Best Answering Service in Maine

Why Maine Businesses Need an Answering Service

Maine has 151,212 small businesses that represent 99.2% of all employers in the state. Nearly two-thirds of Maine's 1.4 million residents live in rural areas, and the state has the oldest median age in the country at 44.8 years. That combination means most Maine businesses are small, spread across a vast geography, and struggling to hire in a labor market where more people are retiring than entering the workforce.

The challenge intensifies with seasonality. Maine's $9.2 billion tourism economy concentrates heavily between Memorial Day and Labor Day. A charter boat captain in Bar Harbor can't answer the phone while running a whale watch. A lobster pound in Portland can't take reservations during a Friday dinner rush. A bed-and-breakfast in Camden can't field booking inquiries while turning over rooms on a Saturday morning. From June through September, these businesses may see call volumes triple compared to February, but they can't triple their staff for four months and then let everyone go.

An answering service absorbs those seasonal swings. The question is which one works for Maine's particular mix of tourism, seafood, healthcare, defense, and rural small businesses.

What Makes Maine's Business Environment Distinct

Maine's economy has specific characteristics that affect what businesses need from phone handling:

• Tourism generates $9.2 billion in direct spending: The industry supports approximately 116,000 jobs across the state, making it one of the largest employment sectors. Acadia National Park set an all-time record with 4.08 million visits in 2025, including 797,000 visitors in July alone. Greater Portland and Casco Bay account for $2.7 billion in visitor spending and 21,400 jobs. Bar Harbor hosts hundreds of thousands of cruise ship passengers from May through October. Winter tourism is growing too, with 4.37 million winter visitors spending over $2 billion. The core problem for Maine tourism businesses is that visitors call from every time zone. A family in California researching a July vacation in Acadia calls at 9pm Pacific, which is midnight in Maine. A European traveler booking a Portland food tour calls at mid-morning London time, which is 5am Eastern. Businesses that go to voicemail after 5pm lose bookings to competitors that answer.
• The lobster industry is worth $528 million: Maine produces roughly 80% of the nation's lobster supply. The 2024 harvest brought in 86.1 million pounds at $6.14 per pound, totaling $528.4 million in lobster alone. Total commercial fisheries value reached $709.5 million. The supply chain from trap to table involves boat captains, wholesale dealers, processing facilities, shipping companies, restaurants, and retail outlets. Lobster operations run on tidal schedules and weather windows. A dealer in Stonington negotiating prices with a buyer in Boston at 5am can't also answer the phone from a restaurant in New York placing a same-day order. Calls in the seafood business are time-sensitive because product is perishable and prices change daily.
• Healthcare faces a workforce crisis: Fifteen of Maine's 16 counties have health professional shortage designations for primary care, mental health, or dental. Hospitals have 4,227 budgeted but unfilled positions. Approximately 23,500 hours of approved home care go unfulfilled each week. More than one-third of rural physicians are age 60 or older, and over 25% of rural hospitals face risk of closure. For the medical practices, home health agencies, and clinics still operating, managing patient calls is critical. After-hours calls about prescriptions, test results, and urgent symptoms need proper routing. A rural practice in Presque Isle with one physician and one nurse can't afford a full-time receptionist, but it also can't afford to miss a patient call.
• Defense and shipbuilding anchor the industrial base: Bath Iron Works (owned by General Dynamics) employs 6,500+ workers, making it the largest private employer in Maine and 12% of the state's manufacturing workforce. BIW builds Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers for the U.S. Navy. Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery (technically in Maine despite the name) employs 7,469 civilians and contributes $1.54 billion to the regional economy. These two facilities alone account for nearly 14,000 jobs, and the contractor and supplier network serving them extends across the state. Defense contractors operate on federal timelines with strict communication protocols, and subcontractors handling classified or sensitive work need documented call handling.
• Craft brewing and the food economy punch above weight: Maine has 176 active breweries, ranking second nationally for breweries per capita at 13.3 per 100,000 residents. Portland has the highest rate of breweries per capita of any city in the country and one food service establishment per 118 residents. Bon Appetit named Portland its Restaurant City of the Year in 2018. These food and beverage businesses are overwhelmingly small (under 20 employees), open during peak hours when they can't answer phones, and dependent on reservations, event bookings, and catering inquiries that arrive by phone.
• The aging population creates unique demand: At 44.8 years, Maine's median age is the highest in the nation. Twenty-three percent of the population is 65 or older. The old-age dependency ratio is 33.8 per 100 working-age residents. This demographic reality means that many Maine customers prefer calling over using websites or apps, while the businesses serving them face the same aging workforce dynamic. Finding and retaining front-desk staff is harder in Maine than in nearly any other state, and the people calling those businesses disproportionately expect a human (or human-like) voice to answer.
• Major employers operate at scale: IDEXX Laboratories (Westbrook, 11,000+ employees, $4.2 billion revenue) is Maine's only S&P 500 company. Maine Medical Center in Portland employs 8,000+. Hannaford Supermarkets is headquartered in Scarborough with 7,000+ employees. L.L. Bean in Freeport employs 4,000+ with over $1 billion in revenue. The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor employs 4,000 with $620 million in revenue for genetics research. WEX in Portland generates $2.4 billion in revenue in payment solutions. These anchor employers create supplier and service networks across the state that need professional phone handling.

