The 9 best AI answering services for small businesses

Some AI answering services are genuinely impressive—easy to set up, sound natural on the phone, and actually help you book appointments or qualify leads. But after testing over 30 different platforms, I found that many just don't deliver. They're clunky, confusing, or so robotic that I wouldn't trust them to answer my own business calls.

I've run a small business myself, and now I work on a product in this space (Upfirst—which yes, is on this list). Over the past month, I personally tested more than 30 AI answering services.

After all that testing, here are the 9 best AI answering services for small businesses—ranging from beginner-friendly picks to highly customizable tools for more tech-savvy owners.

How we evaluated and tested these AI phone answering services

I tested over 30 AI phone answering tools while writing this article—and I can confidently say: a lot of them aren't worth your time.

As someone who used to run a small business myself, I know how chaotic it gets when you're juggling customer calls, shipments, and everything else that goes into running a company. So I took this seriously. For each tool I reviewed, I signed up for a real account (paid when necessary), forwarded calls from my personal cell phone, and ran it through the same exact test.

I imagined I was a veterinarian—someone who's too busy to answer every call but still wants to deliver a professional, responsive experience. I looked at how well each AI receptionist could:

• Take a message
• Answer common questions (like pricing or hours)
• Transfer urgent calls
• Send a link to schedule an appointment

On top of that, I scored each service on ease of setup, voice quality, latency (how slow or fast the AI took to respond), and whether the responses actually sounded human—or like a clunky chatbot. I also flagged pricing gotchas and standout features that might make one service a better fit than another.

Only 9 tools made the cut. The rest didn't feel polished, were painfully slow, or just didn't do what they claimed.

What makes the best AI phone answering service?

Most small business owners don’t have time to fiddle with complicated software. They just want something that works and can be set up quickly.

The best AI phone answering services sound human, respond naturally, and can be trained in under an hour to fit your business’s unique workflow. Whether you’re running a veterinary clinic, law office, or property management company, you should be able to tell the AI how to handle calls—without needing an engineering degree.

Here’s what I looked for during testing:

• Quick, intuitive setup. A great virtual receptionist shouldn’t take more than an hour to get up and running. If I needed a sales call just to test it or got stuck trying to configure it, that was a red flag.
  
• Realistic voice quality. I tested all services by calling them from my own cell phone to hear how they’d sound to an actual customer. If the voice was robotic or awkward, the tool didn’t make the cut.
  
• Call handling essentials. The best tools could take messages, transfer calls, send texts, and answer basic FAQs like business hours or pricing.
  
• Easy customization. Every business is different. I gave extra points to services that made it easy to teach the AI how to handle specific types of calls.
  
• Transparent pricing. I avoided services that tried to hide costs behind confusing “credits” or charged extra for every little feature.

Some services also included standout features like CRM integrations, outbound calling, or two-way texting. I’ve highlighted those where they might be helpful for certain businesses, even if they weren’t core to my testing.

Upfirst

Best overall AI answering service

Upfirst pros:

• Easy to set up—most businesses can go live in 10 to 30 minutes
• Clear, affordable pricing. Upfirst charges by the call, not the minute and doesn't charge for spam.
• Natural-sounding voices in multiple languages
• Flexible enough for most industries without being overwhelming

Upfirst cons:

• Fewer advanced integrations than some enterprise-focused platforms
• Not ideal if you need deep POS or EHR integration

Upfirst pricing

• Starter: $24.95/month — includes 30 calls, $1.50 per additional call
• Premium: $59.95/month — includes 90 calls, $1.00 per additional call
• Pro: $159.95/month — includes 300 calls, $0.75 per additional call

Free trial

Yes, 14 days. No credit card required.

Standout feature

The setup experience. Most AI answering services require you to build flows, configure triggers, or schedule a demo call before you can even hear how it sounds. Upfirst lets you describe your business in plain English and start taking calls almost immediately.

