Priced September 5, 2026 · every number has a receipt

Every answering service we could price, priced.

Comparison pages written by vendors are ads wearing a lab coat. This one is written by a vendor too — we’re in the last card — so it plays by house rules: every number links to the page we read it from, dated, and the services that beat us on price are named first, plainly. Two of the five wouldn’t show us a price at all. That fact made the page too.

Short version of an honest market: $49 buys software you run yourself. $449 buys a managed desk. $99 — ours — buys the managed desk at the software-adjacent price. The rest is detail, and the detail is below.

Rosie

Self-serve AI

$49 to $299 a month

250 minutes at $49 · 1,000 at $149 · 2,000 at $299. Appointment booking and warm transfers start at the $149 plan.

Where they win: If you want the least money in the category and you're comfortable setting up, scripting, and tuning the agent yourself, Rosie at $49 is genuinely that. We are not going to pretend otherwise.
The catch: It's software. You configure it, you test it, you notice when it breaks. Booking a job on a calendar costs the $149 tier, and nobody is watching your setup but you.

The page we read this from, September 5, 2026

RevenuePack vs Rosie, head to head →

Goodcall

Self-serve AI

$79 to $249 a month, per agent

Unlimited minutes on every plan. 100 unique customers a month at $79, then $0.50 per extra customer; 250 at $129; 500 at $249. You build the call logic in their editor.

Where they win: Unlimited minutes. If your call volume is heavy and you like building flows, the minutes never run out.
The catch: The meter moved from minutes to people: every caller past your plan's cap is $0.50, and "per agent" means a second line is a second subscription. The logic flows are yours to build and debug.

The page we read this from, September 5, 2026

RevenuePack vs Goodcall, head to head →

Sameday

Managed AI

Starts at $449 a month

Launch starts at 500 minutes for $449. Scale starts at $789 for 1,000 minutes. ServiceTitan and similar integrations, multi-location support.

Where they win: The closest thing to us: a managed AI desk built for home services. If you run three-plus locations on ServiceTitan, their upper tiers are built for exactly that.
The catch: The entry ticket is $449 for 500 minutes — $350 a month more than RevenuePack. They include more minutes; we are a quarter of the price, managed, with a written miss-a-call guarantee. The category's managed tier is priced like a category, and that is the gap we live in.

The page we read this from, September 5, 2026

RevenuePack vs Sameday, head to head →

Smith.ai

Human answering

Starter $300/mo for 30 calls · Basic $810 for 90 · Pro $2,100 for 300

Real human receptionists with AI assist — a genuinely different product from software answering.

Where they win: A human voice, human judgment on messy calls, and years of reputation. If your callers must reach a person, buy people.
The catch: They price by the call, not the minute, so the comparison is honest only at your own call volume: 30 calls a month is $300, and a busy month runs into four figures. Human minutes cost human wages — that isn't a criticism, it's payroll.

The page we read this from, September 5, 2026

RevenuePack vs Smith.ai, head to head →

AnswerConnect

Human answering

No public price: the pricing page returns a 404 and the plans page is a quote form

24/7 live human receptionists; a large, established operation. Pricing by quote (sales@answerconnect.com or 800-700-8888 on the day we checked).

Where they win: Around-the-clock humans at scale. Big brand, long track record, real people on every call.
The catch: We went to read the price and the page wasn't there; the plans page asks for your details first. When a vendor's price takes a form to find, the form is part of the price.

The page we read this from, September 5, 2026

RevenuePack vs AnswerConnect, head to head →

HighLevel

Self-serve AI

$97 to $497 a month, plus $50 to $97 per location for the AI Employee, plus usage

Starter $97 (3 sub-accounts) · Unlimited $297 · Agency Pro $497. Voice AI comes through the AI Employee add-on at $50 (Growth) or $97 (Unlimited) per sub-account per month, with calls, minutes and numbers metered on top. 14-day trial, month to month.

Where they win: If you want the whole marketing stack in one login (CRM, funnels, texting, reviews, voice) and you or your agency will run it, HighLevel is the platform the agencies themselves use.
The catch: It is an agency platform, not a receptionist. The base plan does not answer a phone; the AI Employee is an add-on per location and the usage meter runs underneath it. You configure the agent yourself or pay someone who does.

The page we read this from, September 5, 2026

RevenuePack vs HighLevel, head to head →

Podium

Self-serve AI

Quote only: no public price the day we checked

The pricing page says plans are designed to fit your business and to talk to sales. The AI Employee is an add-on to any plan; a 10DLC texting fee is mentioned without an amount.

Where they win: A large, established platform for reviews, texting, payments and an AI employee across channels. If you want one vendor for the whole front office and the budget to match, they have the breadth.
The catch: You cannot see the price without a sales conversation. When a vendor's number takes a meeting to learn, the meeting is part of the price.

The page we read this from, September 5, 2026

RevenuePack vs Podium, head to head →

Ruby

Human answering

From $250 a month

The entry plan is $250 a month for 50 receptionist minutes. Real people, US-based, with plans scaling up from there.

