CentriWebSmith.ai alternatives fall into three models: human receptionists who answer live, AI receptionists that answer every call themselves, and hybrids where AI answers and people take the calls it should not handle. Smith.ai itself now sells both a human-staffed service and an AI receptionist, so the first decision is which model fits your calls, then which provider charges in a way that suits your volume.
A disclosure: CentriWeb builds and looks after voice agents for clients, on platforms of this kind, so weigh our view with that in mind. Every price and feature below comes from each vendor’s own pricing page, as at November 2026, in the dollars shown on those pages. Check their page for current prices before you decide.
Human, AI and hybrid answering: how the models differ
- Human answering. A trained receptionist picks up, follows your instructions and passes on messages or transfers. Callers get a person every time. You usually pay by the minute or by the call, so busy months cost more.
- AI answering. A voice agent answers, works from your information, books or takes details, and sends a summary. It does not get busy, and pricing tends to be lower per call. It needs set-up and someone checking its calls.
- Hybrid. AI handles routine calls and hands others to people. Smith.ai’s pricing page describes three modes in its service: AI-first, hybrid and human-first.
For a fuller comparison of the first two, see our guide on AI receptionists versus virtual receptionists.
Smith.ai alternatives compared side by side
| Option | What it is | How it charges | Who maintains it | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smith.ai receptionist plans | Live-staffed answering with AI, sold as AI-first, hybrid or human-first | Per call, monthly call allowance | Smith.ai, from your instructions | Firms that want people on calls and steady call counts |
| Smith.ai AI Receptionist | AI answering with optional live agents per call | Monthly fee plus a per-call rate | You set it up in their tools; Smith.ai runs it | Businesses ready to try AI with a human fallback |
| Ruby | Live virtual receptionists, with optional AI features | Per minute, monthly minute allowance | Ruby, from your instructions | Businesses that want a person on every call |
| Goodcall | AI phone agent | Per unique caller each month | You, in their tools | Owners comfortable setting up and tuning an AI themselves |
| Custom voice agent | An AI agent built on a voice platform and connected to your systems | Build and care fees plus per-minute platform usage | The builder, with you reviewing | Busy lines where calls feed bookings and a CRM |
Smith.ai pricing, as published
The Smith.ai pricing page lists its receptionist plans by calls, not minutes:
- Starter: $300 a month for 30 calls, then $11.50 a call.
- Basic: $810 a month for 90 calls, then $10.50 a call.
- Pro: $2,100 a month for 300 calls, then $8.50 a call.
- Enterprise: custom pricing.
Plans are month to month, with 10 per cent off for a 12-month subscription. Many features are per-call add-ons, such as booking appointments at $1.50 a call and call recording and transcription at $0.25. The page says spam and wrong numbers do not count towards your quota if your forwarded lines pass caller ID.
Its AI Receptionist page lists separate pricing: a free tier with 25 calls a month then $3.00 a call, Pro at $150 a month plus $2.00 a call, and Enterprise at $500 a month plus $1.67 a call. Live agents are available as a per-call add-on, and the page says escalations the AI starts carry no fee.
What each alternative does well
Ruby: people on every call
The Ruby pricing page sells virtual receptionist plans by the minute: $250 a month for 50 minutes, $395 for 100, $720 for 200 and $1,725 for 500. It describes its service as live, with optional AI enhancements such as transcripts and sentiment analysis included at no extra cost, and it also sells live chat plans. The page does not state overage rates, so ask before you sign. Ruby suits businesses where a caller hearing a person matters more than cost per call, and where calls are short enough that minutes stay predictable.
Smith.ai: a choice of modes under one provider
Smith.ai’s strength is choice. You can start with people answering, move routine calls to AI, or begin on the AI Receptionist and add live agents for some calls. Per-call pricing suits businesses with longer conversations, since a long call costs the same as a short one. The add-ons make the final bill depend on which features you switch on, so price your own call mix.
Goodcall: AI that charges per caller
The Goodcall pricing page charges by unique customer, meaning one phone number counted once a month however many times it calls. Starter is $79 a month for 100 unique customers, Growth $129 for 500 and Scale $299 for 2,000, with overage at 79, 26 and 15 cents per extra customer. The page says there are no per-minute or per-call charges and that spam and wrong numbers do not count. It suits owners who want an AI agent with a predictable bill and are willing to set it up and tune it themselves.
Working out what each option costs you
The three pricing units, calls, minutes and unique callers, make side by side comparisons hard. Use your own numbers. As an example: a business with 120 calls a month averaging three minutes each, from about 90 different numbers.
- Per call (Smith.ai Basic): 120 calls is 30 over the 90 included, so $810 plus 30 times $10.50, about $1,125 before add-ons.
- Per minute (Ruby): 360 minutes falls between the 200 and 500 minute plans, so you would compare the $720 plan plus overage, which the page does not list, against the $1,725 plan.
- Per AI call (Smith.ai AI Receptionist Pro): $150 plus 120 times $2.00, about $390 before any live agent add-ons.
- Per unique caller (Goodcall Starter): 90 unique callers fits inside 100, so $79.
The cheapest line is not automatically the right one. An AI agent that loses one high-value job a month can cost more than the price difference. Our guide to what an AI receptionist costs works through this in more detail.
Questions to ask any answering service
- What counts as a billable call or minute, and are spam, hang-ups and transfers included?
- What happens when you exceed the plan: overage, upgrade, or calls going unanswered?
- Can it book directly into your calendar, and which calendars?
- Does it write to your CRM, and what exactly is written?
- How are urgent calls identified and passed to a person after hours?
- Who updates the script when your prices, hours or services change?
Where a custom-built voice agent fits better, and who it does not suit
A service like the ones above handles the call. A system built and looked after for the business can also handle what happens next: the agent answers from your own information, books into your real calendar, writes the enquiry and call summary to your CRM, starts the follow-up and hands over to the right person when it should. That suits businesses with steady call volume, several call types, and bookings worth enough that a dropped one hurts.
It does not suit everyone. If you get a handful of calls a week, a standard plan from one of the providers above will usually do the job for less. If you have the time and interest to set up and tune an AI yourself, a self-serve tool may be enough. And if your budget only stretches to a standard plan, start there. If you want to explore the built route, our AI services page explains how we approach it. For after-hours cover specifically, see after-hours answering with AI.