Notes · Comparison
AI receptionist pricing compared: published plans, units and what they include (2026)
Published prices from nine vendors, side by side, with the unit each one bills by. Plus how running costs work when you own the setup, and how to compare at your own volume.
By Jay Callicott, NextAgency · · 4 min read
AI receptionist prices are hard to compare because vendors bill by different units: calls, voice minutes, unique customers, conversations, seats or credits. This page lists the published plans side by side, with the unit each one uses, so you can work out the cost at your own volume.
Every figure below is from the vendor’s own pricing page, checked on November 4, 2026. Prices change often, so use the links.
Phone-first AI receptionists
| Vendor | Unit | Plans (monthly) | Trial |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smith.ai | Calls | Free: 25 calls, then $3.00 a call. Pro: $150 for 75 calls. Enterprise: $500 for 300 calls | Free plan |
| My AI Front Desk | Voice minutes | $99, or $79 billed annually, with 200 voice minutes plus web chat, texting and a CRM | 7 days |
| Goodcall | Unique customers | Starter: $79 for 100. Growth: $129 for 500. Scale: $299 for 2,000. Extra customers 79, 26 or 15 cents each | Free demo agent |
Smith.ai also says its AI calls can be transferred to a live receptionist, and that it is “a bit pricier than the competition” because of that human backup. Goodcall says it never charges for minutes.
Website chat and AI agents
| Vendor | Unit | Plans | Trial |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tidio | Billable conversations, plus Lyro AI conversations | Free plan with 50 billable conversations. Starter and Growth are priced by volume. Plus from $300 a month plus usage | Free plan, 7-day trial |
| Intercom | Seats, plus AI outcomes | Essential $29, Advanced $85, Expert $132 per seat a month, plus $0.99 per Fin AI Agent outcome | 14 days |
| Quickchat AI | AI credits | Free (non-commercial): 50 credits. Starter $9: 150. Basic $29: 500. Essential $99: 3,000. Professional $299: 9,000. Business $999: 30,000 | Free plan |
| HubSpot customer agent | Plan plus HubSpot Credits | Needs a Professional or Enterprise subscription and HubSpot Credits | Free CRM and WordPress plugin |
Tidio shows prices in your local currency, so we quote only the Plus figure its page states in dollars.
WordPress plugins you pay for once a year, plus AI usage
These run inside WordPress with your own API key, so the AI provider bills you separately for usage.
| Plugin | Plans | AI usage |
|---|---|---|
| AI Engine | Free version. Pro: $59 a year for 1 site, $79 for 5, $149 for 20. Lifetime from $299 | Paid to your AI provider |
| WPBot | Free version. Pro: $39 a year for 1 site, $99 for 2, $189 for 5. Lifetime on sale from $149 when we checked | Paid to your AI provider |
How Agent Front Desk is priced
We make Agent Front Desk, so this part is ours. Every new setup also includes 6 months of AuditCrawl Pro, which we also make. Setup is one time: Chat $1,500, Chat + Voice $2,500, or the Full front desk with a phone line and texting $3,900, with custom connectors typically $1,000 to $3,000. Updates ($199 per site per year) and Care ($99 a month) are optional. You get a written quote before anything is built, and you own the result. After setup, you pay each vendor directly on your own accounts, at their list prices:
| What | Typical cost | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Chat (Claude) | About $0.01 per chat turn | Anthropic pricing |
| Browser voice (ElevenLabs) | About $0.08 a minute, plus the voice model | ElevenLabs pricing |
| Phone line (carrier and ElevenLabs) | About $0.09 a minute in all, plus about $1 to $2 a month for the number | SignalWire pricing |
| Texting (SignalWire or Twilio) | About $0.008 to $0.01 per text segment each way, plus US registration fees | Twilio US SMS pricing |
These are running costs, not an all-in plan, so they are not directly comparable with the monthly prices above. The plugin’s Analytics screen shows your real cost per conversation and per lead.
How to compare at your own volume
- Take one normal month. Count calls, average call length, website chats, and how many different people contacted you.
- Price each option in its own unit. Calls for Smith.ai, minutes for My AI Front Desk, unique customers for Goodcall, conversations for Tidio, credits for Quickchat.
- Add what the plan leaves out. A CRM, a phone number, extra seats, or a human backup.
- Compare the monthly totals, then try the two cheapest on your own content.
For what each option is good at, see AI receptionist options for WordPress, compared.
Spotted an outdated price? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.