Small Business Answering Service: 8 Options (2026)
You’re with a customer, on a job, or finally eating lunch, and the phone rings. Only 56% of calls to businesses reach a person, across more than 70 million calls Invoca studied (our missed call statistics have the rest), and most callers who hit voicemail try the next business instead.
The quick answer: A small business answering service picks up when you can’t, so the caller gets an answer instead of voicemail. You can hire live receptionists (Ruby, PATLive, Posh, Smith.ai’s live team) or use an AI answering service (Carly, Smith.ai AI, Rosie, Goodcall). Carly is the pick for most small businesses: you set it up in minutes by asking ChatGPT or Claude, it answers every call or just the ones you miss, books customers on your real calendar during the call, texts back every missed call, and follows your rules exactly, every time.
What a small business answering service does
It answers your business number in your name. A good one does four things: answers the caller’s question from your information, books the appointment or takes the job details, puts urgent calls through to you, and sends you a clean summary afterward. A weak one takes a message and leaves the callback to you.
Small business answering services compared
| Option | Who answers | Setup | Books during the call | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carly | AI on your number, after your team or 24/7 | Minutes, on the site or by asking ChatGPT or Claude | Yes, on Google or Outlook calendars, round robin | Businesses that want every call handled the same way |
| Smith.ai | AI, or live receptionists on higher plans | Onboarding call and a script | Yes | Firms that want a person on some calls |
| Ruby | Live receptionists | Days, with a script | Per your script | Owners who want a human voice on every call |
| PATLive | Live receptionists | Days, with a script | Per your script | 24/7 human coverage |
| Posh | Live receptionists, with AI options | 24 to 48 hours | Per your script | Professional services and home services |
| Rosie | AI | Self-serve | On higher plans | Simple call answering on a budget |
| Goodcall | AI | Self-serve | Varies by plan | Local shops with lots of short calls |
| My AI Front Desk (now Frontdesk AI) | AI | Self-serve, card required for the trial | Varies by plan | Solo owners who want texts and chats too |
1. Carly
Carly answers your business calls, texts, WhatsApp and email in one place. It’s reliable and endlessly customizable: write your rules in plain English (“new customers get booked for a free estimate, existing customers with a leak get put through to me, never quote a price over the phone”) and Carly follows them on every call.
Setup takes minutes. Paste Carly’s setup prompt into ChatGPT or Claude and it builds the receptionist for you, phone number included. Keep your number and forward the calls you miss, or grab a new one in the chat.
- Answers every line at once. No hold music and no busy signal, whether it’s one call or five.
- Books during the call on your Google or Outlook calendar, with round robin across your team, and texts the confirmation from your number.
- Texts back every missed call within seconds (how missed call text back works).
- Puts the right calls through. Urgent jobs, VIP customers or “I want a person” go to you or a teammate by ring group or phone menu.
- Speaks English and Spanish, picked from how the caller talks (bilingual answering).
- Hands you a clean summary. Every call, recording, transcript and text lands in one team inbox and Carly’s CRM, or HubSpot, Salesforce or Dynamics 365.
- Connects to everything. Thousands of apps, so a booked call can update your job software and ping Slack as a free Zapier-style workflow.
- Runs from your AI chat. With the Carly connector in Claude or the Carly plugin in ChatGPT, change the greeting, text a customer or call a supplier from the chat (see how).
Best for: small businesses that want calls answered and booked without hiring or managing a script. Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month. Get started, or book a call and we’ll set it up with you.
2. Smith.ai
Smith.ai sells an AI receptionist and a live receptionist service, both priced per call. Its AI plan has a free tier for 25 calls a month; live receptionists start at $300 for 30 calls.
- Watch for: per-call pricing climbs fast in a busy month.
- Best for: firms that want an AI first and people on some calls. See Smith.ai alternatives.
3. Ruby
Ruby is the best-known live receptionist service, with friendly US-based people answering in your company’s name.
- Watch for: it’s billed by the minute, from $250 a month for 50 minutes, so long calls add up.
