We Review: Ruby vs. PATLive
Wondering how Ruby Receptionists compares to PATLive? We’ve taken a close look at Ruby’s services and searched the internet for Ruby reviews to see how they stack up against PATLive in this side-by-side comparison.
Capabilities
Both Ruby and PATLive are known for being top-tier virtual receptionist companies, and each offers very similar 24/7 live call answering services staffed by 100% US agents with a focus on providing high-quality service for their clients’ callers and robust on-call capabilities.
With regards to agent quality and how they’ll handle your calls / what they can do for you on calls, you’ll find the two services are remarkably similar.
Two notable differences, however, are that a) Ruby does offer outbound calls, which PATLive does not, and b) Ruby also offers a live-chat service, which PATLive does not. However, Ruby’s live chat service is a separate service offering with its own pricing, so for the purposes of this review, we are only going to focus on Ruby’s live call answering service as it compares to PATLive’s live call answering service.
Pricing
Both Ruby and PATLive offer similarly structured pricing, with monthly plans that include a number of pre-paid minutes and an excess rate for any additional minutes. In terms of actual prices, however, Ruby’s plans tend to be quite a bit more expensive with per minute rates that range from 1.3X to 2.5X the cost of PATLive’s plans
Plans advertised by Ruby on their pricing page:
Plans advertised by PATLive on their pricing page:
Standardized comparison showing the cost of X minutes per month across each company (using the most advantageous plan advertised on each provider’s pricing page):
Billing-related fine print
While Ruby’s more expensive prices are the most meaningful difference between Ruby and PATLive’s pricing overall, there are some other difference that are worth noting:
Minimum billing per call
Ruby bills a minimum of 30 seconds for each call.
PATLive bills a minimum of 60 seconds for each call.
Billing increment
Ruby bills in 30 second increments.
PATLive bills in 6 second increments.
Hold time
If you’ll need callers to be placed on hold at any point in your call flow, Ruby and PATLive both handle this the same way, billing for the hold time just like normal talk time (since the agent’s time is still being tied up on the call until they actually disconnect.)
Spam and hang-ups
Both Ruby and PATLive charge for spam and hang-up calls. However, Ruby does offer a robocall blocking feature that can automatically block automated calls. With PATLive you have to request for individual numbers to be blocked.
Upgrades, downgrades and cancellations
During your first three months of service, Ruby allows you to upgrade or downgrade your plan at any time and changes take effect immediately (ie in your current bill cycle). After your first three months of service, however, you can only downgrade your plan after 3 consecutive billing periods (3 months) on the same plan. Downgrades take effect at the start of your next bill cycle; upgrades take effect during your current bill cycle.
Ruby also has some restrictions on cancellations. During your first 21 days of service, 500 minutes or 50 chats (whichever comes first), you can close your account immediately and the plan price will be prorated. After this window closes, however, Ruby requires you to finish out your current bill cycle before the cancellation will take effect and does not pro-rate, so you’ll have to pay the full price for your plan, even if you cancel on the 1st or 2nd day of your billing period.
PATLive allows you to upgrade, downgrade or cancel at any time. Upgrades and downgrades take effect at the start of your next bill cycle, and cancellations are always pro-rated.
Spanish language support
Both Ruby and PATLive offer Spanish language support, but Ruby’s offering is more limited in terms of its availability..
Hours
Ruby offers Spanish-speaking service Mon-Fri from 8am to 9pm ET.
PATLive offers Spanish-speaking service Mon-Fri from 8am to 11pm ET and weekends from 8am to 8pm ET.
Cost
Ruby provides Spanish-speaking service at no extra cost.
PATLive charges a $20 per month fee to add Spanish-speaking service to your plan.
Apps and integrations
Both Ruby and PATLive offer top-tier tech to compliment their human call answering services, with a web app, a mobile app and a library of integrations.
