Best Smith.ai Alternatives of 2026
Seven AI and live receptionist services to consider instead of Smith.ai, ranked on published price per call, human backup, languages and integrations.
By , research by the BestBots team ยท Updated Oct 19, 2026
Fact checked against each company's published pricing, documentation and verified user ratings. How we score
Upfirst is the best Smith.ai alternative for most businesses: it keeps per call billing but charges $159.95 for 300 calls where Smith.ai charges $500, and it lists 35+ languages. Pick Abby Connect if you want AI and human receptionists on one plan, or Goodcall if you take 500+ calls a month and want the lowest bill.
Our top picks
Why people look for Smith.ai alternatives
Smith.ai is a strong AI receptionist with a free 25 call plan, Clio, HubSpot and Salesforce integrations and a live receptionist network behind it. People leave for reasons that show up on its own pricing page:
- Price per call. $1.60 to $2.00 per included call and $2.10 to $3.00 per extra call, two to ten times rival AI tools.
- Human backup costs extra. Live escalation that you configure is a per call add on not priced on the AI page.
- Two languages. English and Spanish only.
- Term plans. Six month plans are non refundable, per Smith.ai's own replies on Trustpilot.
- Quote only above 500 calls.
If those do not bother you, read the Smith.ai review and Smith.ai pricing before switching.
How to choose
- You want the same model for less: Upfirst.
- You want AI and humans in one bill: Abby Connect or Posh.
- You take many calls or many repeat callers: Goodcall.
- Your calls are short: Rosie.
- You want a human on every call: Ruby.
- Your callers speak many languages: RingCentral AI Receptionist or Upfirst.
Our picks, in detail
- Starting price
- $24.95 per month
- Minutes or calls included
- 30 to 600 calls depending on plan
- Live agent backup
- No staffed agents; warm transfers to your own team with caller context
- Free trial
- 14 days
Upfirst keeps Smith.ai's per call billing, so long intakes cost no more than short calls, at well under half the price: $159.95 for 300 calls against Smith.ai's $500, with $0.70 to $1.50 per extra call. It also books into Clio, Calendly, Google and Outlook, lists 35+ languages to Smith.ai's two, and does not bill spam or calls under 15 seconds.
Pros
- Lowest entry price among per call receptionists at $24.95 for 30 calls
- Spam, sub 15 second and silent calls are not billed
- Calendar booking on every plan, including Clio, Calendly, Acuity and Square
- 35+ languages with automatic switching when the caller changes language
- 14 day free trial and 20% off for annual billing
Cons
- No review listing with 10 or more reviews that we could find, so less public proof than Smith.ai
- No staffed human backup; transfers go to your own phones
- HIPAA BAAs only on custom plans above 600 calls
- Native CRM list is short beyond Clio; most CRMs go through Zapier
Skip it if you need a staffed human backup; Upfirst transfers only to your own team.
- Starting price
- $164 per month
- Minutes or calls included
- 100 to 1,000 AI minutes (50 to 500 human minutes)
- Live agent backup
- Yes, human receptionists on the same plan
- Free trial
- Free trial on every plan
Abby Connect sells one pool of minutes that covers both its AI and its human receptionists, with AI minutes counting half, so 50 Abby Minutes for $164 can stretch to 100 AI minutes. If you left Smith.ai because live escalation is a separate, unpriced add on, this puts both in one bill. English and Spanish and Salesforce and HubSpot are included.
Pros
- Human and AI answering mixed per call on one subscription
- AI minutes count half, doubling plan coverage
- English and Spanish on all plans, plus HIPAA options and encrypted recordings
- Salesforce, HubSpot, Calendly and 1,000+ other integrations
- No setup fee, month to month, free trial
Cons
- Starter covers only 100 AI minutes for $164
- Most expensive per AI minute in this group
- Overage rate is described, not listed as a dollar figure
Skip it if nearly all your calls are routine; pure AI tools cost a fraction of $164.
- Starting price
- $79 per month
- Minutes or calls included
- 100 to 2,000 unique callers, unlimited minutes
- Live agent backup
- No staffed agents; transfers to your team, up to three attempts, then takes a message
- Free trial
- Free demo agent; pay when you connect a number
Goodcall bills per unique caller per month and never meters minutes, so repeat callers and long calls are free. Growth covers 500 callers, about 750 calls by Goodcall's estimate, for $129, where Smith.ai charges $800 for 500 calls. Gabi builds the agent and runs practice calls before you go live.
