Smith.ai vs. PATLive

Virtual receptionists offer the most value when they can play the role of in-house receptionists. That’s why Smith.ai’s live agents professionally handle calls, 24/7, qualify and intake new leads, book appointments, accept payments, make outbound calls, and add call notes to your CRM. We even offer call recording and transcription. Compared to PATLive, we’re a far superior virtual receptionist solution that takes care of all your needs.

‍Smith.ai’s virtual receptionists answer calls from current clients in a familiar manner — since they can easily look up zip codes and access client call history. Our AI technology enables our North America-based agents to have the information in real-time to come across professionally, personally, and naturally. Their primary focus is on representing your business, capturing and qualifying leads, and supporting your customers. PATLive works entirely off call scripts, which can make for robotic call experiences, and doesn’t accommodate every customer question or scenario.

Smith.ai’s features aren’t tied to a certain pricing tier. You don’t need to be a high-volume customer to have our agents qualify leads, book appointments, take payments, or handle event registrations. Plus, we charge per call, not per minute, which allows you to better plan and budget your monthly spend. 

With PatLive, lead screening, payment acceptance, appointment scheduling, and event registration aren’t available on smaller plans. If you’re a small business owner with low call volume, you may be forced to purchase a larger plan than you need. Without those features, you'll be left handling lead screening and callbacks yourself, adding more work to your plate. With per-minute pricing, PATLive is also less predictable and often more expensive. Not to mention, they charge for spam, sales calls, and wrong numbers, too, and that’s something Smith.ai never does. 

Like their advanced features, PATLive also has a paywall around their technology. Their API and integrations require you to be on higher-tiered plans. Smith.ai offers one free CRM, Zapier, or Make integration with every plan (regardless of plan size) and access to our open API. Along with integrations, our rich call intelligence — that’s accessible at any time in the client dashboard — allows you to view analytics and key business insights. Our technology helps set us apart from PATLive and others in the market. 

For better lead qualification, AI-assisted virtual receptionists, no charge for spam, sales, or wrong numbers, and rich call intelligence, Smith.ai is the superior choice over PATLive.