Best AI receptionist for small business

Smith.ai

7.5/10

Solid pick

Phone answering with a North America human safety net, priced per call, built for law firms first.

$150/mo · Best for: Law firms and high-ticket home services that lose real jobs to voicemail

AI receptionist from $24.95 a month for 30 calls, with booking and transfers on every plan. Starter overage is $1.50 a call. Affiliate program is apply-only, no public link.

$24.95/mo · Best for: Small businesses that get roughly 20 to 90 real calls a month, lose work when nobody picks up, and want calendar booking and warm transfers on the cheapest plan

Weave

7.5/10

Situational

A dental phone system with missed-call text in the base plan. A field-service business is shopping the wrong aisle.

$199/mo · Best for: A US or Canada dental, optometry, vet, or specialty-medical office replacing its PBX. Not a plumber, not a salon, not a law firm.

AI front office for ServiceTitan businesses. Convert, Nurture, and Coach. No public pricing as of Oct 19, 2026. Quotes come through a demo.

Custom · Best for: Larger HVAC, plumbing, and electrical operators already on ServiceTitan (or Housecall Pro) who will sit a demo and fund a sales-quoted AI CSR stack

CallRail

7/10

Situational

Public-price call tracking so you know which Google ad rang the phone. 250 minutes, then overage they will not refund.

$55/mo · Best for: A local service business that runs Google Ads. Not someone shopping missed-call text-back.

AI receptionist for HVAC and plumbing from $49. Starter is 100 calls. Overage is $0.99 each, not an auto plan jump.

$49/mo · Best for: One to fifteen location home-service businesses that want 24/7 pickup, urgent text to whoever is on call, and a dollar they can read before sales

OpenPhone

7/10

Situational

Cheap shared line on the phones you already carry. Rebranded Quo. If the Google number cannot go down, keep walking.

$19/user/mo · Best for: A Jobber plumber or Clio law firm that wants a shared SMS inbox. Not a Dentrix dentist, not a Mindbody salon.

Live US receptionists from $49 a month, but that $49 plan includes zero minutes at $2.99 each. The 50-minute plan at $99 is the real floor.

$49/mo · Best for: Businesses that want a real US person on every call, 24/7, with no contract, and will size minutes on the 50 or 100 minute plan instead of pay as you go

Live US receptionists from $65 a month, but the $65 Chic plan includes zero minutes at $2.30 each. Affiliate path is unknown or apply-only.

$65/mo · Best for: Businesses that need a real US person on every ring, will size minutes honestly, and can start on Vogue or Elegant instead of the zero-minute floor

Formerly OpenPhone. Shared business line and Sona on phones you already carry. No Counter & Crew affiliate link yet; buy on quo.com only.

$19/user/mo · Best for: A Jobber business or a Clio office that wants one shared SMS inbox. Not a Dentrix office. Not a Mindbody business.

Rosie

7/10

Situational

AI answering from $49 a month. The $49 plan does not book the calendar, and going over minutes upgrades you.

$49/mo · Best for: Solo home-service owners who want 24/7 pickup and will stay inside 250 minutes, or who will pay Scale $149 when they need booking and transfers

Ruby

7/10

Situational

Live US receptionists with a public price list. The minutes round up, and overage is not on the marketing page.

$250/mo · Best for: Solo law and other low-volume offices that want a human at 2 a.m. High-volume call businesses should keep walking.

Home-service AI CSR from $449/mo for 500 minutes. Demo-led signup. Public affiliate path gated.

$449/mo · Best for: HVAC, plumbing, and electrical businesses with several crews that want an AI CSR with ServiceTitan-style scheduling, will fund Launch at $449, and will sit a demo

One AI receptionist plan at $49 for 150 minutes. Overage is $0.20 a minute, and the calendar brand is unnamed.

$49/mo · Best for: Owners who want a flat public floor with no setup fee, will watch a 150-minute bucket, and care more about cheap overage than about native Jobber or Housecall Pro

One public plan at $149. Five hundred minutes onto Google Calendar. No native Jobber or Housecall Pro.

