Missed calls, and every way to stop them
The call you miss may be the job you lose.
You are on a roof or under a sink and the phone rings out. Here is every way to handle that call and what each one costs, then eight AI receptionists compared side by side. One of them is ours. It does not win every row, and the rule for the order is printed above the list.
Competitor prices and features were read from each vendor's public pages on September 10, 2026. Vanessa's come from our price list.
The problem first
Six ways to handle the call you cannot take.
Nobody buys an AI. People buy an end to the calls that go to the next shop. Any of these six will cut the loss; they differ in who answers, what the caller hears, and what you pay.
| Option | What the caller gets | What it costs you | Right when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Voicemail | A beep. Some leave a message, and some may call the next shop. | Free, and it can cost you the job. | Only if the phone is not how your work arrives. |
| Forward every call to your cell | Your own voice, when you can answer. | Nothing extra, except your attention on every ring, including the ones while your hands are full. | One person and a light day. |
| Missed-call text-back | An automatic text a minute after the missed call, asking what they need. | Often included in a business phone app or sold as a small monthly add-on. Check your carrier. | Your callers will text you back. Someone with water on the floor may not wait for a text; they may call the next shop. |
| Live answering service | A shared operator, often working from a script, takes a message for you. | A monthly fee plus per-minute or per-call charges. Read the contract for what an after-hours message costs. | You want a human voice on the line and can pay for the minutes. |
| Hire a receptionist | One person, one desk, covering the hours you pay them for. | A salary, plus whatever answers the phone outside those hours. | Call volume that fills a desk. |
| AI receptionist | A conversation: what happened, when they need help, then a text to you with the details. | $49 to $99 a month at the entry tier for most of the vendors below; Sameday starts at $449. Minutes and per-call fees vary, so read the next table. | Calls arrive while your hands are busy and you want them answered, not just logged. |
Answering-service and receptionist costs vary by provider and region. This table describes the shape of each option; the next one has the numbers. Put your own call volume into the missed-call calculator to see what the problem costs before you price the fix.
Eight AI receptionists, side by side
What each one costs, includes, and does with a call.
Every cell for a competitor is what that vendor's own page said on September 10, 2026. “Not stated” means we could not find it there, not that the product lacks it. Ask them; then tell us and we will fix the table.
| Vendor | Entry price | Included | Overage | Free trial | Keep your number / only the calls you miss | Booking | Tells you what happened | Built for | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rosie | $49/month (Professional) | 250 minutes | Not stated on the pricing page | 7 days | Yes. After-hours or overflow only, by conditional forwarding. | Text-a-link scheduling on $49. Books into Google Calendar or Calendly on the $149 tier and up. | Email, text and app notification when a call ends, with a summary and transcript. | Small business | heyrosie.com/pricing |
| Vanessa (ours) | $49/month (Solid), $79/month (Plus) | 120 minutes on Solid, 300 on Plus | 49¢/minute on Solid, 39¢/minute on Plus | 14 days | Yes. Built for the calls you cannot take: your phone rings first, she picks up when you do not. | Captures the caller's requested time and texts it to you to confirm. Does not promise connected-calendar booking. | A text after every call with what happened and when they need help. | Plumbers, HVAC and other one-truck trades | primecirca.com/vanessa |
| Goodcall | $79/month per agent (Starter), $66 billed annually | 100 unique callers a month, unlimited minutes | $0.50 per caller after 100 | Not stated | Yes. Conditional forwarding when you do not answer or the line is busy. | Syncs with your CRM and calendar to book and reschedule. | Shares each call by SMS, email, Google Sheets or your CRM. | Small business | goodcall.com/pricing |
