Smith.ai answers your calls for you. You can choose people, AI, or AI with people behind it, and either way you pay by the call. VettedCalls does a different job: we find out who's calling and why, then ring you so you can answer. If you want calls answered for you, Smith.ai is a strong option. If you'd rather keep answering and stop losing time to the wrong calls, here's how we compare.
Smith.ai's receptionists
Smith.ai calls its live service Your Virtual Front Desk. Receptionists are on 24/7, and a 2 am call costs the same as a 2 pm one. The plans:
- Starter: 30 calls for $300 a month, then $11.50 for each extra call
- Basic: 90 calls for $810 a month, then $10.50 per extra call
- Pro: 300 calls for $2,100 a month, then $8.50 per extra call
Every plan comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee and no setup fee. Lead qualification and intake questions are included, and so is your first CRM integration, with HubSpot, Salesforce and Clio among those supported. Some jobs are per-call add-ons: booking appointments on your calendar is $1.50 a call, call recording with transcripts is $0.25, and a dedicated Spanish line is $1.00.
Smith.ai's AI Receptionist
The AI version handles every call with AI first and can transfer a complicated one to a live receptionist based in North America. There's a free tier with 25 calls a month and $3.00 for each call beyond that, and paid tiers from $150 a month at $2.00 a call. Every tier lists 24/7 answering, call recordings with transcripts and summaries, lead qualification and routing, and AI scheduling with Calendly and similar tools. It's month to month, with 30 days' notice to cancel.
Per call or per minute
Per-call billing means a long call costs the same as a short one, so the question to ask is which calls count. On the receptionist plans, Smith.ai says it doesn't charge for spam or unsolicited sales calls as long as the lines you forward pass Caller ID. On the AI plans, every call the AI answers counts by default, but numbers Smith.ai already knows as spam are filtered out before the AI picks up and don't count.
We bill by the minute, inside a flat plan. Pro includes 800 voice minutes and Receptionist 1,500 voice and 250 AI minutes. Each call rounds up to the next whole minute. Every call we answer counts, so spam we block and screening hang-ups count too, usually as one minute each. Past your included minutes, a voice minute is $0.07 and an AI minute is $0.25. Which comes out cheaper depends on your month: count how many calls you get, how long they run and how many are junk, then price both.
Side by side
| Smith.ai receptionists | Smith.ai AI Receptionist | VettedCalls | |
|---|---|---|---|
| First voice the caller hears | A live receptionist. | Smith.ai's AI, with a live receptionist as backup. | A greeting in your business name, then you. |
| Starting price | $300 a month for 30 calls. | Free for 25 calls a month; paid from $150. | $29.99 a month on Pro. |
| Beyond the plan | $8.50 to $11.50 per call. | $2.10 to $3.00 per call, by tier. | $0.07 per voice minute, $0.25 per AI minute. |
| Spam | Not charged if your forwarded lines pass Caller ID. | Known spam numbers filtered out before the AI answers. | A press 1 step and a shared registry; a blocked call usually counts as one voice minute. |
| Appointments | Booked on your calendar, $1.50 a call. | AI scheduling with Calendly and others. | The AI takes details and the days that work; you confirm. |
| Recordings and transcripts | $0.25 a call add-on. | Included. | Voicemail transcripts on every plan; recorded calls with transcripts on Receptionist. |
| Canceling | Month to month, billed through the current cycle. | Month to month, 30 days' notice. | Any time, with access to the end of the paid period. |
What Smith.ai does that we don't
Smith.ai can put appointments on your calendar, either as a receptionist add-on or through AI scheduling on its AI plans. Our AI receptionist doesn't book. It takes the caller's name, what they need and the days that work, confirms their callback number, and tells them someone will reach out to set a time. Smith.ai also sends call details to CRMs like HubSpot, Salesforce and Clio, offers a dedicated Spanish line, and takes payments on calls as an add-on. If any of those is a must for you, weigh it heavily.
What you get with us instead
You stay the one who answers. Each unknown caller says who they are and why before your phone rings, and when you pick up in the Cloud Softphone app, you hear it before the call connects. Priority Passthrough lets customers who say one of your selected priority words ring straight through to you, regardless of the time of day. They skip the press 1 step, on every plan. On Receptionist, the AI works from instructions written for your trade, out of a library of 58 trades and professions, and it won't quote your prices unless you've set a flat trip charge. Setup is the Cloud Softphone app, the Activate button in your welcome email, and one code that forwards all your calls to us.
Weighing more than one kind of service? Our answering service guide compares live receptionists, AI answering and screening, and the AI receptionist page covers what ours will and won't say. Pricing has every plan's details.
Smith.ai questions
How much does Smith.ai cost?
Smith.ai's receptionist plans start at $300 a month for 30 calls. Its AI Receptionist has a free tier with 25 calls a month and paid tiers from $150 a month.
Does Smith.ai charge for spam calls?
On the receptionist plans, not as long as the lines you forward pass Caller ID. On the AI plans, calls from numbers Smith.ai already knows as spam are filtered out and don't count, but other calls the AI answers do.
Does the VettedCalls AI book appointments?
No. It takes the caller's name, what they need and the days that work, confirms their callback number, and tells them someone will reach out. You confirm the appointment when you call back.