What it actually does
FirstDial is an AI voice agent for inbound home-service calls at firstdial.ai. The pitch is contractor answering, not a generic sales VoIP seat. A caller hits a FirstDial number (or a forward you set), the agent talks, captures the lead, and can book against your calendar. Urgent calls can forward to on-call staff. You get post-call email, recordings, and transcripts. It is not a human answering service. There is no Smith.ai or Ruby person behind the bot. It is not a reviews SKU. It is not a Jobber or Housecall Pro brain.
Public pricing on firstdial.ai on September 14, 2026. Monthly Starter is $129 for 200 call minutes. Professional is $249 for 500. Business is $499 for 1,200. Each monthly card lists a one-time setup fee of $129 for onboarding and custom scripts or integrations. The page says that fee is waived on quarterly and annual plans. Quarterly Starter is $350 for three months. Professional is $650. Business is $1,300. Annual Starter is $1,200. Professional is $2,400. Business is $4,800. Enterprise is Custom with volume minutes, a dedicated manager, and custom integrations. FAQ: setup for most shops is 1 to 2 business days. You can run after hours only or around the clock. Exceeded minutes means upgrade or buy more through support. They do not print a public overage rate on the page we opened, so we do not invent one.
Feature stairs matter. Starter already claims realtime scheduling, calendar integration, recordings, transcripts, and customizable scripts. Professional adds transcript summaries, longer history, and custom workflows. Business adds a customizable AI voice and priority support. HVAC, plumbing, and other truck trades are the named audience. Testimonials on the homepage are vendor quotes, not a G2 stack.
Who should buy it
Buy it
Buy Starter if you will pay $129 a month plus the $129 setup (or you take quarterly or annual to drop the setup), 200 minutes is an honest month, and a calendar sync is enough for bookings. Buy Professional when 500 minutes matches the week and you wanted the summary and workflow extras. Buy Business when custom voice and priority support are the reason, not when you only needed more minutes.
Skip it
Do not buy it if you needed the bot to write straight into Jobber or Housecall Pro without a calendar mirror. That aisle is closer to Frontdesk for Housecall Pro after-hours, or Avoca when ServiceTitan is the quote path. Do not buy it as a 2 a.m. human. That is still Smith.ai or Ruby. Do not treat Starter as the cheapest door in the aisle. Rosie Professional is $49 for 250 minutes. Dialzara Lite is $29 for 60. VoiceCharm is $149 for 500 onto Google Calendar with no setup fee on the public card.
The catch
The reason not to buy, even when the contractor copy fits, is the monthly door plus the thin Starter bucket. You pay setup before you know if callers will stay on the line, and a busy week of short calls burns 200 minutes with no published overage number on the homepage. Marketing case studies are not independent reviews you can lean on the day we checked.
