Pricing
A small one-time activation fee, then a flat monthly rate — and nothing up front at all if you set it up yourself. Every figure is on this page, and it is the same figure in the agreement you sign.
What phone coverage is worth
Industry estimates put a full-time receptionist at roughly $2,800–$4,500 per month all-in. We include that as a yardstick for what answering the phone is worth, and not as a reason to change your staffing.
Your team handles the calls that need a person. We handle the other 40 hours a week: the evenings, the weekends, and the calls that come in while everybody is already busy.
Essential
One location, covered around the clock.
$1,200/ month
$399 activation
750 minutes included, then $0.50 per additional minute
Best for: A single-location shop that wants every call answered and a message in hand, without changing how jobs get booked.
- Single location
- 24/7 answering
- Answers in 20+ languages — included, not an add-on
- FAQ handling
- Message taking
- Urgency triage
- Call transfer to your team on your rules
- Call recording and transcription
- Spam and solicitor filtering
- Leads delivered to you by email, text, or both
- Monthly performance report
- Unlimited script updates
The form, then we build it. You approve it by test-calling it before it answers a customer.
Professional
For shops booking jobs straight into the calendar.
$1,800/ month
$499 activation
1,500 minutes included, then $0.50 per additional minute
Best for: A shop with a full calendar and a dispatcher, where a message is a second phone call and a booked slot is the job.
Everything in Essential, plus:
- Appointment booking directly into your calendar during the call
- Texts the caller their confirmation before they hang up
- CRM / field-service software integration
- Custom routing rules
- Priority support
The form, then we build it. You approve it by test-calling it before it answers a customer.
Multi-Location
Two or more locations, quoted to your setup.
from$2,500/ month
from $1,500 activation
Custom quoted
Best for: Two or more shops, or one shop with separate crews, where the caller needs to reach the right branch without being told to hang up and dial another number.
Everything in Professional, plus:
- Two or more locations
- Multiple agents with location-based routing
- Per-location reporting
30-day pilot
$299, then a month free
Thirty days on your real number with your real callers, and no monthly fee for any of it. Stop at the end and you owe nothing further, with no notice period — that is in the agreement, not just on this page.
- $299 to activate, on Essential or Professional
- No monthly fee for the first thirty days
- Your plan's full month of minutes, not a prorated slice
- Your existing number, forwarded, and you keep it either way
- You test-call the agent and approve it in writing before it answers a customer
- Continue and the first monthly fee starts then, with no second activation fee
30-day pilot
$299
to activate, on Essential or Professional
then no monthly fee for the first thirty days
Minutes past your plan's allowance still bill at $0.50, during the pilot as at any other time.
Ask about the pilotSet it up yourself: no activation fee
Where you provision the agent through our self-serve flow and nobody here touches the build, the activation fee is $0. That is a condition, not a promotion — if one of us writes your script, defines your emergency criteria or connects an integration, the $399 applies. We tell you which one you are on before you are charged, not after.
White-glove build
$2,000 one-time, in place of the activation fee, for an owner who would rather hand over what is in their head than fill in a form.
- A scoping call, and we write the script from what you already have
- We draft your emergency definition and escalation matrix — you still approve them
- We perform one CRM or field-service integration
- We configure call forwarding with you on the line
- Two rounds of revision after your first test call, before go-live
Minutes and overage
Every plan includes a monthly bundle of talk minutes. Go past it and additional minutes are $0.50 per minute, the same rate on every plan, billed on your next invoice. We tell you at 80% of your allowance. If you are regularly running over, we move you to the plan that costs you less.
Why multi-location is quoted
Two or more locations, or complex routing, need additional configuration and sometimes more than one agent. There is no honest way to put a single sticker price on that, so we quote it to your actual setup instead of guessing.
Pay twelve months up front, pay for ten
Pay 12 months of the monthly fee up front and you are charged for 10. Applies to the monthly fee. The activation fee and any white-glove build are unchanged and billed separately, and the same 60-day notice on price changes still applies.
No hidden fees. No long-term contract. 30 days notice to cancel.
Workforce
When the phone is no longer the only thing you want handled
Everything in Multi-Location, plus the rest of the front office: outbound follow-up on unclosed quotes, appointment reminders, review requests after a completed job, and reporting that ties it together. Scoped and quoted per business.
