Smith.ai offers live receptionists, an AI line, and a hybrid — billed per call. Allison is an AI receptionist billed per minute, built for you in one phone call. Here they are side by side.
Smith.ai is one of the most established names in virtual reception. It offers live North America-based receptionists, a standalone AI Receptionist line, and a hybrid of the two, with plans sized in calls per month and billed per call.
Allison takes a different approach: an AI agent built for your business in a single discovery call, billed per minute, with every feature included on every plan.
Neither model is universally better. Per-call billing means a quick question and a long intake each use one call credit; per-minute billing means you pay for the time callers actually spend talking. Which fits depends on your call mix — the numbers below are side by side so you can do your own math.
Every feature below is included on every plan. No add-ons, no feature gates.
A 40-second "are you open today?" call costs pennies of a minute, not a full call credit. Plans include 200–1,500 minutes; additional minutes are $0.10–$0.15.
Appointment booking, notifications, and recordings are included on every plan, so a call that books an appointment costs the same minutes as one that doesn't.
Describe your business to Allison once and your agent is built from it: knowledge, hours, booking, and escalation rules in place before your first caller.
Storm day, lunch rush, Monday at 8am: every plan answers unlimited concurrent calls at the same per-minute rate, around the clock.
Coming from a per-call service? Bring your call log to the discovery conversation. Allison prices in minutes, so last month's calls convert directly into an apples-to-apples estimate.
Watchtower scores every call on five dimensions and emails a weekly report. Quality is something you inspect, not something you take on faith.
Your agent answers in a voice and name you choose, included on every plan. Hear the voices →
Smith.ai plan details and pricing verified from smith.ai in July 2026 and may have changed since; see smith.ai for current rates. Smith.ai is a trademark of its owner; Allison Voice is an independent product with no affiliation to or endorsement from Smith.ai. This comparison aims to be fair: if live human receptionists are a requirement for your business, Smith.ai offers that and Allison does not.
It depends on what you need. If you want an AI receptionist with per-minute billing, every feature included, and setup done for you in one phone call, Allison is built for exactly that. If you want live human receptionists answering your calls, or a hybrid where AI escalates to staffed agents, Smith.ai offers those models and Allison does not.
As of July 2026, Smith.ai's live receptionist plans start at $300/month for 30 calls, and its AI Receptionist line has a free tier (25 calls/month) with paid plans from $150/month, all billed per call. Allison starts at $99/month with 200 included minutes, billed per minute, with additional minutes at $0.10–$0.15 depending on plan. Because the billing units differ, the most useful comparison is your own call mix: take your average calls per month and average call length, and price both models against them.
A worked example with both vendors' published rates: 60 calls averaging 3 minutes is 180 minutes, inside Allison's Starter allotment, so the month is $99. On Smith.ai's live Starter plan, 60 calls is 30 included plus 30 additional at $11.50, roughly $645. The comparison tightens for businesses with fewer, longer calls, and Smith.ai's live plans buy human receptionists, which Allison does not offer. Both pricing pages are public; run your own call mix through them.
No. Allison is AI-only by design: when a caller needs a person, your agent transfers or escalates to your own team according to rules you set. If you want a staffed receptionist service as the first line for your calls, Smith.ai is one of the established options for that.
Take the discovery call so your agent exists and you've heard it, then forward your existing number to it or use a new one. There's no setup fee and plans are month to month, so you can run Allison alongside your current service while you compare.
Call Allison, describe your business, and she'll build your agent. Or sign up and configure it yourself.