For decades the answer to “I can't get to the phone” was a live answering service: a team of receptionists who pick up in your company's name. Services like Ruby and Smith.ai's human receptionists still do that, around the clock12. AI receptionists like Connie do a similar job with software. The question for a contractor is not which is better in general, but which is worth it for the calls you actually miss.
Side by side
| Connie | Live answering service (Ruby, Smith.ai human) | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $79/mo Starter (150 min). Founding members: $49/mo ($490/yr), every missed call answered (fair use 300 min), locked for life, 20 spots total. Pro $149 (400 min), Scale $249 (1,000 min). Yearly = 2 months free (founding: $490/yr). | Ruby from $250/mo for 50 minutes1. Smith.ai receptionists from $300/mo for 30 calls2. |
| Included usage | 150 / 400 / 1,000 AI minutes a month (founding: every missed call, fair use 300). Calls you pick up yourself never use minutes. | Ruby: 50 / 100 / 200 / 500 minutes ($250 / $395 / $720 / $1,725)1. Smith.ai: 30 / 90 / 300 calls ($300 / $810 / $2,100)2. |
| Overage | $0.35 per minute on Founding and Starter, $0.25 on Pro, $0.20 on Scale | Ruby: not stated on pricing page. Smith.ai: $11.50 / $10.50 / $8.50 per extra call2. |
| Setup fee | None on any plan. You set it up yourself online in a few minutes. | None at Ruby (no activation, onboarding or setup fees)1; none at Smith.ai2. |
| Contract | None. Month to month, cancel anytime. | Ruby: not stated on pricing page. Smith.ai: month to month; 10% off for 12 months2. |
| Free trial / guarantee | First-job guarantee: book a job through Connie in your first 30 days or your first month is refunded. | Smith.ai: 30-day money-back guarantee for new clients, up to $1,000, excluding overage2. Ruby: not stated. |
| Call booking | Books visits into Google Calendar, using the hours, service area and job types you set. | Ruby lists scheduling as a plan feature1. |
| Texting | Email summary after every call today. Text summaries and missed call text back Coming at launch. Carrier texting registration passed through at cost. | Ruby plans include calling and texting from your business number1. |
| Integrations | Google Calendar today. Jobber integration coming on Pro and Scale (not built yet). No Housecall Pro or ServiceTitan. | Varies by service; check each one. |
| Human handoff / live agents | No live agents. Hands calls to you or your on-call number when you set a rule for it. | Yes, that is the product: live people 24/712. |
| Built for | Home service contractors (HVAC, plumbing, electrical, garage door, roofing) who miss calls on the job. Overflow only: your phone rings first. | Any business that wants a person on every call, especially for complex, sensitive or high-value conversations. |
What it costs at three call volumes
Connie bills by the minute. At the pilot shop, a real (non-spam) call averaged about 70 seconds, so the examples below count each call as about 1.2 minutes and pick the cheapest Connie plan for that volume, overage included. There is no setup fee on any Connie plan, so nothing is left out of the monthly figures below.
For Ruby we assume the same minutes per call; human-handled calls are often a bit longer, and Ruby's billing increments are not stated on its pricing page.
| Missed calls a month | Connie | Ruby | Smith.ai human |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40 calls (about 47 min) | $79 (or $49 founding) | $250 (50 min)1 | $415 (30 calls + 10 × $11.50)2 |
| 150 calls (about 175 min) | $87.75 | $720 (200 min)1 | $1,440 (90 calls + 60 × $10.50)2 |
| 400 calls (about 467 min) | $165.75 (Pro) | $1,725 (500 min)1 | $2,950 (300 calls + 100 × $8.50)2 |
That works out to roughly $3.45 to $5.00 a minute for Ruby and $7 to $11.50 a call for Smith.ai's people, against about $0.35 to $0.53 a minute for Connie at 150 to 470 minutes (extra minutes past the plan are $0.20 to $0.35, depending on the plan). A person costs more because a person is on the line. Whether that is worth it depends on what one booked job is worth to you; the missed call calculator does that math.
Where people are still better
A good receptionist reads a frightened caller better than any software. They can handle the call that doesn't fit a script: a landlord with three units and a tenant on the other line, an insurance question, a complaint. If your typical call is long, emotional or unusual, a live service earns its price.
Where AI is better
An AI receptionist answers on the first ring every time, including the Monday after a cold snap when every human service in the country is on hold. It follows your rules the same way on call one and call five hundred, books straight into your calendar, and writes a summary while the call is still fresh. For the most common contractor calls (no heat, a leak, a quote, “can you come today?”) that is most of what you need, for about the price of one service call a month.
Where Connie wins
- Cost. About three times cheaper than live answering at 40 calls a month, and roughly eight to twelve times cheaper at 150 to 400.
- No hold queue. Every call answered at once, even when ten come in together.
- Consistency. Same questions, same safety checks, same summary format on every call.
- No contract, and a first-job guarantee.
Where Connie doesn’t (yet)
- It is not a person. Some callers want one, and some calls need one.
- Odd calls. When a call falls outside your rules, Connie takes a message or hands it to you; a receptionist can improvise.
- Texting. Live services like Ruby text from your number today. Connie's texting is coming at launch.
- Track record. Connie is pre-launch, with one live site at a South Bend repair shop.
Which should you pick?
Pick a live service if your calls are complex or sensitive, your average job is large enough that a few hundred dollars more a month is noise, or your customers expect a human every time.
Pick an AI receptionist if most missed calls are straightforward service requests, you miss calls in bunches, and you want the cost to stay small. Plenty of plumbing and HVAC shops do both: AI for overflow and nights, a person or the owner for everything else.