Updated November 4, 2026Advertiser Disclosure
The short answer
An AI receptionist for small business is software that answers your phone when you can’t, talks with the caller, and books the job, takes a message or passes the call to you. There’s no single winner, because a plumber on a ladder and a law office with three attorneys need different things. Rosie and Goodcall fit an owner who wants to start small with no contract, My AI Front Desk fits a team that wants calls and texts in one place, RingCentral AI Receptionist fits an office with several people to send calls to, and Smith.ai fits a firm that wants to pay by the call with live people behind the AI. Before you sign anything, get three things clear: what the bill looks like in a busy month, what happens on an emergency call, and how you get out.
Prices checked November 1, 2026 on each company’s own website.
Nobody buys a rank here. We place every company using our own scoring system, built on many factors, from what real customers tell us to what the contract asks of you. That’s our verdict, but yours is the one that counts. The best choice is the one that fits your company, and we’re here to help you find it.
See what owners really use an AI receptionist for, what an ordinary day looks like, and what all the phone words mean.
What it’s forA roofer, a salon and a small law office all need something different. Find yours and see which companies suit it.
Find my fitOne table with the order, who each company fits, the price and our grades on what matters most.
The 5-minute briefAn AI receptionist for small business picks up when nobody at your company can. You know the moment. You’re under a sink with both hands full, or you’re with a client, or you’re driving between jobs, and the phone rings. You let it go, and you promise yourself you’ll call back. Plenty of callers won’t leave a message. They just try the next business on the list, and you never find out what that job was worth.
You probably aren’t looking for a technology project. You want the phone answered in a friendly voice, the customer’s name and number in your pocket, and maybe the job on your calendar before you’ve wiped your hands. The trouble is that these companies charge in three different ways, their entry plans leave out different things, and the small print on canceling runs from one click to the rest of a contract.
This guide compares five options by fit, from someone working alone to an office with several locations. Whether you’re opening your doors next month or you’ve run the same shop for twenty years, you’ll see the prices, what a busy month could cost, what each company publishes about emergencies and 911, and what it takes to leave. Where a company’s pages don’t settle something, we write “Ask before you sign,” which means exactly that and nothing worse. If a word sounds like software talk, we explain it where it appears, and our list of phone words in plain English is there whenever you need it.
The 5-minute brief on AI receptionists for small business
Among AI receptionist for small business options, Rosie has the lowest paid plan alongside RingCentral at $49 a month, Goodcall charges by the customer rather than the minute from $79, My AI Front Desk puts calls and texts in one plan at $99, or $79 billed annually, and Smith.ai charges by the call from $150. The five sit close together, so read who each one fits before you read its number.
| Option | Best fit for | Plan to start with | Price | Billed by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1Rosie | Owners who want to start small and leave easily | Scale, if you want booking | $149 monthly | Minutes (1,000) |
| #2My AI Front Desk | Calls, texts and web chat in one plan | Business-in-a-Box | $99 monthly | Minutes (200) |
| #3Goodcall | The same customers calling again and again | Starter | $79 monthly | Customers (100) |
| #4Smith.ai | Firms that want live people behind the AI | Pro | $150 monthly | Calls (75) |
| #5RingCentral AI Receptionist | Offices sending calls to several people | Standalone | $49 monthly | Minutes (100) |
Our grades for AI receptionists for small business
A demo always sounds good. It won’t tell you what happens in a busy month, or on the day you try to cancel. So we graded each company on the seven things that decide whether you’ll be glad you signed or sorry you did, the way a report card would. The grades are here to save you hours of reading fine print, and to show you where to slow down.
We only give a grade where the evidence holds up. Where it doesn’t, you’ll see “Not enough information.” That never counts against anyone, and we’d rather show a gap than guess. You’ll see a lot of those here, because AI receptionists are new and small companies don’t publish everything a buyer wants to know. A Good doesn’t mean perfect, and a Poor doesn’t mean a bad company. It means this is where you should look closer before you sign. “Fewer reviews so far” under a name means we’ve seen only a few recent reviews of that AI receptionist for small business, so its place could move as more come in.
The report card: AI receptionists for small business
Grade details
Rosie
Paid plans start at $49 a month for 250 minutes, with taxes added by address. Going past your minutes moves you up a plan automatically, and no per-minute rate is published.
You set it up yourself in three steps, each call log has an AI summary, and failed transfers are marked so you can follow up. White-glove onboarding comes on Growth.
Help is by email and in-app chat, with no support phone line, hours or response times published.
It runs in 30-day periods with no fee listed, and canceling takes effect at the end of the cycle. You get 30 days’ notice of price rises and 30 days to download your data.
