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Upfirst vs Smith.ai

Both charge per call rather than per minute. Upfirst is much cheaper per call and includes every feature on every plan. Smith.ai costs more but adds escalation to live receptionists and has a free tier.

	Upfirst	Smith.ai AI Receptionist
Entry price	$24.95/mo $20/mo billed annually	$0/mo Free plan: 25 calls/mo; Pro from $150/mo
Billed by	calls	calls
Entry plan includes	30 calls/mo	25 calls/mo (Free); 75 calls/mo (Pro)
Overage	$1.50/call on Starter, down to $0.70/call on Scale	$3.00/call on Free; $2.17–$2.50/call on Pro
Free trial	14-day free trial with full plan features	Free plan (25 calls/mo) instead of a timed trial
Annual discount	20% off	Not stated; 6-month plan with rollover calls via sales
All plans	Starter: $24.95 (30 calls) Premium: $59.95 (90 calls) Pro: $159.95 (300 calls) Scale: $299 (600 calls) Custom: Not published	Free: $0 (25 calls) Pro (75 calls): $150 (75 calls) Pro (150 calls): $270 (150 calls) Enterprise (300 calls): $500 (300 calls)
Notable features	Same core features on every plan; Books into Google, Outlook, Clio, Acuity, Calendly, Square; Warm call transfers and in-call texting; Spam, calls under 15 seconds and silent calls are not billed; 35+ languages; Extra agent/location $9.95/mo	AI answers first; complex calls can go to a live receptionist; Lead qualification and routing; Scheduling (Calendly and others); Native integrations incl. Clio and Zapier; Quality Studio to test before going live; Month-to-month; 30 days' notice to cancel
Source	https://www.upfirst.ai/pricing checked 2026-10-27	https://smith.ai/pricing/ai-receptionist checked 2026-10-27

Cost per call

Upfirst's plans work out to roughly $0.50–$0.83 per included call ($24.95 for 30 up to $299 for 600). Smith.ai's paid plans are priced at $1.67–$2.00 per call ($150 for 75, $500 for 300). At 100 calls a month, Upfirst's Premium plan plus 10 overage calls costs about $70; Smith.ai's 75-call Pro plan plus 25 overage calls costs about $212.50.

Why Smith.ai costs more

Smith.ai's pitch is human backup: calls start with AI, and complex ones can transfer to a live North America-based receptionist. It also emphasizes lead qualification and has a Quality Studio for testing before you go live. For a law firm or high-value service business, that safety net may be worth the premium. Check how live-agent time is billed. Its AI pricing page doesn't spell that out.

Free options

Smith.ai has a permanent free tier with 25 calls a month ($3 per call after that), a good way to test on real calls. Upfirst offers a 14-day free trial with full features.

Spam

Upfirst doesn't bill spam, calls under 15 seconds, or silent calls. Smith.ai filters known spammers before they're answered and lets you remove up to 10% of calls per cycle as spam.

Bottom line

Pick Upfirst for the lowest cost per call with booking, transfers and texting on every plan.
Pick Smith.ai if you want a live human safety net and lead qualification, and the call value justifies roughly double to triple the per-call cost.

Visit Upfirst ↗ Visit Smith.ai ↗

Comparison based on each vendor's published pricing and feature pages. We have not yet run hands-on call tests. Run your own volume through the cost estimator.