Smith.ai vs Ruby: Which Receptionist Service Should You Choose?

Which should you pick?

• Best priceSmith.ai

  Smith.ai's AI receptionist has a free plan for 25 calls a month and a Pro plan from $150 Smith.ai pricing ↗. Ruby starts at $250 a month for 50 minutes Ruby pricing ↗.

• Best for a human on every callRuby

  Ruby says it uses live, human receptionists and that an AI answering calls on its own is not how it works Ruby features ↗.

• Best free trial or planSmith.ai

  Smith.ai Free includes 25 real calls a month, plus test and simulated calls Smith.ai pricing ↗. Ruby's pricing page does not state a trial Ruby pricing ↗.

• Best for website chatRuby

  Ruby sells live chat plans from $143 a month and 20 percent off chat when bundled with a receptionist plan Ruby pricing ↗.

• Best for health care officesRuby

  Ruby lists HIPAA compliant services on all receptionist plans Ruby pricing ↗. Smith.ai's AI pricing page does not mention HIPAA Smith.ai pricing ↗.

• Best contract termsSmith.ai

  Smith.ai is month to month with 30 days' notice to cancel Smith.ai pricing ↗. Ruby's pricing page does not state contract terms Ruby pricing ↗.

Side by side

From each vendor’s own pages, checked Oct 9, 2026. Prices change often.

How each service works

Smith.ai's AI receptionist answers every call first. It handles 24/7 answering, recording and transcription, lead qualification, call routing and scheduling, and can transfer a caller to a live North America based receptionist at any time, day or night Smith.ai pricing ↗. Smith.ai also sells human receptionist plans where, according to Fast.io's June 2026 review, AI triages routine calls and people handle calls that need judgment or empathy Fast.io review ↗.

Ruby is the opposite. It describes itself as people powered and AI enhanced, and says it uses live, human receptionists, with AI used behind the scenes for transcripts, sentiment analysis, information gathering and robocall screening Ruby features ↗. Ruby says it serves more than 15,000 businesses and handles over 1.1 million conversations a month Ruby features ↗.

That difference matters most for callers who are upset, confused or calling about something urgent. A trained person handles those calls better than today's AI. For routine calls, such as hours, directions and booking, AI is usually enough and costs far less.

Pricing compared

Smith.ai's AI receptionist plans bill by real calls. Free covers 25 calls a month with a $3 overage per call. Pro is $150 a month for 75 calls, with larger bundles of 150 and 300 calls at lower per call rates and overage from $2.50. Enterprise is $500 a month for 300 calls with custom setup Smith.ai pricing ↗. Up to 10 percent of calls a month can be removed from the bill as spam Smith.ai pricing ↗.

Ruby bills by receptionist minutes: $250 a month for 50 minutes, $395 for 100, $720 for 200 and $1,725 for 500 Ruby pricing ↗. All plans have the same features, and Ruby says there are no extra fees for activation, onboarding, setup or customization Ruby pricing ↗. Its pricing page does not list overage rates Ruby pricing ↗.

If you want people rather than AI from Smith.ai, its own pricing page lists human first receptionist plans at $300 a month for 30 calls, $810 for 90 and $2,100 for 300, with overage from $8.50 to $11.50 a call and 10 percent off a 12 month subscription Smith.ai receptionist pricing ↗. Fast.io's June 2026 review reported slightly different plan sizes and prices Fast.io review ↗, so check the current figures before you sign.

Features that matter for small businesses

Both answer around the clock. Ruby includes 24/7 live answering including weekends and holidays, scheduling, call forwarding, payment collection, lead intake, local or toll free numbers, voicemail, an online portal, robocall filtering and a mobile app Ruby pricing ↗ Ruby features ↗. It lists English and Spanish service with bilingual receptionists Ruby features ↗.

Smith.ai's AI plans include call recording, transcripts, lead qualification, routing, AI scheduling, native integrations and analytics on every tier, including Free Smith.ai pricing ↗. Pro adds onboarding, live support, a dedicated account manager and custom text message branding, and Enterprise adds custom prompting, custom integrations and multi location support Smith.ai pricing ↗.

Ruby also sells live website chat, from $143 a month for 10 chats, with a 20 percent discount when you add chat to a receptionist plan Ruby pricing ↗. Ruby lists HIPAA compliant services and HIPAA compliant chat where available Ruby pricing ↗, which matters for medical and dental offices.

Who should pick which

Choose Smith.ai if call volume is high and most calls are routine. The free plan lets you test the AI on your real line before you pay Smith.ai pricing ↗, and the per call price on paid plans is a fraction of a live receptionist's.

Choose Ruby if each call is worth a lot, such as a law firm intake, a high ticket service or a medical practice, and you want callers to always hear a person. Ruby's bilingual live answering and HIPAA listing make it a strong fit for practices that serve Spanish speaking patients Ruby pricing ↗ Ruby features ↗.

Work out your real numbers first. Ruby bills by minutes, so a business with long calls will use its allowance faster than one with short calls Ruby pricing ↗. Smith.ai bills by calls, so many short calls cost more there than a few long ones Smith.ai pricing ↗. Pull a month of your phone records and price both options against it.

Here is a simple example using list prices. A business with 75 short calls a month fits Smith.ai's $150 AI Pro bundle Smith.ai pricing ↗. If those same 75 calls average two minutes each, that is about 150 minutes, which on Ruby means the $720 plan for 200 minutes, since the 100 minute plan would not cover it Ruby pricing ↗. The gap is the price of having a person on every call. For some businesses, one extra booked client a month covers it; for others, it does not.

• Routine calls on a budget: Smith.ai AI
• Every call to a person: Ruby
• Bilingual live answering: Ruby
• Want to test free first: Smith.ai Free
• Medical or dental office: Ruby, after confirming HIPAA terms

Before you sign up

Write down how you want each type of call handled: new customers, existing customers, urgent problems, vendors and spam. Both services work best when they get clear instructions and a list of common questions with approved answers.

Check call recording laws where you and your callers are, and make sure callers are told when calls are recorded. Ask each provider how they handle consent and how long recordings are kept.

Plan the first two weeks as a trial period. Listen to a sample of recorded calls every few days, note any answer that was wrong or awkward, and update your instructions. Both services improve quickly when you give them specific feedback.

Ask about cancellation. Smith.ai's AI plans are month to month with 30 days' notice Smith.ai pricing ↗. Ruby's pricing page does not state contract terms, so ask before you sign Ruby pricing ↗.

How we compared them

We used Smith.ai's AI receptionist and human receptionist pricing pages, Ruby's pricing and home pages and Fast.io's June 2026 review of Smith.ai, all checked October 9, 2026 Smith.ai pricing ↗ Smith.ai receptionist pricing ↗ Ruby pricing ↗ Ruby features ↗ Fast.io review ↗. We have not tested these services hands on for this comparison yet. Hands on testing is in progress; we'll update this page with results.

Try them

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