Booking and transfers come on Scale at $149, and it connects to Jobber, Housecall Pro and HubSpot on every plan.
Grade details
My AI Front Desk
Business-in-a-Box is $99 a month, or $79 billed annually, and most of the bill is shown up front.
A setup wizard gets you started without a sales call, two editors can share the account, and each call gets an AI summary. White-glove onboarding comes on a higher plan.
Help comes by chat, email and a booking link, with no support phone line, hours or response times published, though each account has a customer success manager.
You cancel in the dashboard with no notice or fee listed, and refunds generally aren’t given.
Phone answering, two-way texting and web chat come in one plan. It lists no 911 service, so keep a regular phone line.
Grade details
Goodcall
Starter is $79 a month for 100 customers, with no setup fee and published rates for each extra customer, so the bill is easy to work out in advance.
You can set it up yourself and be answering the same day, with 1 to 10 team members by plan and calls tagged by outcome.
Help is by email and in-app only, with no support phone line, hours or response times published.
There’s no contract, and no notice or fee is listed. You lose the Goodcall number, and your own number stays with your phone company.
It books into Google Calendar and texts confirmations. It’s English only, and how it handles an emergency isn’t published.
Grade details
Smith.ai
Pro is $150 a month for 75 calls, with no setup fees and published per-call rates for extra calls. A live agent adds $3 a call in the cases you turn on.
If the AI can’t handle a call, a live agent takes it at no extra charge, but no status page, outage record or uptime promise is published.
Setup takes about 15 minutes, calls get instant summaries, and a dashboard shows call volume and appointments. Dedicated onboarding comes on Pro.
Live phone, email and chat support come on Pro and up, along with an account manager, though support hours aren’t stated.
Its AI pages don’t cover emergency handling or keeping your number, and it states it isn’t HIPAA-compliant.
Grade details
RingCentral AI Receptionist
It starts at $49 a month for 100 minutes, and extra minutes are $0.50 each, rounded up to 30 seconds. Its taxes and fees aren’t stated.
Small business owners like what it can do, and they’re less pleased with the price and the upkeep.
Harder, unusual calls may need a person, so test your own calls before you commit.
Keeping its setup current takes more work than most.
Only a sales number is published for it, and support hours and response times for the AI receptionist aren’t stated.
Its AI receptionist pages don’t state the term or the cost of leaving, and RingCentral’s general terms owe the rest of the term.
It sends callers by name, department or reason, and each location can keep its own hours and greetings, but much of what a small business needs isn’t confirmed on its pages.
Top 5 AI receptionists for small business by best fit
Each AI receptionist for small business here earns its place for a different kind of owner, and these five sit close together, so treat the order as a place to start, not a finish line. No company on this list answers everything that decides this purchase. Prices are per month and before taxes.
Best fit for starting small and leaving easily
Runs in 30-day periods with no leaving fee listed, and learns your business from your website or Google profile. Calendar booking and live transfers start on Scale.
Read on RosieBest fit for calls and texts in one plan
Phone answering, two-way texting and web chat in a single plan, now sold under the name Frontdesk. It lists no 911 service, so keep a regular phone line.
Read on My AI Front DeskBest fit for many repeat callers
Charges by the customer, so someone who calls three times in a month counts once. No contract or setup fee. How it handles an emergency isn’t published.
Read on GoodcallBest fit for live people behind the AI
The AI answers and Smith.ai’s own live agents can step in for $3 a call, billed by the call rather than the minute. Connects to Clio for law offices. It states it isn’t HIPAA-compliant, so it doesn’t suit health calls.
Read on Smith.aiBest fit for sending calls to several people
Sends callers to the right person by name, department or reason, and switches languages mid-call. Its contract length and leaving cost aren’t stated for this product.
Read on RingCentral AI ReceptionistHow they landed here
Our order for an AI receptionist for small business comes from many factors. Here’s a highlight of what shaped each place. These five sit close together and some grades aren’t in yet, so treat the order as a place to start.
AI receptionist for small business by business type
Every owner needs the same basics from an AI receptionist for small business: a friendly answer, the caller’s details, and a way to reach a person. After that, what you need depends on what a phone call means in your line of work. Two businesses of the same kind can need different things too, so find the step that sounds like you and read the “Which one for you?” box. Some suggestions need a higher plan than the entry price, and the company’s section tells you which.
What a call means to you: it’s a job. A homeowner with water on the floor will call three plumbers and hire whoever answers, and you can’t answer from inside a crawl space. Some calls are quotes that can wait until tonight, and some really can’t wait at all.
What matters most: catching the name, address and problem, booking estimates on your calendar, and getting the urgent call to whoever’s on duty.
