Answering service pricing: one price a month, free for 14 days.

A live answering service works out at roughly $1.32–$5.00 per included minute on published plans — about $165 to $2,100 a month. AI answering services start at $29–$99 a month, and home-services specialists from $149 (Wakeman) to $449 (Sameday) and up; Avoca publishes no price. Wakeman is $149, $349 or $829 a month with minutes included.

A few have free tiers: Smith.ai's AI Receptionist includes 25 calls a month, then $3.00 a call, and Phonely includes 100 minutes a month. Jobber includes its AI Receptionist on its Plus plan, which itself lists at $499 a month. Wakeman is free for 14 days or 500 minutes, whichever comes first, with no card.

Three plans: After Hours at $149/mo with 300 minutes included, then $0.59 a minute; Front Desk at $349/mo with 750, then $0.39 a minute; and Dispatch at $829/mo with 2,000, then $0.29 a minute. Tax is extra. Spam calls are never billed. You set a monthly limit: when you reach it, new calls ring your on-call phone instead, and a call already going can finish a little over it. If the first month isn’t worth it, email info@wakeman.ai within 30 days of your first payment and we refund it in full.

The trial runs 14 days or 500 minutes of answering, whichever comes first. Pick a plan to keep Wakeman answering. If you don’t, it stops answering and new calls ring your on-call phone instead. There is no card on file, so nothing is charged unless you choose a plan — and choosing one early doesn’t cut the trial short: with more than two days left, the first charge comes when the free days end.

After the minutes in your plan: $0.59 a minute on After Hours, $0.39 on Front Desk and $0.29 on Dispatch. Each call is rounded up to the next whole minute.

Jobber’s AI Receptionist is included on Jobber’s Plus plan. On other plans it’s a paid add-on, and Jobber’s own pages disagree on the price: $29 a month on its pricing page, $99 on its features page (checked 24 September 2026). If your calls are simple and you already pay for Jobber, it may be the right answer. Wakeman is built for the calls that cost real money when they go wrong: it asks the questions a plumber or an HVAC tech would, rings whoever is on call during an emergency, and tells a burst pipe from a sales call.

Yes, for your first month. If you pay for a plan and it isn’t worth it, email info@wakeman.ai within 30 days of your first payment and we refund that payment in full. It covers the first plan payment, once per business; extra minutes and later months aren’t included.

Human services work out at roughly $1.32–$5.00 a minute for the minutes in their published plans — AnswerConnect is $395/mo for 300 minutes, Ruby $250/mo for 50. Front Desk works out at about $0.47 a minute. Wakeman writes each job down by default, and books a time only after you switch booking on.

No setup fee and no minimum term. You can cancel through the self-service billing portal without a phone call, effective at the end of the current period. Some big answering services charge a setup fee, lock you in for 90 days, or charge you to take your number back. Ask any vendor about all three in writing.

No. The number you already have stays yours, with your phone company. We never take it over, so leaving is easy.

You set a monthly limit. When you reach it, new calls ring your on-call phone instead. A call already going can finish, so you may go a little over. Tax is extra. One thing to know: if the limit you set during the trial is at or below your plan's monthly price when you subscribe, it would run out before the first call. So we raise it to the plan price plus half, rounded up to the next $50 — for Front Desk ($349) that's $550. You can change it any time.