Voco vs Ruby Receptionists

Ruby Receptionists vs Voco: the UK alternative compared

Ruby Receptionists is a US service with live human receptionists, priced from $250 a month for 50 minutes. Voco is a UK AI receptionist charged at 29p a minute ex VAT with no monthly fee and no contract. Ruby's entry plan works out at $5.00 a minute; Voco is 29p a minute. The gap is large, but it is not like for like, because Ruby puts a trained person on the line and Voco does not. Prices were checked on 4 September 2026.

What Ruby charges

Ruby publishes a full rate card, which makes this easy to check. Ruby does not give its tiers names; they are sold by the number of minutes included.

• $250 per month. 50 minutes, an effective $5.00 per minute.

• $395 per month. 100 minutes, an effective $3.95 per minute.

• $720 per month. 200 minutes, an effective $3.60 per minute. Ruby marks this tier as its most popular.

• $1,725 per month. 500 minutes, an effective $3.45 per minute.

Ruby states there are no additional or hidden fees for activation, onboarding, setup or customisation, and 24/7 cover is included on every plan. Ruby also states that optional AI enhancements are available in all its plans at no extra cost, so it is not a purely human service.

The three differences that decide it

Rate. Ruby's cheapest per-minute rate is $3.45 on a $1,725 plan. Voco is 29p a minute with no plan at all. Even allowing for the exchange rate, that is a different order of magnitude, because it is a different kind of product.

Currency. Ruby bills in US dollars. A UK business sees a sterling amount that moves with the exchange rate, usually plus a foreign transaction fee of around 3% depending on the card issuer. Voco bills in pounds.

Waste. Ruby's minutes are a monthly allowance. A quiet month still costs the full plan price. Voco's pay as you go charges for the minutes used and nothing else, so a quiet month costs close to nothing.

Where Ruby wins, honestly

A Ruby receptionist is a person. They handle the call that does not fit the script, hear that a caller is upset and respond to it, and hold a conversation that goes somewhere unexpected. Ruby has a long track record and a strong reputation for exactly that.

If your callers are few, high value and expect a person, the maths above is the wrong maths. Paying $250 a month to convert one extra client is trivially worth it.

Voco's case is different: every call answered instantly, at any hour, at a predictable per-minute rate, with no allowance to waste and no plan to outgrow.

Working out which you need

Count last month's calls and their average length. Multiply by 29p for the Voco figure. Compare that against the smallest Ruby plan that covers your minutes, remembering that unused minutes are gone at the end of the month.

Then ask the question the arithmetic cannot answer: does your caller need a person, or do they need an answer? Voco's missed call calculator handles the first part.

The honest summary

Choose Ruby if you want live human receptionists, your callers expect a person, and the monthly cost is comfortably covered by the value of one converted enquiry.

Choose Voco if you want UK billing, no monthly minimum, a per-minute rate rather than a per-minute allowance, and every call answered at any hour. The rate is published on the pay as you go page.