An after hours answering service, priced against the enquiries that really come in at night
Yevhen Kurapov, co-founder · Updated Oct 23, 2026
An after hours answering service picks up your calls when you're closed, from about $250 a month for live receptionists. If evening enquiries reach you as website chats and DMs, an assistant that answers, books and takes a contact covers them for $0 to $120 a month. Keep a phone answer for real emergencies.
At 9:40 on a Tuesday night, a mother in Clintonville, Columbus, opens the website of her family's dental practice and types into the chat box. Her eleven-year-old cracked a front tooth at hockey practice, it doesn't hurt much, how much is it to get it looked at, and can they see him tomorrow?
The office closed at five. At 7:50 the next morning the office manager reads the message and calls, and the mother thanks her: they found another practice online last night and have an appointment this morning.
Nobody at the first practice did anything wrong; they were closed. But notice how she got in touch. She didn't call, she typed, so an after hours answering service, the usual fix, would never have seen her message.
How much of your demand arrives after you close
Researchers at the Mayo Clinic studied patients who could book their own appointments online. For mammograms, 24.4% of 13,454 self-scheduled bookings (September 2019 to August 2020) were made outside weekday 7 am to 5 pm. For well-child visits at clinics in Minnesota and Wisconsin, 29.5% of 1,201 self-scheduling actions (2019 to 2020) happened outside the hours staff schedulers worked. Both studies were published in 2021. Give patients a way to book themselves and somewhere between a quarter and 30% of them will do it while nobody is at the desk.
Vendor numbers run higher. Remark, which makes website chat software, counted more than 25,000 chats on its customers' travel and electronics sites in August 2025 and found only 42.5% came in between 9 and 5 local time. booksalon, a European salon booking provider that works with over 5,000 salons, said in 2023 that 53% of more than 460,000 bookings were made outside opening hours. Neither company says much about how it counted, and both describe their own customers. I'd plan with the Mayo figures and treat these two as a hint that the evening is busier still for some trades.
The phone hasn't gone anywhere, though. ContactBabel surveys 1,000 US consumers every year, and in 2024 the phone was still the most popular first choice for urgent problems, at 49%. Its share for complex enquiries had risen from 28% in 2018 to 47%. A dental practice that gets real emergencies at night needs someone or something to pick up the phone, whatever else it adds.
What a reply at 9:40 pm has to do
It's worth sending only if it answers the question, books the slot, or takes a contact with enough detail to act on first thing. "Thanks, we're closed, we'll be in touch" does none of those, and the person already knew you were closed.
Which job matters most depends on the trade:
- A dental office or clinic: book tomorrow's exam, and give the emergency number for anything that can't wait. Never diagnose in a chat.
- A plumber, electrician or remodeler: take the address, what's wrong, a photo and a phone number. The quote can wait until morning; the job shouldn't go to the next name on Google.
- A salon or studio: book. Most people writing at 11 pm are asking for a time.
- A small online store: answer. Shipping, sizes and returns are the questions, and the cart is open now.
Prices, side by side
Checked on 23 October 2026.
| Option | Monthly cost | What the 9:40 pm patient gets |
|---|---|---|
| You, checking your phone | Your evenings | An answer, if you see it in time |
| Away message in Meta Business Suite (Facebook Page, Instagram, WhatsApp) | Free | Your hours; no answer, no booking |
| Live answering service | Ruby from $250 for 50 minutes, $395 for 100; Smith.ai from $300 for 30 calls, then $11.50 a call | A person on the phone who takes a message or puts an emergency through to whoever is on call |
| Voice AI receptionist | Smith.ai free for 25 calls, $150 for 75; Rosie $49 for 250 minutes, calendar booking from $149; Goodcall $79 for 100 callers, then 79¢ each | Software that answers the call and, on some plans, books |
| Chat and DM assistant | Meta Business Agent free to start; ChatPal free for 100 replies, $20 for 500, $50 for 1,500, $120 for 4,000 | A typed answer, a booking or a request for their number; no phone |
A few notes the table can't hold. Checking the phone yourself works until a weekend away or a sick kid breaks the habit, and replies sent at 10:30 pm tend to be rushed; with two or three evening enquiries a week it may still be the honest choice. The away message is better than silence, and the people who were going to book elsewhere still do. Ruby will also staff your website chat with real people, at $143 a month for 10 chats ($115 alongside a receptionist plan). Meta Business Agent works on WhatsApp and Messenger, with Instagram on the way.
If your phone rings more than your chat pings, buy phone coverage first and add the chat later if the numbers say so. If most evening enquiries are typed, a phone service means paying people to sit by a line that rarely rings. The comparison of AI receptionists, answering services and chatbots works through the bill for each at the same volume.
Where ChatPal fits
ChatPal is the last row of that table. It answers typed messages in your website chat, WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger and Telegram, and never the phone.
It answers from your own price list and FAQ, so it can quote your $89 emergency exam, and when your files don't cover something it says it doesn't have that information. It books only if your diary is in Google Calendar, Calendly or Altegio, and then only into times that are free there. Most dental software isn't on that list, so for most practices it answers, takes a name and number, and the front desk books in the morning.
If you turn on hand-off, a parent who asks for a person is told the team will reply in the chat, and the conversation waits for you. It won't answer the phone, judge a symptom or handle an emergency. Everything else ChatPal does at a front desk is in AI receptionist for small business.
The cracked tooth, answered that night
The practice uploaded a price list that includes a limited emergency exam at $89 with one X-ray, and an FAQ that gives an after-hours emergency number for swelling, bleeding or a knocked-out tooth. Emergency exams are set up as a 30-minute service on Dr. Patel's Google Calendar.
A made-up example, not a recorded chat. The replies follow the rules the assistant works by.
Client: Hi, my son cracked his front tooth at hockey tonight. Doesn't hurt much. How much to get it looked at, and can you see him tomorrow?
Assistant: I'm sorry about his tooth. An emergency exam is $89 including one X-ray, and if there's swelling, heavy bleeding or the tooth comes out, please call our emergency line at (614) 555-0182 tonight. Tomorrow, Wednesday, I have these times free:
[Card: Wed, Oct 21 · 8:00 am · 8:30 am · 11:30 am]
Client: 8:30. It's for Leo Whitfield, my number is 614 555 0139
Assistant: Book an emergency exam for Leo Whitfield on Wednesday, October 21 at 8:30 am, +1 614 555 0139?
[Card: Yes, book it · Change number]
Client: Yes, book it
Assistant: Leo is booked: emergency exam with Dr. Patel, Wednesday, October 21, 8:30-9:00 am.
Client: Can I talk to someone about whether our insurance covers it?
Assistant: I've passed this to our team. They have your message and will reply here in this chat.
Everything the assistant quoted, from the $89 to the emergency line, came out of the practice's own files, and it offered only the slots Dr. Patel's calendar showed as free. The insurance question is waiting in Chats for the front desk in the morning.