On this page
- What an AI phone system is
- AI features by phone system
- What AI-answered calls cost
- AI cost at different call volumes
- AI phone system or standalone AI answering service?
- What the AI can do on each system
- Aircall: pay as you go or buy a bundle
- How to estimate your AI volume
- AI included in the plan price, by system
- The AI features you will see, in plain terms
- Phone menu or AI receptionist?
- Which AI-powered business phone system fits
- Limits to know before you buy
- Questions to ask before you turn AI on
- Setting up an AI receptionist
- Frequently asked questions
What an AI phone system is
An AI phone system is a business phone system with artificial intelligence built in: software that transcribes and summarizes calls, and in many cases a voice agent that answers callers, handles common questions and passes the call to a person. Every mainstream cloud phone provider now ships some of this. The difference between them is which AI is included on which plan, and how the rest is billed. This page compares what each company publishes about its own AI features; for menu-style call routing, see auto attendant phone systems.
AI features by phone system
| System | AI that answers calls | AI on everyday calls | How it is billed |
|---|---|---|---|
| RingCentral RingEX | AI Receptionist (AIR) add-on, listed as starting at $39 | AI Virtual Assistant (AVA) included on Core, Advanced and Ultra | Add-on; bundle by quote |
| Nextiva | XBert AI voice agent: $1.50 per conversation, or the XBert AI Employee at $99 a month | AI transcriptions, summaries and answer assist: 50 each on Core, 200 on Engage, unlimited on Scale | Per conversation |
| Quo | Sona AI agent on every plan with 1,000 credits (10 calls); more from $25 a month | Summaries and transcripts for Sona calls on Starter; for all calls from Business | Credit tiers plus overage |
| Zoom Phone | Virtual Agent Receptionist, free trial with 100 minutes | Post-call summaries, voicemail prioritization and task extraction on the entry plan | Trial, then not priced on the page |
| Dialpad | AI agents sold separately (Dialpad Resolve, custom pricing) | Real-time transcripts and call summaries on Connect Standard | Plan includes; agents by credits |
| Aircall | AI Voice Agent: 50 minutes a month on Essentials, then $0.29 a minute pay as you go | Transcripts on Essentials; AI summaries on Professional | Per minute |
| Ooma Office | AI Receptionist and AI Answering Service add-ons; prices not listed | AI transcriptions and insights on Pro Plus | Add-on, unpriced |
| Grasshopper | Virtual Receptionist listed as an add-on | Call summaries, AI call sentiment and AI voicemail sentiment in the feature table | Plan features |
From each company's pricing page, read November 2, 2026. Aircall and Ooma details are from our Aircall pricing and Ooma pricing pages.
What AI-answered calls cost
Our math, Quo: Sona uses 100 credits per call. The included 1,000 credits cover 10 calls a month. For 100 calls, Tier 3 at $49 a month includes exactly 100 calls. For 300 calls, Tier 4 at $99 includes 250 calls and the other 50 cost $0.55 each, $126.50 in total, which is cheaper than Tier 5 at $199 (Quo).
Nextiva: XBert is listed at $1.50 per conversation on every plan, so 100 conversations cost $150 and 300 cost $450 (Nextiva). Aircall counts minutes, not calls: 300 AI minutes in a month is 250 paid minutes at $0.29, or $72.50, on top of an Aircall plan. Aircall also lists a $100-a-month minimum on its standalone AI Voice Agents product (Aircall); if that minimum applied, the same 300 minutes would bill at $100. RingCentral lists its AI Receptionist as "Starts at $39" without saying what that price covers (RingCentral), so it is not in the chart.
AI cost at different call volumes
| AI-answered calls | Quo Sona (cheapest tier plus overage) | Nextiva XBert ($1.50 each) |
|---|---|---|
| 10 calls a month | $0 | $15 |
| 40 calls a month | $25 | $60 |
| 100 calls a month | $49 | $150 |
| 250 calls a month | $99 | $375 |
| 600 calls a month | $199 | $900 |
Quo's Sona tiers: included, $25, $49, $99 and $199 a month for 10, 40, 100, 250 and 600 calls (Quo). Nextiva counts conversations; one call is treated as one conversation here (Nextiva).
At low volume the gap is small: ten calls are free on Quo and cost $15 on Nextiva. At 600 calls a month, Quo's top tier is less than a quarter of the per-conversation price. Nextiva's separate XBert AI Employee at $99 a month is equal to 66 conversations at the per-conversation rate, with packages starting at 100 conversations a month (Nextiva).
