Ruby vs Frontdesk (My AI Front Desk) in 2026: People or AI?

TL;DR

• Ruby is live human receptionists from $250 a month for 50 minutes. Frontdesk (formerly My AI Front Desk) is an AI receptionist bundle: $99 a month for 200 voice minutes, plus a website chatbot and two-way texting. Prices as of October 2026.
• At 75 two-minute calls a month, Ruby costs $720 and Frontdesk $99.
• Pick Ruby when callers need a person; pick Frontdesk when you want calls, chat and texts in one AI plan.
• For calls only, Juney is $49 for 150 minutes, run from a phone app, with no live staff.

On this page 9 sections

These two sit at opposite ends of the market: one sells people's time, the other sells an AI bundle with more channels than calls. Every price below was read off Ruby's and Frontdesk's own pages on 22 October 2026.

What's the difference between Ruby and Frontdesk?

Ruby is a human answering service: US-based receptionists pick up your calls around the clock and bill you by the minute. Frontdesk, the service that used to be called My AI Front Desk, is AI: an AI receptionist answers your calls, and the same plan includes a chatbot for your website and text messaging, paid in minutes and credits.

That makes them answers to different problems:

• "I want a person to answer, just not me": Ruby.
• "I want AI to handle calls, web chat and texts together": Frontdesk.
• "I want my calls answered, and I'll take the ones I can": an AI answering service (AI receptionist) such as Juney, whose Juney app rings you with Ring me first before she answers.

How do Ruby and Frontdesk compare side by side?

The table puts the two side by side, with Juney as a third column. Checked on each vendor's own pages in October 2026; "Not stated" means we didn't find it, not that the answer is no.

Sources, checked 22 October 2026: Ruby pricing, Ruby FAQs, Frontdesk pricing and Frontdesk's getting-started guide. Prices are US dollars per month.

How much does each cost at 30, 75 and 150 calls a month?

Frontdesk costs $99 to $119 across those volumes; Ruby costs $395 to $1,725. Each bill uses the lowest-cost plan for that month, as of October 2026, before tax and carrier charges, with calls averaging two minutes and every call answered by the service.

How the less obvious ones add up:

• Ruby: 30 two-minute calls already pass the $250 plan's 50 minutes, so we priced the next plan up. Ruby bills extra minutes at a rate it doesn't publish, so ask before you choose a smaller plan, and remember every call rounds up to a whole minute.
• Frontdesk at 150 calls: the plan's 1,000 included credits cover about 40 extra minutes. The other 60 take two $10 top-ups of 1,000 credits each. The included credits expire each month; top-ups don't. Paying yearly brings the base to $79 a month.
• Chats and texts use the same credits at Frontdesk (5 credits a chat and 4 a text past the allowance), so a busy website can raise the bill too.

Human and AI pricing are worked through in more depth, with Smith.ai and AIRA, in AI vs Human Answering Service Cost: What You'd Pay in 2026.

What to do: price your own month on last month's call count and length, and if you'd use Frontdesk's chatbot and texting, add those too.

What does Ruby do that Frontdesk doesn't?

Ruby puts a trained person on every call. A receptionist can calm an upset caller, follow up on an answer nobody planned for, take a payment or help with outbound calls, which AI only does when the case has been written down in advance.

Ruby's other strengths, as of October 2026:

• Around the clock, at one price. Ruby answers 24/7/365 and says there are no fees for "coverage during certain periods".
• Spanish included. Its Spanish bilingual service comes with every receptionist account at no extra cost. Ruby's FAQ says 24/7 in one answer and Monday to Friday, 5 AM to 6 PM Pacific, in another, so confirm the hours with Ruby if Spanish calls come in at night.
• You can still answer first. For a number on your carrier, Ruby asks for busy or no-answer forwarding, so your carrier controls the wait. On a Ruby-hosted number, calls can ring you and roll over to Ruby through its app or portal (as of October 2026).
• An app. Ruby's iPhone and Android app shows your messages and minutes used and lets you change routing.

What does Frontdesk do that Ruby doesn't?

Frontdesk covers more channels for less money. For $99 a month (as of October 2026) you get 200 voice minutes, 100 website chatbot conversations and 400 texts, with two-way texting and its own CRM in the plan. Ruby sells live chat as a separate plan from $143 a month for 10 chats.

Frontdesk also lists 20+ languages and offers a 7-day free trial. The trade-offs: setup and settings live in a web dashboard (we found no native app), calls come in on a Frontdesk number you forward to or publish, booking goes into its built-in calendar, which syncs with Google Calendar, and there's no person to take over a call.

Is there a more affordable option that keeps the features?

