A bilingual answering service costs about $500 to $2,200 a month for 200 live-answered calls, at the rates US providers publish on their own sites, and $130 to $400 a month if an AI receptionist takes the calls. Most live services now include English and Spanish at no extra charge. Two well-known ones do not: Smith.ai adds $1.00 per call for its dedicated Spanish line, and AnswerConnect lists Spanish as a $30 add-on. Before you compare rates, check the hours: at least one provider only answers in Spanish during the day.
We read the pricing page of 28 answering services on September 25, 2026, and wrote down three things for each: what the plans cost, what unit they bill on, and what the provider says about Spanish in its own words. Twenty publish a US rate card we could read, and all twenty are in the table below. Five publish nothing and ask for a call or a form, which is common among services that sell to law firms. One would not load at all, and VoiceNation now redirects to Moneypenny. The table below is the result, followed by what 200 calls a month costs on each plan and the three questions that decide whether "bilingual included" really means what you think.
This guide is written for the office manager, practice administrator or owner who already knows they need Spanish coverage (a law firm taking injury or immigration intake, a home services company, a clinic, a property manager) and is now holding two or three quotes that do not line up. If you have not yet settled on outsourcing your phones at all, start with our broader answering service pricing comparison, which covers sixteen providers on English-only terms.
How much does a bilingual answering service cost?
For a small business taking about 200 calls a month, a live bilingual answering service costs roughly $500 to $1,000 a month at most providers, and up to about $2,200 at the premium end once a Spanish surcharge is added. AI receptionists that answer in both languages cost $130 to $400 for the same volume. Setup fees, where they exist, are $50 to $100 once.
Those ranges come from plans priced on three different units, which is why quotes are hard to compare. Most live services sell a bundle of receptionist minutes. Smith.ai and ReceptionHQ's message plans sell a bundle of calls. AI services sell minutes, calls or unique callers. A 500-minute plan and a 200-call plan are roughly the same job only if your calls average about two and a half minutes, which is the ratio PATLive itself uses on its pricing page ("500 minutes, about 200 calls"). If your Spanish callers take longer because they are giving intake details, the minute plans get more expensive and the per-call plans do not.
| Billing unit | Who uses it | What the Spanish decision changes | Cheapest when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Receptionist minutes, Spanish included | PATLive, MAP, Abby Connect, Moneypenny, Posh, AMBS, AnswerHero, Ruby | Nothing on the invoice, but check whether Spanish is staffed on every shift | Calls are short and you want one price for both languages |
| Receptionist minutes plus a Spanish add-on | AnswerConnect ($30) | A fixed monthly fee on top of the plan | Spanish volume is high enough that a flat add-on beats a per-call surcharge |
| Calls, plus a per-call Spanish surcharge | Smith.ai live receptionists (+$1.00 per call) | Grows with every call on the dedicated Spanish line | Calls are long, so paying per call beats paying per minute |
| AI minutes or calls, Spanish on some or all plans | Rosie, Upfirst, Smith.ai AI, Dialzara (Pro and up), Vocaly AI, AnswerHero AI | Sometimes decides which tier you must buy | Most calls are routine: hours, booking, directions, message taking |
Bilingual answering service pricing by provider
Every figure below was read on the provider's own site on September 25, 2026, in US dollars. "Spanish" quotes or closely follows the provider's own wording, and where two of a provider's own pages disagree, we say so rather than pick one.
