Smith.ai's human receptionist pricing, rechecked on smith.ai on 2026-07-29, is $300 a month for 30 calls, $810 for 90 calls, and $2,100 for 300 calls, with overage of $11.50, $10.50 and $8.50 per call as you move up the ladder. The entry plan works out to $10 a call before you have added anything to it, and that is the number to hold on to, because Smith.ai bills by the call rather than the minute.
The separate AI receptionist ladder is where the market's published numbers are most out of date. On 2026-07-29 Smith.ai's AI page showed a free tier at $0 for 25 calls a month with $3.00 a call after that, a Pro tier at $150 a month, and an Enterprise tier at $500 a month. Round-ups still circulating today quote "$95 a month for 50 calls" for this ladder, and the current page does not say that.
If you want to compare the per-call unit against a contractor-configured AI before you read the fee schedule, call the OnCrew demo line at (818) 578-4783 and run a real intake at it, or start the 14-day free trial with no credit card. Below is the full plan table, every add-on Smith.ai publishes with its price, and the same 130-call month priced three ways.
Last reviewed July 29, 2026.
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Smith.ai pricing in 2026, from smith.ai rechecked 2026-07-29. Human receptionist plans: $300/month for 30 calls ($11.50 per extra call), $810/month for 90 calls ($10.50 per extra call), $2,100/month for 300 calls ($8.50 per extra call), Enterprise by quote. AI receptionist plans: Free at $0 for 25 calls with $3.00 per call after, Pro at $150/month, Enterprise at $500/month. Smith.ai charges the same day or night, its page states calls at 2 pm and 2 am cost the same, and it does not bill you for spam or unsolicited sales calls when your line passes caller ID. The cost to watch is the per-call add-on schedule. Contractor-AI alternatives (OnCrew is the contractor-specific example we publish) start at $49/month for 100 included calls with $0.99 per-call overage.
Smith.ai pricing tiers (2026)
| Plan | Monthly | Included | Per-call overage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $300 | 30 calls, 1 transfer destination | $11.50 |
| Basic | $810 | 90 calls, 2 transfer destinations | $10.50 |
| Pro | $2,100 | 300 calls, 10 transfer destinations | $8.50 |
| Enterprise | by quote | custom | custom |
Smith.ai also sells a separate AI receptionist line. When rechecked 2026-07-29 that page showed a Free plan at $0 a month covering 25 calls with $3.00 a call after that, a Pro plan at $150 a month quoted at $2.00 a call for 75 calls with larger bundles at 150 calls (10% off) and 300 calls (17% off) and overage of $2.50, $2.30 or $2.17 depending on bundle, and an Enterprise plan at $500 a month quoted at $1.67 a call from 300 calls with overage of $2.17 or $2.10. The page also mentions custom plans and better rates on 6-month terms.
That free tier is a genuinely useful thing to know about if your call volume is under 25 a month, and it is the detail most comparison articles miss because they are still working from the old $95 self-service price.
Sources: smith.ai/pricing/receptionists and smith.ai/pricing/ai-receptionist, both rechecked 2026-07-29. Vendor pricing pages change; check the live page before committing.
What Smith.ai's base price does NOT include
Smith.ai bills per call rather than per minute, and to its credit it does not count spam or wrong-number calls against your quota when your forwarded line passes caller ID, and it does not charge an after-hours or holiday premium. The catch is that the plan price is a base, and common contractor needs are paid add-ons billed per call:
- Appointment booking: $1.50 per call on top of the call itself.
- SMS or Slack notification of the call: $0.50 per call.
- Text or email follow-up to the caller: $0.50 per call.
- Call recording: $0.25 per call.
- Extended intake questions: $1.50 per call. Contractor intake (address, problem detail, urgency) often falls here.
- Complex routing: $1.50 per call. On-call rotation logic for a crew tends to be this.
- Dedicated Spanish line: $1.00 per call.
- Monthly line items: business caller ID $10, extra transfer destinations $15 each.
A contractor call that gets answered, booked, recorded, and followed up can carry $2.75 or more in add-on charges beyond the per-call base.
Real monthly math for a contractor shop
Worked example: a 4-truck plumbing shop fielding 130 calls a month, priced against the plans rechecked 2026-07-29.
- Starter ($300 for 30 calls): 100 overage calls at $11.50 = $1,150. Total roughly $1,450.
- Basic ($810 for 90 calls): 40 overage calls at $10.50 = $420. Total roughly $1,230.
- Add booking plus notification add-ons on the answered calls and the realistic bill climbs another $200 to $350.
- The Smith.ai AI receptionist Pro tier at $150 per month is the closest thing to a contractor budget on the Smith.ai side. When rechecked 2026-07-29 it was quoted at $2.00 per call with 75, 150 or 300-call bundles and overage of $2.17 to $2.50, so at 130 calls it is roughly $150 plus $2.50 x 55, about $287.50.
At contractor-typical volume, Smith.ai's human plans price like a part-time office hire. The service quality is widely regarded as polished; the model is simply built for firms where each call is worth hundreds of dollars (its core market is law firms), not for a trades shop fielding a mix of routine and urgent calls.
