Smith.ai review and alternatives: pricing, features and other options

What does Smith.ai offer?

Smith.ai sells three kinds of service.

• Human-first: Live agents answer every call, 24/7. Its page says they are "live-staffed with expert agents 24/7."
• AI-first: An AI receptionist answers every call. Its FAQ says complex calls can be transferred to a live receptionist in North America.
• Hybrid: AI answers first, and set calls go to a live agent. You choose which calls get a person.

Smith.ai has a strong set of features for law firms and other service businesses. Its live plans list new client intake, lead screening, conflict checks and payment taking, with support for Clio and LawPay. Its AI plans list scheduling that works with Calendly and native integrations with Clio and Zapier.

How much does Smith.ai cost?

These figures come from Smith.ai's own pricing pages, as of October 2026.

Smith.ai live receptionist plans

Plan	Monthly price	Calls included	Extra calls
Starter	$300	30	$11.50 each
Basic	$810	90	$10.50 each
Pro	$2,100	300	$8.50 each
Enterprise	Custom	Custom	Custom

Smith.ai bills its live plans per call. Its page says calls at 2 pm and 2 am cost the same. Some extras cost more, such as conflict checks at $0.50 per call and extended intake at $1.50 per call.

Smith.ai AI receptionist plans

Plan	Monthly price	Calls included	Extra calls
Free	$0	25	$3.00 each
Pro	$150	75	$2.50 each
Enterprise	$500	300	$2.17 each

The per-call rate drops on larger AI tiers. Pro works out to $2.00 per included call. Enterprise, at $500 for 300 calls, works out to about $1.67.

Smith.ai hybrid plans

The hybrid plan is billed per call. The pricing page gives rates of about $4.80 per call handled by a live agent and about $1.80 per call handled by AI. It offers presets such as "New Client Priority" and "After Hours Only." Hybrid is month to month, with 30 days' notice to cancel.

Why do people look for a Smith.ai alternative?

Smith.ai is a solid choice for many businesses. People still compare it with others for a few common reasons.

• Per-call billing on live plans: On the Starter plan, each included call works out to $10 ($300 for 30 calls). That suits businesses with fewer, longer calls. A business with many short calls may pay less on a per-minute plan.
• Budget: The live Starter plan is $300 a month. Some alternatives start lower.
• A different mix of AI and people: Some buyers want to mix AI and live answering on the same call, or want AI only.
• Deeper connections to their own systems: Some businesses need the receptionist to work inside software that no ready-made service connects to.

What are the best Smith.ai alternatives?

Each starting price below comes from the vendor's own pricing page, as of October 2026.

Blur Studio (best value)

A ready-built, well-tested core with a different pricing model: no per-seat fees, and it covers almost all the features you'd actually need, usually working out to the best value for money. On top of that, Blur Studio builds owned customizations, meaning you can ask for it to be modified to your exact specifications, and you own those modifications outright. Learn more over a quick call with me, Ranjit.

• Best for: Businesses that need software that works without barriers, no unnecessary fees and options to customize it to their needs.

Ruby

Ruby is a live virtual receptionist service. Plans start at $250 a month for 50 minutes and go up to $1,725 a month for 500 minutes. Every plan includes after-hours, weekend and holiday coverage. Ruby also lists optional AI add-ons, such as call transcripts, and lists HIPAA as a feature.

Best for: Businesses that want live, friendly answering and have fairly short calls.

AnswerConnect

AnswerConnect offers 24/7 live answering from real people. Plans start at $350 a month for 200 minutes, with $2.50 per extra minute on that plan. Larger plans drop the extra minute rate to $1.85, and the biggest plans to $1.75. Its plans page says you can change plans at any time.

Best for: Businesses with high call volume that want live agents and more minutes for the money.

Goodcall

Goodcall is an AI phone agent. Plans start at $79 a month for 100 unique customers, with $0.79 for each extra customer. It bills per unique caller, so long calls and repeat calls from the same person do not raise the bill. Its Growth plan is $129 a month for 500 customers.

Best for: Small businesses that want low-cost AI answering for simple calls.

Abby Connect

Abby Connect lets you use AI answering, human answering or both on the same call. Plans start at $164 a month for 50 "Abby Minutes." One Abby Minute covers one minute of human answering or two minutes of AI answering. Its HIPAA options are marked "Human only."

