Flat-rate business phone
A phone line with a secretary on it, and no per-minute fees.
Several AI phone tools bill by the minute, so a long call from a good customer costs you more. KaiCalls is one flat monthly price for the business: your cell rings first, and Kai, your secretary, answers when you can’t. Plans: Kai Backup $10/mo, Kai Line $79/mo and Kai Office $349/mo.
~20 Kai-answered calls/mo, flat.
Kai Office, ~800 Kai-answered calls/mo
None, on any plan. The price is flat each month. No per-user fee. Teammates’ cells ring free. A desk phone past your plan is $29/month.
What a month costs at real call volumes.
Each per-minute tool is priced from its own published plan list; KaiCalls from its live plans. Talk minutes assume calls average about 4 minutes.
Scroll across to compare.
| Service | Who answers in this maths | 5-person team, 100 calls (about 400 minutes) | Heavier month: 5 people, 300 calls (about 1,200 minutes) | Prices read |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KaiCalls | Your cell rings first; Kai, your secretary, answers when you can’t. | $79/mo on Kai Line: $79 flat, ~170 Kai-answered calls/mo; 5 teammates’ cells ring free | $349/mo on Kai Office: $349 flat, ~800 Kai-answered calls/mo; 5 teammates’ cells ring free | Live plan catalog |
| Bland | An AI agent you build answers. Every talk minute is billed. Not counted: Transfer minutes and phone carrier charges, which they bill separately. | $56/mo on Start: 400 minutes × $0.14 | $168/mo on Start: 1,200 minutes × $0.14 | Nov 6, 2026 |
| Dialzara | Their AI receptionist answers. Minutes are the meter. | $180/mo on Business Pro: $99 plan + 220 minutes included + 180 minutes × $0.45 | $419/mo on Business Elite: $349 plan + 1,000 minutes included + 200 minutes × $0.35 | Nov 6, 2026 |
| Reception (ElevenLabs) | Their AI receptionist answers. Inbound calls use one credit a minute. | $119/mo on Plus: $79 plan + 275 minutes included + 125 minutes × $0.32 | $243/mo on Premium: $199 plan + 1,000 minutes included + 200 minutes × $0.22 | Nov 6, 2026 |
| Rosie | Their AI answers every call. Minutes are the meter. | $149/mo on Scale: $149 plan + 1,000 minutes included | $299/mo on Growth: $299 plan + 2,000 minutes included | Nov 6, 2026 |
Each figure is the cheapest published plan that covers the month, using only the numbers on that company’s own pricing page (linked by date). “Not published” means a number the maths needs, such as the rate past the plan, is not on their page. Taxes and carrier fees are left out for everyone; KaiCalls puts regulatory fees and telecom taxes on their own invoice line.
Per-minute AI phone tools against KaiCalls, row by row.
Facts come from each company’s own pricing pages, with the date we checked.
Scroll across to compare.
