Launch kit · seed leaderboard · 24 tools
Independent AI receptionist leaderboard for small businesses
Compare AI phone answering tools by published pricing, vertical fit, warm transfer, and booking — updated from vendor pages, not paid rankings. Newsletter + Local Agent Stack section planned.
Pricing and features change. Blank/unknown means we could not confirm on the official page during research (2026-10-15). Always click through to the vendor.
| Tool | Pricing (as published) | Best-fit verticals | Warm transfer | Booking | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abby (Abby Connect) Hybrid human + AI receptionist |
Starter $165/mo (50 Abby Minutes); Essential $329/mo (100); Professional $599/mo (200); Growth $1,380/mo (500); Enterprise on request. AI mi… | small businesses wanting human and/or AI mix, healthcare (HIPAA options noted for human), profession… | yes | yes | Site |
| Beside Phone AI Receptionist Business phone + AI receptionist |
Web plans: Baseline $29/mo per business (30 AI Receptionist calls/mo); Unlimited $99/mo (unlimited AI Receptionist calls). Extra lines $4.99… | solo / small teams wanting a business number + AI receptionist | unknown | unknown | Site |
| Dial Milo Pay-as-you-go AI receptionist |
Pay-as-you-go from $0.01/minute (carrier + AI). Phone number $3/mo + $3 setup. SMS from $0.01/message. $1 free credit on signup; $10 minimum… | cost-sensitive SMBs, light call volume | yes | yes | Site |
| Dialpad AI Receptionist UCaaS AI receptionist / AI Agents |
Not confirmed on official page | Dialpad customers, teams wanting AI inside existing phone stack | yes | yes | Site |
| Dialzara AI receptionist platform (also outbound/SMS/chat) |
Business Lite $29/mo (60 min, $0.48/min overage); Pro $99/mo (220 min, $0.45); Plus $199/mo (500 min, $0.40); Elite $349/mo (1,000 min, $0.3… | small businesses across many verticals (site lists extensive industry pages) | yes | yes | Site |
| Frontdesk (My AI Front Desk) AI front-office platform (voice + chat + SMS) |
Business-in-a-Box $99/mo ($79/mo annual) includes 200 voice minutes + chat/SMS/CRM. Partner/Enterprise custom. | property management, real estate, restaurants, retail / showrooms, small businesses | yes | yes | Site |
| Goodcall AI-only answering / phone agent |
Starter $79/mo (100 unique customers, then 79¢ each); Growth $129/mo (500 unique customers, then 26¢); Scale $299/mo (2,000 unique customers… | small service businesses, solo operators, multi-location / franchise (Scale/Enterprise) | unknown | yes | Site |
| GreetMate AI answering / agency-oriented |
Plans oriented to agencies/higher volume; page states most customers invest $1,000–$5,000/mo depending on volume. Overage examples $0.18/min… | agencies, higher-volume operators | unknown | unknown | Site |
| Loman AI Vertical AI phone agent (restaurants) |
Not confirmed on official page | restaurants | yes | yes | Site |
| Nextiva XBert AI assistant / answering (voice + SMS + chat) |
$99/month per 100 interactions, then $0.99 per interaction. Standalone or add-on. 30-day money-back guarantee. | Nextiva customers, multi-channel SMB (voice/SMS/chat), healthcare, professional services, retail | yes | yes | Site |
| NextPhone AI-only receptionist |
Pro $199/mo; Growth $299/mo; Scale $599/mo. Unlimited inbound calls; no per-minute or overage fees. 7-day Pro trial. | law firms, service businesses, trades, salons, real estate, restaurants | yes | yes | Site |
| Phonely AI phone assistant / answering |
Free $0 (100 free minutes/mo); Starter $50/mo billed monthly (page also shows 200–250 min depending on section); Pro $150/mo; Enterprise as … | small teams, growing teams, enterprise / HIPAA (Enterprise) | unknown | unknown | Site |
| Quo Sona (formerly OpenPhone) AI voice agent add-on to business phone |
1,000 free automation credits (~10 calls) on every Quo plan. Paid tiers: $0 / $25 / $49 / $99 / $199 per month for 10 / 40 / 100 / 250 / 600… | SMBs already on Quo/OpenPhone, teams wanting phone + AI in one app | yes | partial | Site |
| Reception AI (ElevenLabs) AI receptionist |
Not confirmed on official page | SMBs needing multilingual inbound answering | unknown | unknown | Site |
| Retell AI Developer / platform voice AI (not turnkey SMB-only) |
Pay-as-you-go; listed all-in about $0.07–$0.31/minute depending on voice/LLM/telephony. Example calculator showed ~$0.11/min. No platform su… | builders / agencies, custom voice agents, businesses with developer resources | yes | yes | Site |
| RingCentral AI Receptionist UCaaS AI receptionist (standalone or add-on) |
Not confirmed on official page | RingCentral customers, clinics, legal, construction, real estate, insurance, banks | yes | yes | Site |
| Rosie AI-only receptionist |
Professional $49/mo (250 min); Scale $149/mo (1,000 min); Growth $299/mo (2,000 min). 7-day free trial. | home services, plumbing, HVAC, construction, law firms, property management, real estate, electricia… | yes | partial | Site |
| Ruby Receptionists Human-first virtual receptionist (AI enhancements optional) |
Live virtual receptionist minute plans published as 50 / 100 / 200 / 500 minutes (dollar amounts for phone minute tiers not rendered as plai… | legal, home services, healthcare, financial services, business services | yes | yes | Site |
| Slang AI Vertical AI phone agent (restaurants) |
Core from $399 per location; Premium from $599 per location; Enterprise custom. (USD and CAD/AUD mirrors shown on page.) | restaurants, full-service hospitality, multi-location restaurant groups | yes | yes | Site |
| Smith.ai AI Receptionist AI-first with live human backup |
Free: $0/mo with 25 calls/mo ($3.00/call after). Pro: $150/mo for 75 calls ($2.00/call included rate; volume tiers to 150/300). Enterprise: … | legal, professional services, healthcare-adjacent, small firms needing human backup | yes | yes | Site |
| Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists (Human-first) Human virtual receptionist (AI optional separately) |
Human-first: Starter $300/mo (30 calls, $11.50 overage); Basic $810/mo (90 calls, $10.50); Pro $2,100/mo (300 calls, $8.50); Enterprise cust… | legal, home services, healthcare practices, firms wanting live US agents | yes | yes | Site |
| Synthflow Enterprise voice AI platform |
Enterprise contracts start at $30,000 annually; final pricing scoped to volume/concurrency/telephony/security. | enterprises, contact centers, high-volume voice automation | yes | unknown | Site |
| Upfirst AI answering / virtual receptionist |
Starter $24.95/mo (30 calls, $1.50 overage); Premium $59.95/mo (90 calls, $1 overage); Pro $159.95/mo (300 calls, $0.75); Scale $299/mo (600… | general SMB, professional services, multi-location (extra agents $9.95/mo) | yes | yes | Site |
| Vapi Developer voice AI platform |
Usage-based: provider pass-through + Vapi hosting (pre-paid $0.05/min hosting on no-success-package tier; $5 free credits). Success packages… | developers, product teams building custom voice agents | unknown | unknown | Site |
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