1. Vocapable with your own Twilio account
The same receptionist on your own verified Twilio account: a lower subscription, and Twilio bills your number and carrier minutes directly.
See Vocapable pricing →Best of · home services
The best AI receptionists
for home services, by the month.
Trades businesses get many short calls, a share of them urgent, and most of them while the owner is on a job. This list ranks nine receptionists on a busy month of three hundred three-minute calls and notes what each does when the caller needs a person now.
Published by Vocapable · Vendor prices checked October 13, 2026 to October 18, 2026 · Latest check
Ranked by one month of calls: busy month
300 calls, 900 minutes, 300 unique callers. Three hundred three-minute calls is a busy season for a one-crew company: ten or fifteen calls on a working day, most of them quotes, bookings and "are you coming today". Lowest modeled monthly total first; a service whose published prices cannot cover the month is listed last with the reason.
| Rank | Provider | Modeled month | Billing unit | Where it fits for plumbers, HVAC and electrical contractors, cleaners and other home-service businesses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vocapable with your own Twilio account | $71.50Starter; plus your Twilio bill | AI minutes a month | The same receptionist on your own verified Twilio account: a lower subscription, and Twilio bills your number and carrier minutes directly. |
| 2 | Vocapable, US local number included | $107.50Starter; one standard US local number; no transfer or non-AI time | AI minutes a month | Tries your on-call person and then the teammates you list, takes a complete request with the address and urgency when nobody answers, and answers only from the policies you approve. Industry pages for plumbers, HVAC and electricians show an example call. |
| 3 | Goodcall | $129Growth | Unique callers a month | Unique-caller billing suits a maintenance business with regular customers more than a contractor whose callers are mostly new. |
| 4 | Rosie | $149Scale within allowance; overage alternative not verified | Minutes a month | The same entry price and allowance as Vocapable’s managed Starter; message taking on the entry plan and extra-minute pricing not verified. |
| 5 | Upfirst | $159.95Pro | Calls a month | Calls-based billing and warm transfers on the entry plan make it worth testing for a small trade with few, longer calls. |
| 6 | My AI Front Desk | $269Monthly; shared credit pool used only for voice; includes reload blocks | Minutes a month | A bundle of voice, chat, messaging and CRM with a shared credit pool; worth it when the other channels replace tools you pay for. |
| 7 | Dialzara | $349 voice subtotalBusiness Elite; confirm number charges and extra-minute funding | Minutes a month | A low entry allowance billed by connected talk time; the number charge and extra-minute funding need confirming before a total is reliable. |
| 8 | RingCentral | $449Standalone with published overage; minute bundles may be cheaper | Minutes a month | Makes most sense if the office already runs RingEX; as a standalone, the 100-minute allowance is small for a busy month. |
| 9 | Smith.ai | $500Enterprise 300 | Calls a month | A free 25-call plan with a supplied number and paid tiers by calls; advanced actions and human escalation are billed on their own terms. |
| n/a | Phonely | Confirm quotePaid cards and detailed allowance table conflict | Minutes a month | A supplied number and a free 100-minute allowance every month; its paid tables disagree with each other, so a busier month needs the allowance confirmed. |
For a trade, the receptionist’s first job is the emergency call: answer immediately, say what the after-hours policy is, try the on-call person, and capture the address and the problem if nobody picks up. Price matters second, and the table below prices the busy month rather than the quiet one.
The ranking is published by Vocapable from each vendor’s own pricing page on the date shown. Fit notes are editorial. Read each vendor’s own description of transfers and after-hours behaviour before trusting any of them with a burst pipe.
Each provider, in a sentence or two
2. Vocapable, US local number included
Tries your on-call person and then the teammates you list, takes a complete request with the address and urgency when nobody answers, and answers only from the policies you approve. Industry pages for plumbers, HVAC and electricians show an example call.
See Vocapable pricing →3. Goodcall
Unique-caller billing suits a maintenance business with regular customers more than a contractor whose callers are mostly new.
Read the Vocapable vs Goodcall comparison →4. Rosie
The same entry price and allowance as Vocapable’s managed Starter; message taking on the entry plan and extra-minute pricing not verified.
Read the Vocapable vs Rosie comparison →5. Upfirst
Calls-based billing and warm transfers on the entry plan make it worth testing for a small trade with few, longer calls.
Read the Vocapable vs Upfirst comparison →6. My AI Front Desk
A bundle of voice, chat, messaging and CRM with a shared credit pool; worth it when the other channels replace tools you pay for.
Read the Vocapable vs My AI Front Desk comparison →7. Dialzara
A low entry allowance billed by connected talk time; the number charge and extra-minute funding need confirming before a total is reliable.
Read the Vocapable vs Dialzara comparison →8. RingCentral
Makes most sense if the office already runs RingEX; as a standalone, the 100-minute allowance is small for a busy month.
Read the Vocapable vs RingCentral comparison →9. Smith.ai
A free 25-call plan with a supplied number and paid tiers by calls; advanced actions and human escalation are billed on their own terms.
Read the Vocapable vs Smith.ai comparison →Phonely
A supplied number and a free 100-minute allowance every month; its paid tables disagree with each other, so a busier month needs the allowance confirmed.
Read the Vocapable vs Phonely comparison →How we ranked
Every provider is priced on the same month using the lowest published plan that covers it, plus that plan’s overage where the vendor publishes one. Calls are equal length and sequential, with no transfer or waiting time, one number, and no taxes or optional services. The method, the scenarios and the sources are the ones in the cheapest-receptionist guide, and each vendor comparison page carries the vendor’s own source with its checked date.
This is a first-party list published by Vocapable. We have not run an independent call-quality, reliability or support benchmark, and a lower modeled cost is not a claim that a service answers better. Send a correction with the source if a price has moved.
Questions about this list
Why price a busy month?
Because the cheap entry tiers run out of allowance exactly when a trade needs the phone answered most. Three hundred calls shows which services scale on minutes, which on calls, and which need a quote.
Which services handle emergencies?
All of them answer; the differences are in what happens next: whether a transfer to a person is included on the entry plan, what the after-hours fallback is, and what the caller is told when nobody answers. Each vendor’s page states its own behaviour, and the fit notes point at the ones to check.
Do I need a new number?
Usually not. Most services, Vocapable included, let you forward your existing number to theirs. Forwarding is set up with your current carrier and is different from porting.
Hear Vocapable answer before you decide.
Set up from your website, review every answer, and keep your existing number.