Start with: Rosie and My AI Front Desk.
Which one for you?
What a call means to you: a regular wants to move Thursday’s color to Friday, and your hands are in someone’s hair. Each call is short, but there are a lot of them, and the same people call back again and again.
What matters most: pricing that doesn’t punish repeat callers, booking, and confirmation texts.
Start with: Goodcall and Rosie.
Which one for you?
What a call means to you: are you open, do you have this in stock, can I order for pickup? You’re ringing someone up while the phone rings, and most of these calls don’t need you at all.
What matters most: answering the routine questions from what you’ve taught it, and for online sellers, looking up and taking orders.
Start with: Goodcall and Rosie.
Which one for you?
What a call means to you: someone with a real problem is calling three firms, and the first one to take them seriously usually gets the case. That caller doesn’t want to feel brushed off, and you can’t step out of court to take it.
What matters most: asking your intake questions, a person for sensitive calls, and getting the details into your case software.
Start with: Smith.ai, then RingCentral AI Receptionist.
Which one for you?
What a call means to you: the person on the line may tell the software their name and what’s wrong. That makes it patient information under HIPAA, the federal health privacy law, and the contract matters as much as the features.
What matters most: a signed business associate agreement, or BAA, which is the contract that holds a company responsible for that information.
Start with: Goodcall, the one company here that publishes which plans get a BAA.
Which one for you?
What a call means to you: the phone isn’t the problem so much as the interruptions. Someone stops work to answer, finds out the caller wants billing, and walks over to get them. An office with ten or twenty people does that all day.
What matters most: sending each caller to the right person, passing along what they already explained, and working with your calendars and customer records.
Start with: RingCentral AI Receptionist, then My AI Front Desk.
Which one for you?
How your needs change as your team grows
Your line of work is only half the picture when you’re choosing an AI receptionist for small business. Someone working alone and a company with 40 people live very different days, even in the same trade. Here’s what tends to change as you grow, so you buy for the business you have today.
Find your situation
Your business type and team size tell you what you need. Where you are right now tells you what to do first. Most owners are in one of these four spots.
Free personalized guidance
Not sure which AI receptionist fits your business?
Tell us how many phone users and locations your system needs to support, along with your call volume, equipment needs, must-have features and timeline. Our telecom consultant can help you compare business phone systems before you commit.
A clear next step for your phone system
Request Free HelpWe’ll help guide your setup and installation from start to finish.
What owners really use an AI receptionist for
Small businesses use an AI receptionist to catch calls they’d otherwise miss, cover nights and weekends, take routine questions off their plate and keep the calendar full. Few owners care about the software itself. They care about what happens when the phone rings and nobody has a free hand.
An ordinary day with an AI receptionist for small business
Here’s what all of that looks like in practice, using a made-up heating and cooling company with an owner, two technicians and a part-time office helper. Your details will differ, but the day may feel familiar.
Pieces such as calendar booking, live transfer, texting and on-call lists depend on the company and the plan. Each company’s section below tells you what’s included.
AI receptionist for small business 101
An AI receptionist for small business is software that holds a spoken conversation with your caller, using what you’ve told it about your company. It’s different from a phone menu, the “press 1 for scheduling” recording, because the caller simply talks. It’s also different from voicemail, which only collects a message. Most of the companies here take calls forwarded from the number you already have, so nothing gets installed at your shop.
Two things separate a useful one from a frustrating one. The first is what it knows: your hours, services, prices and rules. The second is what it does when it’s out of its depth. A good setup hands the caller to a person or takes a clean message, and a poor one leaves them stuck, going around in circles. That’s why the plan details below matter more than how nice the voice sounds.
How a call moves through an AI receptionist
Phone words in plain English
These companies have their own language, and they don’t all use the same words for the same thing. These are the ones you’ll see most often when you compare AI receptionists for small business.
What every AI receptionist for small business should cover
Whatever you buy, and however small you are, these six things should be there. If a plan is missing one, or a company can’t answer in writing, you may be looking at the wrong plan.
How many minutes do you need?
Count your calls, not your people. Plans here are priced by minutes, calls or customers rather than by staff member, so look at a month of call records from your phone company and write down how many calls come in after hours and when you’re busy. Then guess how long they run. We use 3 minutes a call as a working example throughout this guide, which means 300 calls is about 900 minutes. Yours could be shorter or longer, so a week of real numbers beats any guess.
Start with the calls you’re missing, not all of them. A business that sends only after-hours and overflow calls will need far less than one that sends everything. Buy for the calls you have today, because adding more is usually easy. Our cost by team size table shows what that works out to at each company.
