Ruby is a live receptionist service. Real people answer your calls in your business's name, around the clock, and you pay for the minutes they spend on your calls. ModPhone is an AI receptionist: it answers, then does the work on the call, for a monthly price that includes a set number of minutes.
So the decision mostly comes down to two questions. Do your callers need a human voice? And how many minutes of calls do you get in a month?
What Ruby costs, as of September 2026
Ruby's pricing page lists four receptionist plans:
| Ruby plan | Monthly price | Receptionist minutes |
|---|---|---|
| 50 minutes | $250 | 50 |
| 100 minutes | $395 | 100 |
| 200 minutes (marked most popular) | $720 | 200 |
| 500 minutes | $1,725 | 500 |
A few details from Ruby's FAQ matter when you estimate your bill. Minutes are billed in 60-second increments, rounded up, so a 20-second "are you open Saturday?" call counts as a full minute. Minutes past your plan are billed at your plan's overage rate, which the pricing page doesn't list, so ask for it. Spanish and bilingual answering is included at no extra cost. Service is month to month, and new customers can get a full refund if they cancel within 21 days or before using 500 receptionist minutes, whichever comes first. Ruby also sells live website chat as a separate plan, starting at $143 a month for 10 chats.
ModPhone's plans are Starter at $49 a month (200 minutes, 200 texts), Growth at $99 (500 minutes, 500 texts, website chat) and Business at $299 (1,500 minutes, 1,000 texts, email agent). Business is the plan most customers pick. Paid plans have a 30-day money-back guarantee, and the free trial runs 30 days with a phone number, 100 minutes and 100 texts, with no charge unless you choose a plan.
Side by side
| Ruby | ModPhone | |
|---|---|---|
| Who answers | Live receptionists | An AI agent. Calls that need a person go to your staff |
| 200 minutes a month (as of September 2026) | $720 | $49 (Starter) |
| Hours | 24/7, including holidays | 24/7, including holidays |
| Languages | English and Spanish | 30+ languages, switching mid-call |
| Where answers come from | The instructions and FAQs you give the receptionists | Your website, documents and FAQs, turned into facts you can edit |
| Booking appointments | Receptionists schedule for you | Books into Google Calendar or Outlook and texts the caller a confirmation |
| Texting and chat | Live chat sold as a separate plan | Two-way texting on every plan, website chat from Growth, email from Business |
A fair caveat on the minutes row: the two kinds of minutes are not identical. A Ruby receptionist taking a message may spend less time on a call than an AI agent that answers the question and books the appointment. Even if ModPhone calls run twice as long, the gap in price is large.
For context on the alternative most offices weigh first, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median pay for a full-time receptionist at about $38,000 a year (BLS), and that covers business hours only.
Where Ruby is the better choice
Human judgment matters on your calls. Ruby's receptionists can hear that a caller is upset and slow down, and they can improvise when a call goes somewhere nobody planned for. A funeral home, a family law office or a practice that takes difficult calls may decide that is worth the price.
Your callers expect a person. Some clients will simply hang up on an AI voice. ModPhone doesn't pretend to be human: its default greeting introduces the agent as your AI assistant. If your callers won't accept that, Ruby is the safer choice.
You want someone to introduce the caller. A Ruby receptionist can tell you who is on the line before connecting them. ModPhone's agent hands the call off and leaves the line, and your staff sees who called and why in the summary.
Ruby also offers outbound calls, such as returning calls on your behalf, and says HIPAA compliance is available.
Where ModPhone is the better choice
You get a lot of calls. At Ruby's rates, a busy line can cost hundreds or thousands a month. ModPhone answers as many calls at once as come in, and its price doesn't change with how many arrive at the same moment.
Your callers ask detailed questions. ModPhone learns from your website and from the documents you upload (PDFs, Word files, Google Drive or OneDrive folders). You can review every fact it learned and edit the wrong ones. A caller asking an auto shop whether it works on diesel engines, or asking a town clerk's office which documents to bring for a permit, gets an answer from your own material rather than a message slip.
You want the job finished. ModPhone books the appointment in your calendar, texts the caller a link or an address mid-call, and emails your team the summary with a link to the full transcript. Calls it can't resolve land in a follow-up list, so someone knows to call back.
Your callers speak many languages. ModPhone works in 30+ languages and switches when the caller does. A bilingual after-hours line for a school district is one of the ways customers use it. See our case studies.
A setup some offices use
You don't have to pick one for every call. Some offices keep their own staff on the phones during the day and forward missed and after-hours calls to ModPhone with conditional forwarding. Nothing changes for callers: they dial the same number, and the call gets answered.
Common questions
Is Ruby cheaper than ModPhone?
No, not at any plan Ruby publishes. As of September 2026, Ruby's smallest plan is $250 a month for 50 receptionist minutes, and ModPhone's Starter plan is $49 a month for 200 minutes. What Ruby's price buys is a live person on every call.
Does Ruby use real people?
Yes. Ruby's receptionists are live people who answer 24/7, including evenings, weekends and holidays, with Spanish and bilingual answering included. Ruby also offers optional AI features such as call transcripts, but the calls are answered by people.
Will my callers know ModPhone is an AI?
They will if you keep the default greeting, which introduces the agent as your AI assistant. You can edit the greeting to suit your business. Callers who want a person can ask for one, and ModPhone transfers them to the number or department you set.
Can I switch from Ruby without changing my phone number?
Yes. If your business line forwards to Ruby today, point that forward at your ModPhone number instead. Your customers keep calling the number they already know.
Hear it before you decide
Call the ModPhone demo line at +1 (234) 231-6622, or build an agent from your own website on the demo page, and judge the voice for yourself.