Page checked 23 October 2026.
An AI answering service picks up your business calls, takes the job details and sends them on to you. Some also book into a calendar. The table below shows what 18 of them publish: the monthly price, what it includes, and the catch when you go over.
Each price comes from the company's own pricing page, read on 23 October 2026. We did not sign up for any of them or test them. This page compares what the companies say.
GST means goods and services tax (here, Australian GST, except on Waboom's New Zealand page, where it is New Zealand's). VAT means value added tax and SMS means text message.
The plans side by side
| Company and product | Sold in | Cheapest plan | Largest fixed plan | Included in cheapest plan | Over the allowance | Free trial | Answers after hours | Books into a calendar | Call summary | Source, checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hey Jodie | Australia | A$99 (Basic) | A$399 (Premium) | Unlimited minutes | None stated | 7 days, no card | "Around the clock" | Plan card lists bookings; comparison table shows none on Basic | Not stated; recordings listed | Hey Jodie pricing page, 23 Oct |
| Frontly (inbound only) | Australia | A$149 plus GST (Starter) | A$199 plus GST (Standard) | Up to 100 minutes | A$1.50/min plus GST | No plan trial; free test call in the browser | Yes ("day or night") | Listed on Standard; not listed on Starter | Not stated; transcripts listed | Frontly pricing page, 23 Oct |
| AiDial AI Receptionist | Australia | A$149 (Core) | A$449 (Max) | 60 calls/month; 60 SMS | A$2.49 per extra call | Not stated | Yes ("24/7") | "Automated Booking"; calendar link is a separate quote | Yes (by email) | AiDial AI Receptionist pricing page, 23 Oct |
| Valory Managed AI receptionist | Australia | A$149 (Intro) | From A$1,299 (Enterprise) | 100 voice minutes; 50 SMS | A$0.90/min voice; A$0.10/SMS | None; 30-day satisfaction guarantee | Yes (24/7 inbound) | Intro lists booking workflows | Not stated | Valory pricing page, 23 Oct |
| Chime Labs, AI receptionist for trades | Australia | A$99 plus GST (Essential) | A$399 plus GST (Pro) | 100 minutes/month | A$0.25/min | Free plan: set up your agent and place test calls from the app. The page lists 24/7 answering on Essential, not Free. | Yes ("24/7") | Yes (Google Calendar or its built-in diary) | Yes | Chime Labs pricing page, 23 Oct |
| Waboom AI Virtual Receptionist | Australia | A$500 one-off credit (pay as you go), plus A$130 a month platform fee | A$2,230 of credit (Growth, 73c a minute) | About 526 minutes at 95c a minute (Starter: A$910 for about 1,166 minutes at 78c) | Not stated | No trial period stated; 30-day money-back guarantee | Yes ("24/7") | Yes | On transfers: one-line summary | Waboom AI pricing page, 23 Oct |
| CallCatch (AU and NZ trades) | Australia | A$79 (single plan) | Only one fixed plan | No monthly minute limit stated | Not stated | Not stated; demo builder | Yes ("24/7", shown in the call-flow graphic) | Handles appointments (meta description) | Yes | CallCatch pricing page, 23 Oct |
| Waboom AI Receptionist (NZ) | New Zealand | NZ$500 prepaid credit (pay as you go), plus NZ$130 a month | NZ$4,650 prepaid credit (Scale+), plus NZ$130 a month | 525 minutes of talk time (credit never expires) | 95c a minute on pay as you go; credit reloads automatically | None; 30-day money-back guarantee | Yes (24/7) | Yes | Yes (summary, transcript, recording) | Waboom AI Receptionist NZ pricing page, 23 Oct |
| Hey Jodie | US (default page) | US$49 (Basic) | US$199 (Premium) | Unlimited minutes | None stated | 7 days, no card | "24/7" | Plan card lists bookings; comparison table shows none on Basic | Not stated; recordings listed | Hey Jodie pricing page, 23 Oct |
| Smith.ai AI Receptionist | US | US$0 (Free) | US$500 (Enterprise) | 25 calls/mo | US$3.00/call after that | Free plan; no trial stated | Yes ("24/7") | Yes (scheduling listed) | Yes | Smith.ai AI Receptionist pricing page, 23 Oct |