| Vendor | Published price (checked 2026-09-25) | Billing unit | Spanish or bilingual | Rounding, overage and fees |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PATLive | $49 pay as you go ($2.99/min); 100 min $189; 200 min $349; 500 min $759; 1,000 min $1,499 | Receptionist minutes | Included: "bilingual English and Spanish-speaking service on your account at any time, at no additional cost" | Overage $2.99 down to $1.49/min by plan; rounding not stated; 14-day trial |
| MAP Communications | $49 pay as you go ($1.37/min); 125 min $179; 250 min $339; 500 min $649 | Receptionist minutes | Included: "English and Spanish fluency" listed under every plan | Overage $1.37 to $1.28/min; rounding not shown |
| AnswerHero | Human: 50 min $79; 100 min $149; 250 min $279; 500 min $499; 1,000 min $949. AI only $19 plus $0.79/min | Receptionist minutes, or AI minutes | Included: every plan marked "100% Bilingual", human, AI and hybrid | Rounded up to the quarter minute; overage $1.99 to $1.12/min; no setup fee |
| AMBS Call Center | 100 min $149; 250 min $330; 500 min $600; 1,000 min $1,195. AI from $19 plus $0.79/min | Receptionist minutes | Included in every human plan; not stated for AI | 30-second increments rounded up; $85 one-time setup; overage $1.29 to $1.20/min |
| Specialty Answering Service | $44 plus $1.54/min; 220 min $269; 500 min $649; 1,000 min $1,199 | Receptionist minutes, billed by the second | Offered on a separate bilingual page; the pricing page does not say whether it costs extra | No setup fee; month to month; overage $1.44 to $1.09/min |
| Abby Connect | 50 min $165; 100 min $329; 200 min $599; 500 min $1,380 | Abby Minutes (an AI minute counts as half) | Included: "English and Spanish answering" in every plan | Overage at the plan's minute rate; no setup fee |
| Moneypenny | People: 50 min $165; 100 min $265; 200 min $422; 500 min $985. AI: 25 calls $69 to 250 calls $435 | Minutes for people, calls for AI | Included on every people plan; not listed on the AI plans (VoiceNation now redirects to Moneypenny) | Overage $2.28 to $1.67/min; no contract |
| Posh | $65 plus $2.30/min; 100 min $215; 200 min $420; 500 min $975; 1,000 min $1,900 | Receptionist minutes | Included: "Bilingual Service" at no additional cost on all plans | Overage $2.20 to $1.90/min; month to month; rates effective 1/1/26 |
| Ruby | 50 min $250; 100 min $395; 200 min $720; 500 min $1,725 | Receptionist minutes | Included, but its own FAQ says both "24/7" and "Monday to Friday, 5am to 6pm Pacific" | Billing PDF says 30-second increments, web FAQ says 60; no setup fee |
| AnswerConnect | 200 min $350; 300 min $395; 400 min $575; 550 min $795 | Receptionist minutes, rounded up to the minute | Add-on: "Spanish Call Answering: $30"; human only | $49.99 setup on some plans; overage $2.50 to $1.85/min |
| Smith.ai (live receptionists) | 30 calls $300; 90 calls $810; 300 calls $2,100 | Calls | Surcharge: dedicated Spanish line +$1.00 per call | Overage $11.50 to $8.50 per call; no setup fee |
| ReceptionHQ | Messages: 100 calls $170; 200 calls $325; 500 calls $725. Receptionist minutes from $99 for 25 | Calls or minutes | Included, but only 5am to 7pm Mountain; after-hours surcharges on weekend and holiday bilingual calls | Per second on minute plans; calls under 5 seconds free; setup from $50 |
| Davinci Virtual | Business 50 min $129; 100 min $239. Premium 50 min $249; 100 min $319 | Receptionist minutes | English and Spanish mentioned on its legal page only; no price or inclusion statement | Overage and rounding not published |
| Smith.ai (AI receptionist) | 75 calls $150; 150 calls $270; 300 calls $500; 500 calls $800 | Calls | Detects English or Spanish when Spanish support is enabled; no surcharge stated | Extra calls $2.50 to $2.10 |
| Rosie | 250 min $49; 1,000 min $149; 2,000 min $299 | AI minutes | Included: "English and Spanish on every call" | Overage not published on the page; annual plan gives two months free |
| Upfirst | 30 calls $24.95; 90 calls $59.95; 300 calls $159.95; 600 calls $299 | AI calls (spam not counted) | Included: 35+ languages with automatic switching | Extra calls $1.50 to $0.70; annual saves 20% |
| Dialzara | 60 min $29; 220 min $99; 500 min $199; 1,000 min $349 | AI minutes, tracked to the second | Plan-gated: bilingual English and Spanish on Pro and above, not on Lite | Overage $0.48 to $0.35/min; no setup fee |