Your first month with an AI receptionist for small business
If you’ve never set one up, or you’re moving from an answering service, the order matters more than the speed. Companies talk about setup in minutes, and the part that takes time is yours: teaching it well.
Equipment, connections and rules for an AI receptionist
Most small businesses need very little equipment for an AI receptionist for small business, and many start with what they already own. The monthly plan is only one piece, though, and because real customers are on the line, a few rules apply however small you are.
What you need in place
Rules every owner should know
AI receptionist, answering service or another hire?
Most owners weighing an AI receptionist for small business are comparing it with two other ways to cover the phones, and plenty end up with a mix. AI is good at routine calls at any hour, a live answering service is good at the upset caller and the unusual question, and your own staff know your customers in a way nobody else will.
| Question | AI receptionist | Live answering service | Another hire |
|---|---|---|---|
| When it answers | Around the clock, several calls at once | Set hours, often extended | Working hours, one call at a time |
| Books appointments | Yes, on the right plan and calendar | Often, depending on the service | Yes |
| An upset caller | Follows your rules, then hands off | A person listens, but doesn’t know your customers | Knows them by name |
| How you pay | Paid plans from $49 a month | Often by the minute or the call | Salary, benefits and training |
AI receptionist for small business features compared
This table compares the five AI receptionists for small business on what decides the purchase: booking, emergencies, reaching a person, languages and keeping your number. “Not published” means the company’s pages don’t settle it, not that the answer is no.
| Option | Booking | Emergencies | Reaching a person | Languages | Your number |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rosie | On Scale and up. Google Calendar, Calendly, Acuity, Appointlet | Spots urgent problems and notifies you. 911 not published | Transfers on Scale and up. None on Professional | English, Spanish | Forward it |
| My AI Front Desk | Built-in calendar and Google Calendar | Sends urgent calls by your rules. No 911 service listed | Transfers when a rule you wrote matches | 20+ listed, Spanish not named | Forward or port it in |
| Goodcall | Google Calendar, others through connections | Not published | Tries up to 3 of your contacts | English only | Forward it. No porting |
| Smith.ai | Calendly and more. Other calendars go to a live agent | Urgent matters go to your team or a live agent. 911 not published | Warm transfer, or a live agent for $3 a call | English, Spanish | Not published |
| RingCentral AI Receptionist | Google and Outlook calendars | Urgent calls follow your after-hours rules. 911 not published | Transfers by name, department or reason, with a summary | 7, switches during a call | Keep it |
AI receptionist for small business pricing
All five AI receptionist for small business options publish a price, with paid plans starting between $49 and $150 a month. Those numbers aren’t measuring the same thing, though. Rosie, My AI Front Desk and RingCentral sell minutes, Goodcall sells customers, and Smith.ai sells calls, so the cheapest one depends on how your phone really rings.
Published starting price for an AI receptionist for small business, per month
The entry paid plan for all 5 options, plus RingCentral with its required phone plan. Smith.ai also has a free plan for 25 calls.
What’s included differs widely: 250 minutes for Rosie, 200 for My AI Front Desk, 100 for RingCentral, 100 customers for Goodcall and 75 calls for Smith.ai.
250 minutes, answering around the clock, message taking and booking links by text. No calendar booking and no live transfers.
1,000 minutes, plus calendar booking, cold and warm transfers, and texts during calls.
2,000 minutes, plus help getting set up, an on-call list of up to 5 numbers, and Shopify orders.
25 conversations, then $1 each. Website chat is free on every plan. Annual billing gives 2 months free, with no annual price shown.
200 voice minutes, 400 text messages, 100 chatbot conversations and a 1,000-credit pool for going over.
Billed upfront, which works out to $948 a year.
Texts are $0.04 each. Auto-reload adds 1,000 credits for $10, and turning it off pauses features rather than charging you.
This is the pricing page. Other company pages show $109 as an entry price and $0.12 for an extra minute, so confirm yours.
100 customers, about 150 calls. 1 team member, 30 days of call history, extra customers 79¢ each.
500 customers, about 750 calls. 5 team members, 90 days of history, extra customers 26¢ each.
2,000 customers, about 3,000 calls. 10 team members, unlimited history, extra customers 15¢ each, and a BAA is available.
Build and test a free demo agent, and start paying when you add a phone number. Some Goodcall comparison pages show different prices, so go by the pricing page.
25 calls. A card is required at signup, nothing is charged until you authorize it, and extra calls are $3.00 each once you turn them on.
75 calls at $2.00 a call, with extra calls at $2.50. Larger Pro levels drop to $1.67 a call for 300.
300 calls at $1.67 a call, with extra calls at $2.17, full-service setup and support for several locations.
