The honest answer is a range and a method rather than a figure, because the advertised plan buys an allowance and the allowance is what varies. This page gives the published numbers from every provider in this record, then the arithmetic that turns them into what you would actually pay, which is a different number for almost everybody.
The published plans, end to end
Advertised entry plans in this record run from twenty five dollars a month at the lowest to three hundred and ninety nine at the highest, with a median of sixty five. AnswerFirst publishes thirty dollars a month, Specialty Answering Service forty four, PATLive forty nine, Posh sixty five, Abby Connect one hundred and sixty five, Ruby two hundred and fifty, Gabbyville three hundred and ninety nine. Every one of those was read from the provider's own pricing page on the date shown beside it.
What each plan actually includes
This is where the spread comes from. PATLive and Posh include no minutes at all: the fee buys a staffed line. Specialty Answering Service includes very little. Ruby and Abby Connect include fifty receptionist minutes. Gabbyville includes fifty calls, a different unit again. So two plans two hundred dollars apart can be buying similar work, and two plans at a similar price can be buying very different amounts of it. Ranking on the monthly figure alone is close to meaningless.
The rate is the rest of the bill
Five providers publish a rate for going past the inclusion: a dollar fifty four a minute, from a dollar sixty, two dollars thirty, two dollars ninety nine, and eleven dollars fifty a call. Four publish none. For anyone whose volume exceeds a small allowance, that rate rather than the plan determines the annual cost, which is why the four that withhold it cannot be compared from public information at all.
Working out your own number
Take a month of your own call records: how many calls, and the average length. Multiply the minutes by each published rate, add whatever the plan charges, and subtract anything the inclusion covers. For a business taking twenty calls at three minutes, most providers here land somewhere between roughly one hundred and three hundred dollars a month all in. For a practice taking two hundred calls at four minutes it is a different order of number entirely, and the providers reorder as well.
Questions people ask about how much does an answering service cost
How much does an answering service cost per month?
Advertised plans in this record run from twenty five to three hundred and ninety nine dollars a month, median sixty five. For a business taking twenty calls at three minutes, the all-in figure at most providers here lands roughly between one hundred and three hundred dollars.
Why do the prices vary so much?
Because the plan buys an allowance and the allowances differ enormously: some include no minutes at all, some fifty minutes, one fifty calls. Two plans two hundred dollars apart can buy similar work.
What is the cheapest answering service?
The lowest published entry plans start around thirty dollars a month, and those typically include no minutes. The lowest total bill depends on your volume rather than the plan, because the per-minute rate does most of the work.
How do I work out what I would pay?
Take a month of your own calls, multiply the total minutes by each provider's published rate, add the plan and subtract the inclusion. Five of the nine publish a rate; the other four have to be asked directly.