Ruby has put live receptionists on small businesses' phones for two decades, with US-based staff who answer as your company, day or night. If a person on every call is what you want, Ruby is built for that. We built something else: VettedCalls checks who's calling before your phone rings and puts the real callers through to you. Here's how the two compare on cost, screening and what happens when you're busy.
What Ruby costs
Ruby sells receptionist minutes by the month:
- 50 minutes: $250 a month
- 100 minutes: $395 a month
- 200 minutes: $720 a month
- 500 minutes: $1,725 a month
Ruby says the plans differ only in minutes, with no extra fees for activation, onboarding, setup, customization or coverage at particular hours. The detail that matters is how a minute is counted. Ruby bills in 60-second steps and rounds each call up. The clock runs from the moment a receptionist takes the call until they transfer it, send it to voicemail or hang up, and it includes hold time and any notes they finish after the caller is gone. Minutes past your plan are billed at an overage rate tied to the plan; that rate isn't published on Ruby's pricing page.
First-time customers get their money back if they cancel within 21 days or before using 500 receptionist minutes, whichever comes first. There's no long-term contract, and outside that window a cancellation takes effect at the end of the current monthly billing period.
VettedCalls is a flat monthly plan with minutes included: $29.99 for Pro with 800 voice minutes and $99.99 for Receptionist (coming soon). Every call we answer counts, including spam we block and callers who hang up during screening, and each one rounds up to the next whole minute. Our guarantee is 14 days, from the dashboard, once per customer, and you can cancel any time and keep access to the end of the period you paid for.
Two ways to screen a call
At Ruby, a receptionist answers with your greeting. If you've said you might be available, they put the caller on hold and contact you to ask whether you'll take it. Say yes and the call is transferred. Say no, or don't respond, and the caller goes to voicemail or leaves a written message that shows up in the Ruby app. Ruby also lists robocall filtering on its plans and uses AI filters to spot likely spam numbers.
At VettedCalls, there's no receptionist in the middle. Saved contacts and callers who got through in the last 60 days ring you without questions. Anyone else hears a greeting in your business name asking who's calling and how we can help, then presses 1 or 2. Your phone rings in the Cloud Softphone app with the caller's number showing, and when you answer, you hear their name and reason, a beep, and then the caller. A caller who never presses a key hears that the number doesn't accept unsolicited calls, and the call ends. A number that collects 10 counted flags on our shared registry is blocked for every customer.
So at Ruby, the caller waits on hold while a person checks with you. With us, the caller's name and reason come to you the moment you answer.
Side by side
| Ruby | VettedCalls | |
|---|---|---|
| Who answers first | A live Ruby receptionist, 24/7, with your greeting. | A greeting in your business name, then you, in the Cloud Softphone app. |
| What you pay for | Receptionist minutes: 50 to 500 a month, from $250. | A flat plan with minutes included, from $29.99 a month. |
| How a call is counted | 60-second steps, rounded up, including hold time and after-call notes. | Each answered call, rounded up to the next whole minute. Spam we block counts too. |
| Spam | Robocall filtering and AI spam filters on every plan. | A press 1 step for unknown callers and one registry shared by every customer. |
| When you can't answer | Voicemail or a written message in the Ruby app, which can also be emailed or texted to you. | Pro: voicemail, transcript by email. Receptionist: an AI receptionist, except for priority calls and saved contacts. |
| Appointments | Receptionists can schedule them in your online calendar. | The AI takes the caller's details and the days that work; you confirm the time. |
| Your number | Forward it to Ruby all or part of the time, or, often, port it to Ruby. | Your cell keeps its number and forwards every call to us. |
| Getting set up | Onboarding specialists walk you through forwarding. | Install Cloud Softphone, tap Activate in the welcome email, dial one forwarding code. |
| Money back | 21 days or 500 minutes, whichever comes first, for first-time customers. | 14 days, once per customer. |
Which one to pick
Ruby is the better fit if every caller should reach a person at any hour, a lot of your callers speak Spanish, or you want someone else to book appointments, take payments and make calls on your behalf. You're paying for staff time, and if a human voice on every call matters to your customers, that's what the money buys.
VettedCalls is the better fit if you answer most calls yourself and what hurts is the junk and the calls you miss. If voicemail and a transcript are enough while you're on a job, Pro covers it. If the callers you miss tend to hire someone else, Receptionist (coming soon) has an AI answer them, apart from priority calls and saved contacts. Team answering on Pro is for a phone that two or three people answer.
Not sure which kind of help you need? Our answering service guide lays out live receptionists, AI answering and screening side by side. The pricing page has every plan's minutes, and the AI receptionist page shows what it will and won't say to a caller.
Ruby questions
How much does Ruby cost?
Ruby's receptionist plans are $250 a month for 50 minutes, $395 for 100, $720 for 200 and $1,725 for 500. Extra minutes are billed at an overage rate tied to your plan, which Ruby's pricing page doesn't list.
Is VettedCalls a live answering service?
No. Screening is automated. On Receptionist, an AI receptionist picks up calls you miss, except priority calls and saved contacts, which go to voicemail.
Do I keep my number with either one?
Yes. Ruby lets you forward your number to it, and it can often port your number in. With VettedCalls, your cell keeps its number and forwards every call to us, and we don't port numbers.