| Vocaly AI | 1,000 min $189; 2,500 min $399; 10,000 min $1,499 | AI minutes, billed per second | English and Spanish; other languages quoted at +$8,000 | Its bilingual page says "from $99/month", its pricing page starts at $189 |
| AnswerFirst | $30 a month plus $1.60 to $1.95/min | Receptionist minutes, one-second billing | No Spanish offer found anywhere on its site | No plans or minimums |
| My AI Front Desk | $99 a month for 200 minutes ($79 billed annually) | AI minutes | "20+ languages"; Spanish not named on the pricing page | Overage 25 credits a minute at $0.01 a credit, so $0.25/min |
| Goodcall | 100 callers $79; 250 callers $129; 500 callers $249 | Unique callers, unlimited minutes | Not stated on its pricing page or homepage | $0.50 per extra caller; annual saves 15% |
| Answering Legal | No price published | Quote after a form | Bilingual English and Spanish receptionists | Says it charges no setup fees and nothing extra for premium features |
| LEX Reception | No price published | Quote after registration | 24/7 Spanish-speaking answering | Plans and pricing link leads to a sign-up form |
| Alert Communications | No price published | Contact us | English and Spanish intake queues on its legal page | Serves law firms only |
| Nexa | No price published | Plans by voice minutes, no dollar figures | Spanish-speaking receptionists on request | FAQ mentions a setup fee and overage at the base rate |
Answer 1 would not load for us on September 25 (the connection timed out), so we make no claim about it. Spyne sells an English and Spanish voice agent to car dealers but publishes no price for it.
Do answering services charge extra for Spanish?
Most do not anymore. Of the thirteen live services in our table that say anything about Spanish on their own site, eight include it in every plan: PATLive, MAP, AnswerHero, AMBS, Abby Connect, Moneypenny, Posh and Ruby. ReceptionHQ includes it too, but only in daytime hours. Specialty Answering Service and Davinci offer Spanish without saying on the pricing page whether it costs more. Two charge for it. Smith.ai adds $1.00 to every call routed to its dedicated Spanish line, and AnswerConnect lists Spanish as a $30 add-on.
The surcharge shape matters more than the size. AnswerConnect's $30 is flat, so it gets cheaper per call the more Spanish calls you take. Smith.ai's dollar per call scales with volume: at 200 Spanish calls a month it is $200 a month, or $2,400 a year, on top of a plan that already costs more than most. That does not make Smith.ai the wrong choice. Its per-call billing means a 6-minute intake call costs the same as a 1-minute message, which suits a law firm whose Spanish callers explain an accident in detail. It does mean the "Spanish" line belongs in your cost model, not in a footnote.
Is Spanish answered on every shift, or only during the day?
This is the question that separates the offers, and it is rarely on the pricing page. ReceptionHQ, which bills in US dollars and answers US businesses, states that Spanish is covered 5am to 7pm Mountain time, seven days a week, that overnight calls go to an English-only team in Australia, and that after-hours surcharges apply to bilingual calls on weekends and federal holidays. That is honest and specific, and it is exactly the detail a buyer misses when "bilingual included" is printed next to the plan.
Ruby shows the problem from the other side. One answer in its own FAQ says optional 24/7 Spanish bilingual service is included with every receptionist account at no additional cost. Another answer on the same site says bilingual service is available Monday to Friday, 5am to 6pm Pacific. Both cannot be current. If your Spanish callers phone on Saturday mornings or after work, which is when many consumers call a lawyer or a contractor, get the hours in writing before you sign, from Ruby or from anyone else.
Three questions settle it: during which hours is a fluent Spanish speaker the first voice on the line, what happens to a Spanish call outside those hours (transferred, voicemail, or answered in English), and is any of that billed differently. A provider that answers all three in one email is usually a provider you can work with.
