Smith.ai vs Ruby vs Posh vs Abby Connect: receptionist services side by side

Side by side: Smith.ai, Ruby, Posh, Abby Connect
What we compared	Smith.ai	Ruby	Posh	Abby Connect
Pricing published	Yes. AI plans from $0 (25 calls) to $500+; live plans $300 to $2,100 a month	Yes. $250 for 50 minutes up to $1,725 for 500 minutes a month	Yes. $65 to $1,900 a month (marked effective 1/1/26)	Yes. $164 for 50 Abby Minutes up to $1,380 for 500; Enterprise is custom
Billed by	Per call	Per minute, in 60 second steps rounded up; hold time and after call note time count	Per minute, in 60 second steps rounded up; after call message time and AI time count	Per Abby Minute, rounded up to 30 seconds; ring and transfer time count, hold time does not
AI, human, or both	Both: separate AI and live plans; AI hand off to a live agent costs $3 extra per call	Live receptionists 24/7; pricing page mentions optional AI enhancements without detail	Both: live plans or AI plus live plans with mixed minutes; AI minutes cost about half	Both: live receptionists on set hours, AI 24/7; one Abby Minute = 1 live or 2 AI minutes
Who owns the data	Terms say subscriber information is jointly owned by Smith.ai and you	Not published as an ownership clause. Addendum says Ruby returns a full copy of your data on written request	Not published	Not published as an ownership clause. Terms say Abby will follow a client request to provide, transfer, or delete client data
Used to train AI?	Not published. Terms allow use for improving our Services. Ask vendor	Not addressed. Addendum allows internal use to build or improve the quality of its services. Ask vendor	Not addressed. Privacy policy limits use to purposes in your agreements. Ask vendor	Not published. Transcripts may go to an unnamed third party AI provider for summaries. Ask vendor
Data retention	Recordings and transcripts about 90 days; other call data not published	Not published	Data no more than 24 months, recordings no more than 90 days; all deleted when the account ends	As long as is necessary; no set period published
Liability cap	What you paid in the 24 months before a claim	Lesser of 15 days of your monthly fee or $500	Credit of the lesser of 15 days of your monthly fee or $500; written notice within 14 days	Greater of what you paid in the prior 12 months or $100
Contract and cancelling	Month to month; pay through the current cycle; plan changes 30 days before cycle end	Renews every 30 days; downgrades outside the first 90 days need three billing periods on the same level	Renews monthly; ending early means paying through the current term	After the first 30 days, 30 days notice to cancel; ends at the end of that billing cycle
Refunds	30 day money back on new plans up to $1,000, not overages; otherwise no refunds or proration	Money back guarantee ends at 21 days or 500 minutes, whichever comes first	No refund for the unused part of a term	Terms say strict no refund policy and also a 22 day money back guarantee for new clients. Ask vendor
Security audit (SOC 2 or similar)	Not published. Ask vendor	Not published. Addendum mentions unnamed annual certification audits. Ask vendor	Not published. Ask vendor	Not published. Ask vendor

Side by side: Smith.ai, Ruby, Posh, Abby Connect

Pricing published

Yes. AI plans from $0 (25 calls) to $500+; live plans $300 to $2,100 a month

Yes. $250 for 50 minutes up to $1,725 for 500 minutes a month

Yes. $65 to $1,900 a month (marked effective 1/1/26)

Yes. $164 for 50 Abby Minutes up to $1,380 for 500; Enterprise is custom

Billed by

Per call

Per minute, in 60 second steps rounded up; hold time and after call note time count

Per minute, in 60 second steps rounded up; after call message time and AI time count

Per Abby Minute, rounded up to 30 seconds; ring and transfer time count, hold time does not

AI, human, or both

Both: separate AI and live plans; AI hand off to a live agent costs $3 extra per call

Live receptionists 24/7; pricing page mentions optional AI enhancements without detail

Both: live plans or AI plus live plans with mixed minutes; AI minutes cost about half

Both: live receptionists on set hours, AI 24/7; one Abby Minute = 1 live or 2 AI minutes

Who owns the data

Terms say subscriber information is jointly owned by Smith.ai and you

Not published as an ownership clause. Addendum says Ruby returns a full copy of your data on written request

Not published

Not published as an ownership clause. Terms say Abby will follow a client request to provide, transfer, or delete client data

Used to train AI?

