In-Depth Comparison

Smith.ai vs. AnswerFirst

Compare features and see how businesses like yours can answer calls, capture leads, and serve clients better with Smith.ai’s 24/7 Virtual Receptionists.

Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists:
The best alternative to AnswerFirst

costs

Pricing
Per call
Per minute
Cost
$6.50 - $9.50/call
$1.15-$1.60/min
Starting cost
$285/month
$30/month + usage
Setup fee
NO
$100
Money-Back Guarantee
14 days
No
Spam & sales calls
Free
$1.15-$1.60/min, billed in 1 second increments
Post-call wrap-up
Included
No
Contracts
No contracts
No
Wrong Numbers
Free
$1.15-$1.60/min, billed in 1 second increments
Required Deposit
NO
No
Overage Cost
$7.50 - $10.50/call
No

capabilities

Calls answered 24/7
North America-based receptionists
Lead qualification
New lead intake
Appointment scheduling
Payment collection
Call screening, routing & prioritization
Outbound sales campaigns
Unlimited FAQ
Call recording & transcription
✘ Call recording only
Zip code lookup
Warm transfer
Call transfers via SMS & Slack
Instant call summaries by email & SMS
Daily call summaries
✔ Email, SMS, Slack
✔ Email, SMS, fax
Receptionists make calls for you
✔ Same per-call pricing. Comes from your #
Receptionists know caller history
Spanish-speaking receptionists
Send follow-up messages

integrated technology

Call tracking dashboard
Call analytics
CSV upload for direct transfer / blocked numbers
CRM, intake & marketing software
✘ Some
Calendaring software
Scheduling
Invoices and payments
Zapier
SMS & Slack

Take the faster path to growth.
Get Smith.ai today.

Affordable plans for every budget.
Smith.ai offers sophisticated, seamless receptionist services at predictable flat fees. AnswerFirst offers less personalization and charges per minute for setup and post-call handling.

AnswerFirst’s virtual receptionist service charges per minute (plus $30/month on all plans) but they are vague on their process. You’re charged per minute for setup (averaging 60-90 minutes), all post-call wrap-up time, calls from salespeople, wrong numbers, and spam — the minutes could really add up. Smith.ai charges per call, which is easier to predict and can help you easily calculate ROI and overall value. Plus, we never charge for setup, cancellation, spam, sales calls, or wrong numbers.

Smith.ai’s receptionists are also backed by technology that allows them to personalize calls and give seamless service. AnswerFirst receptionists spend time looking up your business information (with the clock running), but Smith.ai’s receptionists are instantly fed your custom instructions — that way they can 100% focus on giving excellent service to your leads and clients. And while both AnswerFirst and Smith.ai offer call recording, only Smith.ai goes above and beyond to transcribe your calls. That way, you don't have to listen to hundreds of hours of conversations to get the information you need.

Both Smith.ai and AnswerFirst have APIs and offer integrations, but Smith.ai integrates with more popular CRMs and scheduling platforms regularly used by solopreneurs and businesses of all sizes — and your first CRM integration is free. AnswerFirst advertises that they can integrate with in-house solutions, which would likely be a very expensive setup and implementation — not ideal for smaller budgets and agile companies.

For growth-minded business owners who care about price transparency, seamless integrations, and robust customizations that deliver the experience of in-house customer engagement and sales development, Smith.ai is the superior choice for your 24/7 Virtual Receptionists partner, over AnswerFirst.

Predictable and affordable pricing

We have prices for small to large organizations and everything in between.

Plans starting at

$285
Per month
30
Calls per month
Per-call pricing, not per‑minute
Month-to-month pricing for easy budgeting
No charge for spam calls or wrong numbers
Easy billing with no setup cost or hidden fees
Our agents and AI harmoniously work to meet the rigorous demands of your business.

Smith.ai is trusted by 3,000+ businesses

5.0 stars
4.9 stars
5.0 stars
4.7 stars
Converts callers into clients
Smith.ai is our inbound sales team. Having a trained and personable voice has transformed our ability to answer the phone and convert callers to clients.
Jeremy Treister
Owner, CMIT Solutions of Downtown Chicago

END-TO-END INTEGRATIONS

We play well with your software

Calls, chats & appointments are automatically logged in your systems. Real-time syncing with over 5,000 integrations.
View all integrations

Take the faster path to growth.
Get Smith.ai today.

Affordable plans for every budget.