Pros
- Never meters minutes, so a nine minute booking costs the same as a 30 second call
- Repeat callers in the same month count once; spam and wrong numbers do not count
- Growth plan covers 500 unique callers for $129, the lowest cost at that volume in this group
- Every call recorded and transcribed, and Gabi runs practice calls before you go live
- Began inside Google in 2017 (CallJoy, Area 120) and says it is SOC 2 and HIPAA compliant
Cons
- Answers in English only, per its own How it works page
- Short native integration list: HighLevel, Google Calendar, Google Sheets and Zapier
- Its Trustpilot page has only 5 reviews, all 1 star, citing billing after cancellation and unannounced price increases
- Unique caller billing makes side by side comparison with per call tools harder
Skip it if you have Spanish speaking callers or need Clio or Salesforce; Goodcall answers in English only.
- Starting price
- $49 per month
- Minutes or calls included
- 250, 1,000 or 2,000 minutes
- Live agent backup
- No staffed agents; warm and live transfers to your team on Scale and up
- Free trial
- 7 days, no credit card
Rosie gives 250 minutes for $49 and 1,000 minutes for $149, English and Spanish included, with Google Calendar and Calendly booking and live transfers from the Scale plan. For short calls that works out far below Smith.ai's $1.60 to $3.00 per call.
Pros
- $49 for 250 minutes is the lowest cost per included minute on a published plan in this group
- English and Spanish on every plan
- Trains itself from your website and Google Business Profile
- Can run for after hours or overflow only through conditional call forwarding
- Native iOS and Android apps
Cons
- Calendar booking and live transfers need the $149 Scale plan
- No published overage rate, so you cannot model a busy month
- Only Google Calendar and Calendly natively; CRMs go through Zapier
- Thin review record: 3.5 on the App Store from 11 ratings and no Trustpilot reviews
Skip it if your calls run long or you need a published overage rate; Rosie does not list one.
- Starting price
- $250 per month
- Minutes or calls included
- 50 to 500 live receptionist minutes
- Live agent backup
- Yes, every call is answered by a live receptionist
- Free trial
- None listed
If Smith.ai's AI was the problem, Ruby puts a trained receptionist on every call 24/7, with AI only behind the scenes. It holds 4.5 on Trustpilot from 853 reviews and connects to Clio, Lawmatics, Filevine and MyCase, so law firms keep their intake workflow.
Pros
- A live receptionist answers every call 24/7, including weekends and holidays
- Legal integrations: Clio, Lawmatics, Law Ruler, Filevine, MyCase, Rocket Matter
- AI transcripts, sentiment analysis and robocall filtering included at no extra cost
- No contracts and no activation, setup or customization fees
- 4.5 on Trustpilot from 853 reviews and 4.8 on the App Store from 338 ratings
Cons
- About $3.45 to $5.00 per included minute, several times the cost of AI tools
- No standalone AI receptionist; AI only assists the human receptionists
- Overage rate, billing increment, Spanish and HIPAA add on prices are not published
- Some Trustpilot reviewers say robocalls pushed them toward bigger plans
Skip it if on a budget: $720 for 200 minutes, and overage is not published.
- Starting price
- $65 per month
- Minutes or calls included
- Pay as you go, or 50 to 500 mixed AI and live minutes
- Live agent backup
- Yes, US based live receptionists on the same plan
- Free trial
- 7 days or 250 receptionist minutes, no credit card
Posh mixes AI and US based live receptionists on the same plan, with a $65 pay as you go option at $1.15 per AI minute and $2.30 per live minute, and bundles from $130 for 50 mixed minutes. It integrates with Clio Grow, Clio Manage and Rocket Matter and holds 4.7 on Trustpilot from 199 reviews.
Pros
- Published per minute rates for both AI and live answering
- AI and live minutes share one plan pool
- Clio Grow, Clio Manage and Rocket Matter integrations
- Free trial of 7 days or 250 minutes with no card
- 4.7 on Trustpilot from 199 reviews
Cons
- AI minutes cost $0.95 to $1.15, several times pure AI tools
- Billed for follow up tasks like scheduling and reminders, not just talk time
- Some long term reviewers report quality slips
Skip it if your calls are long; per minute AI at $0.98 to $1.15 gets expensive fast.
