Answering services
Smith.ai
Smith.ai answers inbound calls for small and mid-sized businesses using an AI receptionist backed by live North America-based agents. Calls that need a person are escalated to an agent, and plans staffed entirely by live agents are offered separately as Virtual Receptionist plans.
The service screens calls, qualifies and intakes leads, books appointments, collects payments, and handles website chat and text messages. Intake questions, call priority rules, and industry-specific protocols are configured during onboarding with a platform specialist. Every call produces a summary covering actions completed, caller disposition, priority, recording, and transcription, and dashboards report call volume, appointments scheduled, and call quality over time.
Integrations reach 7,000+ business applications, so call outcomes push into a CRM, calendar, or workflow rather than sitting in a separate system. Spam screening runs continuously against robocall and telemarketer patterns, and the company says it filters roughly 20% to 30% of typical business call volume.
Smith.ai publishes a plan starting at $0 per month for 25 calls, bills additional calls only when plan volume is exceeded, and states there are no setup or cancellation fees. Small business plans carry a 30-day money-back guarantee of up to $1,000. The company says it is used by 5,000+ businesses and lists served industries including real estate, home services, legal, medical, financial services, and marketing agencies. It is based in Los Altos, California.
Best for
Owners, property managers, and small firms that lose inbound calls and want 24/7 answering with lead intake pushed into a CRM. Buyers who want only live humans should ask for the Virtual Receptionist plans instead.
What they do
- AI receptionist call answering
- Live virtual receptionist plans with North America-based agents
- Call screening and spam filtering
- Lead qualification and intake
- Appointment scheduling
- Payment collection by phone
- Website chat and text messaging
- Call recording, transcription, and summaries
- CRM and calendar integrations
- Custom workflows and automations
Details
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| How they charge | Plans start at $0/month for 25 calls, with additional calls billed only above plan volume and no setup or cancellation fees; small business plans carry a 30-day money-back guarantee up to $1,000. |
What stands out
- Says it is used by 5,000+ businesses
- Connects to 7,000+ business applications to sync call data and push call outcomes
- Advertises a 30-day money-back guarantee of up to $1,000 on small business plans
- Says screening filters roughly 20% to 30% of typical business call volume as spam
- Escalates complex or sensitive calls to North America-based receptionists
Common questions
- How is the AI receptionist tailored to a specific business?
- Setup starts with personalized AI instructions covering the business's processes, terminology, and objectives. Industry-specific protocols can be applied, calls can be prioritized by urgency, caller type, and availability, and intake questions are written to collect the information the business needs. Onboarding specialists handle the configuration.
- How does Smith.ai handle spam and unwanted calls?
- The system identifies patterns associated with robocalls, telemarketers, and spam and blocks them before they reach the business. The company says this filters roughly 20% to 30% of typical business call volume without manual intervention, and that ambiguous calls can be passed to a North America-based agent.
- How does the cost compare with an in-house receptionist?
- The company states that an in-house receptionist can total more than $40,000 a year once salary, benefits, training, and workspace are counted, while its own plans start at $0 per month for 25 calls with around-the-clock coverage and no overtime, sick day, or vacation gaps.