AI Receptionist Cost Calculator: How to Work Out What You'll Pay (2026)

To work out what an AI receptionist will cost you, take four numbers from your own call log (answered calls, billed minutes, unique callers and the calls that need extras such as booking) and run them through the formula for each way vendors bill. A spreadsheet does it in under an hour, and it beats any vendor's calculator because it uses your calls instead of an average. This walkthrough builds that sheet step by step with October 2026 list prices, then stress-tests it for a busy month.

Key takeaways

• Vendors bill in different units. Dialzara and Rosie sell minutes, Smith.ai sells calls, and Goodcall sells unique callers, so your log has to produce all three counts.
• Rounding is real money. Rosie's terms and Ruby's FAQ both round every call up to the next full minute; in our sample of eight calls, that added 18% to the minutes.
• Some plans move on their own. Going over your minutes on Rosie upgrades you to a higher plan that stays until you downgrade, so price the tier you'll land on, not the one you start on.
• Add the extras and your time. Per-call fees for booking, payments or Spanish, taxes and your own setup hours belong in the total.
• Stress-test before you sign. A month with 30% more calls changed the example shop's bill by $0 on one plan and by $135 to $231 on two others.

What does the calculator need from your call log?

Export 30 days of call records from your carrier or phone system with date, time, caller number and duration. Ninety days is better if your volume swings with the weather. Then fill in this input block. The example column is a made-up shop used through the rest of this guide.

Two data warnings. Google Business Profile's Calls figure is not a call count: Google defines it as the number of times a customer clicked the call button on your profile, and it removed call history from Business Profile on July 31, 2024. For calls from ads, Google Ads call reporting includes start and end time, whether the call was missed or received, and the caller's area code, which is enough for the steps below.

Step 1: Turn call durations into billed minutes

Most minute-based plans don't bill your actual talk time. Rosie's terms state the rule plainly:

"Services Minutes are calculated and billed in 60-second increments and calls are rounded up to the next 60-second mark."

That sentence is from Rosie's terms of service, and Ruby's FAQ describes the same 60-second rounding, with hold time counted. So put each call's duration in seconds in one column and add a billed-minutes column next to it with this formula, which works in both Excel and Google Sheets:

=ROUNDUP(B2/60,0)

Here is what rounding does to eight sample calls. The durations are made up to show the effect.

Rounding turned 22.8 actual minutes into 27 billed minutes, an increase of about 18% in this sample. Short calls suffer most: a 61-second call bills as two minutes. The example shop's 140 calls average 2:30 of talk, or 350 actual minutes, and we assume 20% more after rounding, which is how we get 420 billed minutes. Use your own column total instead of our assumption.

Step 2: Count unique callers and repeat callers

Per-caller billing counts people, not calls. Goodcall's FAQ says one phone number counts once a month, and the same person calling five times in a month is one customer. Count unique numbers in your caller column with:

• Google Sheets: =COUNTUNIQUE(A2:A500)
• Excel 365: =COUNTA(UNIQUE(A2:A500))

The gap between calls and unique callers tells you how much repeat calling you get. Locksmith repeat calls are common: a driver calls, hangs up, calls back to say they found a closer address, then calls to ask for an arrival time. The example shop has 140 calls from 110 numbers, so about 21% of its calls are repeats.

Step 3: Price each billing model with its own formula

Put each vendor's published numbers in a small table and price them with one of five formulas. The rates below are from each vendor's page as of October 2026. Disclosure: TheKeyBot, which publishes this blog, makes an AI receptionist, and our plans appear in these tables on the same terms as everyone else's.

In a spreadsheet, the Dialzara row becomes =99+MAX(0,D2-220)*0.45, with total billed minutes in D2. Rosie's tiers become =IF(D2<=250,49,IF(D2<=1000,149,IF(D2<=2000,299,"ask Rosie"))). For any vendor with several plans, price every plan and take the cheapest, because a bigger plan with included minutes often beats a smaller one plus overage.

