Hire or Fire · video notes
AI receptionist: the probation checklist
Our take: hire it on probation, for after hours and overflow, not as your front desk. Keep it only if all three of these are true.
The probation checklist
- It can hand you the emergency. Your plan transfers a call to a human, or alerts you, when a caller says words like “emergency”, “no heat” or “burst pipe”. Check the exact plan tier, not just the product:
- Rosie: live and warm transfers aren't listed on the $49 plan; they start on the $149 Scale plan.
- Smith.ai: human Live Agent backup is a per-call add-on; an escalation the AI starts itself has no fee.
- Jobber's AI receptionist lets you set keywords like these to transfer the call or text you.
- The greeting says it's AI and that the call is recorded. About 11 US states generally require all parties' consent to record a call (US federal law is one-party). In the EU, the AI Act's transparency rules (people must be told they're talking to an AI unless it's obvious) apply from August 2026. Not legal advice: check your state and your provider.
- You know your meter. Count your monthly calls and average call length, then price it on the meter the product uses: per call, per minute, or per unique caller (see the table below).
Fire it if your plan can't put a burst-pipe call through to you.
Our opinion. The checklist is our workflow, not legal or financial advice.
Our pricing check
Our pricing check, list prices, 2026-10-08. US list prices in US dollars, monthly billing unless noted, from each vendor's own pricing page. We didn't make test calls. Re-check before you buy.
| Service | Meter | Plans (list prices) | Human transfer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smith.ai AI Receptionist | Per call | Free: 25 calls/month, then $3 per call. Pro: from $150/month for 75 calls. | Human Live Agent backup is a per-call add-on; AI-initiated escalation has no fee. |
| Rosie | Per minute | $49 for 250 min · $149 for 1,000 min · $299 for 2,000 min. 7-day free trial. | Live and warm transfers listed from the $149 Scale plan. |
| Goodcall | Per unique caller | Starter $79 per agent for 100 unique callers, then $0.50 each, unlimited minutes · Growth $129 (250) · Scale $249 (500). | We couldn't confirm either way from the pricing page. |
| Ruby (all-human receptionists) | Per minute | Starter $250 for 50 min · Standard $395 for 100 · Popular $720 for 200 · Professional $1,725 for 500. | Human answers every call. |
Goodcall counts a “unique customer” as a unique phone number that actually talks to the agent in a month; robocalls and silent callers don't count.
Example: a hypothetical plumber
Hypothetical plumber, our math, list prices. The call volume is an assumption we picked, not real data.
150 calls a month × 3 minutes = 450 minutes a month.
| Option | Plan needed | Per month |
|---|---|---|
| Rosie (per minute) | Scale: 450 min is over the $49 plan's 250 | $149 |
| Goodcall (per unique caller) | Starter: $79 + 50 extra callers × $0.50, if every caller is unique | About $104 (less if callers repeat) |
| Ruby (all-human) | Professional: 500 min | $1,725 |
For scale, the US median pay for receptionists is $18.27 an hour, or $38,010 a year (BLS, May 2025). That's a list-price comparison, not a judgement of quality.
Why not trust the scary stats?
The “62% of calls go unanswered” figure comes from a 2016 study of 85 businesses over 30 days. Invoca's July 2026 home-services report says a person answered 52% of inbound calls, 65% for calls over 15 seconds and 73% for calls over 30 seconds (Invoca's own customer data).
Sources
Every fact on this page comes from these pages, opened on 8 October 2026. Things change: check the live page before you rely on it.
- Smith.ai AI Receptionist pricing
- Smith.ai AI Receptionist Live Agent add-on; escalation fee.
- Rosie pricing
- Goodcall pricing
- Jobber AI receptionist Keyword transfer.
- Ruby pricing
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, receptionists
- 411 Locals, 2016 study of unanswered calls
- Invoca, Home Services Lead Conversion Benchmarks Report 2026
- Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, recording guide All-party consent states.
- 18 U.S.C. § 2511 (Cornell LII)
- European Commission, AI Act regulatory framework Transparency rules from August 2026.
- EU AI Act, Article 50 (text)
Our opinion and a workflow, not legal or financial advice.
No sponsor and no affiliate links on this page. Vendors are named so you can check them yourself, not as recommendations.
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