AI Answering Service for Your Business

What does an AI answering service do?

An AI answering service answers the calls you can't take, talks to the caller in your business name and sends you the details: who called, what they need and how urgent it is.

It asks your questions. You set what it needs to find out, and it gets those details before the call ends, the way you would on a good day.

It's upfront with callers. Ringzel tells callers they're speaking to an automated receptionist. It never pretends to be you, and if it can't help, it says so and takes a message.

It follows your rules on urgent calls. You decide what counts as urgent and what should happen, and it escalates the way you told it to.

You see how every call went. After each call you get the recording, the transcript and a summary. Within three minutes, a separate check reviews the call and tells you if anything needs your attention.

It books, transfers and routes on Professional and Premium. It can book appointments into your calendar, transfer calls and send callers to the right person on your team.

People call the same thing by other names. If you're comparing virtual receptionists, an AI phone assistant or an AI voicemail assistant, the job is the same: answer the call, find out what the caller needs and pass it on.

Can I get AI to answer my phone calls?

Yes. You keep your business number and forward the calls you can't take to Ringzel, and setup takes under 5 minutes.

1. 1Keep your number. Customers call the number they already know. Nothing changes on their side.
2. 2Forward the calls you can't take. Set your phone to forward calls when you're busy, when you don't answer or when you're closed. You turn it on in your phone or carrier settings.
3. 3Your receptionist answers. It greets callers in your business name, tells them it's automated and asks the questions you've set.
4. 4You get the details. As soon as the call ends, you get a summary of who called and what they need.

You can hear it before you sign up. Build a receptionist from your business name in about two minutes and talk to it in your browser.

What is the cheapest AI answering service?

Of the services we checked, Upfirst has the cheapest paid entry plan at $24.95 a month for 30 calls, and Smith.ai's free plan covers 25 calls a month. Once you go past the allowance, the cheapest plan is often not the cheapest bill.

Take a business that gets 100 calls a month, 3 minutes each. That's 300 minutes. On RingCentral's $49 plan, that's 100 included minutes plus 200 at $0.50, so at least $149. On Dialzara's $29 plan, it's 60 minutes plus 240 at $0.48, so $144.20. On Ringzel Basic, it's $99, and it stays $99 at 200 calls.

So work out your monthly calls and average call length first. If you get a handful of short calls a month, a per-minute plan can be the cheapest option. If calls come in every day, a flat price is usually easier on the bill and easier to plan for.

Is there a free AI answering service?

There are free ways to try one, but few free ways to run one. Smith.ai's free plan covers 25 calls a month, then charges $3.00 a call. Goodcall lets you build and test a demo agent for free and charges once you connect a number.

Most others give you a free trial instead: 14 days on Ringzel, RingCentral and Upfirst, and 7 days on Dialzara, My AI Front Desk, Rosie and NextPhone.

Ringzel's trial needs no card. Build your receptionist, forward real calls to it for 14 days, and cancel before day 14 if it isn't for you. After the trial, plans start at $99 a month.

Is an AI answering service worth it?

It is if missed calls cost you work. If one job or appointment is worth more than $99 to you, a single call that would have gone to voicemail can cover the month.

It's most useful when you're on a job, with a customer or closed. Those are the calls that go to voicemail, and a caller who doesn't get an answer may not leave a message.

It's less useful if you get very few calls and already answer most of them, or if every caller needs a person on the line. In that case, a live answering service or a cheaper per-minute plan may suit you better.

The quickest way to judge is to hear it answer for your business. With Ringzel you can do that in about two minutes, before you pay anything.

AI answering service vs a live answering service

A live answering service puts a person on the line and usually costs more per call. An AI answering service picks up at any hour, and some, like Ringzel, charge one flat monthly price.

Smith.ai sells both, so it makes a fair comparison. Its live receptionists start at $300 a month for 30 calls, with extra calls at $11.50 each. Its AI Receptionist Pro plan is $150 a month for 75 calls. Ringzel is $99 a month for unlimited calls.

A person can handle a caller who is upset or a request that doesn't fit a script. An AI answering service is built for volume: Ringzel answers every forwarded call the same way, by your rules, and doesn't cost more on a busy day.

You can use AI for the calls you can't take and call people back yourself. On Professional, Ringzel can also transfer a call to you or your team when a caller needs a person.

Live answering services often sell their people as virtual receptionists. Our virtual receptionist guide compares human and AI virtual receptionists on price.

What is the best AI answering service?

The best AI answering service for your business is the one whose billing fits your call volume and whose entry plan does what you need. Check these five things before you sign up:

1. 1How it bills. Per minute, per call or flat. Work out what 100 calls a month would cost you on each plan.
2. 2What happens past the allowance. Look for the overage rate and whether spam counts.
3. 3What the entry plan includes. Bookings and call transfers can sit on a higher plan, on Ringzel too.
4. 4How you see each call. A summary is the minimum. Recordings, transcripts and a check on each call show you how it was handled.
5. 5How the trial works. How long it is, whether it needs a card, and whether you can forward real calls during it.

Ringzel is built for businesses that want every call answered at one price: unlimited calls on every plan, a check report on every call, and $99, $179 or $299 a month.