Then add per-call extras where the vendor charges them. Smith.ai's receptionist plans list $1.50 per call to book an appointment, $1.00 to take a payment and $1.00 for the dedicated Spanish line, so that row becomes =810+MAX(0,C2-90)*10.5+E2*1.5+F2*1+G2*1, with calls in C2, bookings in E2, payments in F2 and Spanish calls in G2.

Step 4: Add the costs that aren't on the pricing page

Taxes and fees. Some vendors say so directly: PATLive lists its prices plus government taxes and fees. Add a line for them.

Setup fees. Several vendors say there are none: Dialzara lists no setup fees, Abby Connect lists "No Setup Fee", and TheKeyBot's pricing page says no setup fees. If a vendor's page is silent, ask.

Your time. Somebody has to load your hours, service area, prices and rules, place test calls and review the first weeks of transcripts. No vendor publishes how long that takes for a locksmith shop, so treat it as an assumption. Some vendors include help: Dialzara includes a one-to-one onboarding call with every paid plan.

Cancellation terms. These don't change the monthly bill but can change what a bad fit costs you. Smith.ai asks for 30 days of notice to cancel its AI plan, and Rosie's terms say payments are non-refundable.

Step 5: Put the example shop through the calculator

Here is the example shop's month, from the input block above: 140 calls, 420 billed minutes, 110 unique callers, 30 bookings, 10 payments and 20 Spanish calls. Prices are October 2026 list prices; the "with your time" column adds the $60 monthly review from Step 4.

The "per answered call" column divides the "with your time" figure by 140 calls. Lite's overage assumes 3 billed minutes per extra call, the example's average; TheKeyBot's pricing page doesn't describe rounding, so check it on your trial invoice.

Read the result next to what each plan does on the call. Goodcall is cheapest here but speaks English only for now, and the example shop has 20 Spanish calls. Lite takes messages and doesn't quote or book. Core includes scheduling, GPS dispatch, POS and payments, so part of its price replaces other software. The live rows put a person on every call. A calculator tells you the price of each option; it can't tell you which job you need done.

Step 6: Stress-test the result for a busy month

A quiet month flatters every plan. Rerun the sheet with 30% more of everything: 182 calls, 546 billed minutes and 143 unique callers.

The pattern is what matters. Plans with headroom absorb a spike; plans priced close to your normal month jump to the next tier or into overage. Smith.ai's jump comes from crossing a tier boundary, and its pricing page lists per-call rates by tier, so check what happens between tiers before you pick one. Then try the other two stress tests that change the ranking: add one minute to every call, which moves only the minute plans, and cut repeat callers in half, which moves only Goodcall.

How should the finished sheet look?

One tab for the raw log, one for inputs and one for plans keeps it readable.

The last column is the one to watch. Jobs to break even is the monthly bill divided by your profit per job: at the example's $100, Rosie needs 1.5 jobs a month, Lite 2.1, Core 5.0 and the Smith.ai receptionist plan 14.1. Compare that with the jobs your log shows you're losing to missed calls, as our after-hours break-even guide does.

Which mistakes make a cost estimate wrong?

• Using actual minutes instead of billed minutes. Rounding added 18% in our sample.
• Counting Business Profile call clicks as calls. They count taps on the button, not answered calls.
• Ignoring repeat callers, which make per-caller plans cheaper and per-call plans more expensive than they look.
• Pricing the entry tier when your minutes put you on the next one. On Rosie, the upgrade sticks until you downgrade.
• Comparing a message-taker with a booking plan on price alone. Add a column for what each plan produces: a message, a booking, a quote or a dispatched job.
• Forgetting the calls you'll still answer yourself. If you only forward nights and overflow, price only those calls.

Where does TheKeyBot fit in the calculator?

