OnCrew vs Upfirst: AI answering for contractor phone lines

Upfirst is an AI receptionist for small businesses that bills by the call and publishes its prices up to 600 calls a month. OnCrew is a contractor AI receptionist that bills minutes of answered calls. Here is what each one prints, what each costs at your volume, and when the other one is the better pick.

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Last updated October 31, 2026

Quick answer

OnCrew vs Upfirst: how do they compare for contractors?

Factor	OnCrew vs Upfirst
Pricing	Upfirst $24.95 a month for 30 calls; OnCrew $49 for 60 minutes
Meter	Upfirst per call; OnCrew per answered minute
Going over	Upfirst $1.50 per extra call; OnCrew $0.99 per minute
Booking	Upfirst books many calendars; OnCrew, Google Calendar once switched on
Trial	Both 14 days, no card
Best fit	Upfirst on price; OnCrew for trade urgent rules

01Price check

What Upfirst charges, checked October 31, 2026

Upfirst prints four plans billed by the call: Starter is $24.95 a month for 30 calls, then $1.50 per additional call, up to Scale at $299 for 600 calls. Every plan lists call transfers and appointment booking into calendars such as Google and Outlook, and its FAQ says spam, calls under 15 seconds and calls where the caller never speaks are not billed. Its free trial is 14 days with no card, the same as ours.

Upfirst

Billed per call; spam, calls under 15 seconds and silent calls are not billed

Upfirst plans as published on upfirst.ai/pricing, checked October 31, 2026
Plan	Included	Price
Starter	30 calls	$24.95/mo
Premium	90 calls	$59.95/mo
Pro	300 calls	$159.95/mo
Scale	600 calls	$299/mo

Starter$1.50 per additional call
Premium$1 per additional call
Pro$0.75 per additional call
Scale$0.70 per additional call

Read October 31, 2026 off upfirst.ai/pricing, monthly prices; the annual toggle shows $20, $48, $128 and $240 a month. The page prints the Pro and Scale overage as "$.75" and "$.70" per additional call. Its FAQ adds that each additional AI agent is $9.95 a month and that people answer support email and chat on weekdays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern.

Read from upfirst.ai/pricing on October 31, 2026. Check it before you sign anything: vendors change plans and this page is a snapshot.

OnCrew

Billed per minute of answered calls

OnCrew plans as published on oncrew.ai/pricing
Plan	Included	Price
Starter	60 minutes	$49/mo
Pro	200 minutes	$149/mo
Multi-Truck	500 minutes	$349/mo

Every plan$0.99 per minute over the plan limit
Trial14-day free trial, no card required to start
Guarantee30-day money-back guarantee

Minutes are added up over the month and rounded up once, not per call, and 2am costs the same as 2pm. OnCrew is young: a handful of contractors pay for it today, so treat this as a small company that publishes its numbers rather than a large one.

Worked example

What a month costs on each, with short calls

OnCrew's answered calls average about 1.2 minutes, so take that as the call length. At 30 calls a month (36 minutes), Upfirst Starter is $24.95 and OnCrew Starter is $49. At 60 calls (72 minutes), Upfirst Premium is $59.95 and OnCrew Starter plus 12 extra minutes is $60.88. At 150 calls (180 minutes), Upfirst Premium plus 60 extra calls at $1 is $119.95 and OnCrew Pro is $149. On price alone, Upfirst costs less at most volumes. Longer calls widen the gap, because Upfirst bills the call and OnCrew bills the minute.

02Side by side

Feature and pricing comparison

Feature comparison of OnCrew and Upfirst
Feature	OnCrew	Upfirst
Product categoryupfirst.ai/pricing, checked October 31, 2026	Contractor AI phone answering	AI receptionist for small businesses, with plumbing, HVAC and contractor pages
Billing modelupfirst.ai/pricing, checked October 31, 2026	Published included-minute plans	Per call; spam, calls under 15 seconds and silent calls are not billed
Entry priceupfirst.ai/pricing, checked October 31, 2026	$49/mo Starter	Starter: $24.95/mo, 30 calls
Included usageupfirst.ai/pricing, checked October 31, 2026	60 / 200 / 500 minutes	30 / 90 / 300 / 600 calls
Going over the planupfirst.ai/pricing, checked October 31, 2026	$0.99 per minute after the plan's minutes	$1.50 per additional call
Calls that are not billedupfirst.ai/pricing, checked October 31, 2026	Hang-ups on the greeting, recognized robocalls, your team's listed numbers and your own test calls	Spam, calls under 15 seconds and calls where the caller never speaks
A caller who wants a personupfirst.ai/pricing, checked October 31, 2026	Live transfer to the people you list, announced first; a message if nobody picks up	Call transfers with a live, warm handoff on every plan
Appointmentsupfirst.ai/pricing, checked October 31, 2026	Google Calendar only: with booking switched on, offers your next open times and books the job on the call; otherwise an appointment request your team confirms	Books into Google, Outlook, Calendly, Acuity, Square and more on every plan
Urgent calls	Built-in urgent rules for your trade; your team gets the call by text and email right after it ends	Not verified
Languagesupfirst.ai/pricing, checked October 31, 2026	English, plus Spanish (Latin American) you switch on at no extra charge	35+ languages, switched automatically
Where the call landsupfirst.ai/pricing, checked October 31, 2026	Your team's text and email; Housecall Pro on its MAX plan; Jobber and ServiceTitan through the webhook export	Text or email summary; Zapier, and Custom Actions to a CRM with an API
Trialupfirst.ai/pricing, checked October 31, 2026	14 days, no card; 30-day money-back guarantee	14 days with real calls, no credit card required
Setup timingupfirst.ai/pricing, checked October 31, 2026	Self-serve, about 10 minutes; hear it on the demo line first	Trained from your website at signup, with free onboarding help from Upfirst's team

Rows with no Upfirst value are terms we have not verified. Check upfirst.ai/pricing, or ask Upfirst for them in writing, before you compare.

