Smith.ai vs. Signius Communications: Live Answering Service Comparison

Your business deserves a top-quality live answering service. But how do you know which company provides the best options to fit your needs? Here’s a comparison between Signius Communications and Smith.ai virtual receptionists.

Setup Fees, Contracts, & Trials

Smith.ai

• No setup or cancellation fees
• No contract
• Free consultation
• 14-day money-back guarantee
  

Signius Communications

• No setup or cancellation fees
• No contract
• Free consultation

Discussion: Signius Communications does not offer a guaranteed period to try their services risk-free. In fact, there isn’t a lot of information available on their site to help you make a decision, so we had to call them to obtain most of the information on their fees and pricing. Smith.ai, on the other hand, offers a money-back guarantee for 14 days so that you can feel more comfortable about choosing our services for your business. Both companies offer free setup and customers never incur cancellation penalties as plans are month-to-month.

Monthly Plans

Here’s how monthly plans from Smith.ai and Signius Communications compare:

Smith.ai

• $285 for 30 live receptionist calls and 1 live transfer number
• $765 for 90 live receptionist calls and 2 live transfer numbers
• $1,950 for 300 live receptionist calls and 10 live transfer numbers
• Custom plans available
• 10% annual discount when paid up front
  

Signius Communications

• $45 for 0 minutes ($1.35 per minute)
• $170 for 125 minutes
• $280 for 225 minutes
• Custom plans available

Discussion: Signius Communications offers customizable plans, so the plans above are just a subset of the full list of plans available. They offer a free consultation during which their sales team will develop a plan based on your business’ call volume. You can change your plan with both companies if your call volume changes.

Consider for a moment that an average business call is about six minutes, according to GetVoip. While it like Signius offers more competitive pricing on a per-call basis, Smith.ai does not charge for spam, unsolicited sales, and wrong-number calls, so you'll only pay for calls that are legitimate for your business. Consider how many unwanted calls you receive monthly when evaluating the true cost of both services.

Overage Costs

Smith.ai

• $10.50/call on the $285/month plan
• $9.50/call on the $765/month plan
• $7.50/call on the $1,950/month plan
  

Signius Communications

• $1.35/minute on the $45/month plan
• $1.25/minute on the $170/month plan
• $1.25/minute on the $280/month plan

Discussion: Smith.ai's per-call charge on overage is slightly higher than the normal cost of service. However, Smith.ai will work closely with you to ensure you have a plan that suits your business's call volume -- including creating a custom plan to fit your needs. Signius charges increase the per-minute rate between $.07/minute and $.10/minute for all minutes over those allotted in the plan.

Features

Smith.ai and Signius Communications offer the following features:

• North America-based virtual receptionists
• Bilingual services available
• Custom call handling procedures
• Call summary reports
• Call forwarding 
• 24/7 live call answering
• After-hours and overflow answering
• Toll-free number included

Smith.ai has the following additional features:

• Live call transfers
• Integration with all major calendaring and scheduling software programs
• Integration with all major CRMs, like Clio, Clio Grow, Hubspot, Lexicata, Capsule CRM, and more
• One free CRM, Zapier, or Make integration
• Integration with helpdesk ticketing software programs
• Ability to map client history to the incoming number so clients receive personalized attention
• Messages texted to you
• Recommended business referral
• Webchat, and SMS answering
• Custom greetings
• Lead qualification and lead intake form completion
• Payment collection
• No charge for spam calls or wrong numbers
• Call recording and transcription
• SMS & email follow-up
  

Signius Communications offers the following additional features:

• Message management system
• Interactive Voice Response (IVR) System

Discussion: Smith.ai and Signius Communications both offer standard live answering service features. But the value distinctions are in the details: While Signius offers a message management interface where clients can login, Smith.ai instead allows clients to instantly update their status via text message, through simple SMS commands. Life is easier without another app or login to remember.

Smith.ai is also well known for its lead qualification and intake services, as well as its integrations with CRMs, calendaring programs, and Slack, all of which increase efficiency by handing off more duties to your receptionists, and reduce time spent on redundant tasks, such as copying post-call notes into client records in your CRM (with Smith.ai this can happen automatically). 

Moreover, consider whether you need your receptionists to make outbound calls, capture and qualify your leads, and intake new clients. These are all services Smith.ai provides (note that some of these services may incur extra fees; see our Pricing page for details). If you need HIPAA compliance, however, then Smith.ai is not yet able to accommodate handling calls for your business.

Summary

Smith.ai and Signius Communications are both well known for providing affordable call answering services at price points that small businesses and independent professionals can accommodate. If you're looking for more than an answering service, a partner that can drive efficiency with streamlined workflows and smart integrations, Smith.ai delivers much more value at nearly the same cost.

Smith.ai Client Testimonial

Don't just take our word for it. Read what a happy Smith.ai client had to say about our services:

“Professional, intelligent and easy to work with. Highly recommended. We love the daily email summaries and the call data they capture.”

- Max Osbon, partner at Osbon Capital

Discover the Value of Smith.ai Virtual Receptionists

Don’t settle for a live answering service that doesn’t properly integrate with your business. Contact us today to learn more about the benefits of using Smith.ai. You can call us at (650) 727-6484 or email us at hello@smith.ai. The best way to get started now. Remember, all plans are covered by our 14-day money-back guarantee.