Kwickly Answers vs. Ruby: Answering Service for Local Businesses
Kwickly Answers answers your business calls with an AI assistant, on plans priced by minutes from $129.99 a month for 350 minutes, while Ruby Receptionists answers them with receptionists who are people, from $250 a month for 50 minutes. The biggest difference is what comes with the minutes: every Kwickly Answers phone plan includes a booking page, a calendar, a customer list and day-before email reminders, and you decide what the assistant handles. For a local business that wants calls answered and appointments booked from one monthly price, that keeps the phone, the calendar and the reminders in one place.
What Ruby does, and what Kwickly Answers adds
Ruby's pages describe a team of virtual receptionists, available 24 hours a day according to its FAQ, who answer calls, take messages, schedule appointments and can transfer a call to a phone number you choose. Its plans differ by the number of receptionist minutes, and the same features come with each plan.
Kwickly Answers covers the same everyday jobs for a local business with an AI assistant: it answers the calls you forward, 24 hours a day, from your own services, hours, service area and approved prices, and it takes messages. You choose whether it books appointments directly or takes messages instead, and you define which calls are flagged to you as urgent by email.
Booking is part of the plan. Every Kwickly Answers phone plan comes with a calendar, a web page with online booking, email confirmations, a reminder email the day before, and a customer list, so, when you choose direct booking, a caller who wants an appointment and a customer who prefers to book online end up on the same calendar.
The outcome is one monthly plan for answering, booking and reminders, with Spanish included and the owner in charge of what the assistant does.
How do the plans compare?
Ruby starts at $250 a month for 50 minutes, and Kwickly Answers Starter (Essential level) is $129.99 a month for 350 minutes.
| What is compared | Kwickly Answers | Ruby |
|---|---|---|
| Plans | Starter $129.99–$209.99 (350 minutes), Growth $259.99–$419.99 (1,000 minutes), Pro $469.99–$769.99 (2,000 minutes), a month | $250 (50 minutes), $395 (100), $720 (200), $1,725 (500), a month Source: ruby.com/plans-and-pricing/, read October 1, 2026 |
| Who answers | An AI assistant set up with your services, hours, service area and approved prices | Receptionists who are people, answering calls, available 24 hours a day, according to its FAQ Source: ruby.com/plans-and-pricing/, ruby.com/faqs/, read October 1, 2026 |
| What a minute is | Assistant call minutes, counted by the second | Receptionist minutes, counted from when a receptionist answers; the FAQ says hold time is included Source: ruby.com/faqs/, read October 1, 2026 |
| Past the plan | Extra minutes are $0.50 each, counted by the second, added to your next bill; the plan never moves up by itself | The FAQ says extra minutes are billed at the overage rate for your plan; the pages we read show no dollar rate Source: ruby.com/faqs/, read October 1, 2026 |
| Booking and calendar | Booking page, calendar, customer list and day-before email reminders in every phone plan | Scheduling is listed among its features; the FAQ says it first reviews your calendar system Source: ruby.com/plans-and-pricing/, ruby.com/faqs/, read October 1, 2026 |
| Languages | Spanish included on every phone plan; 15 other languages for $19.99 a month, with a native-sounding voice for up to 3 you pick | Spanish included at no additional cost; the pages we read show English and Spanish Source: ruby.com/faqs/, read October 1, 2026 |
| Setup | No setup fee if you set it up yourself; done-for-you setup is $299.99 once | The plans page says there are no fees for activation, onboarding, setup or customization Source: ruby.com/plans-and-pricing/, read October 1, 2026 |
| Contract | Month to month | The FAQ says plans come without a long-term contract Source: ruby.com/faqs/, read October 1, 2026 |
See Kwickly Answers' full published pricing. Prices change, so confirm Ruby's current price on its own site before you decide.
Is Kwickly Answers a Ruby alternative?
Yes, Kwickly Answers is a Ruby alternative for a local business that wants its calls answered and its appointments booked. It answers the calls you forward, takes messages, and books on its own calendar when you choose direct booking, on plans from $129.99 a month. Ruby's receptionists are people and Kwickly Answers uses an AI assistant, so the two work differently; what you get here is the answering, the booking page, the calendar, the customer list and the day-before email reminders in one plan.
How do the prices compare at about 200 minutes a month?
For about 200 minutes a month, Ruby's 200-minute plan is $720 and the Kwickly Answers Starter plan, Essential level, is $129.99 for 350 minutes (both read 2026-10-01); Starter is the smallest phone plan, so it includes more minutes than 200. These figures leave out extra minutes. The Ruby pages we read (1 Oct 2026) show no dollar rate for extra minutes, and on Kwickly Answers extra minutes are $0.50 each, counted by the second. The two services also differ in kind: Ruby's minutes are for receptionists who are people, and Kwickly Answers' minutes are for an AI assistant that comes with a booking page and calendar.
