AI receptionist: what it does, where it stops and what sellers charge · Three Fixes
Three Fixes Show me where to start

AI receptionist

By Three Fixes. Published .

In short

An AI receptionist is software that answers your business phone when you cannot. Sellers say it answers calls, books appointments and captures leads at any hour. What it can do depends on the plan, and on some plans it can pass a call to a person. Ask what it can reach and who gets the handover.

How a call moves through an AI receptionist
  1. CallA customer rings your business number.
  2. InformationThe receptionist takes the name, the question and the details.
  3. Allowed to doIt does only what your plan allows, such as sending a booking link.
  4. HandoverOn some plans, a call it cannot handle can go to a person. Ask whether yours does, and how fast.

A call comes in, the receptionist takes the details and does only what the plan allows. On some plans a call it cannot handle can go to a person, so ask whether yours does, and how fast.

What an AI receptionist does

In plain words, it is a phone helper that picks up for you when you are on a job. You will also see it called an AI answering service or AI call handling. Think of it as a front desk that takes the questions you have approved and passes on a message, and not as someone who knows your business as well as you do.

Rosie, a seller of an AI answering service, says on its pricing page that its AI answers calls, books appointments and captures leads 24/7 for small businesses. That is the seller's description of the job, not a measured result.

Source: Rosie, read 11 Oct 2026

A made-up example

Example, made upThis is a made-up example. A plumber is under a house when the phone rings. A homeowner has a leaking tap and wants a time. The receptionist picks up, takes the name, the suburb and what is wrong, and offers to text an appointment link if the plan includes that. It cannot say whether the plumber can fit in a same-day job, so it tells the caller someone will ring back, and the plumber reads a short summary of the call when he is out from under the house.

What goes in, what it does, what comes out

  • What goes in: the call. Goodcall says every plan includes a local number and that an owner can keep their existing number by forwarding it to Goodcall.
  • What it does: picks up, asks the questions it was set up to ask, and takes the details.
  • What comes out: Rosie lists call summaries, transcripts and recordings among the features included on all its plans.
  • What it can do next depends on the plan: Rosie lists appointment links sent by text on its Professional plan and booking directly on your calendar from its Scale plan.
  • Where a person takes over: Rosie lists warm transfers on its Scale plan, where Rosie briefs your team before connecting a call, alongside live call transfers.

Sources: Goodcall, read 11 Oct 2026; Rosie, read 11 Oct 2026

Where it stops, and what to ask first

Do not judge it on the demo. Write down three awkward calls from this week and ask the seller to show what the tool does with each one. Passing all three is a good sign, not proof. Failing one shows what you would be paying to babysit.

Ask the seller how callers are told they are talking to an AI, and where recordings and caller details are kept.

Calls carry names, numbers and addresses. The OAIC says that if an AI product needs to disclose personal information to its developer or to third parties, a business has to consider whether it is appropriate to go ahead with the product.

Source: Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, read 11 Oct 2026

The OAIC also says businesses should make sure any public-facing AI tool, such as a chatbot, is clearly identified as AI to the people using it.

Source: Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, read 11 Oct 2026

Everything on this page about what a product can do is the seller's own description from its own page. A feature on a pricing page is not proof it works well on your calls, and none of it has been tested here.

Simpler or different options

Smith.ai describes its receptionist service as professional call answering by real people, and its pricing page offers an AI-first or human-first choice for how calls get handled. So the choice is not only between an AI and nothing.

Source: Smith.ai, read 11 Oct 2026

OptionIt can fit whenCheck first
Nothing newMissed calls are rare, or callers leave a message and wait.Count this week's missed calls before spending anything.
A text that goes out after a missed callMost missed calls are people who want a quick reply, not a conversation.Whether your phone or booking software already has this setting.
A person answering for youCallers need judgement or a human voice.What a call over the plan's limit costs, and who the person is.
An AI receptionistYou want every call picked up at any hour and can live with a handover for anything unusual.Who gets the handover, how fast, and what the caller hears meanwhile.

Price examples, with dates and sources

  • Rosie Professional plan: US$49 a month for 250 minutes (in USD) plus applicable taxes (per the seller’s terms). Source: Rosie, advertised price, read 11 Oct 2026.
  • Rosie Scale plan: US$149 a month for 1,000 minutes (in USD) plus applicable taxes (per the seller’s terms). Source: Rosie, advertised price, read 11 Oct 2026.

Sources: Rosie, read 11 Oct 2026

Rosie's own terms of service say its services are permitted for use in the United States and Canada only, and prohibit making them available to callers in other jurisdictions (read 11 Oct 2026). So treat Rosie's prices as an example of what sellers publish, not as a plan you can assume you may use here. Whoever you are quoted by, ask whether it is allowed to answer calls in Australia.

Source: Rosie, read 11 Oct 2026

Goodcall Starter plan: US$79 a month for 100 unique customers, plus US$0.79 per unique customer over the 100 included in a month plus applicable taxes (per the seller’s terms). Source: Goodcall, advertised price, read 11 Oct 2026. Goodcall counts one phone number once a month as one customer, so the same person calling back five times in a month is one customer, and it bills by customer rather than by minute.

Sources: Goodcall, read 11 Oct 2026

Smith.ai Starter plan: US$300 a month for 30 calls, plus US$11.50 per call over the 30 included in a month plus applicable taxes (per the seller’s terms). Source: Smith.ai, advertised price, read 11 Oct 2026. This is a service where real people answer, so it is a different kind of purchase from the software plans above.

Sources: Smith.ai, read 11 Oct 2026

  • Said in a YouTube video by Adam Erhart, who teaches people how to start an AI business, as the monthly price a business could pay someone reselling an AI receptionist: US$397 a month (tax not stated). Source: said in a video by Adamerhartvideo at 9:18; a spoken figure, not an advertised price.
  • Said in a YouTube video by Automate AI Consulting, whose presenter says they have sold an AI receptionist to home services businesses: US$1,500 a month, or US$5,000 as a one-off build (tax not stated). Source: said in a video by AutomateAIConsulting at 2:34; a spoken figure, not an advertised price.

Sources: Adamerhartvideo (video) at 9:18; AutomateAIConsulting (video) at 2:34

These are named examples from sellers on the dates shown, with tax shown as each source gave it. The spoken figures are historical and are not advertised prices. None is an Australian average and none is a quote for your business. A price with no scope is not a price, so compare what is in each plan before you compare the numbers, and ask what month two costs.

Questions to ask before you agree

  • Which person gets a call it cannot handle, how fast, and what does the caller hear meanwhile?
  • What can it reach, such as your calendar, and what must it never promise a caller?
  • What does month two cost, and what makes the price move: minutes, calls or customers?
  • If I stop at the starter plan, what do I keep and what stops working?
  • Is the seller allowed to answer calls in Australia, how are callers told it is an AI, and where do recordings and caller details go?

Sources and checking

Last checked against the sources: 11 Oct 2026. Where a source is a seller, what it says is the seller’s statement, not a measured result. Tax is shown exactly as the source gives it. A currency is marked stated where the source says it (2 on this page) and inferred where the source gives only a clue such as the seller’s legal home or a channel’s listed country (7 on this page); each inferred one records what it was inferred from.

Published by Three Fixes. An AI drafted this page from the sources above, and a separate review pass checked it against them on 11 Oct 2026.

The next step

Read a sample plan

See what a Three Fixes starting plan looks like before you decide anything.

Read a sample plan

Show me where to start