Tool
Answering service cost calculator
Per-minute answering services look cheap until the minutes add up. Put in your call volume and see the monthly bill next to a flat-price emergency line. For the full breakdown, read answering service cost in 2026.
Default rate: PATLive's extra-minute rate on its 50-minute plan, as published in October 2026. PATLive's published rates run from $1.79 a minute (extra minutes on its largest plan) to $2.99 (pay as you go).
450 minutes a month
Per-minute answering service
$1,031/mo
HireJosie Pro
$79/mo
Includes overage at $0.25/min beyond the plan's minutes.
Difference: $952 a month ($11,418 a year)
What the flat price includes
One line for nights, overflow, hang-ups and leads. Every feature is on every plan.
At night
24/7 Emergency Line
Answers every after-hours call and sorts real emergencies from routine jobs with your rules.
Emergency Fee Consent + Payment Link
States your after-hours fee and gets a clear yes before anyone is woken. Can text a payment link.
On-Call Paging + Schedules
Calls your on-call tech with the details. Press 1 to accept. No answer? Next person, then you.
Next-Day Booking
Routine night calls get booked into tomorrow's first slots instead of "call us back".
During the day
Smart Call Routing
Daytime triage: urgent calls jump the queue and reach the right person or department.
Surge Overflow
When the office line is busy or a heat wave hits, Josie answers the overflow, all at once.
Hang-Up Recovery
Texts callers who hang up within 30 seconds and books them by text.
Instant Lead Reply
Forward lead emails from Angi, Thumbtack, Yelp, Google LSA and your website. Josie texts every lead in 60 seconds.
Missed-Booking Call Scoring
Scores calls your team answers and flags the ones that could have been booked but weren't.
Every day
Weekly Revenue Report
A 7am morning report and a Monday email in dollars: emergencies, fees agreed, jobs won back.
Spanish + Multilingual Line
Josie switches to Spanish (or another language) when your caller does. Same triage, same paging.
Website Voice + Chat Widget
One script tag: website visitors talk or chat to the same Josie, with the same triage and paging.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an answering service cost?
Human answering services usually sell a bundle of minutes and charge per minute after that. PATLive, for example, published plans from $99/month for 50 minutes, with extra minutes from $1.79 to $2.29 and pay-as-you-go at $2.99 a minute (October 2026). At 150 three-minute calls a month, that is several hundred dollars.
Why do per-minute bills get so high for emergency businesses?
Emergency calls are longer: the operator has to get the address, the problem and a callback number. Storm nights and heat waves multiply the minutes exactly when you can least plan for them.
What does HireJosie cost?
HireJosie is $29/month for 200 AI minutes, starting with a 7-day free trial — cancel before day 7 and you pay nothing. Pro is $79/month for 500 minutes, with $0.25/minute overage after that. Every plan includes triage, fee consent, on-call paging and the weekly report.
Does a cheaper answering service dispatch my tech?
Usually not. Most take a message and pass it on. HireJosie gets the caller to agree to your fee and calls your on-call tech until someone presses 1 to accept.
Keep the 24/7 promise tonight.
Book a 15-minute call and we'll set up your rules, fee and on-call schedule with you. Or start a trial and set it up yourself.
7-day free trial · cancel anytime