Not published. Terms allow use for improving our Services. Ask vendor

Not addressed. Addendum allows internal use to build or improve the quality of its services. Ask vendor

Not addressed. Privacy policy limits use to purposes in your agreements. Ask vendor

Not published. Transcripts may go to an unnamed third party AI provider for summaries. Ask vendor

Data retention

Recordings and transcripts about 90 days; other call data not published

Not published

Data no more than 24 months, recordings no more than 90 days; all deleted when the account ends

As long as is necessary; no set period published

Liability cap

What you paid in the 24 months before a claim

Lesser of 15 days of your monthly fee or $500

Credit of the lesser of 15 days of your monthly fee or $500; written notice within 14 days

Greater of what you paid in the prior 12 months or $100

Contract and cancelling

Month to month; pay through the current cycle; plan changes 30 days before cycle end

Renews every 30 days; downgrades outside the first 90 days need three billing periods on the same level

Renews monthly; ending early means paying through the current term

After the first 30 days, 30 days notice to cancel; ends at the end of that billing cycle

Refunds

30 day money back on new plans up to $1,000, not overages; otherwise no refunds or proration

Money back guarantee ends at 21 days or 500 minutes, whichever comes first

No refund for the unused part of a term

Terms say strict no refund policy and also a 22 day money back guarantee for new clients. Ask vendor

Security audit (SOC 2 or similar)

Not published. Ask vendor

Not published. Addendum mentions unnamed annual certification audits. Ask vendor

Not published. Ask vendor

This is for a small firm deciding who should answer the phone when you can't. All four publish prices, and all four connect to Clio in some way. Where they differ is how they count usage and what their contracts say.

Where they differ

How you pay. Smith.ai charges per call (Smith.ai AI pricing, live pricing, checked Oct 19, 2026). Ruby, Posh, and Abby Connect charge by the minute, and each counts minutes a bit differently. Ruby counts hold time and the time a receptionist spends finishing notes (Ruby terms). Posh counts message wrap up time and AI time (Posh terms). Abby counts ring and transfer time but not hold time (Abby terms), all checked Oct 19, 2026. If your calls are short, per call pricing can cost more. If your calls run long, it can cost less. Your own call logs will tell you which.

People or AI. Ruby is built around live receptionists. Smith.ai, Posh, and Abby Connect all offer AI, and Posh and Abby make AI minutes cheaper than live ones (Posh AI, Abby pricing, checked Oct 19, 2026). Abby's live staff work set hours unless your account is set up for 24/7 (Abby terms, checked Oct 19, 2026).

Your callers' data. None of the four says plainly, on the pages we read, that it won't train AI on your calls. Smith.ai's terms say your data is "jointly owned" (Smith.ai terms, checked Oct 19, 2026). Posh deletes everything when your account closes, so export first (Posh terms, checked Oct 19, 2026).

When something goes wrong. The liability caps vary a lot. Ruby and Posh cap theirs at $500 or less (Ruby addendum, Posh terms). Smith.ai's cap is 24 months of fees (Smith.ai terms), and Abby's is 12 months of fees with a $100 minimum (Abby terms), all checked Oct 19, 2026. None of them publishes a SOC 2 report.

What to check before you sign

Ask in writing whether your callers' words are used to train or improve any AI model.
Ask for a current security audit report. None is posted publicly.
Find out how to export recordings before they're deleted.
Put the cancel notice and refund window dates on your calendar.

Our take

This is our opinion, based on the sourced facts above. There's no single winner here. Smith.ai is best for firms that want simple per call math and a free AI tier to test. Ruby suits firms that want a person on every call. Posh has the lowest entry price and the clearest retention limits. Abby fits firms on Clio or Lawmatics that want live staff by day and AI after hours. Whichever you pick, get answers on AI training and security in writing before client calls go through it.

Sources

Vendor pages and public records this page is based on.

smith.ai · /pricing/ai-receptionist

smith.ai · /pricing/receptionists

smith.ai · /receptionists/terms

smith.ai · /

ruby.com · /pricing/

ruby.com · /terms/

ruby.com · /data-processing-addendum/

posh.com · /pricing

posh.com · /ai/

posh.com · /terms/

posh.com · /privacy-policy

abbyconnect.com · /pricing/

abbyconnect.com · /resources/terms-and-conditions/

abbyconnect.com · /privacy-policy/