Method · data checked October 26, 2026
How we rank AI receptionists
We rank 12 AI receptionists on up to 95 points computed from their own pricing pages, terms and integration pages, read on the dates printed beside every number (latest read October 26, 2026). No position is set by hand: every rank is the scoring below applied to dated data, and the same data is free to download.
Who is in the set
Every AI receptionist you can buy as a product, with published prices: you sign up and it answers your line. That is NextPhone, Smith.ai AI Receptionist, My AI Front Desk, Simple Phones, Phonely, RingCentral AI Receptionist, Rosie, Goodcall, Dialzara, Upfirst, Go Answer AI Receptionist and Moneypenny AI Answering (US). Slang.ai serves restaurants only, so it ranks only on lists for that trade; the site has no such list yet, so it is read but not ranked. Sameday AI serves home services only, so it ranks only on lists for that trade: HVAC Companies, Plumbers and Contractors.
Read and left out, each for a reason that applies to every vendor alike:
- Ruby: Human receptionists billed by the minute or call: a virtual receptionist service, not an AI receptionist.
- Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists: Human receptionists billed by the minute or call: a virtual receptionist service, not an AI receptionist.
- Posh: Human receptionists billed by the minute or call: a virtual receptionist service, not an AI receptionist.
- Abby Connect: Human receptionists billed by the minute or call: a virtual receptionist service, not an AI receptionist.
- Vapi: Build-your-own voice platform: you assemble the receptionist from an API, so there is no receptionist product to rank.
- Retell AI: Build-your-own voice platform: you assemble the receptionist from an API, so there is no receptionist product to rank.
- Bland: Build-your-own voice platform: you assemble the receptionist from an API, so there is no receptionist product to rank.
- Synthflow: Build-your-own voice platform: you assemble the receptionist from an API, so there is no receptionist product to rank.
- Allo: an all-in-one phone system. AI Receptionist is a $32/month-per-agent add-on (billed yearly) on top of per-seat phone plans, so the total depends on seat count.
- Quo (formerly OpenPhone): an all-in-one phone system. The Sona AI agent is billed in call credits on top of per-user phone plans.
- Nextiva: an all-in-one phone system. XBert AI Receptionist is an add-on to per-user business phone plans; the page does not publish its add-on price or included AI allowance.
- Medical and dental answering services: out of scope on every list.
RingCentral AI Receptionist is the one AI product from a phone-system company that ranks, because it is sold on its own with a published price.
The score, part by part
| Component | Points | How it is computed | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price at 100 and 200 calls | 35 | The vendor's cheapest published plan for the volume plus its published rate past the allowance, at 3-minute calls, at 100 and 200 calls a month. Each volume is scaled between the cheapest and the dearest general AI receptionist with a computable cost (cheapest 35, dearest 0), and the two are averaged; a one-vertical product priced outside that range scores 0 or 35. A cost that is not computable from published prices scores zero at that volume. | Vendor pricing pages, via the shared price index |
| Bill predictability | 20 | How the bill moves with usage. No usage meter on any plan: 20. Billed per unique caller: 14. Per call with a published rate past the allowance: 10. Per minute with a published rate past the allowance: 7. Metered with no published rate past the allowance, or a flat rate set from the vendor’s own usage estimate: 4. | Vendor pricing pages |
| Integrations | 15 | We track 11 tools (Clio, MyCase, Lawmatics, HubSpot, GoHighLevel, Google Calendar, Calendly, Jobber, ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, Towbook). A documented native connection scores 3 and a Zapier connection 1, and the total is scaled to 15 against the maximum for the tools that list weighs. A Zapier connection means both apps are on Zapier and you build the Zap yourself, usually on a paid Zapier plan; it is not a connection the vendor maintains. A logo with no stated mechanism scores zero. Each connection shows whether it is listed in the tool’s own app directory or documented only on the vendor’s pages. | Vendor integration pages and the tools’ directories |
| Contract terms | 15 | Cancellation: 8 for cancel at any time with no notice, 5 for month to month with notice required or not stated, 3 when contract terms are not published, 0 for a minimum term. Setup fee: 4 when the vendor states there is none, 2 when it says nothing, 1 when a fee is charged. Trial: 3 for a free plan or a trial with no card, 2 for a trial that needs a card or does not say, 0 for no trial or none published. | Vendor terms, contracts and pricing FAQs |
| Spam-call billing | 10 | 10 when spam and wrong numbers are not counted, or when no per-call charge exists. 5 when spam is free only under the vendor’s conditions. 0 when answered spam is billed. 2 when no rule is published: unknown, not free. | Vendor terms, help centers and pricing FAQs |
| Answered-call quality (test calls) | 5 | Reserved for rubric scores from recorded test calls made on our own numbers: greeting, intake accuracy, transfers, escalation. The recordings do not exist yet, so every vendor holds zero and its score bar reads coming. | Our recordings, when they exist |
The most a vendor can score today is 95, because the test-call points are reserved. Ties break in this order: more price points, cheaper at 200 calls, more native integrations, then name. Price points use the same scale on every list. Integration points depend on the tools a list weighs, so one vendor can score differently on two lists.
The arithmetic, worked once
A cost at N calls is the cheapest published plan for N calls of 3 minutes each, plus the published rate for whatever falls past the allowance. For example, 100 calls on My AI Front Desk are Business-in-a-Box $99 for 240 minutes, that is 200 voice minutes plus 40 from its 1,000 monthly overage credits, + 60 extra minutes × $0.25 = $114, and 200 calls are Business-in-a-Box $99 for 240 minutes, that is 200 voice minutes plus 40 from its 1,000 monthly overage credits, + 360 extra minutes × $0.25 = $189. Where a vendor bills per unique caller, we count every call as a new caller, which is the most the month can cost. Free plans count when they are cheapest at a volume; a plan priced "from" an amount is priced at that amount and flagged.