Web
Ruby’s online portal allows you to:
Update your status (to change how your calls are being answered by their receptionists)
Access call reports and call details (including voicemails and any info collected by their receptionists)
Queue outbound calls from their receptionists in response to messages you’ve received
View and manage your contacts
Update your company profile and employee directory
If Ruby is hosting your business phone number: Update whether your calls are going to Ruby or directly to you
Manage integrations
Manage billing
PATLive’s online portal allows you to
Update your status (to change how your calls are being answered by their receptionists)
Access call reports and call details (including voicemails and any info collected by their receptionists)
If PATLive is hosting your business phone number: Update the schedule that controls when your calls go to PATLive or when they are going to the list of up to 4 different forwarding numbers you can configure based on day of week and time of day
Manage integrations
Manage billing
As you can see, the two web portals are very similar in terms of functionality, with only three notable differences really: 1) Ruby’s outbound calls feature, 2) Ruby’s ability to let you save callers as Contacts, and 3) PATLive’s more robust schedule-based forwarding (with Ruby you have to manually toggle forwarding on/off, or add a 3rd party service, like Grasshopper, to host your business number so you can access these kinds of advanced forwarding features).
Mobile
Ruby’s mobile app for iOS and Android allows you to:
Update your status (to change how your calls are being answered by their receptionists)
Access call details (including voicemails and any info collected by their receptionists)
Queue outbound calls from their receptionists in response to messages you’ve received
Send and receive text messages from your Ruby number, and place calls from your Ruby number
Block callers
PATLive’s mobile app for iOS and Android allows you to
Update your status (to change how your calls are being answered by their receptionists)
Access call details (including voicemails and any info collected by their receptionists)
While once again similar with regards to the core functionality (updating your status and reviewing calls/messages), Ruby’s ability to send and receive texts and place calls from your Ruby number does stand out as something that PATLive’s mobile app cannot do. However, in our experience, 9 out of 10 companies forward their existing business number to the number provided by their answering service, in which cases these features are fairly useless (since the texts and calls would be coming from the number you’re forwarding to, not the business number that your customers know).
Integrations
When it comes to Integrations, Ruby and PATLive actually do differ quite a bit. Ruby offers 3 integrations for Clio Manage, Clio Grow and Rocket Matter, where you can link your Ruby account to your Clio and/or Rocket Matter accounts to automatically push information from Ruby into these platforms. PATLive offers the same thing with regards to Clio and Practice Panther, but in addition, offers dozens of other “soft integrations” where you don’t actually link your accounts in an online portal but where PATLive’s agents can utilize said software package on your calls, which is very powerful for expanding what they can do on your calls.
Getting started
When you’ve made the decision to get started, each provider offers their own version of a risk-free introductory period to help you ensure the service is right for you.
Ruby’s 21-day Money-back Guarantee
While Ruby doesn’t offer a free trial, within your first 21 days of your purchase, 500 receptionist minutes or 50 billable chats (whichever occurs first), you can cancel and get your money back.
PATLive’s 14-day Free Trial
PATLive offers a 14-day free trial, so you can try their services completely free and don’t have to hassle with a money back request if you decide it’s not for you. And, they don’t start the timer on the 14-days until after your script is fully setup and ready to go live.
Customer Service
Ruby’s Customer Happiness team is available by phone Monday through Friday from 8am to 9pm ET.
PATLive’s Customer Service team is available by phone Monday through Friday from 8am to 8pm ET.
Reviews
Ruby
Facebook: reviews not accepted
Google: reviews not accepted
TrustPilot: 4.5 stars
Glassdoor: 2.4 stars
Glassdoor Recommend to Friend: 45%
PATLive
Facebook: 4.1 stars
Google: 3.9 stars
TrustPilot: 4.7 stars
Glassdoor: 4.2 stars
Glassdoor Recommend to Friend: 87%
Overall
At the end of the day, after comparing Ruby and PATLive across each of these areas, our final recommendation is:
Choose Ruby if…
PATLive’s lack of outbound calls and web chats is a deal breaker for you, and/or you want to pay 1.3 to 2.5X the price of PATLive for an answering service with less flexible scripting options and lower review scores.
Or choose PATLive if…
You want the best virtual receptionist service you can get, at an amazing price.
Note: all information used in this review was current on Ruby’s and PATLive’s websites as of July 10th, 2023.