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Ruby, Smith.ai, and us.
An honest comparison, including the parts where a human answering service is the better buy. If that is you, we would rather you knew now.
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The numbers, as each service publishes them.
| Ruby | $235–245 / mo for 100 minutes · $5.19 per call over · humans, business hours |
| Smith.ai | From $95 / mo · per-conversation above plan · humans plus AI |
| Goodcall | $59–199 / mo · AI · no hardware |
| ServiceAi tap | $99 / mo · 200 minutes · $0.40 after · AI, always on · card included |
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Where a human service wins.
These are real, and no amount of our marketing changes them.
Genuinely complex intake
If a call routinely requires judgement, negotiation or an apology, a trained human is better at it than any voice agent, ours included.
You want a person, on principle
Some businesses will not put an AI in front of a customer. That is a legitimate position and we are not going to argue you out of it.
Very low call volume
If you miss one call a quarter, no answering service pays for itself — ours or theirs. Buy the card and stop there.
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Where we win is the two o'clock call.
Always on, every night and every weekend, at a price a one-truck operator can carry — and it arrives with the card and the profile already included.
See the pricing05
And the card companies are not the comparison.
Popl, Blinq, Mobilo and the rest sell lead capture for sales teams at events. It is a good product for a different job: theirs ends at the handshake.
What they do
Capture the person in front of you faster, enrich them, and sync them to a CRM. If you work conferences, buy one of theirs.
What they cannot do
Reach anybody who never met you. Not one of them answers a phone, and none of their marketing uses the words “missed call.”
What we charge for
Not the metal. The card is $129 once; the recurring line is the receptionist, priced against Ruby rather than against plastic.
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