Top 5 Answering Services for Maine Businesses

We evaluated these services against Maine's specific demands: extreme tourism seasonality, time-zone gaps for out-of-state visitors, seafood industry urgency, healthcare workforce shortages, defense contractor requirements, and rural geography where hiring receptionists is increasingly difficult.

1. Zinng: Best Overall (AI-Powered)

Zinng answers every call with AI trained on your specific business. No hold times, no staffing scramble when summer tourism triples your call volume, and no quality variation between a Monday afternoon in July and a Tuesday morning in January. For a state where 151,000 small businesses compete across industries that swing between feast and famine by season, having a phone system that scales automatically is not a luxury. It is the difference between capturing revenue and sending it to voicemail.

Every call produces a complete transcript delivered by email with SMS alerts for urgent items. A charter boat operator in Bar Harbor gets the exact party size and date request from a booking call at 11pm. A lobster dealer in Portland gets documented pricing and quantity details from a restaurant buyer calling at 5am. A home health agency in Bangor gets verbatim patient information from an after-hours call that needs clinical follow-up. The transcripts replace handwritten notes from operators and the vague voicemails that cost Maine businesses time and accuracy.

• Pricing: $49/month with 100 minutes included. Additional minutes at $0.12 each. Growth plan at $99/month with 250 minutes. Business plan at $199/month with 600 minutes.
• Best for: Maine businesses across tourism, seafood, healthcare, and professional services that need affordable, always-on coverage that handles seasonal surges without per-minute penalties.
• Key features: 24/7 AI answering, full call transcripts, SMS alerts for urgent calls, HIPAA compliant, custom call routing, spam blocking, appointment scheduling, 14-day free trial with no credit card.
• Standout: A Bar Harbor tour company handling 250 minutes monthly pays $67 with Zinng ($49 base + $18 overage). The cheapest traditional alternative for similar volume costs $235+. Over a tourism season (May through October), that's over $1,000 in savings. For a seasonal business that might only operate profitably for six months, every dollar matters.

2. PATLive: Best for 24/7 Reliability

PATLive, headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida since 1990, has been providing live answering services for over 35 years. Every plan includes 24/7/365 coverage with live U.S.-based receptionists handling calls, taking messages, scheduling appointments, and transferring calls based on custom scripts. For Maine businesses that need a proven, reliable human presence on the phone at every hour, PATLive's track record is among the longest in the industry.

PATLive's Flex Platform offers four tiers from 75 to 600 minutes. Bilingual English/Spanish support is available as a $20/month add-on. The receptionists handle order processing, which is relevant for Maine's direct-to-consumer lobster shippers and online retailers. A 14-day free trial lets Maine businesses evaluate the service during their actual call patterns before committing.

• Pricing: Starter at $235/month for 75 minutes ($2.25/min overage, 1 line). Standard at $415/month for 200 minutes ($2.10/min overage, 3 lines). Premium at $650/month for 350 minutes ($1.90/min overage, 5 lines). Pro at $1,050/month for 600 minutes ($1.85/min overage, 10 lines).
• Best for: Maine businesses that prioritize having a live human receptionist on every call and value a 35-year track record of reliability.
• Key features: 24/7/365 live answering, U.S.-based receptionists, appointment scheduling, order processing, call transfers, custom scripts, bilingual English/Spanish ($20/mo add-on), 14-day free trial.
• Drawback: The Starter plan at $235/month for only 75 minutes produces an effective per-minute rate of $3.13. A Maine inn handling 200 minutes during peak summer season pays $415/month on the Standard plan, which is nearly seven times what Zinng charges for the same volume. Bilingual support costs extra ($20/month), while several competitors include it free. And during July when Acadia draws 797,000 visitors and call volumes surge, every overage minute at $2.10 to $2.25 adds up fast. A business that goes 50 minutes over the Standard plan's 200-minute allowance pays an additional $105 in overages alone.

