Head to head
Smith.ai vs Ruby.
Smith.ai and Ruby are the two names most small businesses compare when they want someone else to answer the phone. Both are established US companies. They differ in who answers and how you pay: Smith.ai mixes AI and human agents and bills per call; Ruby is people only and bills by the minute.
Written by Right On Call, which competes with both. Their details checked September 26, 2026; sources are listed below.
Pick Smith.ai if
- Your calls run long and a flat per-call price works in your favour.
- You want AI on most calls with a person available behind it.
- You run a law firm or professional office on a CRM Smith.ai supports.
Pick Ruby if
- Every caller must hear a person.
- Your volume is low and a message or transfer is enough.
Side by side
The two of them, with Right On Call in the last column so you can see where a receptionist built for trades differs from both.
| Topic | Smith.ai | Ruby | Right On Call |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who answers | AI agents, with live people on hybrid and human plans | Live human receptionists | AI, with escalation to your own team by text |
| How you pay | Per call, plus add-ons | Per minute, in bundles | Per minute of talk time, billed to the second |
| Entry price | AI roughly US$1 to $3 a call; human plans from about US$300 for 30 calls | About US$250 a month for 50 minutes | $199 CAD a month for 200 answered minutes, then $0.70 CAD a minute |
| Built for | Law firms, professional services, general small business | Any business that wants a human voice on the line | Ontario home-service and property shops |
| What the call ends with | Intake, a transfer, a booking, or a message, with a CRM note | A message, a transfer, or basic scheduling | A triaged, booked job or a dispatch text |
| Emergency triage | Scripted intake questions | General screening | Emergency vs routine rules written for your trade. Gas, smoke, or spark reports get a bounded safety script and a human callback |
| Field-service tool | Strong CRM list; check field-service coverage | Check current integrations | Jobber connect in the plan: the call creates the client and the job. Housecall Pro and ServiceTitan on request |
| Currency | US dollars | US dollars | Canadian dollars |
What Smith.ai costs
Published in US dollars and billed per call. Independent reviews put the AI receptionist at roughly $1 to $3 a call depending on tier, and human receptionist plans from about $300 a month for 30 calls, with $8.50 to $11.50 per call past the bundle. Several features are priced as per-call or monthly add-ons.
What Ruby costs
Published in US dollars as minute bundles: about $250 a month for 50 minutes, up to about $1,725 for 500 minutes, roughly $3.45 to $5.00 a minute.
Where Right On Call fits
Both are built to be your front desk. That is the right shape when nobody in the business can answer during the day. A trade shop usually has the opposite problem: someone answers when they can, and the calls that get lost are the ones on a roof, at 9 PM, or in a storm.
Those calls are short and they are usually someone who needs a technician, so the useful ending is a booked job, not a message. Right On Call picks up what rings out, triages it for your trade, checks the postal code, and books it into Jobber or your calendar, billed per minute at a rate that doesn’t assume a person is on the line.
Choose Right On Call if
- You keep answering first and need the calls that ring out caught and booked.
- Your calls are short service requests, often after hours.
- You want the job on your board in the morning, not a message to return.
Where all three sit
You build it → built for you
Built for the calls you miss, not to replace the people who answer
Right On Call can answer every call if you want it to. That isn’t what it is built for. It is built so that a call you would have missed, on a roof, in a crawlspace, at lunch, after 5, on a Saturday, gets picked up and ends as a booked job instead of a voicemail nobody returns.
Why Right On Call →Smith.ai vs Ruby: questions
Is Smith.ai cheaper than Ruby?
It depends on call length. Ruby’s published bundles work out to roughly US$3.45 to $5.00 a minute, so a three-minute call costs about US$10 to $15 of plan. Smith.ai bills per call: roughly US$1 to $3 for its AI receptionist, and US$8.50 to $11.50 a call past the bundle on human plans. Long calls favour Smith.ai; very short human calls are closer.
Is there an option cheaper than both for a trade shop?
For short service calls, an AI receptionist usually is. Right On Call is $199 CAD a month for 200 minutes, then $0.70 CAD a minute billed to the second. You give up a human voice on the call; your own team is texted when a caller needs a person.
Sources
- Smith.ai pricing
- CloudTalk: Smith.ai pricing 2026
- Loman: Smith.ai pricing 2026
- Ruby
- Upfirst: answering service pricing compared
Smith.ai and Ruby details come from their published pages and independent reviews as of September 26, 2026. Plans change; check theirs before you decide. If something here is out of date, email hello@rightoncall.com and we will correct it. Product names are trademarks of their owners. Right On Call isn't affiliated with or endorsed by either.