# RingCentral vs Nextiva vs Upfirst: 11 Best AI Receptionists for Small Business 2026 > For most United States small businesses, RingCentral AI Receptionist is the best AI receptionist on this page: it books into Google and Outlook calendars, logs callers in HubSpot, Zoho or Salesforce, works with any phone system, and costs $49 a month for 100 minutes. Nextiva XBert names the most systems, at $99 for 100 conversations. Upfirst is the best value, from $24.95 for 30 calls, booking into Square, Acuity and Clio. Smith.ai is the pick if you want humans behind the AI, and the only one with 25 free calls a month. Seven of the ten name a CRM they connect to directly, and three leave it to Zapier. - URL: https://topelevens.com/ai-receptionist-small-business - Last verified: 2026-10-06 - Methodology: https://topelevens.com/methodology - JSON: https://topelevens.com/api/lists/ai-receptionist-small-business · CSV: https://topelevens.com/api/lists/ai-receptionist-small-business/csv ## Ranking ### #1 RingCentral AI Receptionist (AIR) · 8.9/9.4 - Best for: A United States small business that wants an AI receptionist which books into Google or Outlook calendars, logs the caller in HubSpot, Zoho or Salesforce, and keeps the phone number it already has. - null · founded 1999 · $ (standalone from $49 a month with 100 minutes, or $39 a month on top of RingEX Core at $30; $0.50 a minute after that; 14 day trial) - RingCentral wins this page on the question the title is really asking: which AI receptionist does things, not just answers. Its own page names the calendars it books into, Google and Outlook, and the three CRMs it logs callers in, HubSpot, Zoho and Salesforce. It reschedules, texts a confirmation, transfers by name, department, location or keyword with a summary, and speaks six languages. It also works on top of any phone system through call forwarding or SIP, so you don't have to move your number to try it. And it prints the whole bill: $49 a month standalone with 100 minutes, $0.50 a minute after, billed in 30 second increments, with a 14 day trial. - Pro: Three things put it first. It names its connections rather than promising them: Google and Outlook calendars, HubSpot, Zoho and Salesforce, all read on ringcentral.com on 6 October 2026. It does not ask you to switch provider, which removes the biggest hidden cost in this category. And the price is a rate card, not a sales call: $49 standalone, $39 as a RingEX add-on, 100 minutes included, $0.50 a minute over. On our arithmetic, a business taking 150 minutes of calls a month pays $49 plus 50 minutes at $0.50, so $74. HIPAA and SOC 2 are stated on the pricing card, and the AIR page says customer data is not used to train AI models. - Con: Minutes are the meter, so a business with long calls pays more than one with short ones, and the price of extra minute bundles is not printed. WhatsApp, Calendly and Shopify are listed beside the live integrations, but a footnote on the same page marks them coming soon. Taking a payment on the call is not stated. The company also gives two customer counts, 400,000 on the AIR page and 600,000 on its company page, which tells you nothing bad about the product and something about how carefully the pages are kept. - Risk signals (none, checked 2026-10-06): Live product from a listed company. Prices, minutes, overage, trial, named calendars and CRMs, languages and the any phone system statement read on ringcentral.com on 6 October 2026. Customer count differs between two RingCentral pages, 400,000 and 600,000. No adverse public signals found. ### #2 Nextiva XBert AI Receptionist · 8.6/9.4 - Best for: A service business that books through Calendly, Cal.com, Google Calendar or Housecall Pro and wants calls, texts and chat answered by one agent for one monthly price. - Scottsdale, Arizona · founded null · $$ ($99 a month for 100 conversations across voice, text or chat, then $0.99 each; 30 day money back guarantee) - Nextiva prints the longest list of named connections on this page and splits it honestly into two groups. Google Calendar, Calendly, Cal.com, Zoho, Telegram and Housecall Pro are live at no cost. Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, GoHighLevel, ServiceTitan, Square Bookings, Boulevard, Thumbtack and fourteen more are available on request in 2 to 4 days, also at no cost. The agent books, confirms and reschedules, sends booking links, transfers with context and triggers CRM workflows. One meter covers calls, texts and chat: $99 a month for 100 conversations, then $0.99 each, with a 30 day money back guarantee. - Pro: The integration list is specific enough to check before you buy, which is rare in this category. A Housecall Pro or ServiceTitan shop can see its own system named. The unit is a conversation rather than a minute, and the FAQ defines it: a call of 30 seconds or more, or a text or chat thread with 3 or more AI replies. A business owner can plan around that. There's no contract, and the checkout sells XBert standalone at $99 a month for 1 user. Nextiva states SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA and PCI DSS on the page read on 6 October 2026. - Con: The pages disagree on two things a buyer needs to know. The AI receptionist page says to add XBert to your Nextiva plan, while the AI voice agent page says it is available standalone and works with any phone provider. And the included unit is called 100 interactions, 100 resolutions and 100 AI conversations on three different pages. At $0.99 a conversation over the allowance, a busy month costs more here than on a per minute plan. Taking a payment on the call is listed only on an enterprise tier. - Risk signals (low, checked 2026-10-06): Live product. $99 for 100 conversations, $0.99 after and the 30 day money back guarantee read on nextiva.com on 6 October 2026, along with the live and on request integration lists. Minor: pages contradict each other on whether a Nextiva phone plan is required, and the unit is worded three ways. - [undefined] undefined (undefined: undefined) ### #3 Upfirst · 8.4/9.4 - Best for: A small office, clinic or law practice that books through Google Calendar, Outlook, Calendly, Acuity, Square or Clio and wants the cheapest honest way to have every call answered. - Miami, Florida · founded null · $ ($24.95 a month for 30 calls up to $299 for 600, or 20 percent less annually; 14 day trial with no card) - Upfirst is the best value on this page for a business that books appointments. It names six systems it books straight into: Google Calendar, Outlook, Calendly, Acuity Scheduling, Square and Clio Manage. That covers most of the calendars a small United States business actually runs. It transfers live, texts a scheduling link mid call, qualifies leads and pushes data out through Custom Actions to any CRM with an API. It's billed per call, not per minute, and calls under 15 seconds, spam and silent callers aren't billed. Plans start at $24.95 a month for 30 calls. - Pro: The price ladder is printed in full: $24.95 for 30 calls, $59.95 for 90, $159.95 for 300 and $299 for 600, with $1.50 down to $0.70 for each extra call and 20 percent off annually. The 14 day trial needs no card. Square and Clio on the booking list matter more than they look, because a salon or a two lawyer firm doesn't run Google Calendar as its real diary. It speaks 35 or more languages, and a human support team answers Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm Eastern. - Con: No CRM is named. Custom Actions reach any CRM that offers an API, and Zapier and Make are listed, but someone has to build that, and that someone is usually the owner. A HIPAA business associate agreement is offered only on the Custom plan. There is no human answering backup, so a caller the agent can't help is transferred to you or takes a message. And with 1,000 businesses by its own count, it's the smallest customer base on this page that publishes one. - Risk signals (none, checked 2026-10-06): Live product. Full price ladder, per call overage, unbilled call rules, 14 day trial and six named booking targets read on upfirst.ai on 6 October 2026. Miami address stated on the site. No adverse public signals found. ### #4 Allo · 8.1/9.4 - Best for: A small sales or service team that wants a new phone system with an AI receptionist that books a real free slot and writes the call into HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive or Follow Up Boss without Zapier. - Miami, Florida · founded null · $ (AI Receptionist $32 a month per agent on top of an Allo seat, Business seats $32 a month billed yearly or $45 monthly; 7 day trial) - Allo does the most of what this page ranks on for the least money, and loses places only because it's young and the price is labelled early. It says the receptionist books callers into a slot that is free on your calendar, naming Google Calendar, Outlook, Calendly and Cal.com, transfers the calls that need a person, and writes the call up in your CRM. The CRM list is long and it