Why 3 minutes: it is the call length the shared price index uses for every vendor on every site that reads it, so a cost here matches the same vendor's cost elsewhere. Your own average, from your last few invoices or call logs, is the better number for your decision.
How the lists differ
Every list uses the same score. Lists differ only in the vendors they include, the integration tools they weigh, and the order rule, all printed here and under each table.
| List | Vendors | Tools weighed | Order rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best AI Receptionists 2027 | 12 | All 11 | Ordered by score, highest first. |
| Best AI Receptionist for Law Firms 2027 | 12 | Clio, MyCase, Lawmatics | Ordered by score, highest first. |
| Best AI Receptionist for HVAC Companies 2027 | 13 | Jobber, ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro | Ordered by score, highest first. |
| Best AI Receptionist for Plumbers 2027 | 13 | Jobber, ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro | Ordered by score, highest first. |
| Best AI Receptionist for Contractors 2027 | 13 | Jobber, ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro | Ordered by score, highest first. |
| Best AI Receptionist for Real Estate 2027 | 12 | HubSpot, GoHighLevel | Ordered by score, highest first. |
| Best AI Receptionist for Small Business 2027 | 12 | Google Calendar, Calendly, HubSpot, GoHighLevel | Ordered by score, highest first. |
| Best AI Receptionist for Solo Business Owners 2027 | 12 | Google Calendar, Calendly | Ordered by score, highest first. |
| Best Cheap AI Receptionist 2027 | 12 | All 11 | Ordered by monthly cost at 100 calls, cheapest first (the low end, where a vendor publishes a range); ties go to the cheaper vendor at 200 calls, then the higher score. |
| Best Flat-Rate AI Receptionist 2027 | 12 | All 11 | Vendors whose plans have no usage meter come first, by score. The rest follow by how much their bill rises when calls double from 100 to 200 a month, smallest rise first, then by score. |
| Best AI Receptionist for Spanish-Speaking Callers 2027 | 8 | All 11 | Only vendors that name Spanish on their own pages are listed. Ordered by score, highest first. |
| Best AI Receptionist for Clio 2027 | 10 | Clio, MyCase, Lawmatics | Ordered by how the vendor connects to Clio (native first, then through Zapier), then by score. |
| Best AI Receptionist for Jobber 2027 | 8 | Jobber, ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro | Ordered by how the vendor connects to Jobber (native first, then through Zapier), then by score. |
| Best AI Receptionist for HubSpot 2027 | 8 | HubSpot, GoHighLevel | Ordered by how the vendor connects to HubSpot (native first, then through Zapier), then by score. |
| Best AI Receptionist for After-Hours Calls 2027 | 12 | All 11 | Ordered by score, highest first. |
How much the weights decide
Weights are a judgment, so here is what they do to the overall list. With the weights as published, NextPhone ranks first. Remove one component at a time and the leader becomes:
- Without price: NextPhone (unchanged).
- Without bill predictability: Upfirst.
- Without integrations: Upfirst.
- Without contract terms: NextPhone (unchanged).
- Without spam-call billing: NextPhone (unchanged).
- On price alone, the order is the cheap list, led by Upfirst at $69.95 for 100 calls.
What "not published" and "not computable" mean
Not published: the vendor's pages say nothing on the point, and the field stays empty. We never estimate, average across vendors or borrow a number from a review site, and unknown never scores as favorable. Not computable: the published prices do not reach that volume, usually because no rate past the allowance is published.
Where the data comes from, and how it stays current
Prices, allowances and rates come from a shared price index of vendor pricing pages, each saved as a capture with its read date. Billing terms carry verbatim quotes of no more than 25 words, with the page and date. Integrations come from a matrix of vendor integration pages and tool directories, checked October 27, 2026. The index is re-checked weekly: when a vendor page changes, its read date moves, every list that shows it is recomputed and re-dated, and the change is logged on each affected page. A date never moves without a re-read behind it.
Corrections
Point us to a public page that contradicts a number here: support@aireceptionistrankings.com. We re-read the page, fix the data, and the rankings move with it. A number never changes on request without a public source.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you test the AI receptionists by calling them?
Not yet. Five points are reserved for rubric scores from recorded test calls, and every vendor holds zero until those recordings exist. When they do, the scores slot into the same published weights and each list says what changed.
Can a vendor pay for a better rank?
No. The score is computed from published pages with no manual step. A vendor moves by changing its published prices, terms or integrations, and the change shows up at the next weekly re-check.
Why does a cheaper AI receptionist sometimes rank lower?
Because price is 35 of the 95 points. A vendor can win on price and lose on bill predictability, integrations, contract terms and spam billing. The cheap list orders purely by cost for buyers who want that.
What happens when a vendor publishes nothing on a term?
The field reads not published and scores as unknown, never as favorable. A vendor with no published rate past its allowance scores lower on bill predictability, and one with no spam rule scores 2 of 10 on spam billing.
How do I cite the rankings?
Cite the list title, the data date printed on the page and its URL, for example: AI Receptionist Rankings, Best AI Receptionists 2027, data checked October 26, 2026, https://www.aireceptionistrankings.com/. The dataset is licensed CC BY 4.0.