BossBot ROI calculator — compare your options honestly

Podium's Essentials tier has been publicly listed at approximately $399/month for standard US small-business setups. Actual price varies by module bundle, team size, and negotiation. The $399 baseline reflects the entry point for a single-location US SMB with the core messaging + reviews modules. See /vs/podium for the full honest comparison.

US answering services (AnswerConnect, VoiceNation, Ruby Receptionists) publish minute-tier pricing. Typical SMB spend runs $200-800/month depending on call minutes. The calculator uses $500/month as the midpoint SMB benchmark and scales up modestly with team size. See /vs/answering-service for details.

A part-time US receptionist typically works 20 hours/week. Base wage: $18-25/hour × 20 hours × 4.33 weeks = $1,559-$2,166/month. The calculator uses the midpoint ($21.50/hour = $1,862/month base). Payroll taxes, benefits, workers-comp, and PTO typically add 15-30% on top — the honest note reminds you. Full breakdown: /vs/hiring-part-time-receptionist.

Heymarket's published Starter tier is $49/user/month. Business tier is $99/user/month. The calculator uses $49/user/month × your team size (Starter tier assumption). See /vs/heymarket.

The smallest plan that covers both your team size and message volume. Lite (1 seat, 500 msgs), Starter (3 seats, 2,000 msgs), Growth (10 seats, 8,000 msgs), Scale (unlimited).

For chat-channel workloads: nearly always. But BossBot doesn't send SMS or handle voice calls. If your customers reach you primarily via SMS or phone, an answering service or Podium can be worth the higher cost because they cover the channel your customers actually use. Match the tool to the channel.