says every integration is native: HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Attio, GoHighLevel, Zoho CRM, Follow Up Boss, Jobber, JobNimbus, monday.com and more. The receptionist is $32 a month per agent. - Pro: Native CRM write back at this price is the reason it's on the list. Most products under $100 here reach a CRM through Zapier. Allo names more than thirty systems and says each is native, keeping Zapier and Make for anything custom. The pricing FAQ is plain: Business seats are $32 a month billed yearly or $45 monthly, the receptionist costs the same as a Business seat, there are no setup fees and no contracts, and the 7 day trial charges the card on day 7. - Con: The pricing page says pricing is early and can still change. Minutes included for the receptionist aren't stated, so a high volume line has no published ceiling. It answers calls and doesn't place them. You buy Allo's phone system to get it, so this is the wrong entry for a business that has just signed a contract elsewhere. The site gives 6,000 teams on the homepage and 7,000 small businesses on the About page, and a HIPAA business associate agreement costs $50 a month per workspace. - Risk signals (low, checked 2026-10-06): Live product from The Mobile-First Company, Miami. Seat and receptionist prices, trial terms and native integration list read on withallo.com on 6 October 2026. The pricing page labels pricing early, and customer counts differ between two pages. - [undefined] undefined (undefined: undefined) ### #5 Smith.ai AI Receptionist · 8/9.4 - Best for: A law firm, agency or professional services practice on Clio, HubSpot or Salesforce that wants an AI front desk with real people behind it for the calls the AI should not handle. - null · founded null · $$ (free for 25 calls a month, then $3 a call; Pro $150 a month at $2 a call; Enterprise $500 a month) - Smith.ai is the only product here built on a human answering service, and that is what it's for. The AI qualifies, does intake, books and transfers warm. When a call needs a person, 500 or more North America based receptionists sit behind it as a per call add-on, and an escalation the AI starts carries no fee. It names native Salesforce, HubSpot, Clio Grow and Clio Manage, and its directory tags Calendly, Acuity, Setmore, Square Appointments, MyCase, Filevine, Lawmatics and Housecall Pro for the AI receptionist. It also has a free tier, 25 calls a month, which no one else here offers. - Pro: The free tier is a real one: 25 live calls a month, free forever, not a trial, though it needs a card at signup. The named legal integrations are the deepest on the page, which matters for a firm where intake is the whole business. Payment conversations are handled through LawPay, Square, PayPal and others, with the money taken by human agents. It's month to month with 30 days' notice, it speaks English and Spanish, and Smith.ai says it has handled 25 million calls over 10 years. - Con: It's the most expensive per call price on this page. $150 for about 75 calls is $2.00 a call, and extra calls run $2.50 on that plan. A business taking 300 calls a month pays $500. Google Calendar, Jobber and ServiceTitan appear in its directory but are not tagged for the AI receptionist, only for the human service, so a trades business should check before it buys. HIPAA and SOC 2 are not stated on the pages read, and the site gives both 20 million and 25 million calls handled. - Risk signals (none, checked 2026-10-06): Live product. Free, Pro and Enterprise prices, per call rates, month to month terms and integrations tagged AI Receptionist read on smith.ai on 6 October 2026. Two different total call figures on two pages. No adverse public signals found. ### #6 Marlie AI · 7.8/9.4 - Best for: A trades, towing, restaurant or local service business that wants calls booked into Google Calendar or Calendly and, on the Pro plan, a Square or Shopify checkout link texted to the caller. - null · founded null · $ ($49 a month for 250 minutes up to $399 for 2,000; $0.35 to $0.25 a minute over; 14 day trial) - Marlie is the only product on this page that names a way to get paid during the call. On the Pro plan at $199 it texts the caller a secure checkout link through Shopify or Square. It books into Google Calendar and Calendly, checks availability live, reschedules and cancels, and names a long list of trade and professional CRMs: Housecall Pro, Jobber, HubSpot, Clio, AgencyZoom, EZLynx, Buildium and Wealthbox. Minutes are cheap. $49 