What does an AI receptionist cost in Arkansas?
Arkansas Automated builds a managed AI front desk: it answers your real phone line in
your business's voice, qualifies callers, triages emergencies by your rules, and books
onto your calendar. The price is $199 to set it up and $499 a month to
run it, published at /pricing.md and on the
AI front desk page.
There is no per-minute meter, so call volume, nights, weekends, and storm surges are
included. A monthly tuning session with a human is included. The $750 Front Desk
Audit is the separate engagement for businesses that want the leak math in writing
first, and its full fee credits toward setup of any plan or build started within 60 days.
What do named vendors charge in 2026?
Every price in this table was read off the vendor's own pricing page on
September 22, 2026. Ranges reflect published plan tiers, not quotes.
Where a vendor gates pricing behind a form, it is noted rather than estimated.
Published vendor pricing, checked September 22, 2026. All figures USD, per month unless noted.
| Vendor | What it is | Published price | Billing unit |
| Arkansas Automated | Done-for-you AI front desk for Arkansas businesses (Fort Smith based) | $199 setup + $499/mo | Flat. Unlimited calls and minutes, 24/7. |
| Ruby | Live US virtual receptionists | $250/mo (50 min) · $395 (100) · $720 (200) · $1,725 (500) | Per minute |
| PATLive | Live US receptionists, 24/7 | $49/mo + $2.99/min pay-as-you-go · $99 (50 min) · $189 (100) · $349 (200) · $479 (300) · $759 (500) · $1,499 (1,000) | Per minute |
| AnswerConnect | Live US receptionists, 24/7 | $350/mo (200 min, +$49.99 setup) · $395 (300 min) · $575 (400 min). Overage $2.50/min on Entry, $1.85/min on Growth and Standard. | Per minute, rounded up |
| Abby | Human plus AI virtual receptionist, one service | $165/mo (50 min) · $329 (100) · $599 (200) · $1,380 (500) | Per Abby Minute. AI answering uses half a minute. |
| Smith.ai | Live US receptionists, billed per call | $300/mo (30 calls) · $810 (90) · $2,100 (300). Overage $11.50, $10.50, then $8.50 per call. | Per call |
| Goodcall | Self-serve AI voice agent | $79/mo Starter · $129 Growth · $249 Scale, per agent | Flat per agent. Unlimited minutes and tokens. |
| Dialzara | Self-serve AI receptionist | $29/mo (60 min) · $99 (220) · $199 (500) · $349 (1,000). Overage $0.48 to $0.35/min. | Per minute |
| Slang AI | AI answering for restaurants only | $399/mo Core · $599/mo Premium, per location | Flat per location |
| Synthflow | Enterprise voice-AI platform (you build the agent) | Enterprise contracts from $30,000/year | Annual contract |
Sources: each vendor's own pricing page, linked in the Vendor column, all checked
September 22, 2026. Arkansas Automated's own price sheet is at
/pricing.md. AnswerConnect publishes
three plans publicly and gates larger tiers behind a quote form; the figures above are
the three public plans only.
What does each option cost at 300 calls a month?
Volume is what decides this, so here is the same shop priced eight ways. The scenario:
300 inbound calls a month, three minutes average, about 900 minutes. Figures are computed from the published plans above.
Cost at 300 calls and 900 minutes a month, computed from published 2026 plans.
| Option | Monthly | First 12 months | Note |
| Arkansas Automated AI front desk | $499 | $6,187 | Done for you. Unlimited calls and minutes. |
| Goodcall Growth (self-serve) | $129 | $1,548 | Software only. You build and tune the agent. |
| Dialzara Business Elite (self-serve) | $349 | $4,188 | Software only. 1,000 minutes included. |
| Abby Growth | $1,380 | $16,560 | Covers 500 of the 900 minutes. |
| PATLive 1,000-minute plan | $1,499 | $17,988 | Covers the full 900 minutes. |
| AnswerConnect Standard plus overage | $1,500 | $18,000 | 400 min at $575 plus 500 min at $1.85. |
| Ruby 500-minute plan | $1,725 | $20,700 | Covers 500 of the 900 minutes. |
| Smith.ai Pro | $2,100 | $25,200 | Covers 300 calls. |
First-12-month figures include published setup fees: Arkansas Automated is $199 setup
plus 12 months at $499. AnswerConnect Standard is $575 for 400 minutes plus 500 minutes
at its published $1.85 overage rate. Abby, Ruby, PATLive, Smith.ai, and Dialzara publish
no setup fee. Taxes and fees are excluded throughout.