$149/mo · Best for: Home-service owners who will run booking on Google Calendar, need a bigger included minute bucket than the cheap night bots, and will mirror that calendar into Jobber or Housecall Pro themselves

US receptionists and an AI receptionist on one plan from $165 a month for 50 minutes. AI minutes count half. Human minutes cost more than most desks we list.

$165/mo · Best for: Businesses that want a person on new-client and sensitive calls and an AI on routine or overnight calls, on one bill, with a real trial and no contract

AI receptionist from $109 for 150 minutes, plus a $499 training and setup fee on the monthly cards.

$109/mo · Best for: Owners who will pay the $499 setup (or take a Professional 6-month term to waive it), need calendar booking plus on-demand live-agent handoff, and whose month fits the minute bucket

AI receptionist from $29 a month. Lite is 60 minutes with no calendar sync. Pro at $99 is the first plan that books.

$29/mo · Best for: Low-volume businesses testing AI pickup on Lite, or owners who will pay Pro $99 when they need calendar booking and warm transfer

Contractor AI answering from $129 a month for 200 minutes, plus a $129 setup fee on monthly plans.

$129/mo · Best for: Home-service owners who will pay the Starter cash plus setup for 24/7 booking onto a calendar, and who do not need native Jobber or Housecall Pro on day one

AI phone plus website voice widget from $99. Starter is 100 minutes. ServiceTitan and Housecall Pro are a custom build, not a toggle.

$99/mo · Best for: Businesses that want a public AI receptionist with a website voice widget, will live with 100 minutes on Starter, and will treat Jobber or Housecall Pro booking as a custom project

RingCentral AI Receptionist

6.5/10

Situational

AI answering from $49 with 100 minutes in the box. The phone company behind it is real. The meter is short.

$49/mo · Best for: Businesses already on RingEX that want after-hours pickup and routing, or low-volume lines that will stay near 100 minutes

AI receptionist from $14 a month. Starter is 15 calls. Booking and calendar sync wait for Premium at $99.

$14/mo · Best for: Low-volume solo businesses that will stay inside 15 answered calls on Starter, or owners who will pay Premium $99 when they need booking and calendar sync

AI receptionist from $24.95 a month for 30 calls, $1.50 a call after that. The four plans match Upfirst's price card number for number.

$24.95/mo · Best for: Small businesses that want per-call AI answering with a built-in lead pipeline, and are fine with booking by text link instead of a confirmed calendar slot

Business phone with an AI receptionist add-on. Solo $15/mo ($10 yearly). Business $45/mo. AI Receptionist $32/mo yearly. No contract. Free 7-day trial.

$15/mo · Best for: Teams that want one business phone with CRM sync and will pay a separate AI Receptionist seat when humans miss the ring

AnswerConnect

6/10

Situational

Live humans from $350 a month for 200 minutes. Marketing says cancel anytime. The terms lock you for 90 days.

$350/mo · Best for: Law firms, medical offices, and high-ticket trades that already pay for a human desk

Build voice AI from $0.14/min. All-in talk rate, not a $49 trade receptionist. Affiliate path gated.

$0.14/min · Best for: Builders and enterprises who want an all-in per-minute voice platform with pathways, telephony, and compliance options, and will own the agent build

Frontdesk

6/10

Situational

AI-only receptionist at $99 a month. 200 minutes, then a quarter a minute. No human behind it.

$99/mo · Best for: Housecall Pro plumbers and HVAC that want cheap AI-only after-hours pickup and will stay near 200 minutes a month

Virtual business phone from $14 a month billed annually, $18 monthly, with unlimited minutes. A person still has to answer every call.

$14/mo billed annually · Best for: One-person or very small businesses that want a separate business number, voicemail to email, and texting, and will answer the calls themselves

AI calls, texts, and emails that chase every lead for days and book the job. No public price, no published trial, and every plan is an annual agreement per location.

Custom · Best for: Service businesses that buy leads from several sources, run a real CRM, and lose deals because nobody follows up on day three. Multi-location teams get the most out of it.

