Ruby receptionist pricing: every plan, checked Sept 2026

It's Tuesday, a quarter past ten. You're with a client, or on a ladder, or in the middle of a closing, and your phone lights up twice in fifteen minutes. You let both go. One caller leaves a voicemail you'll hear at lunch. The other doesn't leave anything. That evening you search for Ruby receptionist pricing because someone in your networking group swears by it, and you want to know what it would actually cost before you get on a sales call.

I went through Ruby's own pages on September 30, 2026 and wrote down what they say: the pricing page, the FAQ, and the terms of use (marked last updated March 2026). None of it comes from review sites. Prices change, so check the pricing page again before you sign.

Ruby receptionist pricing at a glance

Ruby sells live receptionists billed by the minute. The pricing page lists four monthly plans, from $250 for 50 minutes up to $1,725 for 500 minutes. The FAQ says receptionists answer around the clock, every day of the year.

The last column is my own arithmetic: the plan price divided by its minutes. Ruby doesn't publish it. It only holds if you use every minute you paid for.

The page says Ruby charges no extra fees for activation, onboarding, setup, customization, or coverage during certain periods. It also lists scheduling, bilingual answering, client intake, payment collection and HIPAA compliance among the features included in the plans.

What the pricing page doesn't tell you: the overage rate

The number Ruby leaves off the pricing page is what an extra minute costs. The FAQ says additional minutes "are billed according to the overage rate associated with your plan," and the terms say usage over your base minutes is charged overage fees. Neither page gives the rate.

That number matters more than the plan price, because every plan is a bucket of minutes and a busy month spills over it. Before you pick a plan, ask Ruby for the overage rate on that plan in writing. Then do the math on your busiest month, not an average one.

How Ruby counts a minute

Ruby's terms say minutes are billed in 60-second increments, with every call rounded up to the next full minute. For an inbound call, the clock starts when the receptionist picks up and stops when they transfer the call to you, send it to voicemail, or hang up. For outbound calls, the FAQ says billed time covers the call plus the time spent on a follow-up email.

Rounding up by the minute adds up fastest on short calls:

A day of short questions and transfers eats minutes faster than the call log suggests. Neither the pricing page, the FAQ nor the terms said whether spam or robocalls count toward your minutes, so ask about that too. For comparison, Smith.ai's pricing page says it doesn't bill for spam on lines that pass caller ID.

Contract, cancellation and the money-back window

The FAQ says there's no contract. The terms describe it as a 30-day agreement that renews automatically every 30 days until you cancel or change it. You cancel by emailing billing@ruby.com or calling 866-611-7829 before your next invoice date, and the cancellation takes effect at the end of that billing period.

First-time customers get a money-back guarantee, and it closes on whichever comes first: 21 days after signup, or 500 receptionist minutes used. On the 500-minute plan, a busy first few weeks could use up the guarantee before day 21.

The terms also allow a $10 late fee and 1.5% monthly interest on payments more than 30 days past due, and they reserve Ruby's right to change plans and prices at any time.

Hours and what the receptionists do

According to the FAQ, calls are answered 24/7/365. Two things are narrower: bilingual service and outgoing calls run Monday to Friday, 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. Pacific (8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern). That's 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. here in Illinois. If you need a Spanish-speaking receptionist on a Saturday, ask before you sign.

Ruby chat pricing

Ruby also sells live website chat, billed per chat. The pricing page lists 10 chats for $143 a month, 30 for $335, and 50 for $520. If you add chat to a receptionist plan, the page shows it at 20% off, from $115 to $416 a month depending on how many chats you want. The FAQ counts a chat from the moment a visitor engages a chat specialist until it ends or turns out to be unrelated to your business.

How Ruby compares with other services and a missed-call text back

Ruby bills by the minute and Smith.ai bills by the call. I put Ruby next to PATLive, Specialty Answering Service and Smith.ai in answering service cost, and the full Smith.ai breakdown is in Smith.ai pricing.

A missed-call text back takes a different approach. It doesn't answer the call. When you miss one, the caller gets a text from your business number within a minute asking what they need and where they are. They type their own answers, anything you've marked urgent pings your phone, and everything else lands on one callback list.

You don't have to pick one. You can forward nights and weekends to a live service, where a calm human voice helps, and let the text back catch the daytime calls you can't pick up.

How to tell whether Ruby is worth it for you

Pull last month's call log. Count the calls you missed and roughly how long your calls run. If most are short, remember that each one bills at least a minute. Price your busiest month on the plan you'd pick, using the overage rate Ruby gives you. Then look at who's calling. If they're mostly new customers who'd be fine texting you an address and a problem, you'd be paying by the minute for a receptionist to write down what they'd have typed themselves. If they're older, upset, or on landlines, a live voice earns the rate.

What stays human

Whichever route you take, the judgment calls stay with you. A receptionist follows your script and takes a message, and a text back collects the details. Neither one quotes the job or decides who gets the 7 a.m. slot tomorrow, and neither knows which regular would rather get a call than a text. You write the script and decide what's urgent enough to interrupt dinner. The callback is still yours to make.

Get a second look before you sign

The free 20 minute process audit starts with where your missed calls go today. Bring a month of your call log, plus a Ruby quote if you've gotten one. I'll tell you plainly whether a receptionist, a text back, or both fits the way your phone actually rings. Book the audit here.