How much does an AI answering service cost for contractors?

The short answer

Among vendors that publish prices, AI answering services and AI receptionists start at $0 (a limited free tier) to $49 a month for small call volumes, sit around $100 to $350 a month for a typical small contractor, and run $449 to $789 a month and up for platforms built for busier shops. Two well-known home-service vendors, Avoca and Hatch, don't publish prices at all.

The sticker price is only half of it. The other half is how the vendor counts usage (minutes, calls or leads) and what happens when you go over. A plan that looks cheap at 50 leads a month can cost more than a pricier one at 150.

The five pricing models

1. Per minute (minute bundles)

You pay a monthly fee that includes a set number of AI talk minutes, then pay extra or move up a tier when you run out. Rosie, My AI Front Desk and Sameday AI all price this way.

• Good: cheap for short calls and low volume.
• Watch: long calls, voicemails and retries all burn minutes. You only learn your real usage after a month or two.

2. Per call or conversation

You pay for each call the AI handles, usually in monthly bundles with a per-call rate. Smith.ai prices its AI receptionist this way.

• Good: easy to predict if you know your call count. Call length doesn't matter.
• Watch: spam, wrong numbers and short hang-ups can count as calls. Check how the vendor filters them.

3. Flat monthly, with or without a cap

One monthly price. Some flat plans have a usage cap; others don't publish one. Jobber's AI Receptionist is a flat $29 a month add-on, and its pricing page doesn't list a call or minute limit.

• Good: one number on the bill.
• Watch: read the fair-use terms, and check what base software you need to buy first.

4. Per lead

You pay by the number of new leads the system works, usually in monthly tiers with a per-lead charge above the cap. This model fits tools that call your web leads rather than answer inbound calls. HelloSetter prices this way.

• Good: cost tracks the thing you already measure, which is leads. Retries and voicemails don't add cost.
• Watch: if your lead volume swings a lot month to month, look at the per-lead rate above the cap.

5. Per booked appointment

You pay only when an appointment lands on your calendar. None of the AI vendors we checked publish this model, but you will see it from appointment-setting services.

• Good: you pay for results, not activity.
• Watch: the per-appointment price is usually high, and you need a clear definition of a "booked" appointment (no-shows, out-of-area jobs, duplicates).

Published prices, side by side

These are the lowest published plans and terms from each vendor's own pricing page, opened on October 13, 2026. Prices change, so check the link before you buy. Most of these tools are inbound receptionists; HelloSetter is an outbound lead caller. Compare tools that do the job you need.

Vendors that don't publish prices

Avoca sends you to book a demo. Hatch explains its structure but not the numbers: pricing is a platform fee plus usage, plans are annual and paid monthly per location, and contract length and renewal terms are set deal by deal. Neither is a bad sign by itself. It just means you can't compare them on paper, and you should expect a sales call and, with Hatch, an annual commitment.

Hidden costs to ask about

• Overages: what happens when you run out of minutes or calls? Rosie's page lists that question in its FAQ but the answer isn't shown, and Sameday doesn't publish an overage rate. Get it in writing.
• Setup fees: none of the published pages above list one, but several are silent on it. Ask directly.
• Annual contracts: Hatch plans are annual. Rosie and My AI Front Desk discount annual billing, and Jobber's base plans cost less with a 1-year commitment. A discount is only worth it if you're sure you'll stay.
• Cancellation notice: Smith.ai's FAQ says month-to-month with 30 days' notice. That's one extra month of cost when you leave.
• Base software: Jobber's $29 add-on sits on top of a Jobber plan. If you aren't on Jobber already, the real price is higher.
• Add-ons: features like website texting can be extra. Rosie charges $50 a month for website texting.
• Your time: someone has to set up services, service area, questions and booking rules. A vendor that does it with you on a setup call saves hours.

Worked example: 50 and 150 leads a month

This is an estimate to show how the models behave, not a quote. The assumptions below are ours. Swap in your own numbers.

• Assumption: each lead uses about 4 minutes of AI talk time in total, counting the conversation, voicemails and any retries.
• Assumption: each lead counts as one billable call on per-call plans.
• Assumption: you pick the cheapest published tier that covers your usage, billed monthly, before taxes.
• So 50 leads is about 200 minutes or 50 calls, and 150 leads is about 600 minutes or 150 calls.

At 50 leads a month (about 200 minutes)

1. Rosie: 200 minutes fits in Professional (250 minutes) = $49.
2. My AI Front Desk: 200 minutes fits the 200 included = $99 ($79 if billed annually).
3. Smith.ai Pro: 50 calls fits the 75-call tier, 75 x $2.00 = $150.
4. Jobber Receptionist: $29 + your Jobber plan ($49 Core with no commitment) = $78.
5. Sameday AI: 200 minutes fits Launch (500 minutes) = from $449.
6. HelloSetter: 50 leads fits the 75-lead tier = $197 founding ($297 regular).

At 150 leads a month (about 600 minutes)

1. Rosie: 600 minutes is over Professional, so Scale (1,000 minutes) = $149.
2. My AI Front Desk: 600 - 200 included = 400 extra minutes x $0.25 = $100, plus $99 = $199.
3. Smith.ai Pro: 150-call tier, 150 x $1.80 = $270 (our reading of the published per-call rate).
4. Jobber Receptionist: still $29 + your Jobber plan = $78, since no usage limit is published.
5. Sameday AI: 600 minutes is over Launch's 500, so either Launch plus an unpublished overage, or Scale from $789.
6. HelloSetter: 150 leads fits the 150-lead tier = $347 founding ($497 regular). At 160 leads it would be $347 + 10 x $2 = $367.

That last point matters. An inbound receptionist answers the phone when it rings. It does nothing for a form lead sitting in your inbox at 2 p.m. while you're on a roof, which is the gap our speed to lead guide is about. If most of your leads come from forms, Angi, Thumbtack or Google LSA, compare the cost of a lead caller against the cost of losing those leads.

Compare the tool to your lead spend, not just to other tools

A monthly fee looks big on its own. Next to what you already spend on leads, it often looks different. Here is the same kind of estimate, with made-up inputs you should replace with yours.

• Assumption: 150 leads a month at $50 each, so $7,500 a month in lead spend.
• A tool at $347 a month adds $347 / 150 = about $2.31 per lead, or roughly 4.6% on top of what you already pay for those leads.
• If faster follow-up turns just 2 extra leads into booked estimates, and you win 30% of estimates at $4,000 a job, that is 0.6 jobs, or about $2,400 in work a month.

Those are assumptions, not results. The point is the comparison: judge an AI tool by what it does to your cost per booked estimate, the same way you would judge a lead source. Our Angi and Thumbtack follow-up guide shows how to track that number by source.

How to choose

1. Write down where your work comes from: inbound phone calls, web forms, or paid lead sites.
2. Count last month's calls and leads, and estimate minutes per call from your phone records.
3. Run the numbers above with your counts for two or three vendors.
4. Ask each vendor about overages, setup fees, contract length and cancellation notice.
5. Test it. Call the demo line yourself, or run a trial, before you route real customers to it.

For a closer look at specific tools, see our comparison pages and our roundup of the best AI receptionists for contractors.