3. Davinci Virtual: Best Virtual Office Package

Davinci Virtual, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, combines live receptionist services with a full virtual office package including a business address, local or toll-free phone number, and online faxing. For Maine's growing population of remote workers, freelancers, and solopreneurs (the state's 3.1% population growth from 2020 to 2024 was largely driven by in-migration of remote professionals), Davinci provides the professional infrastructure that makes a one-person operation sound like an established firm.

The live receptionist service operates Monday through Friday, 8am to 8pm Eastern, which covers standard business hours for Maine and aligns with when most B2B calls happen. Davinci's Business plans start at $129/month for 50 minutes with a $95 one-time setup fee. The virtual office add-ons are what differentiate Davinci: a consultant who moved to coastal Maine from Boston can maintain a professional business address, a dedicated phone number, and live receptionist coverage without renting office space.

• Pricing: Business 50 at $129/month for 50 minutes ($1.75/min overage, $95 setup). Plans scale up to $649/month for 300 minutes. Premium plans available with enhanced features at $2.50/min overage.
• Best for: Maine solopreneurs, consultants, and remote professionals who need a complete virtual office package with live receptionist coverage during business hours.
• Key features: Live receptionists (Mon-Fri 8am-8pm ET), free local or toll-free number, call forwarding and screening, online faxing, virtual business address options, voicemail-to-email.
• Drawback: No 24/7 coverage. Calls outside 8am to 8pm Eastern go to voicemail, which means a California tourist researching a Maine vacation at 9pm Pacific (midnight Eastern) gets no answer. For Maine's tourism businesses where after-hours booking calls represent significant revenue, Davinci's limited hours are a serious gap. The $95 setup fee adds to the upfront cost, and at $129/month for only 50 minutes, the effective per-minute rate is $2.58. A property management company in Portland handling 200 minutes monthly would need a higher tier at $400+/month, and still wouldn't have weekend or evening coverage.

4. AnswerConnect: Best for Integrations

AnswerConnect, headquartered in Portland, Oregon, operates a fully remote workforce of live receptionists available 24/7/365. Their eco-friendly business model (100% remote with a tree-planting program) appeals to environmentally conscious Maine businesses, and the service's strength lies in its CRM and software integrations. AnswerConnect connects with Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho, Slack, and dozens of other platforms, pushing call data directly into the systems Maine businesses already use.

Pricing starts at $350/month for 200 minutes on the Entry plan, with a $49.99 setup fee. The Growth plan at $395/month for 300 minutes waives the setup fee and offers a lower overage rate of $1.85/min. For Maine businesses that rely on CRM systems to manage customer relationships, particularly real estate agencies, property managers, and professional services firms, AnswerConnect's native integrations reduce the manual data entry that comes with basic message-taking services.

• Pricing: Entry at $350/month for 200 minutes ($2.50/min overage, $49.99 setup). Growth at $395/month for 300 minutes ($1.85/min overage, no setup). Standard at $575/month for 400 minutes ($1.85/min overage, $49.99 setup). Custom plans for higher volumes.
• Best for: Maine businesses that use CRM systems and need call data to flow directly into their existing software without manual entry.
• Key features: 24/7/365 live answering, bilingual English/Spanish, CRM integrations (Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho, Slack), appointment scheduling, live chat support, 100% remote workforce, eco-friendly operations.
• Drawback: The $350/month starting price is the highest entry point on this list for live answering. A seasonal kayak rental business in Bar Harbor or a small lobster pound in Stonington isn't likely to spend $350/month on phone answering, especially during the off-season when call volumes drop to near zero. The Entry plan's $2.50/min overage rate is also steep. A Maine real estate agency that goes 50 minutes over the 200-minute allowance pays $125 in overage charges on top of the $350 base. The Growth plan's $395 for 300 minutes is the better value, but both tiers represent a significant monthly commitment for small Maine businesses operating on seasonal revenue.