AI phone system or standalone AI answering service?
Two kinds of product answer calls with AI. A standalone AI answering service sits in front of whatever phone line you have and forwards calls or messages to you. An AI phone system has the AI built into the business phone system itself, so the same app holds the call, the recording, the transcript and the AI summary, and the AI can transfer to a colleague's extension. This page covers the second kind. If you only want after-hours answering and are happy with your current phone service, an add-on that works with any system, such as RingCentral's AI Receptionist, is the closer fit.
What the AI can do on each system
| Product | What the company says it does |
|---|---|
| RingCentral AI Receptionist | Answers 24/7; handles FAQs, texts, appointment scheduling and lead capture; switches language mid-call; hands off with a summary |
| Quo Sona | Answers calls 24/7, including when staff are busy or after hours; Starter gets summaries and transcripts for Sona-handled calls |
| Nextiva XBert | AI voice agent Nextiva says launches in 5 minutes without code and handles phone, chat and text |
| Zoom Virtual Agent Receptionist | AI that answers calls; 100-minute free trial with Phone plans |
| Dialpad AI agents | Bills a conversation only when the AI retrieves information or takes an action such as scheduling, routing or order lookup |
Sources: RingCentral, Quo, Nextiva, Zoom, Dialpad.
Aircall: pay as you go or buy a bundle
Aircall bills its AI Voice Agent by the minute: Essentials includes "50 min AI Voice Agents per month" (Aircall), then "Pay-as-you-go is also available at $0.29/minute," with bundles of "1,000 minutes for $250, 3,500 minutes for $805, or 10,000+ minutes at custom rates starting from $0.19/minute" (Aircall).
| AI minutes a month | Pay as you go (after 50 free) | Bundle price | Bundle cost per minute |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 minutes | $275.50 | $250 | $0.25 |
| 3,500 minutes | $1,000.50 | $805 | $0.23 |
Pay as you go worked out from the $0.29 rate and the 50 free minutes a month Aircall's FAQ gives every customer; bundle prices as listed. Aircall's own calculator applies $0.29 to every minute, and its standalone AI Voice Agents product carries a $100-a-month minimum, so confirm the bill with Aircall. Aircall also needs at least 3 licenses.
At 1,000 minutes the bundle is cheaper than paying as you go; at 300 minutes, pay as you go ($72.50) wins, or $100 if you buy AI Voice Agents on its own, where Aircall lists a $100 monthly minimum. Estimate minutes from your call log: number of calls times average length.
How to estimate your AI volume
Start with your phone system's call log for a normal month. Count the calls you would want AI to take (after hours, overflow, or every call) and multiply by the average call length to get minutes. Per-call pricing (Quo) only needs the count; per-minute pricing (Aircall) needs both; per-conversation pricing (Nextiva) counts conversations where the AI does work. Then price the cheapest option at your volume with the tables above, and add a margin for busy months.
AI included in the plan price, by system
| System | AI with no extra charge |
|---|---|
| Quo | Sona AI agent, 10 calls a month; AI summaries on Sona calls (Starter) or all calls (Business and up) |
| Zoom Phone | Post-call summaries, voicemail prioritization and task extraction on every plan |
| Dialpad Connect | Real-time transcripts and call summaries on Standard |
| Nextiva | 50 AI transcriptions, summaries and answer-assists on Core; 200 on Engage; unlimited on Scale |
| RingCentral | AI Virtual Assistant listed as included on every plan |
| Aircall | 50 AI Voice Agent minutes a month on Essentials |
| Grasshopper | Call summaries and AI call sentiment on Solo Plus and Small Business; AI voicemail sentiment in the feature table (the plan data does not make clear whether True Solo has it) |
Sources: Quo, Zoom, Dialpad, Nextiva, RingCentral, Aircall, Grasshopper.
The AI features you will see, in plain terms
| Feature | What it does | Where it appears |
|---|---|---|
| AI receptionist or voice agent | Answers the phone in a natural voice, handles questions, books appointments and passes the call on | RingCentral AIR, Quo Sona, Nextiva XBert, Zoom Virtual Agent Receptionist |
| Call transcription | A written record of every word on the call | Dialpad, Nextiva, Quo (Business and up) |
| Call summaries | A short recap with next steps after each call | Zoom Phone, Dialpad, Quo, Grasshopper |
| Answer assist | Suggested answers on screen while an agent is talking | Nextiva (50, 200 or unlimited by plan) |
| Sentiment | Flags whether a caller sounded happy or upset | Grasshopper call and voicemail sentiment |
| Voicemail prioritization and task extraction | Sorts voicemails and pulls out to-dos | Zoom Phone entry plan |
Phone menu or AI receptionist?