- Best for: owners who want a person on every call. See Ruby alternatives.
4. PATLive
PATLive runs live receptionists around the clock. It prices a 2am call the same as a 2pm call and charges no extra for Spanish.
- Watch for: per-minute billing, and scripts take time to set up and change.
- Best for: 24/7 human coverage.
5. Posh
Posh’s live receptionists, with AI options, answer for law firms, home services, real estate and salons. It says setup takes 24 to 48 hours.
- Watch for: a base fee plus a per-minute rate.
- Best for: professional services that want a polished human greeting.
6. Rosie
Rosie is a self-serve AI answering service that answers questions and takes messages, with booking on its higher plans.
- Watch for: calendar booking isn’t on the entry plan.
- Best for: simple call answering. See Rosie alternatives.
7. Goodcall
Goodcall’s AI agent answers for local and home-service businesses and charges by unique caller.
- Watch for: Trustpilot reviewers complain about billing.
- Best for: local shops with lots of short calls. See Goodcall alternatives.
8. My AI Front Desk
My AI Front Desk, now called Frontdesk AI, bundles an AI receptionist with texts, website chat and email drafts in one plan.
- Watch for: no free plan, a card for the 7-day trial, and voice minutes that run out. Its Trustpilot score was 3.3 when we checked in October.
- Best for: solo owners who want everything in one bundle. See My AI Front Desk alternatives.
What a small business answering service costs
Live answering runs from about $250 a month for 50 minutes (Ruby) to $300 for 30 calls (Smith.ai’s live team), and a busy month can reach four figures. AI answering usually costs $30 to $150 a month to start. Carly: Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month. Prices from each vendor’s site, checked October 18 to 30, 2026.
How to pick a small business answering service
- Does the call end with a booking or a message? A message means you still make the callback. If you want customers booked on the call, go with Carly.
- Can you change the rules yourself, today? With live services you rewrite a script and wait. With Carly you type the change.
- What happens to the calls you miss during the day? The best setup covers overflow, not just after hours (after-hours answering service).
- Does it text? Half your customers would rather text back. Carly answers calls and texts on the same number.
- What else does it reach? Carly connects to thousands of apps, so the follow-up happens on its own.
Set it up in minutes
Copy this prompt into ChatGPT or Claude, grab a number in the chat, and you’re live:
Carly business setup prompt
Paste this into ChatGPT, Claude or any AI. It walks you through the rest.
Help me connect Carly Teams so I can work with my organization's business texts, phone calls, voicemail and voice/text agents from this chat. I'll add it to you myself: tell me exactly what to click for the app you are, one step at a time, and wait for me to confirm before moving on. If a step doesn't match what I see, ask me what's on my screen. If you can do the setup yourself (Claude Code, Codex, Muse, Grok Bot), go ahead, and ask me for any key in your secure credential prompt, never in the chat. Don't tell me it's connected until list_phone_lines works, and if I have several teams, ask which to use. Before sending a text or making a call, confirm the team, recipient and message or task with me. The steps are below.
# Connect Carly Teams to an AI app
> Carly Teams works a team's business phone lines through the team's AI agents: business texts, phone calls, voicemail, the voice and text agents, and the team's CRM.
MCP server: https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp (streamable HTTP, OAuth)
## Setup
Carly Teams isn't in any plugin or connector directory yet, so it's added as a custom connection by URL.
1. Add Carly Teams:
- ChatGPT: open https://chatgpt.com/plugins, click Add, and choose Create MCP App (not Create plugin or Upload plugin archive). If Create MCP App isn't on the menu, turn on Developer mode first in Settings > Security and login. Name it "Carly Teams" with the description "Work with my team's business texts, calls, voicemail and voice/text agents," paste https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp as the server URL, choose OAuth, create it, and sign in. Then in the message box open the + menu, choose Developer mode, and pick Carly Teams. No plugin needs to be built, packaged or uploaded.
- Claude (claude.ai, Claude Desktop, or Cowork): Customize > Connectors > Add custom connector, name it Carly Teams, paste https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp, and sign in.
