Answering services quote a monthly price, but what you pay depends on how many calls you get, how long they last and how the service counts time. For a moving company, the number that matters is what it costs at peak season, when the phone rings most and the office has the least time to answer it.
We priced nine live answering services and five AI receptionists at two moving-company volumes. Live service prices come from each vendor’s website on November 2, 2026. AI prices were checked on October 26, 2026 for our AI receptionist comparison.
Disclosure: we make MoverPhone, an AI receptionist and dialer for movers. It’s priced at the end of this guide.
What a live answering service costs a mover
We assumed three-minute calls, which is at the top of what services say an average call lasts (MAP says about 1.5 minutes, PATLive about 2.5, Answering Service Care about 3). A mover’s intake call, with addresses, home size, stairs and a move date, is likely longer than a message-taking call, though we haven’t found a published figure. For each service, we used its cheapest plan for that volume, before taxes and add-ons.
| Service | ~100 calls a month (300 min) | ~300 calls a month (900 min) | How it bills |
|---|---|---|---|
| Specialty Answering Service | $384 | $1,185 | Per second |
| MAP Communications | $403 | $1,161 | Per minute, rounded up |
| Answering Service Care | $409 + $50 setup | $1,179 + $50 setup | Per minute |
| AnswerConnect | $395 (third-party price) | about $1,110 (third-party price) | Calls over 30 seconds rounded up to the minute |
| PATLive | $479 | $1,475 | First minute, then 6-second steps |
| Moneypenny (formerly VoiceNation) | $661 | $1,821 | Per minute |
| Abby Connect | $899 | $2,484 | Per minute (overage rate worked out from plan prices) |
| Smith.ai receptionists | $915 | $2,100 | Per call |
| Ruby | $1,160 | $3,128 | Per minute, rounded up, hold time billed |
How we got there, for two examples: MAP’s Enterprise plan is $339 for 250 minutes, plus 50 minutes at $1.28, for $403. Ruby’s 200-minute plan is $720, plus 100 minutes at $4.40, for $1,160. The full workings are in our research notes, and every price is from the vendor’s own page except AnswerConnect’s, which is behind a sign-up form.
So for a moving company, live answering costs roughly $3.70 to $11.60 per call. Nexa, AnswerFirst and the mover-only service DSPro don’t publish prices.
What an AI receptionist costs at the same volumes
| AI receptionist | ~100 calls | ~300 calls |
|---|---|---|
| Upfirst | $70 | $160 |
| Trillet | $79 | $199 |
| Dialzara | $135 | $349 |
| RingCentral AI Receptionist | $149 | $449 |
| Smith.ai AI receptionist | $213 | $500 |
| MoverPhone | $299 per user (Scale) | $299 per user (Scale) |
AI receptionists cost about $70 to $500 a month at these volumes, a fraction of live answering. MoverPhone isn’t the cheapest AI option for answering alone; the Scale plan also includes a parallel dialer and 300 moving leads a month. See best AI receptionist for moving companies for what each one does.
The billing rules that raise the bill
The plan price is only the start. These rules change what you actually pay.
Rounding
The same call bills differently depending on the service. A 2 minute 20 second call is billed as:
| Service | Billed time |
|---|---|
| Ruby, MAP (rounded up to the minute) | 3 minutes |
| AnswerConnect (calls over 30 seconds rounded up) | 3 minutes |
| PATLive (first minute, then 6-second steps) | 2.4 minutes |
| Specialty Answering Service, AnswerFirst (per second) | 2.33 minutes |
At that call length, rounding up to the minute bills about 29% more time than per-second billing.
Hold time and after-call work
Ruby bills hold time. AnswerConnect bills after-call work, and Nexa bills “receptionist work time”, which includes follow-up emails and scheduling after the call. PATLive says it bills only time on the phone with callers. Ask exactly which minutes count.
Overage in peak season
Bundled minutes are priced for an average month. HireAHelper’s booking data puts about 45% of moves in May to August, with June the busiest month, so a mover can blow through its bundle every summer and pay the overage rate on everything above it. Overage rates run from about $1.28 a minute to $5.40. Price the plan at your June volume.