| Goodcall | US | US$79 (Starter) | US$299 (Scale) | Unlimited minutes; 100 unique customers/mo | 79c per customer after 100 | Free demo agent; no trial length stated | Yes ("every hour of every day") | Not stated; the page links to an appointment scheduling page | Not stated | Goodcall pricing page, 23 Oct |
| Rosie | US | US$49 (Professional) | US$299 (Growth) | 250 minutes/mo | Not shown in the plan cards; the FAQ answer did not appear in our page read | 7 days | Yes ("24/7") | Professional: appointment links by text. Calendar booking from Scale. | Yes | Rosie pricing page, 23 Oct |
| Dialzara | US | US$29 (Business Lite) | US$349 (Business Elite) | 60 minutes/mo | US$0.48/min | 7 days | Yes ("24/7") | Yes (Lite lists appointment booking) | Not stated | Dialzara pricing page, 23 Oct |
| My AI Front Desk | US | US$99 (Business-in-a-Box) | Only one fixed plan | 200 voice minutes, 100 chatbot conversations, 400 SMS /mo; its page lists a pool of 1,000 overage credits a month | Voice 25 credits/min (US$0.25); SMS 4 credits (US$0.04); chatbot 5 credits (US$0.05) | 7 days | Not stated | Yes ("Booking & Appointments") | Not stated | My AI Front Desk pricing page, 23 Oct |
| Upfirst | US | US$24.95 (Starter) | US$299 (Scale) | 30 calls/mo | US$1.50 per additional call | 14 days | Yes ("24/7") | Yes | Yes | Upfirst pricing page, 23 Oct |
| Sameday AI | US | Starts at US$449 (Launch) | Starts at US$789 (Scale) | 500 minutes/mo | Not stated | Not stated | Yes | Yes ("Pro scheduling") | Not stated | Sameday AI pricing page, 23 Oct |
| Moneypenny AI Answering Service | US | US$99 (50 calls) | US$775 (500 calls) | 50 calls | US$2.39 per extra call (US$1.69 on the 500-call plan) | Not stated | Yes ("24/7") | Not stated | Not stated | Moneypenny pricing page, 23 Oct |
| Dialbox AI phone answering | Canada | C$129 (Core) | C$699 (Max) | 100 AI-handled calls | No automatic surprise usage charges, the page says; alerts at 70, 90 and 100% of the pool, a small grace buffer, then an upgrade or review | 7 days, card required | Yes ("24/7") | Yes | Not stated; a sample call card shows an AI summary | Dialbox pricing page, 23 Oct |
| Ah Va AI receptionist | Singapore | S$397 (Starter, phone; a S$97 chat-only plan also exists) | S$1,497 (Pro) | 500 inbound minutes | S$0.40/min | 30 free minutes, no card | Yes | Yes | Yes (kept 90 days) | Ah Va pricing page, 23 Oct |
| Hey Jodie | UK | £49 (Basic) | £199 (Premium) | Unlimited minutes | None stated | 7 days, no card | "24/7" | Plan card lists bookings; comparison table shows none on Basic | Not stated; recordings listed | Hey Jodie pricing page, 23 Oct |
| Sayora (UK trades) | UK | £49 (early bird) | Only one fixed plan | Unlimited minutes | None: no overage | 7 days from the day you claim; free to build with no card, then a card is added | Yes ("day and night") | Yes (Google Calendar, Cal.com) | Text and email alerts for each lead | Sayora pricing page, 23 Oct |
No company pays us to be listed or for its place.
Rows run Australia, New Zealand, the US, Canada, Singapore and the UK. Within a country, the order is not a ranking. Prices are per month, in the currency the company prints. Nothing is converted, and tax is shown only where the company states it. Where a company prints only "$", we write A$ if the page is an Australian site and US$ if it is a US site. That gives A$ for Frontly, AiDial and ServiceM8's Australian page. It gives US$ for Smith.ai, Goodcall, Rosie, Dialzara, My AI Front Desk, Upfirst, Sameday AI, Moneypenny and ServiceM8's US page. Dialbox prints "CAD", so we write C$. "Over the allowance" uses the same currency as the plan. "Not stated" means the company's page did not say. It does not mean "no". Moneypenny's pricing page labels its prices "Original price", so what you pay may differ. It does not label which plans are AI, so we grouped them by calls.
