys 1, 5 or 20 languages.
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20+ languages
Bilingual English and Spanish on Pro and above
English and Spanish on every call
English and Spanish
Integrations & Support
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SIP and VoIP transfers on the top tier
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Zapier on Business-in-a-Box only
Calendar sync on Pro and above
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Native integrations on every plan including free
Yes, a genuine USD rate card on the vendor's US locale path
Yes, native USD, confirmed in the vendor's own live pricing feed
Yes, native USD
Yes, native USD
Yes, native USD
Yes, native USD
Yes, native USD: "All Fees are quoted in United States dollars" (terms of service)
Yes, native USD
Estimates based on $15,000/mo volume. Rates can change without notice, confirm current pricing with the provider before signing on.How we calculate this
Estimated cost: each provider’s published prices and rates applied to the inputs you set above (such as volume, team size, or invoices), plus any fixed monthly fees.
Providers with an incomplete cost (shown as “+ processing”) and quote-only providers are never ranked as the cheapest while a complete-cost option exists. A “+ payroll” tag means payroll is not built in, so you would run it on separate software; those providers are still ranked on cost, and you can hide them with the Payroll included filter.
These are estimates. Published rates can change and your final pricing depends on your business, so confirm current pricing with the provider before switching.
Provider details
The top providers, expanded.
Same data as the table above, broken out per provider with the use cases each one fits best.
We may earn a commission when you click through to a provider. This never affects ranking or data shown. Read our terms.
Clara
Flat monthly AI receptionist with no allowance and no overage, tiered on features rather than volume.
Est. cost
$40/mo
★
Best for
Businesses with high or unpredictable call volume that want one predictable bill and take messages rather than transfer calls
Entry plan
$39.99/mo (Clara)
Included
None. The vendor publishes no allowance and states "We do not currently enforce fixed numeric caps".
Overage
None published. There is no allowance to exceed.
Local number
Yes, use a Clara number as a dedicated second business line, or forward your existing one
Light-use AI receptionist with prepaid minute packs that never expire, in the US and Canada only.
Est. cost
$74/mo
★
Best for
US and Canadian businesses with light call volume that would rather top up as they go
Entry plan
$14/mo (Essential)
Included
60 minutes (Essential and Starter), 200 (Solopreneur), 400 on the top tier
Overage
$0.25 a minute on every plan, sold as prepaid Booster Packs: "Add extra minutes to any plan with a Booster Pack. Only $0.25/minute, and they never expire."
Local number
Yes, in the United States and Canada only: "Currently, we provide phone numbers and service in the United States and Canada."
Unlimited talk minutes, metered on how many different people ring you rather than how long they talk.
Est. cost
$79/mo
★
Best for
US businesses whose callers ring back often and whose calls run long
Entry plan
$79/mo per agent (Starter)
Included
100 unique callers a month (Starter), 250 (Growth), 500 (Scale). Talk minutes are unlimited.
Overage
$0.50 per unique customer above the plan allowance, on every plan. Talk minutes are never charged: "We DO NOT charge any fees for number of calls, call minutes, or tokens."
Local number
Yes, included, and you choose the area code. United States only: "Do you have local phone numbers outside the US? We're currently available in the US."
Credit-metered AI receptionist sold as an AI workforce, of which the phone is one channel.
Est. cost
$124/mo
★
Best for
US businesses that want phone, SMS and chat running off one meter
Entry plan
$99/mo (Business-in-a-Box)
Included
200 voice minutes a month on Business-in-a-Box, metered as 25 credits a minute
Overage
$0.25 a voice minute, metered as 25 credits a minute at $0.01 a credit. Credits auto-reload at $10 per 1,000 and never expire, so calls are not cut off.
Local number
A verified outbound number is included on Business-in-a-Box; no inbound number is stated on the cheaper plan
The cleanest ladder in this category: minutes included, an overage rate on every plan, billed to the second.
Est. cost
$135/mo
★
Best for
Businesses that want a per-minute bill they can predict and check
Entry plan
$29/mo (Business Lite)
Included
60 minutes (Business Lite), 220 (Pro), 500 (Plus), 1,000 (Elite). Live talk time only, tracked to the second with partial minutes not rounded up.
Overage
$0.48 a minute (Business Lite), $0.45 (Pro), $0.40 (Plus), $0.35 (Elite). Live talk time only, tracked to the second, with partial minutes not rounded up.
Local number
Yes, but charged separately: $3/mo for a US or Canada local number, $5/mo for a US toll-free number. The plan card contradicts the FAQ by listing the number as included.
Not sure which AI phone answering service is right for you?
Almost every plan here bundles a set number of calls or minutes, so the cheapest option flips the moment you run past that allowance. Tell us your call volume and we can help you work out which one actually fits.