Ruby sells live, human virtual receptionists billed by the minute. MakoAnswer sells an AI receptionist billed by the call, at roughly a tenth of the monthly price. Which one fits depends on what your phone actually needs — here's the factual side-by-side.
First, credit where it’s due
Ruby has been at this for over two decades, its receptionists are genuinely excellent, and its plans include 24/7 coverage with no setup fees. If your callers need a human conversation on every single call and the budget supports it, Ruby is a fine choice.
| Ruby | ▸ MakoAnswer | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry plan | $250/mo for 50 receptionist minutes | $24.95/mo for 30 calls — then $1.50/call. No setup fee, cancel anytime. |
| How you're billed | Per minute, rounded up to the next 60 seconds | Per call — a 1-minute call and a 6-minute call cost the same |
| What a typical 3-minute call costs at entry | ≈ $15 of plan minutes ($250 ÷ 50 min = $5/min) | ≈ $0.83 ($24.95 ÷ 30 calls) |
| Who answers | Live human receptionists (with bundled AI-assist tools) | Mae, an AI receptionist — with warm transfer to your own team on Pro |
| 24/7 coverage | Included on every plan | Included on every plan |
| Overage rate | Not published — Ruby's site says overage billing varies by plan | Published on every plan: $1.50/call at entry, down to $0.70/call |
| Setup fee | None | None |
| Contract | Month-to-month; 21-day money-back window for first-time customers | Month-to-month, cancel anytime |
| After the call | Message relay per your instructions | Full transcript, summary, recording, and a qualified lead in your inbox |
Ruby figures are from ruby.com's published plans-and-pricing page as of July 2026. Confirm current terms with Ruby before buying. Checked July 2026.
Ruby bills receptionist minutes, rounded up — a chatty caller, a spam pitch, or a wrong number all draw down the same bucket. MakoAnswer bills per call, flat, and spam never reaches a billable anything: known junk is rejected before Mae even answers. When your call volume is unpredictable, per-call flat pricing is the difference between a phone bill and a phone budget.
A skilled human can improvise through an unusual, emotional, or high-stakes conversation better than any AI. Ruby staffs that on every call and prices accordingly. MakoAnswer's answer is the warm transfer: Mae handles the routine 90% — messages, questions, bookings — and hands urgent or complex calls to a real person on your team with a one-sentence announcement. You keep the human touch where it matters and stop paying $5 a minute for 'What are your hours?'
Ruby's published virtual receptionist plans (as of July 2026) run $250/mo for 50 receptionist minutes, $395/mo for 100, $720/mo for 200, and $1,725/mo for 500. All plans include 24/7 coverage with no setup fee. Overage rates aren't published. Separate live-chat plans start at $143/mo.
MakoAnswer answers every call 24/7 from $24.95/mo for 30 calls — about a tenth of Ruby's $250 entry price. The difference: Mae is an AI receptionist rather than a human one, and she delivers a transcript, summary, and recording of every call instead of a relayed message. Urgent calls warm-transfer to your own team.
For routine calls — messages, hours, service questions, appointment booking — a well-trained AI receptionist handles the conversation naturally and never puts callers on hold, at a fraction of the per-call cost. For genuinely complex or sensitive conversations, humans still win, which is why MakoAnswer warm-transfers those calls to your team instead of pretending AI should take them.
Listen to a real, unedited recording of Mae answering our own line — or call the live demo line and talk to her right now.
Ruby is a trademark of its owner. MakoAnswer is not affiliated with or endorsed by Ruby.All competitor pricing and plan details reflect information published on the provider’s own website as of July 2026 and may change.