Ruby Receptionists alternative
Jodie answers every call 24/7 from a flat $49/month, with no per-minute meter.
Recent calls billed
Unlimited minutes, no rounding
Three services that answer your phone. The difference is what you actually pay when a call runs long or call volume spikes.
Starting price
Billing model
Overage charges
Hold time billed
Who answers the call
24/7 cover
Bilingual
Setup time
Contract
Pricing reflects ruby.com/pricing at the time of writing. Ruby's per-minute overage rate is not published on the pricing page; the $3.19/min figure on the 100-minute plan is cited in third-party reviews. The hold-time citation references McKenzie Law Firm, P.A. et al v. Ruby Receptionists, Inc. (US District of Oregon, 3:2018cv01921), settled April 2021. Jodie pricing is published in full on the pricing page.
Slide the minutes you'd use - the calculator picks Ruby's cheapest tier plus overage and compares to Jodie's flat plan.
Cost calculator
Jodie Basic
$49/mo
Flat. Unlimited.
Competitor: Receptionist 100
$395/mo
$395 base
You'd save
$346/month ($4,152/year)
Ruby tiers are from ruby.com/pricing and billed in USD. Overage rates are not published on Ruby's pricing page; figures shown reflect rates cited in third-party reviews (approximately $5.40/min on the 50-minute plan, $3.20/min on the 100 and 200-minute plans, $3.00/min on the 500-minute plan). Jodie Basic is flat monthly with unlimited minutes at your locale rate.
Verifiable differences sourced from Ruby's own pricing page, public court records, and our pricing page. Not marketing claims.
Ruby's AI is internal tooling that helps human receptionists work faster - transcription, sentiment scoring, robocall filtering. Jodie IS the receptionist: it answers, qualifies, books the appointment and sends a summary the moment the call ends.
Ruby's AI sits behind a human; Jodie's AI is on the line.
Ruby bills in full-minute increments with a 30-second minimum on every call. Jodie is flat monthly with unlimited minutes - $49, $99 or $199, and the bill before you sign is the bill next month.
Ruby settled a $12M class action in April 2021 over hold-time billing and minute rounding.
Ruby's signup routes to a consultation booking before pricing is finalized and a setup window before your line goes live. Jodie is self-serve - sign up, forward your business number, and take calls in the same session.
Most Jodie customers go live the same hour they sign up.
Ruby's per-minute billing model has been tested in federal court. Here's what was alleged, what was settled, and what changed.
McKenzie Law Firm, P.A. et al v. Ruby Receptionists, Inc. (US District of Oregon, 3:2018cv01921)
November 2018
McKenzie Law Firm filed a federal class action in the US District of Oregon alleging Ruby billed customers for hold time, rounded minutes up rather than to actual usage, and applied a 30-second minimum to every call including hangups.
2019-2020
The court certified the class of approximately 18,000 Ruby customers affected by the billing practices in the complaint. Ruby continued operating with the same billing structure throughout.
April 2021
Ruby agreed to settle for up to $12 million per OregonLive coverage: $8 million in customer credits and up to $4 million in attorney fees. The settlement did not require Ruby to change its billing model.
Today
Ruby continues to operate. Per-minute billing, 30-second minimum and tiered receptionist-minute plans remain part of the published pricing structure.
Jodie's flat monthly pricing makes the questions the case raised - what counts as a billable minute, how is hold time treated - not apply. The bill before you sign is the bill next month, every month.
Pricing predictability is a function of what you can see before you sign. Here's the side-by-side.
| Jodie | Ruby Receptionists | |
|---|---|---|
| Base monthly price | ||
| Per-minute overage rate Ruby does not publish overage rates on the pricing page; third-party reviews cite around $3.20/min on the 100-minute plan. | ||
| Setup fee Both are $0 setup. | ||
| Free trial (no card) Jodie offers 7 days free, no card needed. Ruby offers a 21-day money-back guarantee on paid plans. | ||
| Hold-time billing rule Jodie has no per-minute meter. Ruby's hold-time billing was the subject of the McKenzie class-action settlement (2021). | ||
| Total first-year cost calculable from public info Jodie: 12 x flat plan. Ruby: depends on undisclosed overage rate at your call volume. |
Ruby's per-minute meter punishes the call patterns that show up most in these verticals: long intake calls, emergency callouts, seasonal spikes. Flat pricing fits the shape of these businesses better.