If you’re a small business owner who doesn’t want to mess with complicated tech, Upfirst is the platform I’d recommend first. It was built specifically for small businesses by the same team behind SimpleTexting (used by over 17,000 small businesses), and it shows. The founder originally created it to manage calls at his own law firm—so every feature is built with real-world needs in mind.

Upfirst manages to pack in powerful features—like SMS, call transfers, custom Q&A, and spam blocking—without overwhelming you. The interface is clean and structured, and you never have to touch a drag-and-drop flow builder.

One thing I love about Upfirst: there's no cap on your knowledge base. Most other tools limit how much info you can teach the AI unless you upgrade. Upfirst lets you add as much context and detail as your business needs from day one. This makes it flexible to use, whether you need a property management answering service or law firm virtual receptionist.

Call routing is smart too. If the AI can't handle something, it can take a message or transfer directly to your team. You can also customize who gets notified based on call content—so if you run an apartment building, your maintenance person doesn't get texts about leasing inquiries. Only the relevant people hear about relevant calls.

After each call, the message taking service sends you get a concise summary with the most important info listed right at the top—perfect for busy owners who don’t have time to scroll through transcripts or listen to voicemails. You can get summaries by email or SMS.

Ringly

Best for e-commerce stores

Ringly pros:

• Deep Shopify integration via official app—can check inventory, look up orders, process returns
• Satisfaction guarantee: you don't pay until AI resolves at least 60% of calls
• Supports 40 languages for international e-commerce
• Interesting analytics like caller location mapping

Ringly cons:

• Really only makes sense for Shopify stores—limited utility otherwise
• Expensive for small or new e-commerce businesses
• Texting requires a separate Twilio account
• Phone numbers cost $5/month extra

Ringly pricing

• Start: $99/month for 250 minutes (~125 calls), $0.36/min overage
• Grow: $349/month for 1,000 minutes (~500 calls), $0.19/min overage
• Scale: $1,099+/month for 3,000+ minutes, custom pricing

Free trial

Yes, 14 days. Credit card required.

Standout feature

The AI can actually do things in your Shopify store during the call—check if an item is in stock, look up an order status, initiate a return. It's not just answering questions; it's resolving issues.

Ringly is what happens when an AI answering service goes all-in on a single platform. If you run a Shopify store with meaningful call volume, the integration depth here is impressive. If you don't use Shopify, this probably isn't for you.

The Shopify integration is the real differentiator. The AI can pull up a caller's order history, check current inventory, tell them where their package is, and even start the return process—all without human intervention. For e-commerce stores that get a lot of "where's my order?" calls, this can dramatically reduce the burden on your support team.

The satisfaction guarantee is unusual and worth noting. On their Grow plan, Ringly claims you won't pay until the AI successfully resolves at least 60% of your calls. There are qualifications—your store needs to sell to the U.S. or Canada and expect at least 250 calls per month—but if you meet the criteria, it de-risks the purchase.

The 40-language support is valuable for international stores. If you're selling globally and getting calls from customers who don't speak English, Ringly handles that better than most platforms on this list.

The downsides are real though. At $99/month minimum with relatively few included minutes, Ringly is expensive compared to general-purpose AI answering services. Phone numbers cost extra. Texting requires setting up a separate Twilio account. And if you're not on Shopify, the core value proposition—that deep integration—doesn't exist.

For established Shopify stores with consistent call volume, Ringly can genuinely reduce support costs and improve customer experience. For smaller stores or anyone not on Shopify, the math probably doesn't work.

Marlie

Best for towing and roadside services

Marlie pros:

• Purpose-built features for towing companies, like location collection via text and distance calculation
• Solid integrations with field service tools like Housecall Pro and Towbook
• Helpful prompt-writing guide for DIY setup
• Competitive pricing for the minutes included

Marlie cons:

• Advanced features like call transfers and texting require contacting support to enable
• U.S. phone numbers only—no international support
• English only, no bilingual answering
• Email-only support on the lowest plan

Marlie pricing

• Professional: $49/month for 250 minutes (overage: $0.35/min)
• Scale: $99/month for 500 minutes (overage: $0.35/min)
• Growth: $199/month for 1,000 minutes (overage: $0.30/min)

Free trial

Not clearly advertised. Credit card required to sign up.

