Abby Connect and Smith.ai both answer business calls 24/7 with human receptionists and both offer an AI receptionist. The differences that matter are the pricing unit (Abby bills per minute, Smith.ai per call), what is included versus billed as an add-on, and how each company puts humans and AI together. We sell one of the two, so read this as an informed comparison; every price below is from smith.ai/pricing and abby.com/pricing as published on September 2, 2026.
Abby vs Smith.ai at a Glance
| Abby Connect | Smith.ai | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Per Abby Minute; a minute with the AI Receptionist counts as half | Per call, regardless of length |
| Entry plan | $165/mo for 50 Abby Minutes (up to 100 AI minutes) | $300/mo for 30 calls (Starter) |
| Other published plans | $329/100, $599/200, $1,380/500 Abby Minutes; Enterprise on request | $810/mo for 90 calls (Basic), $2,100/mo for 300 calls (Pro); Enterprise on request |
| Overage | Billed at your plan’s Abby Minute rate | $11.50, $10.50 or $8.50 per call by plan |
| AI receptionist | Yes: built and trained in-house, part of every plan | Yes: AI-first and human-first plans, chosen with a toggle on its pricing page |
| Human receptionists | Yes: 100 percent of receptionists work in the office in Las Vegas, none from home; a dedicated team per client | Yes: live-staffed 24/7 by work-from-home receptionists (its careers page recruits them to work “from the comfort of your home office”); the site states no overseas agents |
| 24/7 answering | Included, no upcharge | Included, no upcharge |
| Appointment booking | Included | $1.50 per call add-on |
| Spanish | Included, human and AI | Dedicated Spanish line at $1.00 per call |
| Text or email follow-up after the call | Included | $0.50 per call add-on |
| Call recording and transcription | Included (summaries and transcripts in the AbbyGO app) | $0.25 per call add-on |
| CRM integration | Included: Clio, Lawmatics, HubSpot, Salesforce, Zapier and more | First CRM included; $0.50 per call for each additional CRM |
| Setup fee | None | None |
| Spam calls | Screened and blocked by your receptionist team | Not charged when caller ID passes |
| Trial or guarantee | Free trial on every plan (14 days or 500 Abby Minutes) before you pay | 30-day money-back guarantee after you pay, refunds up to $1,000, overage excluded |
| Contract | Month-to-month | Month-to-month; 10 percent off for a 12-month subscription |
Competitor prices and features are taken from ruby.com/pricing, smith.ai/pricing and the plans published on answerconnect.com as read on September 2, 2026. Abby prices are from abby.com/pricing. Where competitors’ receptionists work is quoted from their own sites the same day: Ruby’s job board (ruby.applicantpro.com, “Remote Receptionist” roles), smith.ai/careers and answerconnect.com. Check every provider for current terms before you buy.
Per Minute or Per Call: Which Is Cheaper?
Smith.ai’s Starter plan works out to $10.00 a call ($300 for 30 calls). Abby’s Starter plan is $3.30 per human minute or $1.65 per AI minute ($165 for 50 Abby Minutes). Whether per-call or per-minute is cheaper depends on how long your calls run and who answers them:
| Call | Smith.ai Starter (per call) | Abby Starter, human receptionist | Abby Starter, AI Receptionist |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2-minute message | $10.00 | $6.60 | $3.30 |
| 3-minute call | $10.00 | $9.90 | $4.95 |
| 6-minute intake with booking | $10.00 plus $1.50 booking add-on | $19.80 | $9.90 |
| 30 three-minute calls a month (plan needed) | $300 (Starter) | $329 (Essential plan, 100 Abby Minutes for 90 minutes of calls) | $165 (Starter plan, 50 Abby Minutes for 45) |
Per-call pricing costs less on long, uniform calls: a 6-minute human intake costs the same $10.00 at Smith.ai as a 30-second message. Per-minute pricing costs less on short calls and on anything the AI Receptionist can handle, and it does not need a separate add-on for booking, Spanish or follow-up texts. Add Smith.ai’s per-call extras to its plan price before you compare: a booked, Spanish-language call with a text follow-up costs $3.00 on top of the call.
The AI Receptionists Compared
Abby’s AI Receptionist is built and trained in-house on more than 20 years of receptionist experience. It greets callers in your business name, answers questions, screens and transfers calls, takes messages, books appointments into hundreds of scheduling platforms and hands complex or sensitive calls to a human receptionist on the same call. It is included in every plan and its minutes count as half an Abby Minute. Abby is one subscription used three ways: just human receptionists, just the AI Receptionist, or a mix you can change at any time. Usage is measured in Abby Minutes: a minute with a human receptionist uses one Abby Minute, a minute with the AI Receptionist uses half, so AI-handled calls make the same plan go twice as far.