Best for: Businesses that want to mix AI and live agents under one plan.

Posh

Posh offers live receptionists 24/7. Its lowest plan is $65 a month with no minutes included, then $2.30 a minute. Its Elegant plan is $215 a month for 100 minutes.

Best for: Very low call volume, where you pay mostly for what you use.

Quo

Quo is a business phone system with an AI agent called Sona that answers calls 24/7. Phone plans start at $19 per user a month. Every plan includes 10 Sona calls. Paid Sona tiers start at $25 a month for 40 calls.

Best for: Small teams that need a new business phone system and basic AI answering in one place.

How do Smith.ai and its alternatives compare?

Service	Type	Starting price (October 2026)	Billing unit	24/7
Smith.ai	Live	$300 a month	Per call	Yes
Smith.ai	AI	$0 (25 calls), $150 for 75 calls	Per call	Yes
Ruby	Live	$250 a month	Per minute	Yes
AnswerConnect	Live	$350 a month	Per minute	Yes
Goodcall	AI	$79 a month	Per unique caller	Yes
Abby Connect	AI and live	$164 a month	Per "Abby Minute"	Yes
Posh	Live	$65 a month plus usage	Per minute	Yes
Quo (Sona)	AI	$19 per user a month	Per call credits	Yes

Smith.ai vs Ruby: which should you pick?

Both are well-known live services with 24/7 coverage. The main difference is how they bill. Smith.ai charges per call, and Ruby charges per minute.

• Choose Smith.ai if: Your calls are long, you need legal intake or conflict checks, or you want AI and live answering from one vendor.
• Choose Ruby if: Your calls are short, you want a lower starting price, or you want HIPAA listed on the plan.

A simple test helps. Take last month's calls and note the number of calls and total minutes. Price that month on both pricing pages. If you are leaving Ruby, the same test works for any of the services above.

What should you check before you switch off Smith.ai?

If you already use Smith.ai and are comparing it against something else, the questions are different from a first-time buyer's. A few things are worth checking before you give notice.

• Your notice period. Check your specific agreement for any required notice before cancelling, so you are not paying for two services longer than you need to.
• Your call history and recordings. Ask whether you can export your call summaries, transcripts and recordings before you close the account. You may want them for training a new service or for your own records.
• Your phone number. If Smith.ai issued you a number, confirm whether you can port it out, or whether you were always forwarding your own number to them, which makes the switch simpler.
• Your call rules and scripts. Whatever you taught Smith.ai about your business, hours, pricing, service area, has to be rebuilt in the new tool. Write it down now rather than trying to remember it later.
• A short overlap, if you can afford it. Running the new service for a week or two before you cancel the old one lets you compare real calls side by side, instead of switching cold.

When does a custom AI receptionist make more sense?

For most small businesses, one of the services above is the right answer. They are quick to start and easy to cancel. Pick one, test it for a month and measure the calls it books.

Owning your own AI receptionist makes sense when one of these fits.

• You use software that no service connects to: The AI must look up records, create jobs or update a CRM during the call.
• Your call rules are complex: Rules that change by location, service, customer type or time of day.
• Your volume is high: At thousands of calls a month, per-call fees add up, and owning the tool can cost less over time.
• You need control of the data: You want every recording and transcript kept in your own accounts.

My guides to AI receptionists and AI answering services explain the AI options in more depth. For law firms, my guide to legal answering services covers intake and ethics rules.

How Blur Studio approaches a custom AI receptionist

I start by listening to a sample of the business's real calls. I sort them into calls the AI can finish, calls it should pass to a person and calls it must never handle. Then I connect it to the tools the business already uses, such as its calendar, CRM or job software, something none of the services above do out of the box. I test it with real call examples before launch, and I keep improving it after. The business owns the code and the accounts, so it is never tied to one vendor's pricing or locked into a plan that stops fitting as call volume grows.

Need something completely custom?

Everything above is a path to get it running quick and cheap. But sometimes the honest answer is that none of those quite fit, and what you actually need is something custom that you own, built uniquely for your business from the ground up, with AI thoughtfully designed into the parts of it that your processes actually benefit from. An asset that grows in value, not a generic, one-size-fits-all boilerplate that's an expense with a lock-in. This is a complete bespoke build, and it's something I do very well. Get in touch to know more.