Comparison
Looking for a Smith.ai alternative?
An honest comparison, including what Smith.ai does better. We would rather you pick the right one than pick us and leave.
What they are
What Smith.ai is
Smith.ai is a receptionist service where trained people answer your calls, backed by an AI option. You buy a number of calls per month rather than minutes, and a human takes the ones that matter.
Where they win
Reasons to choose Smith.ai over us
These are real. If one of them describes your shop, Smith.ai is the better buy and we would rather you knew now.
A real person answers. For a call that needs judgment (an upset client, a complicated intake, a lawyer's caller who must feel heard), a trained human still beats any AI, ours included. They also bill per call, so a few long calls cost no more than short ones.
Where we differ
What changes if you pick Manyger
- You are billed for the minutes the AI spends on your calls, each call rounded up to the next minute, not for each call that comes in. A 40-second wrong number costs almost nothing.
- The same receptionist answers Instagram and Facebook messages as well as the phone, in the language the customer wrote in. One place to look instead of three.
- Answering the phone is one of the things Manyger does. It also writes your morning briefing, tracks revenue and expenses, asks your happy customers for Google reviews, and texts customers who have drifted. Most of what this page compares is one feature of it.
- $49/mo, every feature in every plan (more than one location needs Pro). You are not buying a bigger tier to unlock the thing you came for.
At a glance
Every option, side by side
| Option | Answers at 2am | Books into your calendar | Answers Instagram and Facebook DMs too | Helps run the rest of the business | A human hears tone | What it typically costs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ManygerWhat this site is about | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | $49/mo + $3 carrier fee |
| An AI phone assistantGoodcall, Rosie, My AI Front Desk | ✓ | ✓ | — | — | — | $49–299/mo |
| A human answering serviceSmith.ai, Ruby and similar | ✓ | Sometimes | — | — | ✓ | $250–2,100/mo |
| Your own receptionistSomeone on payroll | — | ✓ | Sometimes | Sometimes | ✓ | $3,100–3,500/mo |
| VoicemailWhat answers today | ✓ | — | — | — | — | $0/mo |
Rows are kinds of option, not individual products: we can say what a phone assistant is without claiming what any one company shipped last month. Check their own sites for specifics and current pricing. Last reviewed September 2026.
What it costs
Our price, plainly
Starter is $49/mo with every feature, 200 AI phone minutes and 500 AI credits. Growth $99, Pro $179, and more than one location needs Pro. Overage $0.25/min, and calls are never cut off. A $3/mo carrier fee applies once you hold a phone number. We quote only typical ranges for everyone else, never one company's price: theirs change, and we would rather be right about ours than approximately right about theirs.
Who this is for
Trades weighing this choice
Try it for two weeks
Free for 2 weeks or 200 AI phone minutes, whichever comes first. No credit card, and nothing to uninstall if it isn't for you.
Product names and trademarks belong to their owners. Rows are kinds of option, not individual products. Costs are the vendors' own published list prices, and a receptionist is US median salary alone. Your payroll costs more. Check their sites for current pricing. Last reviewed September 2026.