Five things the table cannot show in one cell:
- Setup fees. CallCatch charges an A$79 setup fee, and its page shows A$158 due today. Frontly lists a one-off A$199 plus GST. Valory lists a one-off fee from A$990. Chime Labs lists optional guided onboarding at A$300 on Essential. Most other pages state no setup fee either way.
- Free tiers. Smith.ai's free plan includes 25 calls a month. Chime Labs' free plan lets you set up your agent and place test calls from its app. Its page lists 24/7 answering on Essential, not Free.
- Waboom AI in Australia. Its Starter and Growth plans are prepaid credit: A$910 for about 1,166 minutes and A$2,230 for about 3,054 minutes. The page shows the A$130 a month platform fee only under pay as you go.
- Hey Jodie. Its plan cards list bookings on every plan, but its comparison tables show no appointment bookings on Basic.
- New Zealand prices. CallCatch's page lists New Zealand but shows no New Zealand price on 20 October. Waboom's NZ page adds NZ$130 a month to its prepaid credit and shows prices without GST.
Sophiie and Avoca AI print no price: their pages ask you to book a demo. Frontly's Pro plan says "Talk to us". We left them out of the table because there is nothing to compare (Sophiie and Avoca AI, read 23 October 2026).
Built for the trades in Australia and the UK
Three products in the table are written for trades, not for businesses in general. Here is what each publishes, side by side.
| Product | Country | Price as published | Free option | Books into | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chime Labs | Australia | A$99 a month plus GST (Essential, 100 minutes). A$399 plus GST (Pro, uncapped minutes). | Free plan: set up your agent and place test calls from the app. 24/7 answering is listed on Essential, not Free. | Essential: Google Calendar or its built-in diary. Pro: ServiceM8, Simpro, ServiceTitan, Fergus, Jobber, AroFlo, Ascora and Acuity. | 23 Oct 2026 |
| CallCatch | Australia | A$79 a month, plus an A$79 setup fee. The page shows no GST wording and no New Zealand price. | None stated | No calendar or job software named | 23 Oct 2026 |
| Sayora | UK | £49 a month, early-bird price ("while places last, then £79"). The page says it is not VAT-registered, so £49 is all you pay. | 7-day trial from the day you claim. Free to build with no card; a card is added when the trial starts. | Google Calendar and Cal.com. No job software named. | 23 Oct 2026 |
No company pays us to be listed or for its place.
Chime Labs lists its price plus GST. CallCatch's page says nothing about GST. Sayora's page says VAT is not added. Check the tax wording on each page before you compare totals.
Already on Jobber or ServiceM8? Check their AI add-on first
Some job software now sells its own AI phone answering. It can only be bought with that software. Here is what each company publishes.
| Software | Add-on | Price as published | What the page says it does | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jobber | AI Receptionist | US$29 a month, on top of a Jobber plan. The Plus plan's feature list also names an AI-powered Receptionist. | Answers calls and texts, takes requests and can book jobs in your calendar | 23 Oct 2026 |
| ServiceM8 | Connect Plus, on ServiceM8 Phone (includes AI Phone Agent) | $49 a month on the Australian page (A$49 here), £25 on the UK page and $32 on the US page (US$32 here). Includes 500 call minutes. Extra minutes cost 8c each on the Australian page. | AI Phone Agent. The page's description of it does not mention booking. | 23 Oct 2026 |
| Housecall Pro | CSR AI | No price published | Answers calls and chats, books jobs, 24/7. The page says it is in alpha. | 23 Oct 2026 |
| ServiceTitan | AI virtual agent | No price published | Listed in the site menu; its pricing page shows "Request Pricing" for its packages | 23 Oct 2026 |
| simPRO | AI ("Lightning") | No price published | The site promotes AI. Its pricing page shows "Request Pricing" for the base plan and lists no AI phone add-on in the part of the page we could read in full (about two fifths of it). | 23 Oct 2026 |
No company pays us to be listed or for its place.
Tradify lists AI bill-reading and writing help on its Plus plan, and Fergus has an AI section on its site. Neither pricing page lists an AI phone receptionist (checked 23 October 2026).
We have not compared how well these add-ons answer calls against the stand-alone products. We can only compare what is published.
Which plans fit your call pattern
These shortlists use only the published figures above. They are not rankings, and we have not tested any product.