- Starting price
- $49 per month
- Minutes or calls included
- 100 minutes
- Live agent backup
- No staffed agents; transfers to your team with a call summary
- Free trial
- 14 days
RingCentral's AI Receptionist speaks six languages with mid call switching, books into Google and Outlook calendars, and connects to Salesforce, HubSpot and Zoho, from $49 for 100 minutes with $0.50 per extra minute in 30 second steps. It suits offices that outgrew Smith.ai's English and Spanish.
Pros
- Six languages with switching mid conversation
- Books and reschedules in Google and Outlook calendars
- Native Salesforce, HubSpot and Zoho integrations
- States customer data is not used to train its AI models; HITRUST certified
- 14 day free trial, and $10 cheaper per month for RingEX customers
Cons
- Only 100 minutes included, then $0.50 per minute, so 500 minutes costs $249
- Extra minute bundle prices are not published
- RingCentral scores 1.7 on Trustpilot from 2,013 reviews, with complaints about cancellation and billing
- No staffed human backup
Skip it if at high volume; 1,000 minutes costs about $499.
Price comparison at a glance
Bills at 200 calls a month, cheapest published plan, October 2026. Minute based tools assume 3 minute calls (600 minutes).
| Service | Billing | Entry price | About 200 calls | Human backup |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smith.ai | Per call | Free for 25 calls | $385 | Per call add on |
| Upfirst | Per call | $24.95 for 30 calls | $159.95 | No |
| Abby Connect | Abby Minutes (AI counts half) | $164 | about $898 for 600 AI minutes (Professional plus 100 Abby Minutes at the plan rate) | Yes, same plan |
| Goodcall | Per unique caller | $79 for 100 callers | about $105 | No |
| Rosie | Per minute | $49 for 250 minutes | $149 | No |
| Ruby | Per minute, humans | $250 for 50 minutes | $1,725 for 500 minutes plus 100 minutes of unpublished overage | Every call |
| Posh | Per minute, AI and live | $65 pay as you go | about $1,073 if all 600 minutes are AI | Yes, same plan |
| RingCentral AI Receptionist | Per minute | $49 for 100 minutes | $299 | No |
The pattern: per minute services look cheap for short calls and expensive for long ones, while per call and per caller tools stay flat. Goodcall and Upfirst are the cheapest flat options; Rosie is cheapest when calls are short. Every tracked price is on the AI Price Index, and the calculator works out your own volume.
Who should stay on Smith.ai
Stay if your calls are high value and you want a human safety net without paying for humans on every call. Law firms on Clio, offices on Salesforce or HubSpot, and businesses with Spanish speaking callers get more from Smith.ai than from any cheaper AI tool here. It is also the only option with a free plan on real calls. Compare directly in Smith.ai vs Ruby, Smith.ai vs Goodcall and Smith.ai vs Rosie.
How we picked
We started from Smith.ai's published plans and the reasons buyers leave, then ranked the receptionist services in our database on price per call at common volumes, whether a human backup exists and how it is billed, languages, native integrations and verified ratings. Every price comes from the vendor's pricing page, checked in October 2026. Nobody paid for placement. See how we score.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best alternative to Smith.ai?
Upfirst for most buyers, because it keeps per call billing at less than half the price: $159.95 for 300 calls. Abby Connect is the pick if you want AI and humans on one plan, and Goodcall is the cheapest at 500 calls or more.
Is there a cheaper alternative to Smith.ai?
Yes. At 200 calls a month Smith.ai's AI costs about $385. Upfirst costs $159.95, Goodcall about $105 to $129 and Rosie $149 for 1,000 minutes. Dialzara starts at $29 for 60 minutes.
Which Smith.ai alternative has live receptionists?
Ruby, Abby Connect, Posh and AnswerConnect all put humans on calls. Abby Connect and Posh mix AI and humans on the same plan; Ruby and AnswerConnect are human first.
Which alternative works with Clio?
Upfirst books into Clio, Ruby integrates with Clio, Lawmatics, Filevine and MyCase, and Posh lists Clio Grow, Clio Manage and Rocket Matter.
Should I leave Smith.ai?
Stay if you rely on its live receptionist backup, its free 25 call plan or native Salesforce and HubSpot sync. Leave if you take hundreds of routine calls a month, where its per call price is two to ten times the alternatives.
Is Smith.ai better than Ruby?
For most businesses, yes on price: Smith.ai's AI covers 200 calls for about $385, while Ruby's 200 minutes cost $720. Ruby wins if every caller must reach a human. See our Smith.ai vs Ruby comparison.