Added when a Smith.ai person takes over in the cases you turn on, such as a caller asking for a human. Not billed when the AI asks for help or has an outage.
100 minutes per license, working with the phones you have through forwarding.
$39 for the AI receptionist plus $30 for RingEX Core, with 100 minutes and a new number for each user.
Pay as you go, with each call rounded up to 30 seconds. Minute bundles are sold, and their prices aren’t shown.
A free try is offered, and its length isn’t shown. Text replies from the AI may cost extra, with no rate published.
Other plans, priced by quote
For higher volume and several locations, with lower rates per minute, help getting set up and an account manager.
For more than 2,000 customers a month, with volume pricing, onboarding help and a service promise.
A longer commitment with a better rate and rollover calls. Enterprise at 1,000 or more calls is custom too.
What an AI receptionist for small business costs by team size
This table works out one month at each company, using our example of 3 minutes a call and Goodcall’s own figure of about 1.5 calls per customer. Each company’s bill moves differently, so use it to see the shape of the cost, then run your own numbers. These are our calculations from published prices before taxes, not quotes.
| Option | Solo owner, 50 calls | Small team, 150 calls | Busy office, 300 calls |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rosie | $49 Professional, messages only | $149 Scale | $149 Scale |
| My AI Front Desk | $99 | $151.50 | $264 |
| Goodcall | $79 Starter | $79 Starter | $129 Growth |
| Smith.ai | $75 Free with overage on, or $150 Pro | About $270 Pro | $500 Enterprise |
| RingCentral AI Receptionist | $74 standalone | $224 standalone | $449 standalone |
RingCentral assumes one license and pay-as-you-go minutes, and a bundle may cost less. My AI Front Desk counts the 1,000-credit pool, which covers about 40 extra minutes. Long calls hurt minute plans, and Smith.ai and Goodcall aren’t affected by call length. The Goodcall line assumes about 33, 100 and 200 customers.
Free personalized guidance
Want help comparing AI receptionist prices?
Tell us how many phone users and locations your system needs to support, along with your call volume, equipment needs, must-have features and timeline. Our telecom consultant can help you compare business phone systems before you commit.
A clear next step for your phone system
Request Free HelpWe’ll help guide your setup and installation from start to finish.
AI receptionist for small business reviews
AI receptionist for small business reviews are thin so far, because these products are young. For this list we use G2 only. Three of the five show a rating there, and Rosie and Goodcall don’t have one we can show yet. Customer review ratings tell you how people feel. They don’t tell you what’s in the contract, so read each company’s Straight Answers below as well. Ratings were checked November 1, 2026.
Customer review ratings for AI receptionists for small business
G2 rates out of 5. Bars start at 3.5 so small differences are easy to see, and the number in parentheses is how many reviews stand behind the rating. Smith.ai’s G2 listing carries its AI Receptionist name, but recent reviews there don’t clearly describe the AI, and several describe live receptionists, so don’t read this rating as evidence of how the AI handles calls.
30-day periods, trained from your website or Google profile
Rosie fits the owner who wants to try an AI receptionist without tying the business down. It runs in 30-day periods, lists no leaving fee, and you can set it up yourself in three steps by pointing it at your website or Google profile, then calling it to hear how it sounds. It answers around the clock in English and Spanish, with more than 10 voices to choose from, and you get a summary, transcript and recording of every call, plus a free iOS and Android app.
The plan you choose matters more here than the headline price. Professional at $49 takes messages and texts a booking link, but a caller can’t reach a person, and nothing lands on your calendar. Scale at $149 adds booking into Google Calendar, Calendly, Acuity or Appointlet, and transfers calls with a quick introduction. Growth at $299 adds an on-call list of up to 5 numbers and Shopify orders. It connects to Jobber, Housecall Pro and HubSpot on every plan, one customer system per account, and Zapier reaches much more. It can’t reschedule or cancel an appointment yet.
Emergencies and 911: Rosie’s home services page states it recognizes urgent problems, prioritizes them and notifies you, and its help pages show no dedicated emergency feature. Its Terms don’t address 911, and they mention hosting a customer’s number, so if you ever move your number to Rosie, ask what happens to 911 first. Forwarding from your regular line leaves your own phone service in place.
Not the best fit if: you need booking and transfers at the lowest price, because those start at $149, or you need someone on the phone from support. Rosie lists email and in-app chat, with no support phone line.
Rosie customer reviews
We don’t have recent Rosie reviews to show yet, so there are no review cards for Rosie. A trial will tell you more right now than a star rating could.