Yes, if you're clear about which features you can't give up. "Affordable without sacrificing features" means a different thing depending on what you're keeping:

• A person on the line: Smith.ai also sells plans with people on the phones. Its human plans start at $300 for 30 calls (less than Ruby at 30 two-minute calls, more at 75: $810 against $720), and its Hybrid plans put AI on routine calls and live agents on chosen ones from about $2.50 a call (as of October 2026). What's the Best AI Answering Service for a Small Business in 2026? compares the wider field.
• Calls, chat and texts in one plan: Frontdesk's bundle is the one to price against. Beside's AI also auto-replies to customers' texts; its plans start at $29 for 30 AI-answered calls, on US and Canadian lines only (checked 22 October 2026).
• Calls answered well, nothing else: AI plans that only handle calls cost less. As of October 2026, AIRA and Upfirst start at $24.95 for 30 calls, and Juney at $49 for 150 minutes.

What to do: list the two or three things you'd miss most if they were gone (a human voice, Spanish, web chat, texting, booking), then price only the plans that keep them.

Should you pick Ruby or Frontdesk?

Pick by the kind of caller you get, then by the channels you need. Both are sound choices for the right business:

Pick Ruby if:

• your callers expect a person, and a wrong answer costs you more than the receptionist does;
• they need Spanish from a person (confirm Ruby's bilingual hours if they call at night);
• you want a receptionist to take payments or help with outbound calls;
• your volume is low enough that per-minute human rates are worth it.

Pick Frontdesk if:

• customers reach you by web chat and text as much as by phone;
• callers need a language other than English or Spanish;
• you're comfortable setting it up in a web dashboard;
• you want AI pricing with room for about 100 two-minute calls a month on the base plan.

Where does Juney fit as a third option?

Juney suits a tradesperson or owner-operator who wants calls answered, jobs booked and their own phone kept in the loop, and doesn't need chat, texting or a live receptionist. As of October 2026, Juney costs $49 a month or $490 a year (USD), with 150 minutes a month on either plan, top-ups of 100 minutes for $20 in the app that don't expire, and a 7-day free trial with 50 answering minutes. There's no setup fee and no contract. See Juney's plans and free trial.

How it differs from both:

• Built for the phone. You sign up, set it up and read every call in the app. Link your website so she learns your services and prices, correct what she got wrong, ring her yourself as a customer, then forward your calls with the steps the app shows. No computer, no dashboard.
• You can still take the call. Your carrier forwards every call to Juney. In Ringing mode, the Juney app can ring you with Ring me first for about 15 seconds; calls you take yourself use none of your minutes. Let it ring out and Juney answers. Or choose Straight to Juney when you can't pick up at all.

Keep the Juney app signed in, allow notifications and use a data connection; if it can't be reached, Juney answers. Personal calls to that number are forwarded too, so add family or regular suppliers to Excluded contacts.

• On a call, she answers from what you've taught her, books, moves and cancels jobs in Google Calendar, texts the caller your booking link, takes messages, and puts urgent callers through to a second number you choose.

The limits, plainly: there's no live receptionist behind Juney, so with Ring me first on, the backup is you. She speaks English only, books into Google Calendar only, has no CRM integrations, and handles calls only: she texts callers booking links and follow-ups, but she doesn't run web chat, and customers' texts and emails stay with you. Business numbers can be in the US, Canada, the UK or Australia. Juney is built by Trillet, the voice AI platform trusted by over 4,000 businesses. The full side-by-sides are on Juney vs Ruby and Juney vs Frontdesk.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Ruby or Frontdesk work for a business outside the US?

Ruby answers for businesses in the US, Canada and the US Caribbean, with US-based receptionists (as of October 2026). Frontdesk's pricing page doesn't say which countries it covers, so ask before you sign up if your number is outside the US.

Which suits callers who don't speak English, Ruby or Frontdesk?

It depends on the language. Ruby puts a person on Spanish calls at no extra cost, though its FAQ gives both 24/7 and weekday hours (5 AM to 6 PM Pacific) for bilingual calls, so confirm with Ruby. Frontdesk's AI lists 20+ languages, but some of its tiers allow only one, so check the plan you'd buy (as of October 2026).

Can Ruby or Frontdesk answer website chats as well as calls?

Both can, at very different prices. As of October 2026, Frontdesk's $99 plan includes 100 AI chatbot conversations alongside its voice minutes. Ruby sells live chat, answered by people, as separate plans from $143 a month for 10 chats.

Which costs less for an after-hours-only service?

Frontdesk, at the volumes we worked out: its $99 plan covers about 100 two-minute calls a month, while Ruby's $250 plan covers 50 minutes. Ruby doesn't charge more for nights or weekends, so the gap is the per-minute human rate, not the hours.

Updated for October 2026: clarified Ruby and Frontdesk forwarding options.

Related Resources

• Cheap Answering Service: What You'll Actually Pay in 2026
• How to Set Up an AI Receptionist Without a Computer
• Ruby alternatives
• Frontdesk alternatives
• Help center: Ring your phone first