Talk it through- Follow-up calls on quotes that went quiet
- Appointment reminders and reschedules
- Review requests after a job closes
- Reporting across every agent in one place
Three questions
Which plan is yours
The same three questions we would ask you on a call. You get the same answer here, without waiting for one.
Answer the three
The recommendation appears here. It is the cheapest plan that covers what you described, not the most expensive one you would tolerate.
Run your own numbers
What missed calls are costing you
Move the four controls to match your shop. Nothing is sent anywhere and nothing is stored. The arithmetic is on the page so you can check it.
Nights, weekends, and every call that comes in while you are already on one.
Calls you never hear about
520 a year
Work that goes to somebody else
$77,220
every year, at those numbers
What the Essential plan costs
$14,799 in year one, activation included
The calls you are missing are worth 5.2 times what the plan costs.
Or call the demo line and hear it first. Nothing is charged until you have approved the agent.
The arithmetic: calls a week, times the share you miss, times fifty-two, times the share that would have become work, times what a job is worth. It is an estimate built from numbers you supplied, not a projection of what your business will earn.
Pricing questions, answered straight
How much does an AI answering service cost?
Kende charges $1,200 a month for a single location, which includes 750 talk minutes, plus a one-time $399 activation fee. The Professional plan is $1,800 a month with 1,500 minutes and calendar booking, and $499 to activate. Two or more locations are quoted from $2,500 a month. Additional minutes are $0.50 on every plan.
Is there a contract or a minimum term?
No minimum term. The monthly fee runs month to month and you cancel with 30 days' written notice. The activation fee is one-time and covers configuring the agent, which is why it is not refundable once that work has happened.
What is the activation fee for?
Configuring the agent to your business. We take your answers from the onboarding form, write the call flows, record your specific transfer and emergency rules, test the agent internally, then hand it to you to test-call and approve in writing. Nothing answers a real customer until you have signed off. That work happens once, so it is billed once — $399, not the $2,000 it used to be.
Is there a way to pay nothing up front?
Yes. Where you set the agent up yourself through our self-serve flow and nobody here touches the build, there is no activation fee at all. That is a condition rather than a promotion: if one of us writes your script, defines your emergency criteria or connects an integration, the activation fee applies, and we tell you which one you are on before you are charged.
Can I have you do the whole build instead?
Yes — that is the white-glove build, $2,000 one-time, in place of the activation fee. A scoping call, we write the script from what you already have, we draft your emergency definition and escalation matrix for you to approve, one CRM integration, forwarding configured with you on the line, and two rounds of revision before go-live. It is optional and most businesses do not need it.
Can I try it before committing?
Yes. The 30-day pilot is $299 to activate and then no monthly fee for thirty days, on your real number with your real callers. You get your plan's full month of minutes, not a prorated slice; minutes past the allowance still bill at $0.50. Stop at the end and you owe nothing further — no notice period, no notice charge, and that is written into the agreement rather than just this page. Continue and the first monthly fee starts then, with no second activation fee.
What happens if I go over my included minutes?
Additional minutes bill at $0.50 each on your next invoice. We notify you when usage reaches 80% of your allowance, so a surprise is not part of the arrangement. If you run over regularly, we move you to the plan that costs you less rather than waiting for you to notice.
Are there hidden fees?
No. The activation fee, the monthly fee and $0.50 for minutes beyond the allowance are the whole price. Languages, script updates, call recording, transcription and the monthly report are included rather than sold as add-ons. Price changes require 60 days' written notice, and you can cancel inside that window without penalty.
How does this compare to a human receptionist?
A full-time receptionist runs roughly $2,800 to $4,500 a month all-in, works forty hours, takes holidays, and answers one call at a time. The agent covers all 168 hours and answers every call at once. It does not replace the person who handles the calls that need judgement, and we do not sell it as a reason to let anybody go.
- Keep your number and your provider
- Answers in 20+ languages
- You approve it before launch
- Cancel anytime with 30 days notice
Not sure which plan fits?
Call the demo line and hear the agent, then tell us your call volume. We will point you at the plan that costs you the least.
That’s our AI answering. It’s the same system we build for you.