Standout feature

The ability to text callers a link to share their GPS location and automatically calculate distance from your shop. If you run a towing company, this alone could save you several back-and-forth calls per day.

Marlie is one of those platforms that picked a niche and went deep. If you run a towing company, roadside assistance service, or similar mobile field service business, the features here make a lot of sense. If you don't, you'll probably find a better fit elsewhere.

The location collection feature is clever. When someone calls needing a tow, the AI can text them a link to share their GPS coordinates instead of trying to verbally describe where they broke down on some random highway. The system can then calculate the distance from your location—useful for quoting prices or dispatching the right truck.

Setup isn't quite plug-and-play. Marlie provides a detailed guide for writing your prompt, which is helpful if you're the DIY type, but the "advanced" features like call transfers and integrations require working with their support team to configure. That's fine if you're patient, but it does slow down the time to value.

The pricing is reasonable for what you get. At $49/month for 250 minutes, it's competitive with other platforms, and the integrations with Towbook, Housecall Pro, and Square mean your call data can flow into the systems you're already using.

One notable gap: Marlie only offers English, so if you serve a bilingual customer base, you'll need to look elsewhere.

Smith.ai

Best hybrid human + AI option

Smith.ai pros:

• Combines AI with human receptionists—escalate when the AI isn't enough
• Human verification add-ons for things like spelling names and email addresses
• Works with closed platforms by having humans log into your accounts directly
• VIP caller bypass lets important contacts skip the AI entirely

Smith.ai cons:

• No ability to send texts during calls
• UI is clunky—Smith.ai started as a human service and bolted on AI later
• No free trial, only a 30-day money-back guarantee
• Expensive, especially on a per-call basis

Smith.ai pricing

• Starter: $95/month for 50 calls ($2.40/call overage)
• Basic: $270/month for 150 calls ($2.30/call overage)
• Pro: $800/month for 500 calls ($2.10/call overage)
• Enterprise: Custom pricing

Free trial

No free trial. 30-day money-back guarantee instead. Credit card required.

Standout feature

The human fallback. When a call gets complicated or a caller specifically requests a human, Smith.ai can route to one of their trained receptionists. It's the safety net that lets you adopt AI without going all-in.

Smith.ai takes a different approach than pure AI platforms: they combine AI with human receptionists, giving you a hybrid that can handle more situations than either could alone. If you're interested in AI but nervous about edge cases, or if you work in an industry where some calls genuinely require human judgment, this model makes sense.

The human escalation is the core value proposition. The AI handles the routine calls—business hours, basic questions, straightforward message-taking—and humans step in for complex situations. You're not choosing between AI and human; you're getting both.

The human add-ons are clever. Smith.ai offers services like human verification of spelled names and email addresses. The AI captures the information, then a human listens to the recording and corrects any errors before it reaches you. For businesses where getting contact info right matters—law firms, medical practices—this catches mistakes the AI might make.

They also solve a problem other platforms can't: closed integrations. If your CRM or scheduling system doesn't have an API, Smith.ai can have humans log into your accounts directly and take actions on your behalf. It's not elegant, but it works when nothing else will.

The downsides reflect Smith.ai's history as a human service that added AI, rather than an AI service from the start. The interface is cluttered. There's no texting during calls. The pricing is high—$95/month for just 50 calls, with overages pushing $2.40 per call. And there's no free trial, though they do offer a 30-day money-back guarantee.

For businesses that want AI efficiency with human backup, Smith.ai delivers something unique. For businesses confident that pure AI can handle their calls, the premium for human involvement may not be worth it.