Setup fees, cycles and contracts
- Answering Service Care charges a $50 setup fee. Abby, Specialty Answering Service, Ruby and PATLive don’t.
- Some services bill on a 28-day cycle rather than monthly, which means 13 bills a year. PATLive and MAP both mention it.
- Most are month to month. Moneypenny asks for 30 days’ notice, and Ruby only lets you move to a smaller plan after three billing periods.
- Ruby adds 3% to card payments.
Nights, weekends and holidays
PATLive, Abby, Ruby and AnswerConnect say they don’t charge extra outside office hours, and Smith.ai’s per-call price is the same 24/7. That matters for movers, because AnswerConnect’s own call data for April to June 2026 found 47% of call minutes came outside weekday working hours (all industries, among businesses that use an answering service).
What you get for the money
Price aside, check what the service does with a moving call.
| Question to ask | Why it matters for movers |
|---|---|
| Does it book the estimate, or just take a message? | A message still has to be called back, and shared leads go to whoever calls first |
| Does it ask moving questions? | Move date, origin and destination, home size, stairs or elevator, special items, packing and storage |
| Does it write to your moving CRM? | Retyping messages into SmartMoving or Supermove costs time and loses details |
| Can it transfer to you? | For upset customers, claims and big commercial moves |
| Can it call web leads back? | Many moving leads arrive as forms, not calls. Inbound-only services can’t help with those |
Is it worth it?
Compare the monthly cost with what missed calls cost you. One booked long-distance move often pays for months of answering. CallRail’s September 2025 survey of 1,000 US consumers found only 42% leave a voicemail when a business doesn’t answer, and 21% immediately call another business. Our missed-call calculator works out the monthly loss from your own numbers.
What MoverPhone costs
MoverPhone is an AI receptionist built for movers. It answers every call, asks moving questions, books in-home or virtual estimates and syncs with SmartMoving, Supermove, MoveBoard, Elromco, Movegistics and HubSpot.
- Starter, $99 per user a month: 180 AI minutes (about 60 three-minute calls) and 100 moving leads.
- Scale, $299 per user a month: 1,500 AI minutes per user, parallel dialing up to 2 lines and 300 moving leads.
- Pro, $499 per user a month: 10,000 AI minutes per user, parallel dialing up to 4 lines and 500 moving leads.
There’s no per-minute billing inside your plan’s AI minutes, and phone minutes are unlimited. See pricing.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a live answering service cost per minute?
Published overage rates in November 2026 range from about $1.28 a minute (MAP Communications) to $5.40 (Ruby's smallest plan). Plans with more minutes cost less per minute. Most services sell a monthly bundle of minutes and charge the overage rate above it, and unused minutes usually don't roll over.
Do answering services charge more for nights and weekends?
Most of the larger ones don't any more. PATLive, Abby Connect, Ruby and AnswerConnect say they charge no extra for nights, weekends or holidays, and Smith.ai charges per call at the same rate around the clock. Ask any service you're considering to confirm it in writing, because some smaller ones still add after-hours or holiday fees.
Is an AI receptionist cheaper than an answering service?
Yes, usually by a wide margin. At 100 three-minute calls a month, published AI receptionist plans cost about $70 to $215, against about $380 to $1,160 for live services. Live services handle upset or unusual callers better, and some AI tools, such as Smith.ai, can transfer to a person.
How are answering service minutes counted?
It varies. Ruby and MAP round every call up to the next full minute. AnswerConnect rounds calls over 30 seconds up to the whole minute. PATLive bills the first minute in full, then in 6-second steps. Specialty Answering Service and AnswerFirst bill by the second. Ruby also bills hold time, and AnswerConnect and Nexa bill time spent on after-call work.
How many calls a month does a moving company get?
It depends on size and season. Check last June's phone bill or call log, not January's. HireAHelper's booking data puts about 45% of moves in May to August, so a mover's call volume in summer can be far above its winter volume. Price any answering service at your peak month.