AI receptionist from $49 a month with 250 minutes, then $0.35 a minute. The $49 plan cannot transfer a call or book the calendar.

$49/mo · Best for: Businesses that want minute-based AI answering with calendar booking and a 14-day trial, and can pay $99 a month for the plan that books

Business phone from $15/user/mo on a 12-month term, $23 monthly. XBert AI receptionist is $99/mo for 100 conversations, then $0.99 each.

$15/user/mo billed annually · Best for: Businesses that want one vendor for the phone system and an AI receptionist, and will keep answered calls near 100 a month or pay $0.99 for each one after

Free AI phone answering for 100 minutes a month, then Starter at $50 and Pro at $150. The pricing page disagrees with itself on how many minutes those paid plans include.

$0 · Best for: Businesses that want a free way to try AI call answering, and can live with a builder-style voice platform rather than a one-click receptionist

Developer voice AI from $0.07 a minute. Pay as you go with $10 free credits, not a $49 trade receptionist.

$0.07/min · Best for: Builders and agencies who want API voice agents, telephony control, simulation testing, and will own LLM and minute math themselves

A free CRM with an AI receptionist you pay for in credits. Core is $49 a month for 2,000 credits, and a voice minute costs 15, so that is about 133 minutes.

$49/mo · Best for: Small service businesses that want CRM, booking, invoicing, texts, and an AI phone agent in one login, and can predict their call minutes

AI answering from $49 a month for 100 calls, no contract. Go over your call cap and the number is released, so the cheap plan has a hard ceiling.

$49/mo · Best for: Businesses taking under 100 calls a month that want an AI to answer, book, and take messages, with the vendor doing the agent edits for free

Voice AI receptionist built for restaurants. Core is listed from $399 per location and Premium from $599, with no billing period, trial or contract printed.

$399 per location · Best for: Restaurants that take reservations by phone through OpenTable, SevenRooms, Yelp, or Resy and will accept a sales quote to learn the real monthly bill

Enterprise voice AI platform. Contact Sales from $30,000 a year. Build agents, not a $49 trade receptionist.

Custom · Best for: Enterprises and agencies that need a voice AI build platform with native telephony, SLA, and sales-scoped concurrency, not a plug-and-play business phone

Build voice agents from $0.05/min hosting. Models bill on top. Not a $49 trade receptionist. Affiliate path gated.

$0.05/min · Best for: Builders and agencies who will own the agent, the model mix, and stacked minute math, not a forward-and-forget trade line

Goodcall

5/10

Situational

A cheap AI that answers the phone. No human behind it, and almost nobody in the trades has reviewed it in public.

$79/mo · Best for: Low-volume businesses that need a cheap after-hours bot for FAQs and messages, not an emergency callout

Aircall

6/10

Skip for most

Sales-desk cloud phone. Essentials is $40 a seat monthly. You still buy three.

$40/user/mo · Best for: A HubSpot or Salesforce sales team that wants VoIP plus an AI Voice Agent. Not a one-location business or a solo office.

Broadly

6/10

Skip for most

The FAQ says cancel today. The terms still look like a 12-month auto-renew. List price is $799 a month.

$799/mo · Best for: A plumber who wants reviews, missed-call text-back, and an AI front desk in one bundle, and who gets cancel terms in writing that match the FAQ.

JustCall

6/10

Skip for most

Two seats before you have a phone. The $29 on the homepage is annual. The AI that answers is another $99.

$39/user/mo · Best for: A HubSpot or Salesforce sales desk that wants VoIP plus SMS. Wrong buy for one location or one solo office.

SignpostAI

4/10

Skip for most

A trades receptionist with public prices. The FAQ says month-to-month. The terms do not.

$199/mo · Best for: Home-service businesses that want phone answering, if they get cancel terms in writing. Other offices should look elsewhere.

Numa

3/10

Skip for most

A real AI receptionist for car dealers. If you run a local service business, Capterra is showing you a product they stopped selling.

Custom · Best for: Franchise auto dealerships with a DMS. Not plumbers, dentists, salons, HVAC, or law firms.