Buyer's guide
Best AI receptionist for small business (2026)
No single AI receptionist is best for every small business. Pick Dialzara, Trillet or Rosie for the lowest published prices, Goodcall if many customers ring more than once, My AI Front Desk for texting in the same plan, Smith.ai or Ruby if you want people behind the phone, GoHighLevel Voice AI if you already run HighLevel, and Voxipo if your problem is the calls you miss while working.
Updated . Voxipo publishes this page and is one of the products listed. Competitor prices as of October 2026 from their own websites.
Method
How this list was put together
Voxipo is the vendor behind this page, so you should read it with that in mind. We did not score or rank the nine products. Voxipo sits first in the tables because we know it best. The other eight follow in the order of our comparison pages and carry no ranking.
Prices come from each vendor's own pricing page, checked in October 2026, and every price has a link at the bottom of its section. Where a vendor's page does not mention a feature, the table says it was not listed. That means we did not find it, and you should ask the vendor before ruling it out.
Two of the nine, Smith.ai and Ruby, put human receptionists on the phone. They are included because a small business choosing an answering option often compares a person against software, and the price gap is large.
Criteria
Five questions that separate these products
Most pricing pages look alike at the top. The differences show up in how you are billed, what happens to a call nobody answers, and what the product can do once a caller is on the line.
| Question | Why a small business owner should ask it |
|---|---|
| How is usage billed? | Minutes, calls and unique callers produce very different bills. A chatty caller costs more on minutes. A repeat caller costs more on calls. |
| What happens to missed calls? | Answering a call you forward is one job. Phoning back the person whose call went unanswered is another. |
| Can a person take over? | Some calls need a human decision. Check whether the product hands calls to a person, sends you an alert, or neither. |
| Where does it book? | A booking made on the call lands on your calendar. A message is a task you still have to do. |
| What does the free trial cover? | A 7-day trial, a 14-day trial and a free plan test different things. Run it on your real call volume. |
Side by side
Nine options compared on published facts
Prices are in US dollars for the entry plans each vendor lists. A cell that says not listed means the vendor's pricing page does not mention it.
| Product | Entry price and allowance | Trial | Hands calls to a person | Check before you buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voxipo | $49 a month for 250 minutes. Starter $99 for 600, Growth $199 for 1,400, Scale $399 for 3,000 | 14-day free trial from your first workspace, tested in the browser. Live calls need a paid plan | Not available yet. The agent saves the call and your team calls back | No texting tool in the standard setup. One booking per time slot for the whole business |
| Rosie | $49 a month for 250 minutes. $149 for 1,000, $299 for 2,000 | 7-day free trial | From the $149 plan | Direct calendar booking starts on the $149 plan. A callback to missed callers is not listed |
| Goodcall | $79 a month for 100 unique callers. $129 for 500, $299 for 2,000 | Build a demo agent free, pay when you connect a number | Yes, with a backup number | Extra callers cost 79, 26 or 15 cents each depending on the plan |
| My AI Front Desk | $99 a month for 200 minutes, or $79 billed yearly. Its pricing page says there is no permanent free plan; its homepage FAQ mentions a free plan with limited minutes | 7-day trial, no card | Hands calls to a person, or sends an alert with the transcript | Minutes past the allowance cost 25 cents each |
| Smith.ai | AI plan free for 25 calls, then Pro at $150 for 75 calls. Human receptionists from $300 for 30 calls | Free AI plan | Complex calls can go to live receptionists | Billed per call, so a short call costs the same as a long one |
| Dialzara | $29 a month for 60 minutes. $99 for 220, $199 for 500, $349 for 1,000 | 7-day trial | Hands calls to your team on every plan, and introduces the caller first from the $99 plan | Calendar sync and Spanish start on the $99 plan. A done-for-you service starts at $1,500 a month |
| Trillet | $49 a month for 150 minutes, then 20 cents a minute | 28-day money-back guarantee on the small business plan | Not listed | Agency plans are separate: Studio $99 for 1,000 minutes, Agency $299 for 3,000 |
| Ruby | Human receptionists from $250 a month for 50 minutes. $395 for 100, $720 for 200, $1,725 for 500 | None stated on its pricing page | Live receptionists answer. AI features are included at no extra cost | Priced as a people service, so the cost per minute is far higher than an AI plan |
| GoHighLevel Voice AI | HighLevel from $97 a month, plus AI Employee Growth at $50 a month per sub-account with 100 Voice AI minutes, or Unlimited at $97 under fair use. Pay per use charges 4.5 cents a minute for the Voice Engine, with text-to-speech, the AI model and phone charges on top | 14-day free trial of the platform | Yes, to a phone number or another Voice AI agent | You or an agency build the agent inside HighLevel |
Sources: Rosie pricingGoodcall pricingMy AI Front Desk pricingMy AI Front Desk homepage FAQSmith.ai pricingDialzara pricingTrillet pricingTrillet agency pricingRuby pricingHighLevel pricingHighLevel AI product pricingHighLevel, missed call text back
By buyer type
Which kind of owner each product suits
Grouping by buyer says more than a ranking would, because a two-person shop and a franchise with a marketing agency want different things from the same phone line.
- Owners who want the lowest published price: Dialzara starts at $29 a month for 60 minutes, and Trillet and Rosie start at $49. Dialzara and Trillet publish smaller allowances at the bottom, so check your monthly minutes first.