EchoWin

Best for agencies and resellers

EchoWin pros:

• Free tier to build and test without commitment
• Supports multiple agents on one account—great for agencies managing several clients
• Offers both voice AI and embeddable chatbot widget
• White-labeling available for resellers
• Voice cloning option

EchoWin cons:

• Not beginner-friendly—expect a learning curve with the flow builder
• Credit-based pricing is confusing compared to straightforward per-minute billing
• Most integrations require API setup rather than native connections

EchoWin pricing

• Build It Yourself: $0/month with $5 in free credits (~31 minutes of calls)
• Self-Serve: $49.99/month for 1,600 credits (~100 minutes), then $0.16/min
• Managed: Custom pricing with dedicated support, HIPAA/SOC2 compliance

Free trial

Yes—the free tier includes $5 in credits. No credit card required.

Standout feature

The ability to run multiple agents with different configurations under one account. If you're an agency setting up AI answering for multiple clients, or a multi-location business where each location needs different call flows, this is built for that use case.

EchoWin is positioned as a more technical, flexible platform—and it delivers on that positioning for better and worse. If you're an agency, IT consultant, or reseller looking to offer AI answering as a service to your clients, EchoWin gives you the tools to do that. If you're a small business owner who just wants calls answered, the learning curve may not be worth it.

The multi-agent architecture is the key differentiator. You can create separate AI agents with different personalities, knowledge bases, and call flows, all managed from a single dashboard. For an agency managing 10 different clients, this is essential. For a single business, it's unnecessary complexity.

The white-labeling capabilities extend this for resellers. You can brand the experience as your own, which matters if you're building a business around offering AI answering to clients in a specific niche.

The free tier is genuinely useful for evaluation. You get $5 in credits—enough for about 30 minutes of calls—without entering a credit card. That's enough time to set up an agent, make some test calls, and decide if the platform fits your needs.

The downsides center on complexity. The flow builder will feel familiar if you've used Zapier or similar tools, but if you haven't, expect to spend time learning. Most integrations—beyond native connections to Google Calendar, Outlook, Wix, and Square—require API setup. And the credit-based pricing requires mental math to understand what you're actually spending.

For agencies and technical users, EchoWin offers flexibility that simpler platforms can't match. For everyone else, that flexibility comes with friction you probably don't need.

Greetmate

Best for healthcare practices

Greetmate pros:

• HIPAA compliant for medical and dental practices
• EHR integrations for healthcare-specific workflows
• Two-way SMS inbox for patient communication
• Can handle complex flows with outbound calling

Greetmate cons:

• No free trial—you have to book a demo to access the platform
• Setup requires working with their team; not truly self-serve for most users
• Focused heavily on healthcare, so features may not translate well to other industries

Greetmate pricing

• Pro (1 location): 800 minutes/month
• Growth (2-3 locations): 2,000 minutes/month
• Multi (5+ locations): Custom minutes
• Overage rate: $0.18/minute across all plans
• Additional fees: $20 one-time A2P registration, $5/month SMS fee, $0.05 per outbound text

Free trial

None available. Demo required.

Standout feature

HIPAA compliance and EHR integrations that actually work. If you're a medical practice, dental office, or any healthcare provider where patient data security matters, Greetmate takes this seriously.

Greetmate is the platform I'd recommend for healthcare practices, with a significant caveat: be prepared for a longer onboarding process than the other options on this list.

The HIPAA compliance is legitimate. If you're a doctor's office, dental practice, or any healthcare provider handling protected health information, this matters. Many AI answering services will tell you they're "HIPAA compliant" but can't actually sign a BAA or demonstrate proper data handling. Greetmate can.

The EHR integrations extend that compliance into your actual workflows. Instead of the AI just taking a message that someone then manually enters into your practice management system, Greetmate can connect directly to systems like Dentrix and Eaglesoft. For practices handling high call volumes, that integration saves real time.

The two-way SMS inbox is useful for the back-and-forth that healthcare communication often requires—appointment confirmations, pre-visit instructions, follow-up reminders. Having that in the same platform as your phone answering simplifies things.