Statute-driven intake calls run long, and Ruby's per-minute meter charges for every minute. Jodie's flat rate gives a small firm a predictable monthly cost regardless of intake spike.
See Jodie for attorneys & law firmsEmergency callouts run long - burst pipe, leak through the ceiling. Ruby's per-minute meter charges for every one of those minutes; Jodie's flat plan answers all of them.
See Jodie for plumbersA buyer browsing Zillow at 8pm calls the next agent if you don't pick up. 24/7 cover comes standard on Jodie Basic at $49.
See Jodie for real estate agentsTax season volumes spike fast. A flat plan with unlimited minutes fits the IRS-notice pattern; per-minute billing punishes the months your phone rings most.
See Jodie for accountants & cpasRuby Receptionists is a Portland-based company founded in 2003 that offers human virtual receptionists for small businesses, with English and Spanish coverage. Their positioning is 'people-powered, AI-enhanced' - humans answer the calls, with AI assisting behind the scenes. Plans are sold by receptionist-minute tiers, billed monthly.
Ruby's published tiers are $250/month for 50 minutes, $395 for 100 minutes, $720 for 200 minutes and $1,725 for 500 minutes. Overage rates are not published; third-party reporting cites around $3.19 per extra minute on the 100-minute plan. A 60-minute overage on the 100-minute plan adds roughly $191 to the $395 base.
Ruby holds 4.2 out of 5 on Capterra, with consistent praise for receptionist friendliness and law-firm-tailored intake scripts. The recurring critical theme is billing surprise once minute rounding, the 30-second minimum and overage rates apply to the invoice.
A federal class action (McKenzie Law Firm v. Ruby Receptionists, 2018) alleged Ruby billed for hold time, rounded billable minutes up, and applied a 30-second minimum to every call including hangups. It settled in April 2021 for up to $12 million. Ruby continues with the same billing structure; Jodie's flat monthly pricing makes those questions not apply.
For new client intake, scheduling, common questions and message-taking - yes. Jodie answers, captures the caller's reason, books appointments where the integration exists, and sends a summary within seconds. For genuinely complex calls, Jodie can warm-transfer to a human on your team.
Probably yes, by design. Jodie identifies as the AI receptionist on answer - surveys show callers prefer clear AI identification over feeling deceived. If the AI cannot answer, it captures the lead and tells the caller someone will be in touch.
Yes - the page is built around that case. Legal is Ruby's flagship vertical and the place per-minute billing creates the most friction; statute-driven intake calls run long. Jodie's flat rate gives a small firm a predictable monthly cost regardless of intake spike.
Move your phone answering to Jodie without a coverage gap. Most switchers run both for a week, then cancel Ruby.
Total time: Under 1 hour active time, 5-7 days for safe parallel running
Sign up at the register page. No card needed. You get your Jodie phone number on the spot.
Set conditional forwarding (busy / no answer / always) from your phone provider to the Jodie number. Most providers support this from their app.
Jodie picks up first via the forward; if you change your mind, you cancel Jodie and your old Ruby line is still live. Listen to a few call recordings to check the AI is doing the job.
Ruby plans are month-to-month per their site. Settle any outstanding overage charges first - the per-minute meter and 30-second minimum apply right up to the cancellation date.
Once Ruby is cancelled, leave the forward to Jodie in place. Confirm a test call lands on Jodie and a summary arrives in your inbox.
Buyer's guides
This comparison is part of our independent buyer's guides ranking the whole field.
7 days free. Self-serve onboarding. Flat $49/month. Cancel in one click.
First 7 days free, then pricing from $49/month
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