What is the ROI math on a $499 monthly AI front desk?
Take the same Arkansas home-service shop: 300 inbound calls a month, three minutes
average. Here is the arithmetic, using third-party benchmarks cited in full on our
missed call statistics
page.
Arkansas Automated's arithmetic on published third-party benchmarks.
| Step | Number | Source of the rate |
| Calls a month | 300 | The shop's own volume |
| Missed calls a month | 42 | 14% home-services miss rate, CallRail analysis of 1.1M leads |
| Callers who never call back | 36 | Up to 85% of callers whose calls go unanswered, CallRail |
| Recovered leads a month | 16 | 38% of answered calls are leads, Invoca 2026 home-services benchmarks |
| Recovered jobs a month | 7.2 | 45% of those leads convert on the call, Invoca |
| Value at a $500 average job | $3,591 | 7.2 jobs at $500 |
| Value at a $900 average job | $6,464 | 7.2 jobs at $900 |
| Break-even, monthly | 1 job | $499 divided by a $500 job |
| Break-even, first year | 13 jobs | $6,187 (setup plus 12 months) divided by a $500 job |
This is Arkansas Automated's arithmetic on published third-party benchmarks, not a
promise, and not a guarantee of call volume, bookings, or revenue. Plug in your own
average job value and call count: break-even is always $499 divided by your average job,
plus the $199 setup spread across the first year.
How we verified these prices
Each vendor price on this page comes from that vendor's own published pricing page,
read on September 22, 2026, with the source linked in the table. We did not
use a quote, a sales call, a third-party roundup, or an estimate. Where a vendor does not
publish a rate, we say so instead of guessing. Prices change; if you find a number here
that no longer matches the vendor's page, tell us at
dre@arkansasautomated.com and we will correct it.
The same rows are published in machine-readable form for AI agents and researchers at
vendor-pricing-verified.csv.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an AI receptionist cost in Arkansas?
With Arkansas Automated, an AI receptionist costs $199 to set up and $499 a month flat, with unlimited calls and minutes, 24/7 coverage, booking onto your calendar, and a monthly tuning session. That is the price published at arkansasautomated.com/pricing.md, and it is the same number whether you call from Fort Smith, Fayetteville, or Little Rock.
Is an AI receptionist cheaper than an answering service?
At real volume, yes. At 300 calls a month averaging three minutes (about 900 minutes), published answering-service plans run $1,380 to $2,100 a month: Abby Growth $1,380, PATLive's 1,000-minute plan $1,499, AnswerConnect Standard plus overage about $1,500, Ruby's 500-minute plan $1,725, and Smith.ai's 300-call Pro plan $2,100. The Arkansas Automated AI front desk is $499 a month at the same volume, because there is no per-minute meter.
Published answering-service prices for an Arkansas business, plan by plan, are on the answering service cost in Arkansas page.
What does a human receptionist cost in Arkansas?
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics put the mean annual wage for Arkansas receptionists and information clerks at $32,570 (May 2023 OEWS estimates), against a national median of $38,010 (May 2025). That is before payroll tax, benefits, and coverage gaps, and one person covers roughly 40 of the week's 168 hours.
Are there AI receptionists cheaper than $499 a month?
Yes, and they are a different product. Self-serve AI software publishes lower prices: Dialzara from $29 a month and Goodcall from $79 a month per agent. You build the call flows, write the script, wire the calendar, and tune it yourself. The $499 buys the answering, the calendar integration, the escalation rules, and a human who reviews the calls with you every month. The one-time setup is $199. If your call volume is genuinely low, we will say so on the assessment call and point you at the cheaper option.
Is there a setup fee for an AI receptionist?
It depends on the vendor. Arkansas Automated charges $199 to set up the front desk. Ruby, PATLive, Abby, Smith.ai, and Dialzara publish no setup fee. AnswerConnect charges a $49.99 setup fee on its Entry and Standard plans but not on Growth. Synthflow sells annual enterprise contracts starting at $30,000 a year. A setup fee is usually the difference between software you configure and a system somebody builds for you.
What is not included in the $499 a month?
Judgment calls, negotiation, and pricing exceptions, which escalate to your people by rule. There is no per-minute meter, so nights, weekends, and storm surges are included. The $750 Front Desk Audit is separate, and its full fee credits toward setup of any plan or build started within 60 days.