Ruby
Human agents · Portland, OR · founded 2003
Ruby is a US-based live virtual receptionist and website chat service for small businesses, sold in monthly buckets of receptionist minutes and chats, where AI is used only to assist its human receptionists rather than to answer calls.
- Starts at
- $115/mo
- ≈ per call
- —
- ≈ per minute
- $3.45
- Contract
- month-to-month
Published plans
Copied verbatim from their pricing page, not from a review site. Anything they don't print, we leave blank.
| Plan | Published price | Includes | Over that |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virtual receptionist — 50 minutes | $250 /month | 50 min | — |
| Virtual receptionist — 100 minutes | $395 /month | 100 min | — |
| Virtual receptionist — 200 minutes | $720 /month | 200 min | — |
| Virtual receptionist — 500 minutes | $1,725 /month | 500 min | — |
| Live chat — 10 chats | $143 /month | — | — |
| Live chat — 30 chats | $335 /month | — | — |
| Live chat — 50 chats | $520 /month | — | — |
| Bundled chat add-on — 10 chats | Up to 10 chats for $115 (a 20% savings) | — | — |
| Bundled chat add-on — 30 chats | Up to 30 chats for $268 (a 20% savings) | — | — |
| Bundled chat add-on — 50 chats | Up to 50 chats for $416 (a 20% savings) | — | — |
- Setup fee: There are no additional or hidden fees for activation, onboarding, setup, customization, or coverage during certain periods.
- Free trial: Money-back guarantee rather than a trial: "Ruby is delighted to offer a money-back guarantee to first time users of both our virtual receptionist service and our chat service. Should you decide to cancel service and obtain a full refund for the cancelled service, please notify us of the service you wish to cancel either within 21 days of your purchase of that service or before your usage exceeds 500 receptionist minutes/50 billable chats, as applicable, whichever occurs sooner."
- Billing increment: Ruby publishes two different increments. ruby.com FAQ: "Receptionist minutes are billed in 60-second increments, and calls are rounded up to the nearest 60-second mark." Ruby's own billing FAQ PDF: "We bill receptionist minutes in 30-second increments and calls are rounded up to the next 30-second mark." Both state that receptionist time starts when the receptionist receives the call, includes hold time, and stops once the call is transferred to you or voicemail.
What it can do
| Capability | Ruby |
|---|---|
| Live transfer | Yes |
| Books appointments | Yes |
| Text follow-up | Yes |
| Outbound calls | Yes |
| Spanish | Yes |
| Human backup | Yes |
| Call recordings | unstated |
| Transcripts | Yes |
| Spam screening | Yes |
| Custom voice | unstated |
| API | unstated |
Integrates with Clio, HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho, Keap, Follow Up Boss, JobNimbus, FieldPulse, Law Ruler, Lawmatics, Filevine, 8am MyCase, Rocket Matter, Zendesk, Monday.com, Zapier. Books into Calendly, Google Calendar.
Worth knowing before you sign
- · Overage rates are not published anywhere on Ruby's site: "Additional minutes are billed according to the overage rate associated with your plan." The buyer cannot compute the cost of going over plan before talking to sales.
- · "Receptionist minutes and chats do not roll over to the next billing period if you don't use them."
- · Hold time is billable: "Receptionist minutes begin the moment a receptionist answers the call and includes time the caller is on hold."
- · The two first-party sources disagree on rounding: 60-second increments (FAQ page) vs 30-second increments (billing FAQ PDF).
- · The pricing page lists "24/7 Spanish and bilingual call handling available," but the FAQ states "bilingual service and outbound call assists are only available Monday to Friday, 5am to 6pm Pacific / 8am to 9pm Eastern."
- · Ruby does not offer an AI that answers calls. "Ruby does not use AI to… Replace human connections." Its AI features (Call Nav, call and voicemail transcripts, sentiment analysis, advanced robocall filtering) support human receptionists and are "included at no extra cost in every Ruby plan."
- · Service area is limited: "Anywhere in the United States, Canada, and the US Caribbean."
- · Calendly cannot be used with HIPAA-compliant receptionist service: "we are unable to do so with the third-party scheduling software Calendly, as it is not HIPAA compliant."
- · With HIPAA-compliant service, messages and chat transcripts are not emailed or texted; they are only available in the Ruby App and my.call-ruby.com.
- · Only the largest four receptionist tiers are published; anything above 500 minutes is quote-only.
- · No public developer API is documented; third-party automation is via native integrations plus "Ruby's Zapier-powered integrations". Call recording (as opposed to transcripts and voicemail transcription) is not stated on the pages checked.
Common questions
- How much does Ruby cost?
- Ruby's cheapest published plan is the Bundled chat add-on — 10 chats plan at $115/mo. Checked August 19, 2026.
- Does Ruby transfer calls to a real person?
- Yes — Ruby documents live transfer to a human.
- Is there a free trial?
- Yes: Money-back guarantee rather than a trial: "Ruby is delighted to offer a money-back guarantee to first time users of both our virtual receptionist service and our chat service. Should you decide to cancel service and obtain a full refund for the cancelled service, please notify us of the service you wish to cancel either within 21 days of your purchase of that service or before your usage exceeds 500 receptionist minutes/50 billable chats, as applicable, whichever occurs sooner.".
Ruby alternatives
Full Ruby alternatives breakdown →Head to head
Where these Ruby numbers came from
- Plans and pricing (receptionist minute tiers, chat tiers, bundled chat pricing, included features); canonical URL is https://www.ruby.com/plans-and-pricing/ruby.com · read August 19, 2026
- Plans and pricing (canonical URL, same tiers)ruby.com · read August 19, 2026
- FAQs — money-back guarantee, no long-term contract, 60-second rounding statement, Spanish, scheduling, transfers, porting/forwarding, HQ in Portland OR, service arearuby.com · read August 19, 2026
- Ruby billing FAQs PDF (first-party asset host) — 30-second increments, hold time billable, no rollover, overage billed in arrearsassets.ruby.com · read August 19, 2026
- AI at Ruby — Call Nav, transcripts, sentiment analysis, robocall filtering; AI included at no extra cost; explicitly not used to replace human receptionistsruby.com · read August 19, 2026
- Integrations directory (CRM, calendars, legal software, Zapier)ruby.com · read August 19, 2026
- About Ruby — "In 2003, Ruby started as a small business"ruby.com · read August 19, 2026
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