What does 200 calls a month cost with Spanish coverage?
To compare minute plans, call plans and AI plans on one line, we priced the same month on each: 200 calls, about 2.5 minutes each, so 500 receptionist minutes, with Spanish enabled. We picked the cheapest published plan that covers it, added any Spanish charge, and added setup fees once in year one. Your own call length will move these numbers, so treat them as a way to rank offers, not as quotes.
| Plan | Monthly cost with Spanish | Year one | What the number assumes |
|---|---|---|---|
| AnswerHero Business, human | $499 | $5,988 | 500 minutes; quarter-minute rounding pushes real usage up slightly |
| AMBS 500 minutes, human | $600 | $7,285 | Includes the $85 setup once; 30-second rounding |
| MAP Premium, human | $649 | $7,788 | 500 minutes, Spanish in every plan |
| PATLive 500 minutes, human | $759 | $9,108 | PATLive's own "about 200 calls" plan |
| AnswerConnect Standard, human | $790 | $9,530 | 400 minutes $575, 100 extra at $1.85, Spanish $30, setup $49.99 once |
| Posh Lavish, human | $975 | $11,700 | 500 minutes, bilingual included |
| Moneypenny 500 minutes, human | $985 | $11,820 | Bilingual included on people plans |
| Abby Connect Growth, human | $1,380 | $16,560 | 500 Abby Minutes, all human |
| Ruby 500 minutes, human | $1,725 | $20,700 | Spanish hours to be confirmed in writing |
| Smith.ai Basic, human | $2,165 | $25,980 | 90 calls $810, 110 extra at $10.50, plus $1.00 on each of 200 Spanish calls |
| ReceptionHQ MessageExpress 200 | $325 | $3,900 | Message taking only, not a full receptionist; Spanish in daytime hours only |
| Rosie Scale, AI | $149 | $1,788 | 1,000 AI minutes, English and Spanish on every call |
| Upfirst Pro, AI | $159.95 | $1,919 | 300 calls; $128 a month if paid annually |
| Dialzara Plus, AI | $199 | $2,388 | 500 minutes; the $29 Lite plan has no Spanish |
| Smith.ai AI receptionist | $385 | $4,620 | 150 calls $270 plus 50 extra at $2.30 |
Three things stand out. The cheapest human plan with Spanish included costs less than a quarter of the most expensive one for the same month, which is a wider spread than English-only pricing shows. The Spanish surcharge is only decisive at Smith.ai, where it adds about 10 percent. And the gap between AI and human is now so large ($149 against $499 at the cheapest end) that the real decision is not which bilingual service but which of your calls can be handled by software at all.
Human bilingual receptionist or AI that answers in Spanish?
Use a human bilingual receptionist when the Spanish call carries risk or judgment: legal intake, a medical symptom, an upset customer, a payment dispute. Use AI when the Spanish call is routine: hours, directions, booking, a message for a technician. Many providers now sell both, and hybrid plans (AnswerHero, AMBS, Abby Connect) let the software answer first and hand over to a person.
The AI side has a catch worth knowing. Language support is not always on every tier. Dialzara leaves Spanish off its cheapest plan, Moneypenny lists bilingual answering on its people plans but not on its AI plans, and Goodcall and My AI Front Desk do not name Spanish on their pricing pages at all (My AI Front Desk says "20+ languages"). If Spanish is the reason you are buying, the plan page should say "Spanish" in plain words. For a wider look at what AI agents cost across chat, email and voice, see our guide to AI customer service software pricing.
Bilingual answering service for law firms
Legal intake is where the published-price picture breaks down. The services built only for law firms (Answering Legal, LEX Reception and Alert Communications) all advertise Spanish-speaking receptionists and none of them publishes a price; each routes you to a form or a call. That leaves a firm comparing a published rate card against a sales quote, which is the least favorable way to negotiate.
