A Smith.ai alternative for contractors — with the real numbers
Smith.ai is a serious operation: real receptionists, 24/7, month-to-month, with CRM integrations most answering services don't come close to. The reason contractors go looking for an alternative is what happens on the invoice — the plan is by the call, and the things a trades business actually needs are priced per call on top of it.
The short version
Smith.ai charges by the call, counts robocalls and suppliers against your plan, and bills $1.50 every time they book an appointment — the one thing you most want them to do. We charge $697 flat with booking, quote chasing and review requests included. What they do that we don't: 24/7 answering and deep CRM integration.
What Smith.ai actually costs
Their live receptionist plans are $300 for 30 calls a month, $810 for 90 and $2,100 for 300. Past your plan, calls are $8.50–$11.50 each. Billing by the call rather than by the minute is genuinely fairer than the per-minute model — a long call doesn't punish you. The catch is what counts as a call: the robocall, the supplier chasing an invoice and the wrong number all draw down the same plan a paying customer does.
Then the add-ons, which are the part contractors tend to miss. Booking an appointment costs $1.50 a call. Taking a payment is $1.00. A dedicated Spanish line is $1.00. For a plumber, "book the job" isn't a nice-to-have on top of answering the phone — it's the reason you're paying someone to answer it. At 90 calls a month that add-on alone is $135, turning an $810 plan into $945.
| Your month | Smith.ai | …with booking | FiveFlow Front Desk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quiet — 40 calls | ≈ $415 | ≈ $475 | $697 |
| Typical — 80 calls | $810 | $930 | $697 |
| Flat out — 150 calls | ≈ $1,440 | ≈ $1,665 | $697 |
Smith.ai list prices from their pricing page, checked 2 August 2026. Each row assumes the cheapest combination of plan and overage for that volume, and the "with booking" column adds their $1.50 per call.
Where Smith.ai wins, plainly
In a quiet month they're cheaper than us — around $415 against our $697 at 40 calls — and if your volume is low, that's the better buy. They answer 24/7; our people work 8am–6pm your local time. And their integrations are the real differentiator: if you run a CRM and want every call arriving as a structured intake record inside it, Smith.ai does that properly and we don't. They also offer a dedicated Spanish line, web chat and outbound campaigns. None of that is marketing fluff, and if you need it, buy it.
Where we win
Nothing is metered, so nothing is a decision. With a per-call plan you end up quietly rationing: should the receptionist really handle that one? At a flat $697 there's no counter running, and a spam call costs you nothing instead of nine dollars.
Booking is the service, not a line item. Our person books the job into your calendar on the call, drafts the quote for you to approve with one reply, chases it if it goes quiet, and asks for the Google review once the work's done. No per-call charge for any of it — and the quote chasing and reviews aren't something Smith.ai sells at any price.
Nothing reaches voicemail. Outside our answering hours, or when two calls land at once, the caller gets a text back in your business name in about ten seconds and their reply goes to your phone. That floor sits under every plan we sell, including the $297 one.
Side by side
| Smith.ai | FiveFlow | |
|---|---|---|
| What you buy | A number of calls — 30, 90 or 300 a month | A flat month. No units to run out of |
| Robocalls and suppliers | Count against your plan like any other call | Cost you nothing |
| Booking the appointment | +$1.50 every time | Included at every tier |
| Taking a payment | +$1.00 every time | Payment links included |
| Going over your plan | $8.50–$11.50 a call | Impossible — there's no plan to exceed |
| Hours | 24/7 — genuinely better than ours | Answered 8am–6pm; instant text-back the rest of the time |
| CRM and intake integrations | Deep, and their real strength | Basic — we put the lead on your phone instead |
| Quote chasing and reviews | Not the service | Quotes chased, Google reviews requested automatically |
You may not need the phone answered at all
Before you spend $697 with us or $810 with them, check what you're actually missing. If most of your missed calls are people wanting a quote or a booking rather than a human voice right now, our $297 Recovery plan texts them back in seconds and puts the whole conversation on your phone — cheaper than Smith.ai's smallest plan, with no per-call anything. At $497 a real person runs those conversations for you. The contractor guide walks through which of the three actually fits.
Try it without cancelling anything
Call (866) 903-9906, hang up, and watch your phone. Then the $99 pilot runs on your real line for 30 days alongside whatever you use now — recover 3 qualified missed-call inquiries or the $99 comes back. Smith.ai is month-to-month too, so testing both costs you nothing but a month.
Common questions
How much does Smith.ai cost?
Their live receptionist plans are $300/month for 30 calls, $810 for 90 and $2,100 for 300, with calls past your plan billed at $8.50–$11.50 each. Add-ons are per call on top: $1.50 to book an appointment, $1.00 to take a payment, $1.00 for a dedicated Spanish line. So a 90-call month where every job gets booked is $810 plus $135, not $810.
Why do contractors look for a Smith.ai alternative?
Two things. Every call counts against the plan, including robocalls, suppliers and wrong numbers — you're paying roughly $9–$11 for a spam call. And the things a contractor most wants, like booking the job, are priced per call on top of a plan that already costs more than most trades software.
Is Smith.ai better than FiveFlow?
In some setups, yes. They answer 24/7, we answer 8am–6pm. Their CRM and intake integrations are genuinely deep — if you run Clio, HubSpot or a real intake pipeline and want calls landing structured inside it, that is their strength and we don't match it. They also do outbound campaigns and web chat. If few but high-value calls flow into a CRM, Smith.ai fits that better than we do.
What about their AI receptionist?
It's cheaper than their human plans and improving quickly. Our honest read is that trades calls are among the hardest for AI to handle — panicked homeowners, background noise from a job site, problems described halfway. That's why our middle and top tiers put a real person on the conversation, with automation underneath catching anything they can't reach in time.
Written by Emmanuel
Founder of FiveFlow — he builds and runs the missed-call recovery system US electricians and plumbers use to stop losing jobs to voicemail. About
FiveFlow · United States · vs. Ruby · Full cost math · All contractor options
Smith.ai is a trademark of Smith.ai, Inc. We aren't affiliated with them. Prices are their published list prices as of 2 August 2026 and may have changed — check their site before deciding.