How much does Smith.ai cost per month?
Smith.ai cost per month for a typical contractor shop: at 80 to 150 calls per month on the human receptionist plans rechecked 2026-07-29, expect roughly $1,200 to $1,500 once overage and per-call add-ons are applied. Low-volume shops under 30 calls per month stay near the $300 entry price. The separate AI receptionist plans run $0 for 25 calls, $150 a month for Pro, and $500 a month for Enterprise (rechecked 2026-07-29).
Contractor-AI alternatives at published pricing
| Vendor | Plan | Included calls | Overage | Total monthly at 130 calls |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OnCrew | Starter | 100 | $0.99 per call | $49 + ($0.99 x 30) = $79 |
| OnCrew | Pro | 400 | $0.99 per call | $149 (no overage at this volume) |
| OnCrew | Multi-Truck | 1,000 | $0.99 per call | $349 (no overage at this volume) |
OnCrew is built for contractor intake specifically: HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and roofing flows with configured urgent-call handoffs, full transcripts, and a 14-day free trial. The pricing is published monthly tiers with included calls and a visible $0.99 per-call overage, so a long emergency call costs the same as a short one.
When Smith.ai is still the right choice
An honest read of where Smith.ai wins:
- Professional-services firms, especially law firms: deep Clio, Lawmatics, and practice-software connections, polished live receptionists, and per-call billing that fits low-volume high-value phones.
- Businesses that want a human voice with an AI tier from the same vendor and will pay for the blend.
- Spam-heavy lines: Smith.ai explicitly does not count spam or wrong numbers against the quota, which per-minute competitors often do.
If most of your calls are routine contractor intake and after-hours emergencies, the per-call economics work against you, and a per-call contractor AI covers the same hours at a fraction of the cost.
Frequently asked questions
Is Smith.ai cheaper than Ruby Receptionists?
At low volume they price similarly: Smith.ai's entry plan was $300 per month for 30 calls and Ruby's entry plan was $250 per month for 50 receptionist minutes when each was last rechecked. At contractor-typical volume both commonly land between $400 and $1,500 per month once overage applies. See the Ruby Receptionist pricing breakdown for the same math run on Ruby.
Does Smith.ai bill per minute?
No. Smith.ai bills per call, not per minute, which makes long calls cheaper than they would be on per-minute services. The trade-off is a high per-call price: $8.50 to $11.50 per overage call on the human plans rechecked 2026-07-29, plus per-call add-on fees for booking, follow-up, and extended intake.
Does Smith.ai charge for spam calls?
Smith.ai states that spam and wrong-number calls do not count against your quota when your forwarded line passes caller ID. That is a genuine differentiator; billing spam time is one of the most common complaints against per-minute answering services.
Does Smith.ai have a free trial?
Not on the human receptionist plans when rechecked 2026-07-29. The AI receptionist page does publish a Free tier at $0 a month for 25 calls, which is the closest thing to a no-commitment trial on the Smith.ai side. A 30-day money-back guarantee capped at $1,000 has been reported for their human plans; it was not stated on the AI receptionist pricing page when rechecked 2026-07-29, so treat the cap as unconfirmed rather than current.
What is the cheapest Smith.ai alternative for contractors?
For contractor-typical 80 to 150 call volume, a per-call contractor AI is the cheapest category: OnCrew runs $49 to $349 per month with included-call tiers and $0.99 per-call overage. The Smith.ai alternatives guide for contractors compares the options.
How is OnCrew different from Smith.ai for contractors?
OnCrew is contractor-specific: trade-aware intake for HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and roofing, configured urgent-call handoffs to your on-call team with the full transcript, and published tiers at $49, $149, and $349 per month with $0.99 per-call overage. Smith.ai is a broader business receptionist service, strongest in professional services, with per-call pricing and a-la-carte add-ons.
Where to start
If you are evaluating Smith.ai pricing for a contractor shop, the honest path:
- Pull your last 90 days of call records: how many calls, what time, average length, percent after-hours.
- Apply Smith.ai's per-call plan pricing plus the add-ons you would actually use (booking, notifications, extended intake) to that volume; use the live Smith.ai pricing page for current rates.
- Apply a contractor-AI vendor's published monthly tiers to the same call mix. For OnCrew that is $49/$149/$349 per month with $0.99 per-call overage.
- Compare the totals at the volume you actually do, not at the example volume on a vendor page.
For OnCrew specifically: start with a 14-day free trial at oncrew.ai/lp/vs/smith-ai, or call the live AI demo line at (818) 578-4783 and stress-test it the way your customers would. No charge during the trial and you can cancel from your dashboard.
Related reading
- Smith.ai alternatives 2026: 7 options compared
- OnCrew vs Smith.ai for contractors
- Smith.ai alternatives for contractors in 2026
- Ruby Receptionist pricing 2026
- How much does an answering service cost in 2026?
- Answering service for contractors: the trade-by-trade intake walkthrough for HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and roofing shops.