# Smith.ai review (2026): is the free plan enough? > Phone answering by an AI receptionist, with live agents as an option Checked Nov 12, 2026 ยท graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA. Smith.ai answers a business's calls and chats, qualifies leads, books appointments and routes calls. It sells three ways of handling calls: AI-first, hybrid, and human-first, where live North American receptionists answer. Pricing is by the number of calls answered each month, and the AI-first tier has a free plan. - **Category:** AI Agents - **Made by:** Smith.ai - **Website:** https://smith.ai - **Runs on:** Web - **Who should skip it:** Pricey if calls grow, as 75 calls is $150 a month on AI Pro. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 12, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 12, 2026, Smith.ai has a free plan, and paid plans start at $150 per month for 75 AI-answered calls. - **Pricing model:** Free plan - **Free plan:** Free AI plan: 25 answered calls a month with no expiry, then $3.00 per call. A credit card is required to sign up. - **Free trial:** None listed. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | Free | $0 | AI-first. 25 calls a month, then $3.00 per call. Call screening, lead qualification, scheduling and Quality Studio testing. | | AI Pro | $150 per month for 75 calls, AI-first | $2.00 per call. Adds dedicated onboarding, live phone, email and chat support, and custom SMS branding. Larger blocks cost less per call. | | AI Enterprise | $500 per month for 300 calls, AI-first | $1.67 per call. Smith.ai builds and runs a custom setup, with a success manager and multi-location support. | | Human-first Starter | $300 per month for 30 calls, live agents | Live receptionists, 1 free transfer destination. $11.50 per call over 30. | | Human-first Basic | $810 per month for 90 calls, live agents | 2 free transfer destinations. $10.50 per call over 90. | | Human-first Pro | $2,100 per month for 300 calls, live agents | 10 free transfer destinations. $8.50 per call over 300. | Read from https://smith.ai/pricing/ai-receptionist on Nov 12, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Smith.ai before buying. ## Key features - **AI call answering:** An AI receptionist picks up calls around the clock, screens spam, qualifies callers against criteria the business sets, and routes or transfers them. - **Live agents when needed:** Hybrid and human-first tiers bring in live North American agents, either for new-client calls or for every call, at higher per-call rates. - **Appointment scheduling:** The free plan lists AI scheduling with Calendly and similar tools. On the human-first plans, booking an appointment is a per-call add-on at $1.50. - **Quality Studio:** Lets a business test how the AI handles calls before going live. It is included on the free plan. - **CRM and intake integrations:** Call details go to a CRM or Zapier, with Clio, Filevine and Lawmatics named. Human-first plans include the first CRM; each extra one costs $0.50 per call. - **Add-ons billed per call:** Human-first plans price extras per call, such as a dedicated Spanish line at $1.00, call recording at $0.25 and conflict checks at $0.50. ## Good for - Law firms and small practices that miss calls after hours - Businesses that want to try an AI receptionist on a free plan first - Teams that want live agents available for new-client calls ## Worth knowing - The Free plan stops at 25 answered calls a month; extra calls cost $3.00 each. - Human-first plans are pay-per-call at $7 or more per call; overage runs $8.50 to $11.50 per call. - Human escalation on the Free plan is an opt-in add-on rather than included. - The 30-day money-back guarantee on the human-first plans excludes overage calls and is capped at $1,000. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 2.0 out of 4**, graded Nov 12, 2026. Smith.ai answers calls with an AI receptionist, and the Free plan covers 25 answered calls a month, then $3.00 a call. The free plan needs a credit card, AI Pro is $150 a month for 75 calls, and the live-agent plans start at $300 for 30 calls. - **Value for money: D.** AI Pro is $150 a month for 75 calls, about three times the dearest tenth's $52 start. Calls cost $2.00 on that plan. - **Free plan and trial: C.** Free has 25 answered calls a month with no expiry, then $3.00 a call, and it needs a credit card to sign up. - **Features: C.** Screening, lead qualification, scheduling and live agents on top. Human escalation on the Free plan is a paid add-on. - **Ease of use: C.** No store rating on record, and you connect a number, scheduling and intake tools. - **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web, with Clio, Filevine, Calendly, HubSpot, Salesforce and Zapier listed. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Smith.ai's own pages on 12 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among AI agents - Smith.ai's GPA of 2.0 is higher than 26 of the 101 other AI agents we grade, and level with 9. - It stands best on platforms and integrations (B, above 20 of 101) and worst on value for money (D, above 0). - Its paid plans start at $150 a month, against a middle price of $22.13 for the category: 62 of the 65 others that charge start lower. - On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 35 tools score higher and cost less. The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/ai-agents ## Keep it, or make your own? **Keep it.** To replace Smith.ai you would be making an AI agent, with the models and the safeguards behind it. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 66 of the 101 other AI agents grade higher. It costs $1,800 a year. - You could make: Appointment booking: an app builder makes this well. - You could not: An AI agent, with the models and the safeguards behind it. - You could not: Phone numbers and calls carried over the phone network. - You could not: An AI model answering your customers from your own help articles. - You could not: It plugs into other products, Clio, Filevine and Lawmatics among them. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. ## Works with Clio, Filevine, Lawmatics, Calendly, Acuity, HubSpot, Salesforce, Zapier **Tags:** AI agents, Business phone line, Appointment booking, AI support agent ## Alternatives - [Dialzara](https://toolgpa.com/tools/dialzara): AI receptionist that answers small-business phone calls. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/dialzara-vs-smith-ai) - [Goodcall](https://toolgpa.com/tools/goodcall): AI phone agent for small businesses, billed per customer. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/goodcall-vs-smith-ai) - [Synthflow](https://toolgpa.com/tools/synthflow): Enterprise AI voice agents sold on annual contracts. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/smith-ai-vs-synthflow) - [Retell AI](https://toolgpa.com/tools/retell-ai): Pay-per-minute platform for AI phone and chat agents. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/retell-ai-vs-smith-ai) - [Thoughtly](https://toolgpa.com/tools/thoughtly): AI voice, SMS and email agents for inbound lead conversion. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/smith-ai-vs-thoughtly) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 12, 2026: - https://smith.ai/pricing/ai-receptionist - https://smith.ai/pricing/receptionists - https://smith.ai/pricing/hybrid-ai-human-receptionists - https://smith.ai/blog/smith-ai-free-plan-what-you-get-free-forever - https://smith.ai/ai-receptionist Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/smith-ai Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).