A phone menu routes; an AI receptionist talks. RingCentral describes its AI Receptionist as delivering "human-like conversations in multiple languages without rigid IVR menus," trained "using your website, FAQs, or uploaded documents" (RingCentral), and handing complex issues to staff "complete with a call summary" (RingCentral). Quo says Sona "answers calls 24/7" (Quo). If most callers want one of three departments, a menu is enough and usually included. If they ask the same questions about hours, prices or bookings, an AI receptionist can answer them without a person.
Which AI-powered business phone system fits
A few after-hours calls
Quo's included 10 Sona calls a month may be all you need, on any plan from $15 a user billed annually. Quo review.
AI notes on every call
Dialpad Connect Standard lists real-time transcripts and call summaries at $15 a user. Zoom Phone's entry plan lists post-call summaries.
High call volume
Quo's per-call overage falls to $0.45 on Tier 5; Nextiva charges a flat $1.50 per conversation. Model your monthly calls before choosing. Nextiva review.
An AI receptionist on an existing system
RingCentral says its AI Receptionist can "answer and route calls on any phone system" (RingCentral). RingCentral review.
Limits to know before you buy
- Caps by plan. Nextiva Core includes 50 AI transcriptions and 50 summaries (Nextiva); Engage raises that to 200 (Nextiva).
- Starter-plan scope. On Quo Starter, AI summaries and transcripts cover only calls Sona handles (Quo).
- Trials are short. Zoom's Virtual Agent Receptionist trial is 100 minutes (Zoom).
- Some prices are not public. RingCentral's AI Customer Engagement Bundle is "Contact us for pricing" (RingCentral); Dialpad prices its AI agents by custom quote and bills a conversation "only when the AI retrieves information or executes a real action" (Dialpad); Ooma lists no prices for its AI add-ons.
- The phone plan still costs money. AI charges sit on top of the per-user plan price. See cloud phone systems for plan costs by team size.
Questions to ask before you turn AI on
- How many calls a month would the AI answer, and how long do they last? Quo bills per call, Aircall per minute, Nextiva per conversation.
- What happens when the AI cannot help: does it transfer live, take a message, or text the caller?
- Which documents or web pages will it learn from, and who keeps them up to date?
- Does the plan you can afford include transcripts for every call, or only some?
- Will callers be told they are speaking to an AI? Decide your greeting before launch.
Setting up an AI receptionist
- List the ten questions callers ask most, with your answers.
- Decide what the AI may do: answer, book, take messages, or transfer.
- Load your website or FAQ into the vendor's setup, as RingCentral and others describe.
- Choose when it answers: after hours only, overflow only, or every call.
- Test it from an outside phone, then check the first week of call summaries.
Frequently asked questions
What is an AI phone system?
A business phone system with AI built in: call transcription and summaries, and usually an AI receptionist that answers callers, handles common questions and hands off to staff.
Which business phone systems include an AI receptionist?
Quo includes its Sona agent with 10 calls a month on every plan (Quo). RingCentral sells an AI Receptionist add-on listed from $39, Nextiva charges $1.50 per XBert conversation, and Zoom offers a 100-minute trial.
How much does an AI phone answering system cost?
On published prices, 100 AI-answered calls a month cost $49 on Quo's Sona Tier 3 and $150 on Nextiva XBert, on top of the phone plan.
Is an AI receptionist the same as an auto attendant?
No. An auto attendant plays a menu and routes key presses. An AI receptionist understands spoken questions, answers them and transfers the call with a summary.
Is AI on a business phone system expensive?
Often not: Quo, Zoom, Dialpad, Nextiva and RingCentral include some AI in the plan price. AI that answers calls costs extra beyond the included amount, such as $0.29 a minute on Aircall after 50 free minutes (Aircall).
Can AI answer calls on my existing phone system?
RingCentral says its AI Receptionist can answer and route calls on any phone system (RingCentral). Others, such as Quo's Sona, work on numbers in their own system.