Ask before you sign: what going over your minutes costs. Rosie’s Terms describe an automatic upgrade to a higher plan, its cancel help page mentions “minute overages,” and no per-minute rate is published. A $49 customer could land on $149, so get the rule in writing. Also ask whether the trial needs a card. Prices can change with 30 days’ notice, and there’s no cap. Rosie keeps your records for 30 days after you cancel, and a number you’ve moved to Rosie may be released if it isn’t moved back within three months.
Phone, two-way texting and web chat, sold under the name Frontdesk
My AI Front Desk, now sold as Frontdesk by AI Front Desk, Inc., fits a small team that wins customers by replying fast, wherever the customer shows up. Business-in-a-Box puts phone answering, two-way texting and a website chatbot in one plan, with 200 voice minutes and 400 text messages. It books into its own calendar or Google Calendar during a call, sends confirmation texts, and catches new customers’ details in a simple customer list. Two people can edit the account, with unlimited people able to look.
You keep a lot of control. You write up to 100 transfer rules for the calls that should reach a person, and a hot transfer whispers a summary to you before you take the call. The company lists more than 20 languages, Spanish isn’t named on the pages we read, and it connects to HubSpot, Housecall Pro, Google Calendar and thousands of apps through Zapier. One thing to like if you worry about the bill: with auto-reload off, features pause when your credits run out, rather than charges climbing.
Emergencies: it can send urgent calls by the reason for calling, and it tries backup numbers in order. What happens to an emergency call if nobody answers isn’t stated, and a default “dial 911” message isn’t published, so write your own.
Not the best fit if: you want this to be your only phone line, you need a mobile app, which isn’t mentioned on its main pages, or you want someone to set it up for you. Help getting set up is on Partner / Enterprise, and owners should expect to write their own instructions.
My AI Front Desk customer reviews
From G2, all from the past year. Each card opens the review where it was posted.
Gave Us Time Back and Streamlined Our Customer Journey.
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Even I find it hard to believe that it’s AI.
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Versatile Solution
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Affordable AI Receptionist with Easy Setup
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Realistic AI with Call Handling Excellence, Needs Better Integration
One of the Best AI Receptionist Tools We Have Used
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Ask before you sign: the price and overage rate on your order, because the company’s pages differ, whether a free plan exists, because its home page describes one and its pricing page states there’s no permanent one, and how you’d move your number out, which isn’t published. Moving a number in has no published time or fee. Fees can change at the company’s discretion, with no cap. For health calls, its pages disagree on signing a BAA.
Read more My AI Front Desk reviews on G2.
Charged by the customer, not the minute
Goodcall fits a business where the same people call again and again. It doesn’t count minutes or calls. It counts unique customers, so someone who calls three times in a month counts once, and a long call costs the same as a short one. Goodcall’s Starter plan covers 100 customers, about 150 calls, and spam doesn’t count. That makes the bill easier to work out in advance than most, which is a relief if you’ve ever been caught out by a phone bill.
It’s also a tidy, simple tool. It learns from your website or a PDF price list, you pick one of six voices and make practice calls, and nothing changes until you press publish, with a way to roll back if you don’t like it. Goodcall gives you one local number, and it answers from your own number by forwarding, including a “ring first” setting that lets you try to catch the call yourself. It books into Google Calendar, texts confirmations and links, tells callers it’s AI, and sends new leads to you while the caller’s still on the line. Goodcall started in 2017 inside Google as CallJoy, then became independent.
Emergencies and 911: Goodcall doesn’t publish how it handles an emergency, and its main pages don’t mention 911. It can try up to 3 of your contacts, then take details and text you. You can publish its number as your business number, and it doesn’t move numbers in. Keep a regular phone line, and write and test your own rules for urgent calls.
Not the best fit if: you get lots of one-time callers, who fill your customer count fast, or you need Spanish, because Goodcall is English only today. It can’t receive text replies, doesn’t offer toll-free numbers yet, and doesn’t port numbers. Support is by email and in-app help.
Goodcall customer reviews
We don’t have recent Goodcall reviews to show yet, so there are no review cards for Goodcall. Its free demo agent will tell you more right now than a star rating could.
Ask before you sign: what the AI does on an emergency call, and whether you can cap your bill, because Goodcall’s FAQ states the plan price isn’t a cap and no off switch is stated. Also ask about the cost of each extra location. Its audio and transcripts train its speech models, and you can opt out only of manual review. Prices can change with 30 days’ notice, with no cap.
Billed by the call, with live agents who can step in
Smith.ai fits a firm that likes the idea of AI but wants real people close by. Its AI Receptionist answers around the clock in English or Spanish, follows call plans you set up, which it calls playbooks, and can pass a caller to your team with the context, or to one of Smith.ai’s own live agents. That live agent costs $3 a call in the cases you turn on, and it’s a comfort that if the AI goes down, live agents step in at no charge. Smith.ai publishes that as its fallback, which nobody else here does.