buys 250 of them, which on our arithmetic is under 20 cents a minute before overage. - Pro: Generous minutes and a printed overage on every plan: $49 for 250, $99 for 500, $199 for 1,000 and $399 for 2,000, with $0.35 to $0.25 a minute after. The 14 day trial asks for a card with $0 due. The plan table says exactly what each tier can do, from 1 action per call on Basic to unlimited on Pro, which is the clearest statement of capability on this page. It names four restaurant and service customers on its pricing page. - Con: Basic, the $49 plan, books nothing and transfers nothing: 1 action per call and no call transfer. Booking needs Standard at $99. No compliance standard is named, only enterprise grade security, so a clinic should look elsewhere. Outlook is claimed on the homepage but missing from the calendar integrations. The legal entity is A 99 PCT Jesus LLC and no headquarters or founding year is stated, which makes it the hardest company here to check. - Risk signals (low, checked 2026-10-06): Live product. Four plan prices, minutes, overage, trial and per plan actions read on marlie.ai on 6 October 2026. No named compliance standard, no headquarters stated, and the trial is described two ways. - [undefined] undefined (undefined: undefined) ### #7 Frontdesk (My AI Front Desk) · 7.6/9.4 - Best for: A small business on HubSpot or GoHighLevel that wants the phone, the website chat, texts and intake forms handled by one agent, with a HIPAA business associate agreement available. - null · founded null · $$ ($99 a month or $79 billed annually, 200 voice minutes; voice overage 25 cents a minute in credits; 7 day trial) - Frontdesk sells the widest bundle here. For $99 a month you get 200 voice minutes, 100 chatbot conversations, 400 texts, email drafts, intake forms and 20 outbound calls a day. It books against a live Google Calendar, Outlook or Cal.com diary, transfers warm, texts after the call and writes to HubSpot or GoHighLevel. It speaks 20 or more languages and offers signed business associate agreements for HIPAA. The catch is the actions allowance: the Business plan includes 2 of each agent action, such as transfer, text, lookup and push to another app. - Pro: It names its CRMs and calendars and states HIPAA with business associate agreements, which only a few products under $100 on this page do. The credit system is published to the cent: 1 credit is $0.01, a voice minute is 25 credits, and auto reload is $10 for 1,000 credits that never expire. Annual billing brings it to $79 a month. - Con: The site contradicts itself on a free plan. The homepage says the Free plan gives full access with no card, while the pricing page says Frontdesk does not offer a permanently free plan. The pricing page also refers to three plans and shows two. On our arithmetic, past 200 minutes a voice minute costs 25 cents, so an extra 100 minutes adds $25. And the brand is mid rename, from My AI Front Desk to Frontdesk, so reviews and support threads are split across two names. - Risk signals (low, checked 2026-10-06): Live product from AI Front Desk, Inc. Bundle price, credit rates, trial and named integrations read on myaifrontdesk.com on 6 October 2026. The homepage and pricing page contradict each other on a free plan. - [undefined] undefined (undefined: undefined) ### #8 Rosie · 7.4/9.4 - Best for: A one or two person business that mostly needs calls answered and a booking link texted, and is happy to connect its CRM through Zapier. - null · founded null · $ ($49 a month for 250 minutes, $149 for 1,000, $299 for 2,000; 2 months free annually; 7 day trial) - Rosie is the simplest product here and priced for a one person business. $49 a month buys 250 minutes, English and Spanish on every call, custom message taking and a booking link sent by text. Booking directly on the calendar and warm transfers start on the $149 Scale plan, where Rosie names Google Calendar, Calendly, Acuity and Appointlet. Every CRM goes through Zapier. Rosie says so plainly and says direct CRM integrations are being worked on. - Pro: No overage surprises: if you pass your minutes, Rosie moves you to the next plan rather than billing per minute. Annual billing takes $49 to $41. It says it serves 2,000 small businesses and has handled 3.1 million calls, and recordings are deleted after 30 days, which is a privacy rule most products here don't state. - Con: The $49 plan sends a link and does not book. Calendar booking, live transfers and in call texts start at $149. There's