Smith.ai vs Ruby pricing

Smith.ai and Ruby are two of the most common names when a small business looks for someone to answer the phone. They price in completely different ways, one per call and one per minute, which makes them hard to compare at a glance. Here are both, side by side, from their own pricing pages, checked on September 29, 2026.

Smith.ai pricing

Smith.ai bills per call, not per minute. It sells two products: human virtual receptionists, and an AI receptionist.

Its AI receptionist is much cheaper per call: free for 25 calls a month and $3.00 a call after that, $150 a month for 75 calls on Pro, and $500 a month for 300 calls on Enterprise.

Ruby pricing

Ruby bills per receptionist minute, and every plan includes 24/7 live answering with no setup fees, according to its pricing page.

Which one costs less for you

It depends almost entirely on how long your calls are. Divide each plan's price by what it covers and the break-even is easy to see.

• Short calls favor Ruby. At one minute a call, Ruby's Standard plan covers 200 calls for $720, where Smith.ai's human Basic plan covers 90 calls for $810.
• Long calls favor Smith.ai. At four minutes a call, Ruby's 200 minutes covers only 50 calls. Smith.ai charges the same per call whether it lasts one minute or ten.
• Volume changes the math. Both get cheaper per unit on bigger plans, and both have larger plans through sales.

Before choosing, pull a month of call history and find two numbers: how many calls you get and how long the average one lasts. That tells you more than any review.

What both have in common

Both are strongest at answering professionally, taking messages, and routing calls. Both can book into some calendars. What neither is built to do is finish the job inside an industry system, such as posting a takeout order into a restaurant's POS, holding a room in a hotel's PMS, or opening a maintenance ticket in a property manager's system.

The alternative: an AI agent that finishes the call

If most of your calls end with a task, such as an order, a booking or a ticket, an AI phone agent that works inside your system can replace the message and the callback. Pulse answers in your business's name, reads your live menu, calendar or board, reads the result back, and writes it where your team already works. It never takes payment on the call and hands anything unusual to a person.

It's not the right swap for everyone. If your callers need a person's judgment on most calls, a human service is still the better answer. For the rest, compare what each option actually completes. Our guide to what an answering service costs walks through the full math, and our missed call calculator shows what the calls you miss today are worth.

Questions people ask

How much does Smith.ai cost?

Smith.ai human receptionists start at $300 a month for 30 calls. Its AI receptionist is free for 25 calls a month, then $150 a month for 75 calls on Pro.

How much does Ruby cost?

Ruby starts at $250 a month for 50 receptionist minutes, up to $1,725 a month for 500 minutes, with 24/7 answering included.

Is Smith.ai or Ruby cheaper?

For short calls, Ruby is usually cheaper because it bills by the minute. For long calls, Smith.ai is usually cheaper because it bills by the call.

What is an alternative to Smith.ai and Ruby?

An AI phone agent that completes the task in your system, such as an order, booking or ticket, rather than taking a message. Pulse works this way.

Prices from Smith.ai receptionist pricing, Smith.ai AI receptionist pricing and Ruby plans and pricing, checked on September 29, 2026. Prices change, so check before you buy. Smith.ai and Ruby are trademarks of their owners. Pulse AI is not affiliated with either.