Property management answering service cost in 2026
Published prices from human answering services, AI receptionists, and voice AI, what each pricing model rewards, and a worked example for a 100-door portfolio.
The short answer
A property management answering service costs anywhere from $29 to several thousand dollars a month. The price depends on three things: whether a person or an AI answers, how the service charges (per minute, per call, or per door), and how much of the follow-up work it does after it answers.
For a small portfolio covering nights and weekends, the published plans that fit run from under $50 to about $350 a month. Which one is cheaper overall depends on what happens after the call is answered.
Four ways answering services charge
| Model | How it works | Rises when |
|---|---|---|
| Per minute | A monthly plan includes a set number of talk minutes, with a rate for each extra minute. Common for human answering services. | Calls run long or volume grows. |
| Per call | A monthly plan includes a set number of calls, with a rate for each extra call. | More tenants call, including repeat calls. |
| Minute bundles | An AI receptionist plan with a large allowance of minutes, then usage pricing. | Volume passes the bundle. |
| Per door | A monthly price per unit you manage, usually with a minimum. Common for software built for property managers. | You add doors, not calls. |
Developer voice platforms add a fifth option: you pay per minute of call time, often $0.07 to $0.31, and build and maintain the agent yourself or with a contractor.
Published prices, side by side
These are the list prices each company publishes on its own site. Effective rates divide the plan price by what it includes.
| Provider | Type | Published plans | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| MAP Communications | Human | $49 a month plus $1.37 per minute; $179 for 125 minutes; $649 for 500 minutes | $1.30 to $1.43 per minute on bundles |
| Ruby | Human | $250 a month for 50 minutes; $1,725 for 500 minutes | $3.45 to $5.00 per minute |
| AnswerConnect | Human | $350 a month for 200 minutes plus a $49.99 setup fee; $395 for 300 minutes | $1.32 to $1.75 per minute |
| Smith.ai | AI and human receptionists | $300 a month for 30 calls; $2,100 for 300 calls | $7 to $10 per call |
| Super | AI receptionist | From $250 a month for 500 minutes; from $415 for 1,000 minutes | About $0.42 to $0.50 per minute |
| Property Answer AI | AI receptionist | $29 a month for 100 minutes; $199 for 1,000 minutes | About $0.20 to $0.29 per minute |
| Retell AI | Developer platform | $0.07 to $0.31 per minute, plus your build and upkeep | Per minute |
| Vendoroo | AI maintenance | $3 or $6 per unit a month, $400 minimum, annual billing on its pricing page | Per unit |
| Rentive | Voice AI, maintenance and leasing | $3.00 per door for doors 1 to 500, $2.50 after, $299 minimum, month to month | Per door |
Prices change. Confirm the current price sheet with each provider, including overage, setup, and add-on charges, before you compare.
Worked example: a 100-door portfolio
Take a 100-door portfolio that routes nights and weekends to a service. Rentive's savings calculator assumes about one after-hours call per 15 doors a month, so about 7 calls. At 4 billed minutes per call, that is around 28 minutes a month, which fits the smallest plan of almost every provider above.
| Option | Plan that fits | Monthly price | After the call |
|---|---|---|---|
| MAP Communications | Pay as you go, 28 minutes | About $87 | Message, with emergencies escalated to your on-call person |
| Ruby | 50 minutes | $250 | Message and call routing |
| Smith.ai | 30 calls | $300 | Message, with escalation to your on-call staff |
| Property Answer AI | 100 minutes | $29 | Maintenance intake and triage, per its site |
| Super | 500 minutes | $250 | Triage, troubleshooting, and a logged work order, per its site |
| Rentive | 100 doors | $300 | Triage, troubleshooting, a ticket, and vendor texts until one accepts. Leasing calls included. |
On the price sheet, a pay-as-you-go message service or a small AI receptionist plan is the cheapest way to have the phone answered. The comparison changes once you count the work that remains. When a service takes a message, your on-call person still triages, calls vendors one at a time, and calls the tenant back. Rentive's calculator assumes 30 minutes of staff time per call at $43 an hour, which adds about $150 a month for those 7 calls.
Volume matters too. If you also send daytime overflow and leasing calls to the service, a minute or call allowance runs out quickly and overage rates apply. A per-door price does not change with volume. Run your own numbers in the savings calculator.
How to compare quotes
- Pull a month of call logs and split them into business hours and after hours.
- Decide what you need done on the call: a message, an escalation, or a dispatched vendor.
- Ask every provider for the full monthly cost at your volume, and again at double it.
- Ask about billing increments, overage, setup, holidays, add-ons, and contract length.
- Add your team's follow-up time for anything the service does not do.
What Rentive costs
$3.00 per door per month for doors 1–500 and $2.50 per door for doors 501 and up, with a $299 monthly minimum. No platform fee. Each rate applies only to the doors in that band. Maintenance and leasing agents are both included, with no setup fee and no per-call or per-minute charges. Plans are month to month.
| Doors | Monthly price |
|---|---|
| 50 | $299 |
| 100 | $300 |
| 200 | $600 |
| 300 | $900 |
| 500 | $1,500 |
| 1,000 | $2,750 |
See full pricing, or call the live agent at (325) 308-1925 to hear what the price includes.