Billing by the call suits a business with long conversations, because a 10-minute intake costs the same as a 1-minute question. The Free plan covers 25 calls, a good way to hear it for yourself, and Pro adds live support by phone, email and chat, plus an account manager. Lead questions, summaries, transcripts and a dashboard come on every plan, and its Quality Studio tool runs practice calls and suggests fixes you approve. It connects to Clio, HubSpot, Salesforce and Calendly, and spam it removes first can come off your bill, up to 10% of calls.
Emergencies and 911: Smith.ai’s AI pages don’t describe emergency handling or mention 911. Its home page states urgent matters go to your team or a live agent. Read its Terms for any emergency rules before you sign. Keep a regular phone line.
Not the best fit if: you get many short calls, because each one counts the same as a long one, or you need to keep your current number and want it confirmed up front. Smith.ai’s AI pages don’t mention forwarding or moving a number, and they show a dedicated number on every plan.
Smith.ai customer reviews
Recent Smith.ai reviews don’t clearly describe the AI product, so we aren’t showing review cards here. Smith.ai’s Free plan will tell you more about the AI than those reviews can.
Ask before you sign: whether you can keep your number, what the Terms state on renewal, refunds, rate rises and taxes, and whether paid plans can switch overage off, which is stated only for Free. Also ask for each live agent case to be spelled out, because calendars outside its connections go to a live agent at $3 a call.
Read more Smith.ai reviews on G2.
Also called AIR, sold alone or with RingCentral’s phone system
RingCentral AI Receptionist, also called AIR, fits an office with more than one person to reach. It asks what the caller needs, then sends them on by name, department or reason, along with the caller’s details and a summary, so your staff don’t start from scratch. Each location can keep its own hours, routing and greetings, and you can set several numbers for different campaigns or lines. It’s the only company here naming Outlook alongside Google Calendar, and it connects to Salesforce, HubSpot and Zoho.
It speaks seven languages, including Spanish, French and German, and it switches during a call. It books and reschedules, sends follow-up texts, and you can make it use exact answers word for word, which helps if a wrong answer would hurt you. RingCentral has been around since 1999 and is on the New York Stock Exchange, and it publishes monthly release notes for this product, with its newest dated September 23, 2026. Its reports show the calls it couldn’t resolve and the questions it couldn’t answer, and its page states your data isn’t used to train its AI.
Canceling: RingCentral’s AI Receptionist pages don’t state a contract length or what it costs to leave. RingCentral’s general terms set the term in your order, renew by themselves, ask for 30 days’ notice before the term ends, and owe the rest of the term if you leave early. Whether those apply to your order isn’t stated for AI Receptionist, so see the term on your order before you sign.
Emergencies and 911: urgent calls follow the after-hours rules you set. AI Receptionist’s terms have no emergency wording and its pages don’t publish a “dial 911” message. The standalone version doesn’t replace your phone service, so your own line stays in place.
Not the best fit if: you’re a solo owner with lots of long calls, because 100 minutes goes quickly and extra minutes are $0.50 each, or you want a month-to-month deal in writing without talking to anyone. Customers also find harder, unusual calls may need a person.
RingCentral AI Receptionist customer reviews
From G2, all from the past year. Each card opens the review where it was posted.
Peace of Mind with 24/7 Call Coverage and Helpful Real-Time Notifications
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Helpful After-Hours Call Handling with Customizable Voice and Messaging
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Simple, Transparent Voice AI with EU Hosting and Seamless Appointment Booking
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
Useful for the calls we’d otherwise miss, but watch the minutes
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
24/7 Call Coverage That Saves Time, Though Accent Recognition Needs Work
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
24/7 Call Answering and Smart Routing That Keeps Callers Off Hold
Mid-Market (51‑1000 emp.)
Ask before you sign: your term, your renewal and your cost to leave, in writing, plus the price of a minute bundle and whether you can set a spending limit. Calendly is listed in one place and shown as coming soon in another. For health calls, a BAA isn’t confirmed here, so ask before any patient details are shared. Prices aren’t capped under the general terms.
Read more RingCentral AI Receptionist reviews on G2.
Others we considered besides an AI receptionist
An AI receptionist for small business isn’t the right tool for every owner, and the five companies above aren’t your only way to get the phone covered. If none of them sounds like you, one of these may fit better.
Our Verdict on choosing an AI receptionist for small business
An AI receptionist for small business makes the most sense when your phone rings while you’re busy doing the work that pays the bills. There’s no one right answer, and the five companies here sit close together. What separates them is how your calls run and how much you value an easy way out.
