You want every call to your business answered, and you have asked around. Three names keep coming back. When we asked ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity ten questions a buyer would ask, in September 2026, Smith.ai came up in 10 of the 40 answers, and Rosie and Goodcall in 6 each.
They look alike from the outside: an AI that answers your phone. They are sold three different ways. One pairs its AI with a human receptionist service, one is a low-price plan you set up yourself, and one charges by the agent and by the number of unique customers.
Our conflict of interest: we build AI receptionists too, so we are one of your options, and we say where we fit near the end. Every price below comes from the company's own pricing page as it read on September 22, 2026. Prices change, so check the page before you sign up.
Smith.ai: an AI receptionist with a human service beside it
Smith.ai sells both AI and human receptionists. The prices here are for its AI receptionist.
- What it costs: free for 25 calls a month, then $3 a call. The Pro plan is $150 a month for 75 calls, about $2 a call. The Enterprise plan is $500 a month for 300 calls, about $1.67 a call.
- Who sets it up: on the free and Pro plans, you do; Pro adds dedicated support. On Enterprise, Smith.ai builds and runs it for you.
- How the bill works: by the call, in monthly call bundles, so a busy month can cost more than a quiet one.
- Who it fits: a practice, such as a law firm, that wants people available on the hard calls and can predict how many calls it gets.
Rosie: the low-price plan you set up yourself
Rosie is an AI answering service built for small businesses.
- What it costs: a 7-day free trial, then $49, $149 or $299 a month, plus an Enterprise plan. Website texting is a $50 monthly add-on.
- Who sets it up: you. Rosie reads your website to learn your business, and you check and add the answers.
- How the bill works: a monthly plan that includes 250, 1,000 or 2,000 minutes of calls.
- Who it fits: an owner who mainly needs every call answered and the details passed on, and who is comfortable setting it up and keeping it current.
Goodcall: priced per agent and per customer
Goodcall sells an AI phone agent.
- What it costs: $79, $129 or $249 a month for each agent, with unlimited minutes. Each plan covers 100, 250 or 500 unique customers a month, so a repeat caller counts once, and each customer past that costs $0.50. Paying for a year takes 15% off.
- Who sets it up: you.
- How the bill works: by the agent, plus the charge for customers past the plan.
- Who it fits: a business whose calls come mostly from the same customers, so the number of unique customers stays inside the plan.
Two more names you will see
- NextPhone: a flat-rate AI receptionist aimed at law firms and service businesses. Pro is $199 a month, Growth starts at $299 and Scale at $599, with no per-minute fees.
- Abby Connect: human or AI receptionists, month to month, from $165 to $1,380 a month.
Set up by you, or built for you
The differences that matter are who sets it up, who changes it when your hours or prices change, and what happens after the call is answered.
With a self-serve plan, the setup is your time. You write the answers, you connect it to the tools it supports, and when you add a service or a staff member, you update it. For a business whose calls end in a message, that is a fair trade for a low monthly price.
When a call has to turn into work somewhere else, such as a booking on your calendar, a caller put through to the right person, or a record in your CRM, the connections become the job. Check what each plan connects to, and who fixes it when a connection breaks.
Where a custom build fits
This is what we sell, so weigh it with that in mind.
We build the AI receptionist around your business and run it for you. It answers every call at once, with no queue, and responds in under a second in a real two-way conversation. When a caller needs a person now, it transfers the call and stays on the line until someone picks up. It books on your calendar, sends the invite, takes a message when that is what the caller wants, and writes the note into your CRM. We connect it to your calendar and your CRM as part of the build.
- What it costs: a build fee from $2,500, then from $500 a month. A busy month costs the same as a quiet one.
- Who it fits: a business whose calls lead to work in other systems, and which wants someone else to build it, run it and change it.
If every call you get ends in a message and nothing more, a $49 to $299 self-serve plan does that job for less, and we would tell you so on a call.
Five questions to ask any of them
- What happens after the call is answered: a message, a booking, a transfer, or a CRM record?
- Who sets it up, and who changes it when your hours, prices or staff change?
- How is it billed, and what does your busiest month cost?
- Does it use your phone number, your calendar and your CRM, or its own?
- Can you call it and hear it handle your kind of call before you pay?
Hear it on your own line
The fastest way to compare is to hear each one answer your kind of call. Rosie and Goodcall offer free trials, and Smith.ai has a free tier. For a custom build, book a call and we will set up a demo on your number, so you hear it answer your callers before you decide.