Ruby vs Smith.ai
Smith.ai starts $115/mo cheaper than Ruby.
Both pages checked by August 19, 2026
- RubyHuman agents
- $115/mo
- Bundled chat add-on — 10 chats plan
- Ruby is a US-based live virtual receptionist and website chat service for small businesses, sold in monthly buckets of receptionist minutes and chats, where AI is used only to assist its human receptionists rather than to answer calls.
- Smith.aiAI + human backup
- $0/mo
- AI Receptionist — Free plan
- Smith.ai sells small and mid-sized businesses two products off one platform: an AI Receptionist that answers, qualifies and books 24/7 with escalation to its North America-based Live Agent Network, and a fully human Virtual Receptionist service, both billed per call rather than per minute.
The differences that matter
- Ruby is human agents; Smith.ai is ai + human backup. That is the real decision here, not the price.
Feature by feature
| Capability | Ruby | Smith.ai |
|---|---|---|
| Live transfer | Yes | Yes |
| Books appointments | Yes | Yes |
| Text follow-up | Yes | Yes |
| Outbound calls | Yes | Yes |
| Spanish | Yes | Yes |
| Human backup | Yes | Yes |
| Call recordings | unstated | Yes |
| Transcripts | Yes | Yes |
| Spam screening | Yes | Yes |
| Custom voice | unstated | Yes |
| API | unstated | Yes |
"unstated" means the vendor doesn't claim it in their own documentation. It is not the same as no — it means nobody will put it in writing.
Ruby plans
| Plan | Published price | Includes | Over that |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virtual receptionist — 50 minutes | $250 /month | 50 min | — |
| Virtual receptionist — 100 minutes | $395 /month | 100 min | — |
| Virtual receptionist — 200 minutes | $720 /month | 200 min | — |
| Virtual receptionist — 500 minutes | $1,725 /month | 500 min | — |
| Live chat — 10 chats | $143 /month | — | — |
| Live chat — 30 chats | $335 /month | — | — |
| Live chat — 50 chats | $520 /month | — | — |
| Bundled chat add-on — 10 chats | Up to 10 chats for $115 (a 20% savings) | — | — |
| Bundled chat add-on — 30 chats | Up to 30 chats for $268 (a 20% savings) | — | — |
| Bundled chat add-on — 50 chats | Up to 50 chats for $416 (a 20% savings) | — | — |
Smith.ai plans
| Plan | Published price | Includes | Over that |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI Receptionist — Free | $0 mo | 25 calls | 25 calls/mo ($3.00/call after that) |
| AI Receptionist — Pro (75 calls) | $150 /mo — $2.00/call (~2–3 calls/day) | 75 calls | $2.50 |
| AI Receptionist — Pro (150 calls) | $270/mo | 150 calls | $2.30 |
| AI Receptionist — Enterprise (300 calls) | $500 /mo — $1.67/call (~10 calls/day) | 300 calls | $2.17 |
| AI Receptionist — Enterprise (500 calls) | $800/mo | 500 calls | $2.10 |
| AI Receptionist — Enterprise (1,000+ calls) | Custom | — | Custom |
| Virtual Receptionist (human) — Starter | $300 / month | 30 calls | Overage: $11.50/call over 30 |
| Virtual Receptionist (human) — Basic | $810 / month | 90 calls | Overage: $10.50/call over 90 |
| Virtual Receptionist (human) — Pro | $2,100 / month | 300 calls | Overage: $8.50/call over 300 |
| Virtual Receptionist (human) — Enterprise | Custom | — | — |
Ruby sources
- Plans and pricing (receptionist minute tiers, chat tiers, bundled chat pricing, included features); canonical URL is https://www.ruby.com/plans-and-pricing/ruby.com · read August 19, 2026
- Plans and pricing (canonical URL, same tiers)ruby.com · read August 19, 2026
- FAQs — money-back guarantee, no long-term contract, 60-second rounding statement, Spanish, scheduling, transfers, porting/forwarding, HQ in Portland OR, service arearuby.com · read August 19, 2026
- Ruby billing FAQs PDF (first-party asset host) — 30-second increments, hold time billable, no rollover, overage billed in arrearsassets.ruby.com · read August 19, 2026
- AI at Ruby — Call Nav, transcripts, sentiment analysis, robocall filtering; AI included at no extra cost; explicitly not used to replace human receptionistsruby.com · read August 19, 2026
- Integrations directory (CRM, calendars, legal software, Zapier)ruby.com · read August 19, 2026
- About Ruby — "In 2003, Ruby started as a small business"ruby.com · read August 19, 2026
Smith.ai sources
- AI Receptionist plans & pricing (tiers, per-call rates, feature table, FAQ)smith.ai · read August 19, 2026
- Virtual Receptionist plans & pricing (tiers, overage, add-ons, FAQ)smith.ai · read August 19, 2026
- Pricing hub (AI-first vs human-first toggle, add-on price list, money-back guarantee, porting)smith.ai · read August 19, 2026
- AI Receptionist product page (capabilities, live agent network, integrations FAQ)smith.ai · read August 19, 2026
- All features listsmith.ai · read August 19, 2026
- Integrations directorysmith.ai · read August 19, 2026
- Sitemap — enumerates 147 /integrates-with/ integration pagessmith.ai · read August 19, 2026
- Why us / leadership — "we started out in Palo Alto, CA", fully remotesmith.ai · read August 19, 2026
- Privacy policy (entity name Smith.ai, Inc.; no address published)smith.ai · read August 19, 2026