Here's the caveat: Greetmate used to offer a free trial but eliminated it. Now you have to book a demo to even access the platform. And while they technically offer a self-serve option, most practices will need help from their team to set up the flows correctly. This isn't a "sign up and go live in 10 minutes" situation.

If you're a healthcare practice with the budget and patience for proper onboarding, Greetmate is purpose-built for your needs. If you want something faster and simpler—and don't need HIPAA compliance—other options on this list will get you live sooner.

My AI Front Desk

Best for multi-language support

My AI Front Desk pros:

• Supports 20+ languages with high fluency, including Spanish, Mandarin, Arabic, and Hindi
• Built-in CRM and ticketing system with kanban board for follow-ups
• Voice cloning to match your brand
• Warm transfer capability
• Records calls even after they're transferred

My AI Front Desk cons:

• Charges by the minute, not by the call
• Starter plan limits you to 2 concurrent calls and only 2 actions per call
• Gets pricey quickly as usage scales

My AI Front Desk pricing

• Starter: $99/month for 200 minutes (2 parallel calls, 2 actions)
• Growth: $149/month for 300 minutes (4 parallel calls, 6 actions)
• Enterprise: Custom pricing (unlimited calls and actions)
• Overage: $0.12/minute on Starter and Growth

Free trial

Yes. No credit card required.

Standout feature

Genuine multi-language support. If you serve a diverse customer base, the AI can handle calls fluently in Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Japanese, Mandarin, Arabic, Russian, Hindi, and more—not just detect the language and transfer to a human.

My AI Front Desk stands out for businesses that serve customers who don't all speak English. While most AI answering services claim some level of language support, My AI Front Desk actually delivers fluent conversations in 20+ languages without awkward pauses or obvious translation artifacts.

The language list is impressive: English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Japanese, Mandarin, Arabic, Russian, and Hindi are the primary supported languages with high fluency. Italian, Dutch, Korean, Vietnamese, Turkish, and several others are also available. For businesses in diverse metro areas or serving international customers, this matters.

Beyond languages, the platform includes features that surprised me. There's a built-in CRM with a kanban board for tracking follow-up actions from calls. You can upload your customer list so the AI can recognize repeat callers and personalize conversations. Calls can be recorded even after they're transferred—useful if you need records of what was discussed.

The voice cloning option is interesting for brand-conscious businesses. You can train the AI to sound more like a specific voice rather than a generic assistant.

The limitations are mostly around the Starter plan, which feels artificially constrained. Two concurrent calls maximum means a busy period could send callers to voicemail. Only 2 "actions" per call—like texting or transferring—limits what the AI can actually do. You'll probably need the Growth plan to get real utility, which pushes the effective price to $149/month.

For businesses where multi-language support is a must-have, My AI Front Desk handles it better than most competitors. For English-only businesses, the other features are nice but may not justify the per-minute pricing model.

Loman

Best for restaurants

Loman.ai pros:

• Purpose-built for restaurant calls—handles orders, reservations, and common questions
• Deep POS integrations: Toast, SpotOn, Square, Clover, Aloha, and more
• Can place orders directly in your POS and book reservations on your calendar
• Handles up to 50 simultaneous calls

Loman.ai cons:

• Expensive compared to general-purpose alternatives
• No free trial
• Setup fee on top of monthly cost
• Overkill if you just need basic call answering

Loman.ai pricing

• Starter: $199/month + $149 setup fee (basic call management, no POS integration)
• Premium: $399/month + $149 setup fee (full ordering, reservations, POS integration)

Free trial

None available.

Standout feature

Direct POS integration that lets the AI take orders and push them straight into your kitchen system. No human intermediary, no manual entry, no missed orders.

Loman.ai is the most specialized platform on this list—it does one thing, but it does that thing exceptionally well. If you run a restaurant and phone orders are a meaningful part of your business, the POS integration here can genuinely change your operations. If you're not a restaurant, there's nothing for you here.