5. VoiceNation (Moneypenny): Best Budget Live Option

VoiceNation, founded in 2002 in Georgia and now fully operating under the Moneypenny brand, offers live answering through their "People Plans" starting at $99/month for 30 minutes. Every plan includes 24/7/365 coverage and bilingual English/Spanish receptionists at no extra charge. The service uses a hybrid model where AI handles initial screening and routing while live receptionists manage conversations. For Maine small businesses testing professional answering at the lowest possible monthly commitment for live service, the $99 Essential plan is the most affordable entry point with actual human operators.

Moneypenny serves over 21,000 businesses with a five-tier pricing structure from 30 to 500 minutes. Their analytics and reporting tools help Maine businesses track call patterns, which is particularly useful for seasonal operations trying to understand when their peak call periods actually occur. If a Kennebunkport inn discovers that 40% of its booking calls come between 6pm and 9pm, that data informs staffing and service decisions.

• Pricing: Essential at $99/month for 30 minutes ($2.99/min overage). 50 Minutes at $165/month ($2.85/min overage). 100 Minutes at $265/month ($2.65/min overage). 250 Minutes at $555/month ($2.39/min overage). 500 Minutes at $985/month ($2.09/min overage).
• Best for: Maine small businesses that want live 24/7 answering with bilingual support at a low monthly starting price.
• Key features: 24/7/365 live answering, bilingual English/Spanish included (no extra charge), AI screening with live backup, analytics and reporting, scripted responses, one-week free trial.
• Drawback: The $99/month Essential plan includes only 30 minutes, which produces an effective per-minute rate of $3.30 if fully used. A seasonal tourism business in Maine that fields 50 calls per month averaging 5 minutes each would burn through 250 minutes, putting the real cost at $555/month on the 250-minute plan or $757 on the 100-minute plan with overages. The gap between the advertised $99 starting price and the actual cost at moderate volume is significant. The 3-month minimum contract on lower tiers also limits flexibility for businesses that only need answering during the six-month tourism season.

Pricing Comparison

Here's what each service costs for a Maine business handling approximately 200 minutes of calls per month.

*Zinng's $49 plan includes 100 minutes. 200 minutes = $49 + $12 overage (100 additional minutes at $0.12/min).
**Davinci's 50-minute plan at $129 + 150 overage minutes at $1.75/min = $391.50. Business hours only (Mon-Fri 8am-8pm ET).
***VoiceNation's 100-minute plan at $265 + 100 overage minutes at $2.65 = ~$530; the 250-minute plan at $555 is more practical for this volume.

Why AI Answering Fits Maine's Economy

Maine's business environment combines extreme seasonality, rural geography, an aging population, and workforce shortages. AI answering addresses all of them:

• Seasonal surges don't break the budget. Acadia National Park drew 797,000 visitors in July 2025 alone. The tourism businesses surrounding the park, from kayak outfitters to whale watch operators to restaurants, see call volumes spike dramatically in summer. A traditional answering service at $2.10 to $2.65/min turns that summer surge into a massive bill. AI handles 50 simultaneous calls at the same $0.12/min rate as one. When a Bar Harbor tour company's July call volume doubles compared to April, the cost increase is proportional to the minutes used, not inflated by per-minute overage rates that climb as volume rises.
• Time zones stop costing you bookings. Maine is Eastern Time, but tourists call from every zone. A couple in Seattle researching a Camden windjammer cruise calls at 8pm Pacific (11pm Eastern). A family in London booking a Portland food tour calls at 10am GMT (5am Eastern). AI answers instantly at every hour with the same quality and knowledge of your business. No bleary-eyed overnight operator, no voicemail, no lost booking. For a state where $9.2 billion depends on visitors from away, being available when they call is the difference between a booking and a bounce.
• The labor shortage has a solution that doesn't require hiring. Maine has the oldest population in the country (median age 44.8). Twenty-three percent of residents are over 65. More people are retiring than entering the workforce. Finding a receptionist in rural Maine is a genuine challenge, and finding one willing to work weekends and evenings during tourist season is harder still. AI doesn't retire, doesn't call in sick during a July heatwave, and doesn't require housing in a state where coastal rents have surged with the remote-work migration. The 151,000 small businesses in Maine get 24/7 coverage without competing in one of the tightest labor markets in the nation.
• Rural geography becomes irrelevant. Two-thirds of Maine's residents live in rural areas. A plumber in Aroostook County, a veterinarian in Washington County, and a logging contractor in Piscataquis County all face the same reality: they work in the field, miles from any desk. AI answers every call while they're on a job site, on a boat, or on the road. The transcript arrives by email with SMS alerts for emergencies. A heating oil company in northern Maine gets the address and urgency level from a call about a furnace failure at 2am in January without having to pull over or wake up.
• Healthcare calls get documented precisely. With 15 of 16 counties designated as health professional shortage areas, the medical practices still operating carry enormous patient loads. After-hours calls about medication questions, symptom changes, and appointment needs require exact documentation for clinical follow-up. AI produces verbatim transcripts that a nurse or physician can review the next morning, rather than relying on an operator's abbreviated notes. For HIPAA compliance, Zinng's documented call handling provides a cleaner audit trail than traditional message pads.
• The math works for seasonal businesses. A lobster tour operation in Portland that runs May through October doesn't need a year-round receptionist. Zinng's month-to-month pricing means the business pays $49 to $199/month during the season and nothing during the off-months. A traditional service with a 3-month minimum contract or annual commitment forces the business to pay for months when the phone barely rings. For the thousands of Maine businesses that operate seasonally, the ability to scale service up and down by the month matches how the business actually works.