Where they win: Two decades of doing this, a large trained team, and a reputation that means a caller who needs a human gets one immediately. If human judgement on a messy call is the requirement, that is what you are buying.
The catch: 50 minutes is under an hour of talking for the price of our entire month. Human minutes cost human wages — that is payroll, not a markup — but it does mean the meter matters in a way it does not with software.

The page we read this from, September 5, 2026

RevenuePack vs Ruby, head to head →

RevenuePack

Managed AI

$99 a month, month to month

The whole Pack: a hosted website (service and town pages, your own domain), managed AI receptionist with 250 minutes ($0.30 a minute after), website chat, online booking, quotes with deposits and final payment to your own account, online estimates, maintenance plans, a customer list with reminders and campaigns, a weekly social content pack, lead form, email to lead, text-back, customer messages, one lead inbox with follow-up, weekly report and integrations. Setup and tuning are done for you. Miss a call, month's free — in writing.

Where we lose: Where we lose, first: at $49, Rosie is cheaper — buy it if you want software to run yourself. If your callers need a human being, buy humans. And the others have testimonials; we're new enough that we have a guarantee and a phone number instead.
What you can check right now: One of those you can verify in 30 seconds: (765) 200-9397 is the product, answering. Call it and try to trip it.

Start RevenuePack directly →

Method: we fetched each vendor’s public pricing page on September 5, 2026 and copied the numbers. No estimates, no “starting at” invented by us, no screenshots from 2024. If a price above is wrong, its receipt link will prove it — tell us and it gets fixed the same day.

The part no comparison table can fake

Their pages have testimonials. Ours picks up.

Every vendor above sounds identical in a table. Only one of them is answerable right now, from this page, by you. Call it like your worst customer — 2am flood, panicked, bad at addresses — and judge the actual product instead of the actual marketing.

Demonstration only. This line cannot dispatch service, contact a real provider, or confirm an appointment. Do not use it for an actual service need or emergency.

+1 (765) 200-9397 Call RevenuePack now

Uses your microphone. Nothing is dialed.

The questions behind the search

Asked plainly, answered the same way.

What is the cheapest AI answering service for a contractor?

Of the services with public pricing the day we checked (September 5, 2026), Rosie at $49 a month for 250 minutes is the cheapest. It is self-serve software: you set it up, script it, and tune it yourself, and appointment booking starts at the $149 plan. If that trade sounds fine, buy it — this page will still be here.

What does “managed” mean, and why does it cost more?

Self-serve means you configure the agent and notice when it breaks. Managed means someone builds it from your business, watches the calls, and tunes it — you approve rules, you don't operate software. In this category managed has meant Sameday at $449 and up. RevenuePack is managed at $99 with 250 minutes; that gap is the product.

Why should anyone trust a comparison page written by a vendor?

You shouldn't, on faith. That is why every number links to the page we read it from, dated September 5, 2026, why the two vendors that beat us on price are named in the first section, and why the demo line is printed here so you can test the product before believing a word of this.

AI or human answering — which one does a service business actually need?

If your callers must reach a human being — complex intake, sensitive situations — buy humans; Smith.ai and AnswerConnect are real operations staffed with real people. If what you need is every missed call answered instantly at 2am, captured as a structured job, and rung through to you when it's a true emergency, that is what the AI desk is for.

What is the best AI receptionist for plumbers and HVAC contractors?

For the trades specifically, the fit comes down to managed-vs-self-serve and price. Self-serve tools (Rosie from $49, Goodcall) you configure and maintain yourself. Managed desks build and tune it for you: Sameday runs $449 and up for 500 minutes; RevenuePack is managed at $99 for 250 minutes with a written miss-a-call guarantee. Every price here is dated September 5, 2026 and links to its source. The honest answer: pick self-serve if you want the cheapest and will run it yourself, managed if you want it handled — and test any of them on a live call before you commit.

What is a good Rosie or Goodcall alternative for a contractor?

Rosie and Goodcall are self-serve AI answering apps you set up and script yourself. If you'd rather have the agent built and tuned for you — managed, not operated — RevenuePack is the managed alternative at $99/month for 250 minutes, with guided self-serve setup and a written guarantee that a missed forwarded call credits your next month. If self-serve genuinely suits you, Rosie at $49 is cheaper and we say so plainly; this page names the two vendors that beat us on price in its first section.

We ran the test ourselves: the Indiana 1 A.M. Test — 47 businesses advertising 24/7, called at 12:45 AM, with recordings and transcripts.

Head to head against each: vs Rosie · vs Goodcall · vs Sameday · vs Smith.ai · vs AnswerConnect · vs HighLevel · vs Podium · vs Ruby.

See everything in the Pack · or see the pitch for plumbers, HVAC, restoration, and roofers.

Still here after all five cards

You now know this market better than most people selling in it.

$99 a month, 250 minutes, managed for you, month to month — and any month it misses a forwarded call, the next month is credited.

Start my pilot — $99/month