Several general providers publish prices and serve law firms. Smith.ai's per-call model fits long intake conversations, though its Spanish line adds a dollar a call. Posh includes bilingual service in every plan and bills per minute from $65 a month. Davinci mentions English and Spanish on its legal page without saying what it costs. Whichever you pick, ask whether the Spanish receptionist runs your full intake script or only takes a message for an English-speaking callback, because a message-only Spanish line quietly moves the intake work back onto your staff.
Bilingual answering service vs hiring a bilingual receptionist
The US median wage for receptionists was $18.27 an hour, or $38,010 a year, in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. One full-time person covers about 40 of the 168 hours in a week, so covering evenings and weekends in-house takes three to four people plus benefits and backup. Against that, the $6,000 to $12,000 a year most services charge for 200 calls a month with Spanish included is hard to beat on cost alone.
Hiring still wins in two cases: when call volume is high enough to keep a person busy all day, and when the receptionist also does other work (scheduling, collections calls, front desk) that a service will not. If you do hire, the expensive mistake is a candidate whose Spanish is conversational but not professional; running a structured first-round screening interview in both languages before the in-person round catches that early. Many businesses end up with both: an in-house bilingual person during the day and a service for overflow, lunch and after hours. The staffing math for that split is the same as for any small phone queue, and our call center staffing calculator walks through it.
What to ask before you sign
- Which hours are covered by a fluent Spanish speaker? Get it in writing, including weekends and holidays, and ask what happens to a Spanish call outside those hours.
- Is Spanish billed differently? Flat add-on, per-call surcharge, a higher tier, or nothing. Ask about after-hours bilingual surcharges specifically.
- Does the Spanish receptionist run the full script? Intake, booking and payment, or only a message?
- How is a call rounded? Per second, quarter minute, 30 seconds or full minute. Longer Spanish intake calls make rounding matter more.
- How are messages delivered? In Spanish, translated to English, or both? Your staff needs to act on them.
Frequently asked questions
Do answering services speak Spanish?
Yes, most US answering services now offer Spanish, and eight of the thirteen live services we checked include it in every plan at no extra cost. The differences are in the hours Spanish is staffed, whether it costs extra (Smith.ai and AnswerConnect charge for it), and whether the Spanish receptionist runs your full script or only takes a message.
What is the cheapest bilingual answering service?
Among live human services, AnswerHero's 500-minute plan at $499 a month was the cheapest published plan with Spanish included for about 200 calls, followed by AMBS at $600 and MAP at $649. Among AI receptionists, Rosie at $149 for 1,000 minutes and Upfirst at $159.95 for 300 calls both include Spanish on every plan.
Is a bilingual virtual receptionist the same as a bilingual answering service?
In practice the terms overlap. "Virtual receptionist" usually signals a fuller service (booking, transfers, intake scripts, sometimes outbound calls), while "answering service" can mean message taking only. ReceptionHQ, for example, sells both: message plans per call and receptionist plans per minute, at different prices. Compare what the receptionist actually does, not the label.
Can an AI answering service handle Spanish calls?
Yes. Rosie, Upfirst, Smith.ai's AI receptionist, AnswerHero AI and Vocaly AI all answer in English and Spanish, and several switch languages automatically mid-call. Check the plan, though: Dialzara offers Spanish only from its $99 Pro plan up, and some AI plans do not name Spanish at all on the pricing page.
Do bilingual answering services charge a setup fee?
Most do not. Among the services we checked, AMBS charges $85 once, AnswerConnect $49.99 on some plans, and ReceptionHQ from $50 on its receptionist plans. Ruby, Smith.ai, Abby Connect, AnswerHero, Specialty Answering Service, Upfirst and Dialzara say they charge none.
The short version
Bilingual answering is now standard, not premium: eight of thirteen live services include Spanish in every plan, and a month of 200 calls with Spanish costs $499 to $985 at most of them. Before you compare prices, get the Spanish hours in writing, because "included" can mean daytime only. Budget an extra dollar a call at Smith.ai and $30 a month at AnswerConnect. And price your routine Spanish calls on an AI plan too, because at $149 to $200 a month it changes what the human service needs to cover.