no integrations page, it returned 404 on 6 October 2026, and the site lists 2 calendars in one place and 4 in another. HIPAA and SOC 2 are not stated. For a business that wants the call to land in a CRM without Zapier, Allo and RingCentral above do it natively. - Risk signals (none, checked 2026-10-06): Live product. Plan prices, minutes, plan upgrade rule, trial and calendar list read on heyrosie.com on 6 October 2026. Integrations page returned 404. ### #9 Abby Connect · 7.2/9.4 - Best for: A practice or office that wants AI to answer most calls and a human receptionist on the same plan, with booking into one of many named scheduling systems such as Acuity, Mindbody, Jane App, SimplePractice or Open Dental. - Las Vegas, Nevada · founded null · $$$ ($165 a month for 50 Abby Minutes, which is up to 100 AI minutes, up to $1,380 for 500; free trial; month to month) - Abby Connect is the deepest booking catalogue on this page and the most expensive way to buy AI minutes. It names booking targets well beyond the usual three calendars: Acuity, Microsoft Bookings, Square Appointments, Mindbody, Jane App, SimplePractice, NexHealth, Open Dental, Dentrix Ascend, Vagaro and Boulevard, plus CRMs from HubSpot to Clio and ServiceTitan. Every plan carries both AI and human answering, and an AI minute counts as half an Abby Minute. The AI answers FAQs, screens, routes, transfers warm and books. - Pro: For a wellness, therapy or dental office on a niche scheduler, Abby is the only product here that names Mindbody, Jane App or SimplePractice. It is month to month, with no setup fee and a free trial on every plan. It has been answering phones for more than 20 years and says it serves 6,200 businesses, and it names the models it runs on. - Con: On Abby's own table the AI minute costs $1.65 on Starter and $1.38 on Growth, several times what RingCentral, Upfirst or Marlie charge. HIPAA is offered for human answering only, not the AI. The site says 157 native integrations in one place and 1,000 in another. A business that only wants AI is paying for a human service it may not use. - Risk signals (none, checked 2026-10-06): Live product. Plan prices, Abby Minute rule, effective AI minute rates and named integrations read on abby.com on 6 October 2026. Integration count differs between two pages. No adverse public signals found. ### #10 Goodcall · 7/9.4 - Best for: A business with long calls, such as a restaurant, a rental desk or a local shop answering detailed questions, that would be punished by a per minute meter and is happy to connect its CRM through Zapier. - null · founded 2017 · $ ($79 a month per agent for 100 unique customers, $129 for 250, $249 for 500; $0.50 a customer after; 15 percent off annually) - Goodcall meters something nobody else does: unique customers, not minutes or calls. $79 a month covers 100 unique callers with unlimited minutes, then $0.50 for each new one. For a business whose callers ring back two or three times, or stay on the line for ten minutes, that is the cheapest meter on this page. It answers FAQs, books appointments, captures leads with forms and transfers to a person or department. It was born out of Google in 2017 and says 42,000 businesses use it. - Pro: The meter rewards long and repeat calls, and Goodcall states plainly that it charges nothing for calls, minutes or tokens. Annual billing takes 15 percent off, so $79 becomes $66. It states SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and HIPAA on its homepage. - Con: It is last on this page because it names almost nothing it connects to. Its integrations page returned 404 on 6 October 2026, the CRM route is Zapier, and no calendar app is named, only calendar integrations in general. The trial length appears only in the page's metadata, and the trust centre would not render. A business that needs the booking to land in a named system should buy one of the nine above. - Risk signals (low, checked 2026-10-06): Live product. Per agent prices, unique customer meter and overage read on goodcall.com on 6 October 2026. Integrations page returned 404 and the trust centre did not render. - [undefined] undefined (undefined: undefined) ### #11 [WILDCARD, UNRATED] Beyond Elevation - Unrated by design. Selected by the wildcard signal model (wildcard-v2.0): https://topelevens.com/methodology/wildcard - Best for: The business that has bought one of the ten above, found the booking lands in the calendar but nothing reaches the CRM, the invoice or the job, and has