| My AI Front Desk | $99/month, or $79 billed annually | 200 voice minutes, 400 SMS, 100 chatbot conversations, plus 1,000 overage credits | Credits at $0.01 each, 25 per voice minute (25¢/minute). Auto-reloads 1,000 credits for $10. | 7 days, no card required | Forward your existing number. After-hours-only use is not stated. | Books the appointment and writes back to your CRM. Google Calendar workflows. | Post-call notification with key call details. | Small business, with property-management integrations | myaifrontdesk.com/pricing |
| RingCentral AI Receptionist | $49/month standalone, $39 as a RingEX add-on | 100 minutes | $0.50 per minute, billed in 30-second increments | 14 days | Yes. Answers all calls or only after hours. | Schedules and reschedules by connecting to Google or Outlook calendars. | Caller details and a call summary on handoff to your team. An owner text or email is not stated. | Small business, best inside RingCentral | ringcentral.com/pricing/ai-receptionist |
| Smith.ai AI Receptionist | Free for 25 calls a month, then $3.00 a call. Pro from $150/month | 25 calls on the free plan | $3.00 a call on Free, $2.00 a call on Pro | Free plan, card required at signup | Port your number free. Calls outside your answering hours go to a number you choose or to voicemail. | Books on your calendar through Calendly, Acuity and others. | Recording, transcript and summary sent to the people and tools you choose. | Law firms; live human receptionists behind the AI | smith.ai/pricing/ai-receptionist |
| Sameday AI | From $449/month (Launch) | 500 minutes | Not stated | Not stated | Yes. Forward to Sameday or integrate with your phone system. After-hours use is described. | Books jobs and updates ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro and other field-service CRMs. | Not stated | Multi-truck home-service companies with CSRs | sameday.ai/pricing |
| Avoca | No public price | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated. Describes answering every call, including after hours and overflow. | Books in real time and updates customer records in ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro or FieldRoutes. | Not stated | HVAC, plumbing, electrical, pest and roofing companies | avoca.ai/inbound |
The ranking, and the rule behind it
Ranked by what a one-truck shop would pay.
The rule: the cheapest monthly plan each vendor publishes that covers about 250 forwarded minutes a month, roughly 100 short calls, with overage included in the figure. Ties go to the longer published free trial. Per-call plans are converted at two and a half minutes a call. Annual-only prices are not used. A vendor with no public price sits last, whatever the product is like. Change the rule and the order changes; that is why it is written down.
The rule applies to us the same way. Vanessa's entry tier is Solid at $49, which at 250 minutes bills $112.70 once the 49¢/minute overage is counted, so the figure below is Plus at $79. Score her on Solid instead and she is fourth, not second.
| # | Vendor | About 100 minutes | About 250 minutes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rosie | $49 | $49 |
| 2 | Vanessa (ours) | $49 | $79 on Plus ($112.70 on Solid) |
| 3 | Goodcall | $79 | $79 |
| 4 | My AI Front Desk | $99 | $109 ($99, plus one $10 reload for the 50 extra minutes) |
| 5 | RingCentral AI Receptionist | $49 | $124 |
| 6 | Smith.ai AI Receptionist | About $45 at 40 calls (25 free, 15 at $3) | About $225 at 100 calls on Free. Pro is $150/month plus $2.00 a call. |
| 7 | Sameday AI | $449 | $449 |
| 8 | Avoca | Quote only | Quote only |
- 01
Rosie
250 minutes for $49, the largest published minute allowance at that price on this page, with a real calendar integration two tiers up. The trial is a week and the overage rate is not published, so ask before you pass 250 minutes.
Read on September 10, 2026 from heyrosie.com/pricing.
- 02
Vanessa (ours)
A 14-day free trial, the longest published on this page, which RingCentral also offers. She takes the requested time rather than booking it, and there are no CRM or dispatch integrations. Rosie gives you more minutes for the same $49, and on Solid past 120 minutes the overage makes Plus the cheaper plan.
Read on September 10, 2026 from primecirca.com/vanessa.
- 03
Goodcall
Unlimited minutes is the draw: a long call costs the same as a short one. You pay per caller instead, so a shop with many one-time callers should do the arithmetic. No trial is stated.
Read on September 10, 2026 from goodcall.com/pricing.
- 04
My AI Front Desk
Its page prices voice, SMS and web chat on one bill, which is more than the voice allowance the $49 plans here publish. Overage is priced in credits at a cent each, and reloads come in 1,000-credit blocks, so a month that just crosses the line still costs a full $10.
Read on September 10, 2026 from myaifrontdesk.com/pricing.