- Claude Code: `claude mcp add --transport http --scope user carly-teams https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp`, then /mcp, pick carly-teams, and authenticate.
- Codex: `codex mcp add carly-teams --url https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp`, then `codex mcp login carly-teams`.
- Cursor: add {"mcpServers": {"carly-teams": {"url": "https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp"}}} to ~/.cursor/mcp.json, then sign in to carly-teams from Customize.
- Muse: a custom connector to https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp with a Carly API key as its bearer token. The key comes from carlyassistant.com/account (API key under Carly Teams) and goes in Muse's connector settings, not in a chat message.
- Grok: grok.com/connectors > New Connector > Custom, paste https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp, and sign in.
- Grok Bot: a custom remote MCP server named carly-teams at https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp. Approve it and sign in.
- Perplexity: Plugins in the sidebar (or Customize > Connectors), then Add custom > Connector > Add MCP connector. Choose Remote, name it Carly Teams, paste https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp, pick OAuth, check the box and click Add, then click the Carly Teams card to sign in.
- Anything else: a remote MCP server (streamable HTTP) named carly-teams at https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp. It signs in with OAuth.
Sign in with the Carly account that belongs to the organization.
2. Once it's added, the Carly Teams tools show up in the chat, including list_phone_lines. If they don't, turn Carly Teams on for the chat or start a new chat.
3. To check it worked, call list_phone_lines: it returns the teams and phone lines the account can reach. A team with no phone line yet can get one with find_numbers (optionally by area code) and get_number, which may return a checkout link to finish.
4. Something to try first: "Review our missed calls and voicemail and help me reply to customers." Carly Teams also reads and answers business texts, has the team's agent make calls, and edits the voice and text agents. Texts and calls go out at once from the agent's number and can't be taken back. Team permissions apply.
## Email, calendars and workflows
Email, calendars, files, booking pages and workflows are the regular Carly connector, added separately. It's listed in ChatGPT's plugin directory (https://chatgpt.com/plugins/plugin_asdk_app_6a67a26316b88191860222f918d4ec54) and Claude's connector directory (https://claude.ai/directory/carly), and connects anywhere else at https://carlyassistant.com/mcp/. Its setup is https://carlyassistant.com/mcp.txt.Then call it from your cell and play a tricky customer (here’s how). For more on how AI answering works, see our AI answering service guide.
FAQ
What is the best answering service for a small business?
Carly, for most small businesses: it answers every call or just the ones you miss, books customers on your calendar during the call, texts back missed calls and follows your rules on every call. Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month.
How much does a small business answering service cost?
Live receptionists start around $250 a month for 50 minutes at Ruby or $300 for 30 calls at Smith.ai, and grow with your call volume. AI answering services usually start between $30 and $150 a month.
Is an AI answering service as good as a live receptionist?
For booking, answering common questions and routing urgent calls, a well-set-up AI answers faster and the same way every time, at any hour. Keep a person for the calls that need judgment: Carly puts those through to you.
Can I keep my business phone number?
Yes. Forward the calls you miss (or all of them) to Carly, or get a new number in the chat. Live services work by forwarding too.
Do callers know they’re talking to AI?
They should. Have the greeting say so. Our AI receptionist guide covers recording and disclosure rules.
Ready to automate your busywork?
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See what people say
"Before Carly, I relied on a Calendly link, but the whole process felt impersonal and not very professional. Carly changed that by handling all the back-and-forth, so I'm no longer stuck in endless email threads trying to line up schedules.
Now Carly reaches out to candidates, shares my real-time availability, lets them pick a slot, then sends a Zoom link and drops it straight into my calendar. She sends reminders to both of us before each call, which has significantly reduced no-shows and last-minute confusion.
On top of scheduling, Carly acts like a full executive assistant, sending me my schedule the night before so I can prepare for each call. It reminds me of the old x.ai assistant, but Carly is noticeably smarter, faster, and better suited to my healthcare recruitment business."