| What you get | Bland | Dialzara | Reception (ElevenLabs) | Rosie | KaiCalls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Who answers the call | An AI phone agent that you build and set up yourself. | An AI receptionist. You can set transfer numbers for calls that need a person. | Their AI. You can set hours when calls ring your team first. | Their AI answers every call it is sent. | Your cell rings first. Kai, your secretary, picks up when you can’t. |
| Starting price | $0/month on Start, plus $0.14 per talk minute. Build is $299/month plus $0.12. | $29/month for 60 minutes (Business Lite). | $29/month for 75 credits. One phone minute is one credit. $24/month if billed yearly. | $49/month for 250 minutes. Next plans: $149 for 1,000 minutes, $299 for 2,000. | $10/month for ~20 Kai-answered calls/mo. |
| Past the plan | Every minute is billed: $0.12 to $0.14 per talk minute, plus $0.04 to $0.05 per transfer minute. | $0.35 to $0.48 per extra minute, depending on the plan. | $0.40, $0.32 or $0.22 per extra credit, by plan. Calls your own staff answer use credits too. | Not published | No per-minute or per-call charges on any plan. |
| Per-seat fee | None listed. You pay a platform fee and minutes. | None listed. | No fee listed, but plans cap team members: 3 on Basic, 5 on Plus, 10 on Premium. | None listed. | No per-user fee. Teammates’ cells ring free. A desk phone past your plan is $29/month. |
| Per-minute charges | Yes, every minute: $0.12 to $0.14 per talk minute and $0.04 to $0.05 per transfer minute. Phone carrier costs are billed separately. | Yes. Plans include 60 to 1,000 minutes; extra minutes are $0.35 to $0.48 each. | Yes. An inbound call uses one credit a minute. Extra minutes are $0.22 to $0.40. | Yes. Plans are 250, 1,000 or 2,000 minutes a month. The rate past your minutes is not on their pricing page. | None, on any plan. The price is flat each month. |
| Books appointments | Not published | Yes, on Business Lite and up. Their pricing page does not name which calendars. | Yes, into Google Calendar, on every plan. | On the $149 plan and up, into Google Calendar, Calendly, Acuity or Appointlet. The $49 plan texts a booking link. | Yes, into Google Calendar, on every plan. |
| Texts the caller back | Not on Start or Build, per their plan table. | Through their separate AI text agent, which they say comes free with inbound voice plans. | Texts cost 0.1 credit each, from the same pool as calls. | Booking links by text on every plan. Texts during the call on $149 and up. | Yes, on every plan: Kai texts the link or details the caller asked for, once your number is approved for texting. |
| Nights, weekends and busy times | Answers at any hour. Start allows 100 calls a day. | 24/7 answering. | 24/7, including nights, weekends and holidays. | 24/7 on every plan. | Same answer 24/7, and any number of calls at once. No after-hours charge. |
| Contract and cancelling | Start and Build are self-serve. Enterprise is a contract sized to your volume. | 7-day free trial. “No contract, cancel anytime” is listed on the Elite plan. | Monthly or yearly. Cancel in settings; it runs to the end of the period. 14-day free trial. | Monthly, or yearly with 2 months free. Cancel anytime. 7-day free trial. | Month to month. 30-day money-back guarantee. |
Bland facts checked November 4, 2026 from Bland pricing. Dialzara facts checked November 4, 2026 from Dialzara pricing, Dialzara home page. Reception (ElevenLabs) facts checked November 4, 2026 from Reception plans and pricing, Reception product page. Rosie facts checked November 4, 2026 from Rosie pricing, Rosie scheduling integrations. Spot something out of date? Tell us and we’ll fix it.
Flat rate or per minute: straight answers.
What small business owners ask before they pick a meter.
Does KaiCalls charge per minute?
There are no per-minute overage charges. Your plan includes an expected monthly call allowance. If your call volume stays higher, we recommend the next plan and notify you before anything changes. You can choose to keep your current plan, and we move you back down if volume drops.
What does KaiCalls cost?
Kai Backup $10/mo, Kai Line $79/mo and Kai Office $349/mo. Each plan is one flat monthly price for the business, sized by how many calls Kai answers. There is no per-user fee, so teammates’ cells ring at no extra cost.
Why do per-minute tools cost more for some businesses?
With a per-minute meter, a long call costs more than a short one, and a busy month costs more than a quiet one. A caller who wants to explain a leak, a legal problem or a party order is a good lead, and a long call. On a flat plan there is no per-minute charge for it.
When is a per-minute tool the better choice?
When you have very few, very short calls, or a developer who wants to build custom call flows and pay only for what runs. The comparison table below lists the reasons to pick each of them, from their own pages.
Each per-minute tool, on its own page.
Where each one is the better pick, and where KaiCalls is.
- Bland vs KaiCallsA platform for building your own AI phone calls, billed by the minute.Read it
- Dialzara vs KaiCallsAn AI phone answering service billed by the minute, with a separate AI texting product.Read it
- Reception (ElevenLabs) vs KaiCallsAn AI receptionist from ElevenLabs that answers calls and web chats and books appointments, billed in credits.Read it
- Rosie vs KaiCallsAn AI answering service for small businesses, billed by the month for a block of minutes.Read it