If you’re starting out and want to keep your options open, look at Rosie first, and pay for Scale if you want jobs on your calendar. If your customers text as much as they call, My AI Front Desk puts it all together, as long as your regular phone line stays in place. If the same people call you all week, Goodcall gives you a bill you can work out in advance, and it’s the one here that publishes which plans get a BAA for health calls. If you have a team to send calls to, RingCentral AI Receptionist publishes the fullest routing, once you’ve seen the term in writing. If you want real people behind the AI and your calls run long, Smith.ai is worth a look, starting on its Free plan. Whichever you choose, write your emergency rules before the first caller reaches it.
What an AI receptionist does well
- Answers around the clock, including nights and weekends.
- Takes several calls at once, so nobody sits listening to it ring.
- Gives the same answer to the same question every time.
- Leaves you a written record of every call.
What to plan for
- Teaching it takes real time, and it needs checking in the first weeks.
- Unusual calls will still need a person, so plan a clear handoff.
- Extra minutes, calls or customers matter in a busy month.
- 911 and emergencies stay your job, so keep a regular phone line.
Quick math: what an AI receptionist for small business can pay back
Using a $149 a month plan, such as Rosie Scale, and an example of $250 for each new customer.
If one new customer is worth $250 to your business, a single booked job a month more than covers this plan. Use your own numbers.
AI receptionist for small business FAQs
How much does an AI receptionist cost for a small business?
Paid plans in this guide start at $49 a month for Rosie Professional and RingCentral standalone, $79 for Goodcall Starter, $99 for My AI Front Desk, or $79 billed annually, and $150 for Smith.ai Pro. A month of 300 calls could run from about $129 to $500, depending on how each company bills. Our cost by team size table has the detail.
Is an AI receptionist worth it for a small business?
It usually is when calls go to voicemail while you’re working, after hours or in busy stretches. If one recovered call turns into a customer worth more than the monthly price, the plan has paid for itself. If your phones are covered all day and most callers need a long talk with you, start with after-hours calls only.
Can an AI receptionist for small business book appointments?
Yes, on the right plan. Goodcall, My AI Front Desk and RingCentral AI Receptionist book into a calendar during the call. Rosie does on Scale at $149 and up, and its Professional plan texts a booking link instead. Smith.ai books through its connected calendars, and others go to a live agent at $3 a call.
Can an AI receptionist call 911 or replace my phone line?
Don’t count on it. My AI Front Desk lists no 911 service, and its Terms bar calling emergency lines. Rosie, Goodcall, RingCentral AI Receptionist and Smith.ai don’t publish 911 service for these products. Keep a regular phone line, and give callers in danger a clear message to hang up and dial 911.
Will callers know they’re talking to AI?
Goodcall and Smith.ai state callers are told, and the other three don’t publish a default. Telling them in your greeting is the safest choice, because laws on this vary. Offering an easy way to reach a person keeps it friendly.
Can I keep my business phone number?
With Rosie, Goodcall, My AI Front Desk and RingCentral AI Receptionist, yes, usually by forwarding your number to the AI. My AI Front Desk can also move your number in, and Goodcall doesn’t move numbers. Smith.ai’s AI pages don’t state it, so ask before you sign.
Is there a free trial?
Rosie and My AI Front Desk offer 7 days. Goodcall has a free demo agent instead, and you pay when you add a number. Smith.ai has a Free plan for 25 calls, with a card required at signup. RingCentral shows “Try free,” and its length isn’t shown.
Can I cancel an AI receptionist anytime?
Rosie, My AI Front Desk and Goodcall list no leaving fee, and access runs to the end of the period you’ve paid for. Smith.ai asks for 30 days’ notice. RingCentral AI Receptionist doesn’t state a term or cost, and RingCentral’s general terms owe the rest of the term, so see your order first.
Is an AI receptionist HIPAA compliant?
Not by default. Goodcall offers a BAA on Scale at $299 a month and on Enterprise. Smith.ai states it isn’t HIPAA-compliant. Rosie, My AI Front Desk and RingCentral don’t give a clear published answer, so ask before you sign. Dental offices should read our AI dental receptionist guide.
Can an AI receptionist transfer calls to me?
Yes, on the right plan. You set rules for which calls reach you, such as emergencies or existing clients. Rosie starts transfers on Scale, and its Professional plan has none. Goodcall tries up to 3 contacts, and My AI Front Desk transfers when a rule you wrote matches.
Why do some companies show “not yet rated”?
We don’t have a G2 rating or recent reviews to show for them yet. That doesn’t count against them. It only means customers haven’t told us enough so far.
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