nobody whose job it is to build the join - null · founded null · $$$ (AI audit at a fixed $3,000; fractional engagement from $5,800 a month; project work from $30,000) - The entry for the gap the ten above leave. Seven of them name a CRM they connect to directly. Upfirst, Rosie and Goodcall leave the CRM to Zapier, Make or an API, and Marlie's Basic plan books nothing. Even the best of them stops at the calendar entry. The job, the quote, the deposit and the follow up still need a person. That join is what Beyond Elevation sells: a forward deployed engineer who works inside the business and builds it, rather than recommending a product. - Pro: It prices the work in public: a fixed $3,000 for the AI audit, from $5,800 a month for a fractional engagement and from $30,000 for a project, all read on beyondelevation.com/fde on 6 October 2026. Its page states that the client owns everything built, the code, the agents, the accounts and the documents. The bench criteria are published: fifteen or more years in the C suite, at least one exit, and having taken a company from zero to $1 billion or more. - Con: It's people, and people cost more than software. From $5,800 a month is roughly 118 months of Rosie's $49 plan on our arithmetic, and a one person business should try a $49 receptionist first. The bench is small, so capacity rather than quality is the limit. It shares common ownership with Top 11 and its founder Hayat Amin is the expert source named on this page, which is why it carries no score. - Risk signals (none, checked 2026-10-06): Active firm with the audit, fractional and project rates published as read on beyondelevation.com/fde on 6 October 2026, along with the ownership clause and the bench criteria. Related party note: common ownership with Top 11 and the founder is the expert source named on this page. Disclosed in the entry, the wildcard reason, the editor block, the independence statement and the disclosures, and the reason this entry is unrated. ## FAQ **What is the best AI receptionist for small business?** RingCentral AI Receptionist for most United States small businesses: it books into Google and Outlook calendars, logs callers in HubSpot, Zoho or Salesforce, works with any phone system, and costs $49 a month for 100 minutes. Upfirst is the best value from $24.95 for 30 calls. **How much does an AI receptionist cost?** On this page, from $24.95 a month (Upfirst, 30 calls) to $1,380 a month (Abby Connect, up to 1,000 AI minutes with humans included). Most small businesses will land between $49 and $150 a month. Smith.ai has a free tier of 25 calls a month. **AI receptionist for small business cost per month?** RingCentral $49 with 100 minutes, Marlie $49 with 250 minutes, Rosie $49 with 250 minutes, Upfirst $59.95 for 90 calls, Goodcall $79 for 100 unique callers, Nextiva $99 for 100 conversations, Frontdesk $99 with 200 voice minutes and Smith.ai $150 for about 75 calls. All read on vendor pages on 6 October 2026. **How much does RingCentral AI receptionist cost?** $49 a month standalone with 100 minutes, or $39 a month as an add-on to RingEX Core, which is $30 a month. Extra minutes are $0.50 each, billed in 30 second increments. Both plans have a 14 day free trial. **Is an AI receptionist worth it?** If you miss calls while you work, usually yes: the cheapest plans here cost $24.95 to $49 a month. It is worth more when the agent books into your calendar and writes to your CRM by name, and less when someone still has to retype the booking. **What is the best free AI receptionist for small business?** Smith.ai is the only product on this page with a free tier: 25 live calls a month, free forever, with a card required at signup. Quo includes 10 Sona calls a month on paid Quo plans. Everything else offers a trial, 7 or 14 days. **Smith.ai vs Ruby, which is better?** They sell different things. Ruby sells human receptionists, from $250 a month for 50 minutes, with AI tools that support the people rather than answer calls. Smith.ai sells an AI receptionist from $0 for 25 calls, with human receptionists behind it as a per call add-on. If you want AI first, Smith.ai. If you want a person on every call, Ruby. **How much does Jobber AI receptionist cost?** Jobber lists Receptionist as an add-on on its pricing page, but the page read on 6 October 2026 showed no price for it. It answers calls and texts, books visits using your Jobber booking settings and creates requests in Jobber, so it is built for businesses already on Jobber.