Smith.ai asks you to choose an AI-first or a human-first plan with a toggle on its pricing page; the human-first plans above include live receptionists 24/7 and the AI-first plans have their own prices. Abby is the more flexible AI-first option: AI-first, human-first or any mix on one plan with a single usage unit, changed at any time, with the AI handing a caller to a human receptionist on the same call. You never pick a plan type and never move calls between plans. Under the hood, Abby’s AI runs on Deepgram Flux for speech recognition, the latest OpenAI models with automatic failover to Anthropic, and ElevenLabs for voice, trained in-house on more than 20 years of receptionist calls.
Receptionist Teams and Hours
Both services answer 24/7 at no extra charge. Every Abby receptionist works in the office in Las Vegas, none from home, each client is assigned a dedicated team, and a Client Success Manager owns the account. Smith.ai staffs its human-first plans around the clock with work-from-home receptionists (its careers page recruits virtual receptionists to work “from the comfort of your home office”) and states that it uses no overseas agents; it does not describe a dedicated team per client on its pricing page.
Free Trial vs Money-Back Guarantee
Abby’s free trial runs before you pay: 14 days or 500 Abby Minutes with human and AI receptionists on your real calls, no setup fee, and nothing charged until the trial ends. Smith.ai has no free trial; it offers a 30-day money-back guarantee after you pay, refunding your plan and add-ons up to $1,000 if you cancel within 30 days, with overage excluded. Both are month-to-month, and Smith.ai discounts 10 percent for a 12-month commitment.
- You want booking, Spanish, follow-up and transcripts included rather than billed per call.
- You want human receptionists and the AI Receptionist on one plan, AI minutes at half rate, and the freedom to run AI-first, human-first or any mix.
- You want a dedicated team that works in the office (not from home), a Client Success Manager, 1,000+ integrations, and a free trial before you pay anything.
Smith.ai’s own distinctions are per-call pricing, which costs less only when every call is long, and a money-back guarantee in place of a trial. Weigh those against the per-call add-ons and the plan choice it asks you to make up front.
Switching from Smith.ai to Abby
You forward your number to Abby and keep it, set your call handling instructions once, and use the free trial to see the difference on your own calls. One client who moved wrote: “I spoke with Austin initially to get an overview and decide which tier was right for us. Austin was friendly, helpful, and very responsive. Onboarding was a breeze thanks to Sarah and Aaron. They helped get me set up and even built out some of the custom receptionist flow. Coming from Smith.ai this was above and beyond in terms of customer service.”
Abby vs Smith.ai: Frequently Asked Questions
Is Abby cheaper than Smith.ai?
For most small businesses, yes. Abby starts at $165 a month for 50 Abby Minutes (up to 100 AI minutes) with booking, Spanish, follow-up and transcripts included; Smith.ai starts at $300 a month for 30 calls with those features billed per call. Smith.ai can be cheaper if your calls are consistently long, because it charges a flat rate per call.
Does Smith.ai charge per call or per minute?
Per call. Its published plans on September 2, 2026 are $300 for 30 calls, $810 for 90 and $2,100 for 300, with overage of $8.50 to $11.50 a call. Abby charges per Abby Minute, and a minute with the AI Receptionist counts as half.
Does Smith.ai offer a free trial?
No. Smith.ai offers a 30-day money-back guarantee after you pay, refunding your plan and add-ons up to $1,000 if you cancel within 30 days. Abby offers a free trial before you pay: 14 days or 500 Abby Minutes on every plan, with no setup fee.
Which has the better AI receptionist, Abby or Smith.ai?
Both offer one. Abby’s AI Receptionist is built in-house, included in every plan at half-rate minutes and hands off to a human receptionist on the same call; Smith.ai offers AI-first and human-first plans with their own prices. Try both on your own calls; only Abby lets you do that free.
Where are Abby’s and Smith.ai’s receptionists located?
Abby’s receptionists all work in the office in Las Vegas, Nevada; none work from home. Smith.ai’s receptionists work from home (its careers page recruits them to work “from the comfort of your home office”), and the company states that it uses no overseas agents.
Can I use both human receptionists and AI with Smith.ai and Abby?
Yes with both. At Abby the two share one plan and one usage unit, so you can change the mix at any time; at Smith.ai you choose between human-first and AI-first plans.
See Abby’s plans and pricing, or start the free trial: 14 days with human and AI receptionists answering your real calls, no setup fee. Or keep comparing: Abby vs Ruby, Abby vs AnswerConnect, the best virtual receptionist services of 2026 and Abby’s AI Receptionist.