Try it on a real call first

Hear the AI answer before you forward a single call

Call the demo line and hear how OnCrew handles a live call, or start the trial and test it on your own number. Starter is $49/month with 60 included minutes after the trial, then $0.99/min overage.

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Emily answers as a sample plumbing company. Talk to her like one of your customers would.

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Pick Upfirst if

You want the lowest monthly price at a small call volume: 30 calls for $24.95 a month.
You book on a calendar other than Google, such as Outlook, Calendly, Acuity or Square.
Your callers speak languages beyond English and Spanish.

Upfirst's terms: upfirst.ai/pricing, checked October 31, 2026.

03Where OnCrew differs

Where OnCrew differs from Upfirst

01
Urgent calls sorted by rules for your trade
OnCrew separates emergencies, like no heat, a burst pipe, sparking or an active roof leak, from routine calls by built-in rules for your trade, and your team gets the call by text and email right after it ends. You choose who hears about urgent ones.
02
The on-call tech hears about the emergency
Urgent calls reach your on-call tech by text, and everything else is captured for business hours, so whoever opens the office reads the overnight log in the morning. Starter holds 8 on-call slots, Pro 20 and Multi-Truck 50, with per-tech on-call schedules on Multi-Truck.
03
Trade intake you can hear before you forward a line
Call the demo line and run a no-heat, burst-pipe or roof-leak call through it. OnCrew asks for the name, the issue, the callback number and the service address, and flags urgent calls by built-in rules for your trade.

04Pricing

Pricing to verify

Both publish their plan prices (Upfirst quotes above 600 calls a month). Count the calls you would forward, check your average call length, and run the numbers on both before choosing.

OnCrew Starter

Solo contractors

$49/mo

60 minutes of answered calls included

Then $0.99/min overage

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Frequently asked questions

How does Upfirst's pricing compare with OnCrew's?

Upfirst bills by the call: Starter is $24.95 a month for 30 calls, then $1.50 per additional call; Premium is $59.95 for 90 calls, then $1; Pro is $159.95 for 300 calls; Scale is $299 for 600 calls. Its FAQ says spam, calls under 15 seconds and calls where the caller never speaks are not billed (upfirst.ai/pricing, checked October 31, 2026). OnCrew bills minutes of answered calls: Starter $49/mo for 60 minutes, Pro $149/mo for 200 minutes, Multi-Truck $349/mo for 500 minutes, then $0.99 per minute, and hang-ups on the greeting are not counted. On short calls, Upfirst costs less at most monthly volumes.

Do both offer a free trial?

Yes. Upfirst's pricing page offers a 14-day free trial with real calls forwarded and says no credit card is required (upfirst.ai/pricing, checked October 31, 2026). OnCrew's trial is also 14 days with no card to start, and paid OnCrew plans carry a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Can each one transfer a caller to a person?

Upfirst lists call transfers with a live, warm handoff on every plan (upfirst.ai/pricing, checked October 31, 2026). OnCrew, with live transfer switched on, offers to connect a caller who asks for a person to the people you list and announces the caller first; in the default handoff, if nobody picks up within about 25 seconds, or the ring time you choose, Emily comes back on the line and takes a message, so the caller is never left on hold.

Does either one book appointments?

Upfirst's pricing page says every plan books straight into calendars such as Google, Outlook, Calendly, Acuity and Square (upfirst.ai/pricing, checked October 31, 2026). OnCrew can book only on Google Calendar: with your calendar connected and booking switched on in Settings, it offers the caller your next open times during business hours and books the job on the call. Without it, the caller's day and time become an appointment request your team confirms, and your team gets the call by text and email.

When might Upfirst fit better?

Pick Upfirst if the lowest monthly price at a small call volume matters most, if you book on a calendar other than Google, or if your callers speak languages beyond English and Spanish. Pick OnCrew if you want urgent calls sorted by built-in rules for your trade and sent to your on-call tech by text, per-tech on-call schedules on Multi-Truck, and a phone answer you can hear on the demo line before you forward your number.

06Keep researching

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OnCrew vs Upfirst: AI answering for contractor phone lines

OnCrew vs Upfirst: how do they compare for contractors?

What Upfirst charges, checked October 31, 2026

Upfirst

OnCrew

What a month costs on each, with short calls

Feature and pricing comparison

Hear the AI answer before you forward a single call

Pick Upfirst if

Where OnCrew differs from Upfirst

Urgent calls sorted by rules for your trade

The on-call tech hears about the emergency

Trade intake you can hear before you forward a line

Pricing to verify

Frequently asked questions

More buyer guides for contractor answering services

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