- Owners with many repeat callers: Goodcall bills by unique caller, so a customer who rings three times in a month counts once and spam does not count.
- Owners who want texting and chat in one plan: My AI Front Desk bundles voice, two-way texting, website chat and email drafts.
- Owners who want a person behind the phone: Smith.ai sends complex calls to live receptionists, and Ruby has people answer the phone for a much higher price.
- Owners on HighLevel or working with a HighLevel agency: GoHighLevel Voice AI runs inside the account you already pay for.
- Owners who lose paid or urgent calls while working: Voxipo calls back missed callers by voice from the business's own SMS-verified number and can book them on that call.
Where each wins
What each product does best
- Voxipo: places one callback to a missed caller after a delay you set, 30 seconds by default, only between 8am and 9pm in the caller's time. It books into Google Calendar, Outlook, Cal.com or GoHighLevel, and every plan includes a local number, unlimited AI agents and a lightweight CRM.
- Rosie: a $49 entry price with a 7-day trial. The $49 plan texts callers a scheduling link, and call handoffs and direct calendar booking start on the $149 plan.
- Goodcall: billing that rewards repeat callers, call handoffs with a backup number, and a free demo agent.
- My AI Front Desk: the broadest bundle, with 20+ languages, two-way texting and native Google Calendar, Outlook and Cal.com booking.
- Smith.ai: a free AI plan with 25 calls and live receptionists for the calls software should not decide.
- Dialzara: the cheapest listed entry point and four tiers up to 1,000 minutes.
- Trillet: a low flat price with a 28-day money-back guarantee.
- Ruby: real people who answer the phone, with AI features included.
- GoHighLevel Voice AI: workflows, texting and several calendars inside one CRM.
Voxipo's gaps
What Voxipo cannot do today
These gaps matter as much as the strengths above, and several of the other eight products cover them.
- Voxipo cannot hand a live call to a person yet. The agent saves the recording, transcript and summary, and your team calls back.
- The standard agent setup has no texting tool, and Voxipo campaigns are voice only.
- Only one appointment fits in a time slot for the whole business, so two staff members cannot take the same hour. Phone bookings on Google Calendar, Outlook and GoHighLevel use a fixed 30-minute slot.
- A missed call outside 8am to 9pm in the caller's time gets no callback, and a callback can be delayed or missed when lines are busy. Nobody can call back a hidden number, and callers outside the US and Canada need a manual follow-up from your team.
- The agent can change or cancel only the booking it made on the same call. A caller cannot phone back later to move an earlier appointment.
- Home-services templates come in English and Spanish only, and Voxipo does not connect to ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, HubSpot or Salesforce.
Test it
How to compare two or three of them in a week
- 01
Pull one typical week of calls
Count how many calls you answered, how many went to voicemail and how many were after hours. That count decides which billing model suits you.
- 02
Shortlist by buyer type
Choose one product from the group that matches your biggest problem, one low-price option and one you already half trust.
- 03
Start each free trial or demo
Your 14-day Voxipo trial starts when you create your first workspace, and you test the agent in the browser; live calls need a paid plan. Rosie, Dialzara and My AI Front Desk give 7 days, and Goodcall lets you build a demo agent before paying.
- 04
Talk to each agent yourself
By phone or in the browser, ask a pricing question, ask for a time that is already taken, and hang up halfway to see what follows.
- 05
Read the call records
Check whether the transcript and summary give your team enough to act on without calling the customer to ask again.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
What is the best AI receptionist for a small business?
It depends on your problem. Dialzara, Trillet and Rosie have the lowest published entry prices as of October 2026. Goodcall suits many repeat callers. Smith.ai and Ruby put people on the phone. Voxipo suits owners who lose calls while working and want those callers phoned back and booked.
Is Voxipo ranked first because Voxipo wrote this page?
We did not rank the products. Voxipo is the vendor and publisher of this page, it appears first because we know it best, and its gaps are listed next to its strengths. Competitor facts come from their own websites with links.
How much does Voxipo cost?
Voxipo has four plans: Solo at $49 a month for 250 minutes, Starter at $99 for 600, Growth at $199 for 1,400 and Scale at $399 for 3,000. Each includes one local number. Your 14-day free trial starts when you create your first workspace, and no card is needed.
How much does an AI receptionist cost for a small business?
Among the AI-first plans with a flat monthly entry price, published entry plans run from $29 a month (Dialzara, 60 minutes) to $99 a month (My AI Front Desk, 200 minutes) as of October 2026. Smith.ai has a free plan for 25 calls and Pro at $150 for 75 calls, and GoHighLevel Voice AI needs a HighLevel plan from $97 a month plus usage. Human receptionists from Ruby start at $250 a month for 50 minutes.
Should I choose an AI receptionist or a human one?
A human receptionist suits calls that need judgment, warmth or a decision on the spot. An AI plan costs much less per minute and answers at any hour. Some owners use an AI agent for after-hours and busy times and keep a person for the rest.
Which of these call back people who missed a call?
Voxipo calls missed callers back by voice from your verified business number. For the others, a callback to missed callers is not listed on their pricing pages as of October 2026, and GoHighLevel describes a text back by SMS. Ask each vendor if this matters to you.
Keep exploring
Related pages
Try it on your own line
Try Voxipo in your browser
Start the 14-day free trial and talk to your agent in the browser. Choose a plan when you are ready to take real calls; plans run from $49 a month for 250 minutes.