Our plans go into the sheet like anyone else's. TheKeyBot Lite is $149 a month with 100 calls included, then 50 cents a minute, and your first 5 answered calls are free (up to 7 days). It answers 24/7 in English and Spanish and takes messages, but it doesn't quote or book. Core is $500 a month with 500 minutes, then 45 cents a minute, and adds scheduling, GPS dispatch, POS and payments, QuickBooks sync and unlimited users. Pro is $750 with 1,000 minutes (40 cents after) and Elite $1,200 with 2,500 (35 cents after). Every plan has no setup fees and no contracts, and Core, Pro and Elite include a 14-day free trial, per our pricing page.

For help with the minutes input, our guide to how many AI receptionist minutes a locksmith shop needs works from the same call log, and TheKeyBot pricing explained walks through our own plan math. For the vendor prices themselves, see our 24/7 answering service price survey, and for why the billing models behave so differently, our flat-rate vs per-minute explainer.

What to do this week

1. Export last month's call log and paste it into a Log tab.
2. Add the billed-minutes column with =ROUNDUP(D2/60,0) and total it.
3. Count unique callers and the calls that need booking, payments or Spanish.
4. Enter three to five plans from vendors you'd consider and price each with its formula.
5. Run the busy-month test at plus 30%, and the one-extra-minute test.
6. Shortlist the two cheapest plans that produce what your calls need, then confirm the rounding rule, overage rate and cancellation notice in writing before a trial.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I calculate what an AI receptionist will cost?

Count your answered calls, billed minutes (each call rounded up to the next minute), unique callers and calls needing extras from 30 days of call records. Then price each plan with its own formula, such as base price plus overage minutes times the overage rate, and add taxes, per-call add-ons and your setup time.

What numbers do I need from my call log?

You need the date, time, caller number and duration of each answered call. From those you can work out calls, billed minutes, unique callers and repeat calls, which cover every billing unit vendors use.

How does minute rounding change the price?

Plans that round each call up to the next full minute, as Rosie and Ruby do, bill more minutes than you talked. In our sample of eight calls, rounding turned 22.8 actual minutes into 27 billed minutes, about 18% more.

Is per-minute or per-call billing cheaper?

It depends on your call length and repeat callers. Long calls favor per-call or per-caller plans, short calls favor minute plans, and many repeat callers favor per-caller billing such as Goodcall's, so run your own log through both.

Should I count my own time as a cost?

Yes. Setup, test calls and monthly reviews take owner time, and no vendor publishes how long that takes for a locksmith shop, so put your own estimate and hourly value in the sheet as an assumption.

How much does TheKeyBot cost?

TheKeyBot Lite is $149 a month with 100 calls included, then 50 cents a minute, and it takes messages but doesn't quote or book. Core is $500 a month with 500 minutes, Pro $750 with 1,000 and Elite $1,200 with 2,500, and all three include a 14-day free trial with no setup fees.

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Sources

1. Rosie terms of service: https://heyrosie.com/legal/terms
2. Rosie pricing: https://heyrosie.com/pricing
3. Ruby FAQs: https://www.ruby.com/faqs/
4. Dialzara pricing: https://dialzara.com/pricing
5. Goodcall pricing: https://www.goodcall.com/pricing
6. Goodcall FAQ: https://www.goodcall.com/faq
7. Goodcall, how it works: https://www.goodcall.com/how-it-works
8. Smith.ai AI Receptionist pricing: https://smith.ai/pricing/ai-receptionist
9. Smith.ai live receptionist pricing: https://smith.ai/pricing/receptionists
10. PATLive pricing: https://www.patlive.com/pricing/
11. Abby Connect pricing: https://www.abby.com/pricing/
12. TheKeyBot pricing: https://www.thekeybot.com/pricing
13. Google Business Profile Help, "Understand your Business Profile performance & insights": https://support.google.com/business/answer/9918094?hl=en
14. Google Business Profile Help, "Changes to Google Business Profile chat and call history": https://support.google.com/business/answer/14919056?hl=en
15. Google Ads Help, "Analyze call reporting data": https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/7180997?hl=en