How much does an AI phone assistant cost in 2026?

Last updated: July 2026 · approx. 5 min read

In short

An AI phone assistant is typically a monthly subscription service, and the price essentially depends on the monthly minute allowance. At Echo, the entry plan is $289 per month (taxes not included) with 300 minutes of calls, and the largest is $899 with 1,700 minutes. With a 12-month contract the setup fee is $0, and the system starts with a free 7-day live trial.

Few providers publish actual prices: in most places, the answer is a quote request form. This article shows what makes up the price of an AI phone assistant and lays out Echo's full price list, including something you rarely find elsewhere: what happens if you leave.

What makes up the price?

Monthly fee: this covers running the system and the conversations. It usually comes with a minute allowance.
Minute allowance: how many minutes of calls the assistant handles per month. This is the main pricing factor.
Setup fee: building the knowledge base, voice selection, connecting the calendar and call forwarding.
Overage: what happens when the allowance runs out. This is where to pay the most attention, because the market varies widely.

Echo's monthly fees

Plan	Monthly fee	Minute allowance	Approx. calls / mo
Starter	$289/mo	300 min	approx. 120
Pro	$549/mo	900 min	approx. 360
Managed	$899/mo	1,700 min	approx. 680

The call count is an estimate based on an average call length of 2.5 minutes. Per minute, the larger plans get progressively cheaper: Starter is approx. $0.96/min, Pro approx. $0.61/min, Managed approx. $0.53/min. All prices in USD, taxes not included.

What happens when the minute allowance runs out?

At Echo, overage is $0.45/min, and a call is never cut off when you exceed the allowance. You get an automatic email notification at 75, 90, and 100 percent of the allowance, and you can also set an overage cap at which the system pauses. So the bill can never run away unnoticed.

Setup fee: it can be $0

The setup fee for the Echo voice agent is $499 (taxes not included). You can choose between two arrangements: with a 12-month contract, setup is $0; on the monthly, cancel-anytime arrangement, you pay the full amount, either in one go or in 3 installments, with no surcharge. The combo (voice + chatbot) has the same $499 setup on purpose: the knowledge base is built once.

On the 12-month route, the fee is earned off month by month: $499 / 12, that is $41.58 per month. If you cancel early, only the portion not yet earned off goes on your final invoice: $374 after 3 months, $250 after 6 months, $125 after 9 months, $0 after 12 months. If the service doesn't work through our fault, we charge nothing. We spell this out so precisely because almost no one in the market publishes what happens if you leave during the commitment period.

What to watch for in other offers

Ask for a specific overage rate per minute. The market average is typically higher than the plan price suggests.
Ask what happens to a call when you exceed the allowance: does it get cut off, or does it continue?
Check whether the setup fee is one-time, and what happens to it if you cancel.
Appointment booking, email summaries, and CRM handoff are standard in every one of our plans. Elsewhere, these can be separate line items on the invoice.

Try it with no risk

Before any arrangement, Echo starts with a free 7-day live trial: on your own number, with real calls, you see what it does. If you don't want it after the trial, you pay $0 and we switch it off.