Human answering services remain valuable for Maine businesses that need empathetic call handling, complex intake for legal or medical situations, or CRM-driven workflows. But for the majority of calls (scheduling, inquiries, routing, message-taking), AI delivers faster response, exact documentation, and a cost structure that works whether you're a Portland brewery or a Presque Isle accounting firm.

Choosing the Right Service for Your Maine Business

• Seasonal tourism business, lobster operation, or growing company? Zinng's $49/month plan with per-minute billing gives you 24/7 coverage that scales automatically with summer surges and drops during the off-season. Month-to-month pricing means you only pay during months you need service. Full transcripts document every call. The 14-day free trial costs nothing to evaluate.
• Want a proven live answering service with decades of reliability? PATLive's 35-year track record and 24/7 U.S.-based receptionists make them a dependable choice. Start with the Standard plan at $415/month for 200 minutes and factor in the $2.10/min overage rate for summer peaks.
• Solopreneur, consultant, or remote professional who moved to Maine? Davinci Virtual's receptionist + virtual office package gives you a business address, phone number, and live answering during business hours. The $129/month starting price covers the basics for a one-person operation that needs to project professionalism.
• CRM-dependent business that needs call data in your system? AnswerConnect's native integrations with Salesforce, HubSpot, and Zoho push call information directly into your workflow. The Growth plan at $395/month for 300 minutes waives the setup fee and offers the best overage rate.
• Testing live answering at the lowest monthly cost? VoiceNation's $99/month Essential plan is the cheapest entry for 24/7 live service with free bilingual support. Understand that real costs will be $300 to $500/month at moderate volumes once overages are factored in.

Final Verdict

Zinng is the best answering service for Maine businesses. At $61/month for 200 minutes of 24/7 coverage, it costs a fraction of every traditional alternative while delivering complete call transcripts, HIPAA compliance, and unlimited simultaneous call capacity. Whether you're fielding tour bookings in Bar Harbor or lobster orders in Portland, the service operates identically at every hour and every volume level. Month-to-month pricing means seasonal businesses only pay during active months.

PATLive offers the most established live answering option on this list. Thirty-five years of 24/7 operation with U.S.-based receptionists make them a reliable choice for Maine businesses that prioritize a human voice on every call. Budget $415+/month for 200-minute coverage and plan for summer overage costs.

Davinci Virtual fills a specific niche for Maine's growing remote-professional population. The virtual office package (address, phone, receptionist) gives solopreneurs and consultants a professional front end. The Monday-through-Friday limitation means tourism and emergency-service businesses should look elsewhere, but for B2B professionals, the business-hours coverage aligns with when their clients call.

AnswerConnect is the pick for CRM-dependent businesses. If your operation runs on Salesforce or HubSpot and you need call data flowing into those systems automatically, AnswerConnect's integrations save hours of manual entry. The $350+/month price tag makes it a better fit for established businesses than startups.

And VoiceNation (Moneypenny) provides the lowest monthly starting price for live 24/7 service at $99. Free bilingual support is included. The real cost at moderate volumes ($300 to $500/month) is higher than the headline suggests, but the Essential plan works for Maine businesses with very low call volumes testing whether professional answering generates enough return to justify the investment.

Maine's economy runs on lobster, tourism, healthcare, and defense, all wrapped in a rural landscape where small businesses do everything themselves. From the lobster wharves of Stonington to the breweries of Portland to the shipyards of Bath, the phone is where business happens. The right answering service ensures that when Maine calls, someone always picks up.