How Much Does an AI Answering Service for Restaurants Cost? (2026)

Most restaurant owners asking about an AI answering service want one number. There isn't one, because vendors price on different things: some by the order, some by the month, some only by quote. This guide explains what you are paying for in 2026, shows where usage-based billing costs the most, and gives each vendor's printed price so you have something concrete to compare. For what each service does, see our shortlist of restaurant AI phone answering services.

How much does an AI answering service for restaurants cost?

Printed prices run from a per-order fee of $0 to $1.50 at Bite Buddy to flat plans such as Maple Voice at $85 a month billed yearly and Slang AI Premium from $599 per location. Several vendors print no price. The low end answers calls and questions. The high end takes orders into your point-of-sale, books tables and takes payment. Maple Voice costs $150 a month, or $85 a month billed yearly; Maple Pro, which adds ordering and reservations, costs $350 a month, or $220 a month billed yearly.

What is the most affordable AI answering option for a restaurant?

The most affordable option is the cheapest plan that finishes the calls you get. If callers mostly ask about hours and the menu, an answering-only plan costs least. If they order, compare ordering plans at your real monthly order count, because a per-order price costs less in slow months and more in busy ones. The table lists each vendor's own printed price, in no order of preference.

Service	What the price covers	Printed price
Maple Voice	Answering, hours and FAQs, call transfer	$150/month, or $85/month billed yearly
Maple Pro	Voice plus phone orders into the POS, OpenTable reservations and card payment on the call	$350/month, or $220/month billed yearly
Bite Buddy	Phone orders and table reservations	$0 to $1.50 per order; the site says most restaurants offset this with a "Digital Order Fee"
Certus AI	Phone orders into the POS	$250/mo with ordering, billed monthly, in its homepage comparison table
Yelp Host	Answering, phone orders with a texted payment link, bookings through your platform	From $249 per month after up to 30 days free; Yelp says additional fees and terms apply
Slang AI Core and Premium	Answering and reservations	Core from $399 per location, Premium from $599 per location; billing period not printed
Loman Starter and Premium	Starter answers calls; Premium adds orders, reservations and payment	Request pricing; Loman's own Maple comparison article says it starts at $199 per month
Hostie plans	Calls, texts and email; takeout and reservations on higher plans	Not printed

Here is how a per-order price moves with volume. At the top of Bite Buddy's printed range, $1.50 an order, 100 orders cost $150 and 200 orders cost $300. The per-order bill passes $220 at 147 orders, $250 at 167 and $350 at 234. Bite Buddy's $0 end relies on its "Digital Order Fee," so ask who pays that fee and how it shows on the guest's bill.

What you are paying for

Price differences across vendors come down to four things:

• Answering versus doing. Writing an order into your POS with the right modifiers costs more than taking a message, because it saves your staff the most work.
• Integration depth. A service that emails you the order can cost less than one that writes into Toast, Square or Clover. It also costs your staff more time.
• Call volume. Some vendors cap minutes or calls. If your Friday night is the reason you are shopping, a cap is the thing to check first.
• Contract length. Annual lock-ins buy a lower headline rate and cost you the option to leave.

Why does usage-based pricing cost more than it looks?

A meter runs fastest on your busiest nights. In Maple's published restaurant phone audit, Friday carried 20.1% of weekly calls and Monday 11.2%. A vendor charging by the minute or by the order is cheapest in your slowest week and most expensive in your busiest, which is the wrong way round for a fixed cost.

Per-minute billing has a second problem. It gives you a reason to wish calls were shorter, which is a poor arrangement for something answering your guests.

Flat monthly pricing puts the cost where you can plan for it. Maple charges a flat monthly fee with no per-minute fees.

What does Maple cost?

Maple's pricing is published, so you can compare it without a sales call:

• Maple Voice, $150 a month, or $85 a month billed yearly. 24/7 AI phone answering, humanlike voice, hours and FAQ answers, automated call transfer, advanced call analytics and multilingual voice.
• Maple Pro, $350 a month, or $220 a month billed yearly. Everything in Voice, plus phone orders into your POS, booking, changing and cancelling reservations on OpenTable, intelligent upselling, secure card payment during the call, order confirmation texts and white-glove onboarding.
• Maple Enterprise, custom pricing. Everything in Pro, plus multi-location management, custom integrations, custom voice training, a dedicated success manager, priority 24/7 support and a master service agreement.

A restaurant that wants the phone answered pays $1,800 a year on monthly billing or $1,020 billed yearly. One that wants orders taken into the POS and tables booked pays $4,200 a year on monthly billing or $2,640 billed yearly. Maple Voice and Pro have no contract; Enterprise uses a master service agreement. The pricing page has the current detail.

How does it compare to a person?

Set the plan next to the staffing you pay for now. Take an assumed $16 an hour (use your own rate) for someone to cover the phone four hours a night, 26 nights a month: that is $1,664 a month before payroll taxes, against $350 for Maple Pro on monthly billing. That person also works a fixed shift and answers one call at a time. An AI phone agent can also answer when you are closed. In Maple's phone audit, 19% of calls arrived outside business hours.

The other half of the sum is the calls you miss now. The same audit found that at restaurants taking phone orders, 39.8% of calls showed ordering intent. The audit covers paying Maple customers only, measures what callers asked for without counting completed orders, and says raw-data reproduction is still pending. Count your own missed calls by hour before you trust any payback figure.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a free trial?

Maple's pricing page does not list a free trial. Its product page sets out a trial review: count orders completed correctly, orders needing staff help and requests not completed, then compare costs and corrections with your old process. Ask about trial terms when you book a demo.

Are there setup fees?

Maple's pricing page prints no setup fee. It tells you to check the plan, billing term, location count, payment charges and any setup or third-party costs together when you compare quotes. White-glove onboarding is listed under Maple Pro.

Does the price change as call volume grows?

Maple Voice and Pro are flat monthly prices with no per-minute fees, so a busy month carries the same plan price as a quiet one. Payment charges and third-party costs sit outside the plan price, so confirm them in your quote.

Do I need Maple Pro?

Only if you want phone orders written into your POS, tables booked, or card payment taken on the call. A restaurant that mainly needs hours and menu questions answered can run on Maple Voice.

What does it cost to connect my POS?

Maple Pro includes every POS integration Maple supports, and custom integrations sit in Enterprise. Your POS company may charge its own fee; Maple's Toast page tells you to check Toast-side charges before you connect. Maple connects to Toast, Square, Clover, SkyTab (now Shift4 Dine), Lightspeed and more, listed in the full POS compatibility guide.

Can I cancel?

Maple Voice and Pro have no contract. Enterprise uses a master service agreement.

How do you compare vendors on price?

Put every quote on the same footing before you decide:

1. Ask for the monthly cost at your actual call and order volume, not the headline rate.
2. Ask what happens when you exceed the included minutes, calls or orders.
3. Ask whether POS integration is included or an add-on.
4. Ask for the contract length and the exit terms.
5. Ask to hear a real call. Price means little if the agent cannot handle your menu.

On the last point you can start now: listen to real Maple calls, then book a demo.

Published by Maple. This AI-assisted guide combines Maple's published prices, each vendor's own printed prices, figures from Maple's published phone audit and worked sums on assumed volumes and wages. It does not rank the vendors, report a test of any other service, or promise a saving.