Does Kwickly Answers book appointments the way Ruby does?
Yes, when you set the assistant to book directly, Kwickly Answers books onto the calendar that comes with the plan, built around your hours and who works when, and with Google Calendar connected it checks when you are busy so it does not book over you. Ruby's FAQ says its receptionists schedule appointments after reviewing your calendar system. Here the booking page, the calendar and the customer list are part of every phone plan, and each customer is sent a confirmation email and a reminder email the day before.
Who decides what the Kwickly Answers assistant handles?
You decide what the Kwickly Answers assistant handles. In your portal you pick between booking appointments directly and taking messages (messages are the default), and you define which kinds of calls are flagged to you as urgent by email. Its answers come from your own services, hours, service area and the prices you approve.
Which Ruby features are built, planned or not part of Kwickly Answers today?
- Built, not switched on yet: a warm transfer, where the assistant puts a caller through to a person on your team with a short brief first; Ruby's pages say its receptionists can transfer a call to a phone number you choose.
- Not part of Kwickly Answers today: receptionists who are people answering your calls, which Ruby's plans are built around.
- What Kwickly Answers does today: an AI assistant answers the calls you forward, 24 hours a day, from $129.99 a month for 350 minutes, books directly or takes a message as you choose, and flags urgent calls to you by email; an urgent lead can also be texted to one person who has turned that on in the portal and can be reached at that time, and after hours just for an emergency.
Source: ruby.com/plans-and-pricing/, ruby.com/faqs/, read October 1, 2026
Unhappy with Ruby? What switching to Kwickly Answers looks like
Switching from Ruby to Kwickly Answers means keeping your business number and forwarding your calls to your Kwickly Answers number. Your portal shows the steps for AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Comcast Business, Spectrum, RingCentral, Ooma and Vonage, and a Google Voice line needs a hand, so you get in touch and we set it up with you. Your phone company may charge for forwarded minutes, so ask them. Setting it up yourself in your portal has no setup fee, and having us set it up with you on a call is $299.99 once.
Ruby's plans page and FAQs (ruby.com/plans-and-pricing and ruby.com/faqs, read 1 Oct 2026) price by receptionist minutes, 50, 100, 200 or 500 a month, from $250 a month for 50, and say extra minutes are billed at the overage rate for your plan. The pages we read (1 Oct 2026) show no dollar rate for extra minutes. Source: ruby.com/plans-and-pricing/, ruby.com/faqs/, read October 1, 2026
Kwickly Answers is an assistant set up with your services, hours and approved prices, with plans from $129.99 a month for 350 minutes and extra minutes at $0.50 each counted by the second, so your callers are answered and, when you choose direct booking, your bookings land in one calendar.
Why choose Kwickly Answers instead of Ruby?
- Booking comes with the phone plan: a booking page, a calendar, a customer list and day-before email reminders are included from $129.99 a month, so there is no separate scheduling tool to add.
- Minutes and the extra-minute rate are printed on our pricing page: 350, 1,000 or 2,000 a month on plans from $129.99 to $769.99, with extra minutes at $0.50 each, counted by the second.
- You set what the assistant does with a call: book directly or take a message, with urgent calls flagged to you by email.
- Spanish is part of every phone plan, and 15 more languages are one flat $19.99 a month.
- Billed month to month, with no setup fee when you set it up yourself.
Questions people ask
Is Kwickly Answers a Ruby alternative?
Yes, for a local business that wants an AI assistant on its calls. Starting at $129.99 a month, Kwickly Answers answers the calls you forward, takes messages, and books on its own calendar when you choose direct booking. Ruby uses receptionists who are people, so the two work differently.
Does Kwickly Answers work if I just need calls answered and appointments booked?
Yes, Kwickly Answers covers answering and booking together: every phone plan carries the assistant plus a booking page, calendar, customer list and day-before email reminders, from $129.99 a month for 350 minutes.
Can Kwickly Answers replace Ruby?
For the calls you want the assistant to handle, yes. You keep your business number and forward calls to your Kwickly Answers number, then decide whether the assistant books or takes messages and which calls reach you as urgent email.
Ruby or Kwickly Answers for a local business?
Ruby's plans, from $250 a month for 50 receptionist minutes, are priced by the minutes of receptionists who are people. Kwickly Answers suits a local business that wants one monthly plan for answering, booking and reminders: minutes from $129.99 a month, with the booking page, calendar and customer list included.
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Sources and last verified date
Last verified: 2026-10-01. Every fact about Ruby on this page was read from its own pages, listed here with the date each was read.
- ruby.com/plans-and-pricing/, read October 1, 2026
- ruby.com/faqs/, read October 1, 2026
Ruby is a trademark of its owner. Kwickly Answers isn't affiliated with or endorsed by Ruby. Ruby's prices are from its public page on October 1, 2026.
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