- 05
RingCentral AI Receptionist
The right answer if you already run RingCentral. On its own the 100 included minutes run out fast, and at 50¢ it is the highest per-minute overage anyone on this page publishes.
Read on September 10, 2026 from ringcentral.com/pricing/ai-receptionist.
- 06
Smith.ai AI Receptionist
At about 40 calls a month it is the lowest published bill on this page, and its own page describes live human receptionists sitting behind the AI. Priced per call, so a busy month climbs fast, and the site speaks to law firms, not trades.
Read on September 10, 2026 from smith.ai/pricing/ai-receptionist.
- 07
Sameday AI
Built for a dispatch office, not a truck. Its page names ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro and FieldRoutes, so if your jobs live there and you have a CSR team it is worth the call. At $449 it is nine times the entry price of the $49 options.
Read on September 10, 2026 from sameday.ai/pricing.
- 08
Avoca
Sells itself as a full AI front office for a service company, by quote. Its pricing page returned 404 on the day we read it, so it cannot be ranked on cost and sits last here, which says nothing about the product.
Read on September 10, 2026 from avoca.ai/inbound.
Which one
Pick by how your calls arrive.
- Your jobs live in ServiceTitan or Housecall Pro and a CSR team takes calls: Sameday or Avoca. Budget for it.
- You already pay for RingCentral: add its AI Receptionist for $39 and watch the 100 minutes.
- Fewer than 25 calls a month and you want a human behind the AI: Smith.ai's free plan.
- You want appointments booked into your calendar: Rosie's $149 tier, Goodcall, My AI Front Desk or RingCentral.
- Long calls and few callers: Goodcall's unlimited minutes.
- Your phone should ring first and you want a text with the job details when it does not: Vanessa, or Rosie if you expect more than 120 minutes a month and would rather not move to Plus.
If Vanessa is the fit · 14-day free trial
Hear her before you decide.
Call the demo line and role-play a customer. $49/month includes 120 talk minutes, then 49¢/minute; Plus is $79/month with 300 minutes, then 39¢/minute. Cancel anytime in the app.
Vanessa is an AI receptionist with a warm synthetic voice. She identifies herself truthfully, captures requested appointment times for your follow-up, and never replaces emergency services or licensed professional judgment.
Comparison questions, answered
- Which AI receptionist is cheapest for a small business?
- It depends on call volume. At about 40 short calls a month, Smith.ai's free plan (25 calls, then $3 a call) is the lowest bill on this page. At about 100 forwarded minutes, Rosie, RingCentral AI Receptionist and Vanessa Solid all bill $49. At about 250 minutes Rosie stays at $49, Vanessa Plus is $79, and RingCentral reaches about $124 with overage. Prices as read on September 10, 2026.
- Do AI receptionists pay for themselves?
- Do I need an AI receptionist, or is missed-call text-back enough?
- Text-back is enough when your callers will text you back. Someone standing in a flooded kitchen may not wait for a text; they may call the next shop. An AI receptionist answers the call itself, asks what happened and when they need help, and sends you the details. If most of your missed calls come from people who would text anyway, start with text-back and keep the money.
- AI receptionist vs. voicemail, an answering service, or hiring
- Why trust a ranking written by one of the vendors?
- Every competitor cell quotes that vendor's own public page, with the date it was read, and the rule for the order is printed above the list so you can apply a different one. Vanessa does not win every row: Rosie is cheaper at 250 minutes and books into a calendar, and Sameday and Avoca connect to ServiceTitan. If a price here is out of date, tell us and we will fix it.
- What does keeping my number mean with an AI receptionist?
- Your customers keep dialing the number they already know. You set conditional call forwarding with your carrier so unanswered or after-hours calls ring the receptionist instead of voicemail. Rosie, Goodcall, RingCentral, Sameday and Vanessa all describe this on their sites. Smith.ai describes porting the number, and My AI Front Desk describes forwarding it.
- How to forward only the calls you miss, by carrier
- Does Vanessa book appointments into my calendar?
- Not as a promise. Vanessa asks the caller when they need help, captures that time, and texts it to you to confirm. If you want the receptionist to write the event into your calendar today, Rosie's higher tiers, Goodcall, My AI Front Desk and RingCentral describe that on their pages.