The POS integration is the whole point. When a customer calls to place an order, the AI can take that order conversationally, handle modifications and special requests, and push it directly into Toast, SpotOn, Square, Clover, or whatever system you're using. The order shows up in your kitchen just like an online order would. No one has to transcribe a voicemail or manually enter details.

The same applies to reservations. The AI can check availability and book directly into your reservation system—OpenTable, Olo, or your POS's built-in calendar.

The price reflects this specialization. At $199/month minimum—plus a $149 setup fee—Loman.ai costs significantly more than general-purpose AI answering services. The Premium plan at $399/month makes sense only if the POS integration will save you that much in labor or lost orders.

There's no free trial, which makes the investment feel riskier. You're committing to at least a month plus setup before you know if it works for your specific restaurant.

If the price point is too steep, a less specialized solution can still answer calls, take messages, and text order details to your team—you just won't get the direct POS integration. For high-volume restaurants where that integration matters, Loman.ai is purpose-built for the job.

Allo

Best for teams switching from legacy VoIP

Allo pros:

• Full business phone system with AI receptionist built in—not just an add-on
• Strong CRM integrations: Hubspot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Attio, Zoho
• Native iOS and Android apps with solid mobile experience
• Features for teams with multiple reps, like cascading ringing

Allo cons:

• AI receptionist features are limited on the Starter plan
• Requires business registration documents to sign up (they're a Paris-based company)
• Overkill if you just need an AI receptionist without the full phone system

Allo pricing

• Starter: $216/year (billed annually) for solopreneurs
• Business: $45/user/month for teams with full AI features

Free trial

Yes, 7 days. No credit card required, but business documentation is needed.

Standout feature

It's a complete business phone replacement, not just an answering service. If you're still using RingCentral or Aircall and want to modernize with AI built in, Allo handles both in one platform.

Allo occupies an interesting position in this market. It's not primarily an AI answering service—it's a full business phone system that happens to include AI receptionist features. If you're switching from a legacy VoIP provider and want AI capabilities baked in rather than bolted on, Allo might be exactly what you need. If you just want an AI to answer your existing phone line, you'll be paying for a lot of features you won't use.

The mobile apps are genuinely good. Allo's parent company is literally called "Mobile First," and it shows. If you have a team that makes and takes calls from the field—sales reps, service technicians, that kind of thing—the experience holds up well on phones.

The CRM integrations are extensive. Hubspot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Attio, Notion, Zoho—if you're running your business out of one of these platforms, Allo can push call data into it automatically. That's more than many standalone AI answering services offer.

The catch is that the AI receptionist features are limited on the Starter plan. To get unlimited AI answering, you need the Business plan at $45/user/month, which adds up quickly for teams. And the signup process requires business registration documents, which is unusual for this category—it's a consequence of Allo being a European company with different compliance requirements.

For a solo business owner who just needs calls answered, Allo is probably overkill. For a small team looking to replace an aging phone system with something modern that includes AI, it's worth a serious look.

Which AI answering service is right for your business?

Here's the short version:

Just need calls answered reliably without fuss? Start with Upfirst. It's the easiest to set up and works well for most small businesses. (And yes, I'm biased—but I also tested everything else on this list.)

Run a Shopify store with real call volume? Ringly can actually resolve issues, not just take messages.

Towing or roadside service? Marlie has the niche features you need.

Want AI but nervous about edge cases? Smith.ai gives you human backup when the AI isn't enough.

Agency or reseller setting up AI for clients? EchoWin is built for multi-agent management.

Healthcare practice needing HIPAA compliance? Greetmate takes the compliance seriously and integrates with EHRs.

Serving customers in multiple languages? My AI Front Desk handles this better than anyone else.

Restaurant wanting orders to flow straight to your POS? Loman.ai was built exactly for this.

Replacing a full phone system, not just adding AI? Allo combines both in one platform.

The good news is that most of these platforms offer free trials or free tiers. Pick the one that fits your situation, test it with real calls, and see how it handles your specific use case. The worst that happens is you spend an hour setting something up that doesn't work—and now you know.