Few calls, but some after hours. Look at the US-dollar plans that state after-hours answering. The lowest published starting prices are Smith.ai (US$0, 25 calls), Upfirst (US$24.95, 30 calls) and Dialzara (US$29, 60 minutes). Rosie (US$49, 250 minutes) and Hey Jodie (US$49, unlimited minutes) tie next.
Lots of quote requests in the day. Plans billed per call or per minute cost more as calls rise. Some publish no per-minute charge. These are Hey Jodie (unlimited minutes from A$99, £49 or US$49), Sayora (unlimited, £49) and Chime Labs Pro (uncapped, A$399 plus GST). Goodcall also has unlimited minutes but bills by unique customer: its US$79 Starter plan covers 100. Dialbox bills by call pool and says it makes no automatic surprise usage charges.
A crew that needs jobs booked into a shared calendar. Chime Labs Pro names eight job and calendar systems. Dialbox names Google, Outlook, Calendly, Square and Acuity, among others. Sayora names Google Calendar and Cal.com. Jobber's add-on is sold to Jobber customers and says it can book jobs in your calendar.
AI or a human answering service
Human answering services are priced differently, by the minute or by the call. Our guide to answering services for contractors compares them with AI.
What it will cost at your call volume
Use the AI receptionist cost guide to work out a monthly bill from your own number of calls.
Prices in Canada, the UK, Australia and elsewhere
Most products print one currency. Here is what we found in the products we read.
- Australian dollars: Hey Jodie, Frontly, AiDial, Valory, Chime Labs, Waboom AI, CallCatch and ServiceM8. AiDial, Frontly and ServiceM8's Australian page print only "$".
- New Zealand dollars: Waboom AI (NZ page). CallCatch lists New Zealand but shows no New Zealand price.
- British pounds: Hey Jodie, Sayora, ServiceM8.
- Canadian dollars: Dialbox, which prints "CAD". It is the only product in our table that prints a Canadian price.
- Singapore dollars: Ah Va.
- US dollars only, on the pages we read: Smith.ai, Goodcall, Rosie, Dialzara, My AI Front Desk, Upfirst, Sameday AI and Moneypenny's AI plans. These print a bare "$".
None of the AI products we read prints a euro price. Hey Jodie's price differs by country page: its Basic plan is A$99, £49 or US$49.
Before you sign up
Four things differ from one company to the next. Each is on the company's own page.
- How long the free trial is, and whether it asks for a card. Dialbox asks for one. Hey Jodie and Ah Va say they do not. Sayora is free to build with no card, and asks for one when the 7-day trial starts.
- How you cancel. Moneypenny asks for 30 days' notice. Valory cancels at the end of the paid period. Frontly says cancel any time, and the plan runs to the end of the period you paid for. Many pages state nothing.
- What happens to your call recordings, and how long they are kept. Ah Va says 90 days.
- Whether it records calls at all, and what that means where you work. See the buyer checklist.
How we check prices
Each price comes from the company's own page on the date shown. We did not sign up or test anything. Read how we check prices.
Questions
How does an AI answering service work?
It answers your business line, asks the caller what they need and passes the details on to you. The companies in our table say they do this by call summary, text, email or a booking in your calendar. What each one does is in the table columns.
Can AI answer phone calls for my business?
Yes. Every product in our table is sold to answer calls for a small business. Twenty of the 21 rows in our table state after-hours or round-the-clock answering. My AI Front Desk's pricing page does not.
Is there an AI answering service for trades?
Yes. Chime Labs, CallCatch and Sayora are written for trades. Jobber and ServiceM8 also sell AI phone add-ons to their own customers.
Is there a free AI answering service?
Partly. Smith.ai's free plan includes 25 calls a month, then US$3.00 a call. Chime Labs has a free plan that lets you set up your agent and place test calls from its app. Its page lists 24/7 answering on Essential, not Free. Several others offer a free trial, not a free plan.
What is the best AI answering service for a small business?
We do not name one. Prices and features differ, and we have not tested the products. Use the shortlists above to narrow it down, then check the company's own page.
About this page
About this page: written by Trades AI Guide from each company's own pricing page (linked on this page) and checked against those pages. Prices named on this page checked 23 October 2026.
General information only, not financial, legal or purchasing advice for your business. Prices and features are taken from each company's own pages on the date shown, in that company's currency, and may change or leave out tax: check the company's page before you buy. We have not signed up for or tested these products.