Smith.ai vs. AnswerConnect

Your answering service pricing should be easy to understand and show true value. You shouldn’t have to give up your name, email, and phone number before you see costs. And that’s exactly what AnswerConnect does. 

With Smith.ai, we’re transparent with all our pricing. From our per-call fees to all our add-ons — like text/email follow-up, call recording and transcription, and appointment booking — you never have to worry about a surprise bill.

Since AnswerConnect charges per minute instead of per call, monthly charges could range widely and be far less predictable. You probably know how many calls you have a month, but not how many minutes your callers are on the phone. It’s important to note that all AnswerConnect interactions are rounded up to the nearest minute and billed in 1-minute increments. Smith.ai charges a flat per call fee, no setup or hidden fees, and we never charge for spam, sales calls, or wrong numbers. In other words, with Smith.ai, you can compare your monthly invoice to the calls you actually wanted.

AnswerConnect also charges a $300 porting fee for any client looking to move their phone number to another service provider. At Smith.ai, we believe your number should stay yours, so we never charge a porting fee if you decide to move. This is part of our commitment to transparent and customer-first pricing.

AnswerConnect also doesn’t offer the same depth of features as Smith.ai. They don’t have zip code searches, or offer call transfer requests via SMS, Teams, and Slack. And even though both Smith.ai and AnswerConnect offer call recording, only Smith.ai goes the extra mile by transcribing your calls as well. That way, you don’t have to listen to hours of conversations to get the information you need. 

With Smith.ai, you can also opt to have every call answered by a bilingual receptionist and request outbound calls directly from your call summary. Smith.ai receptionists use these features to make both you and your callers feel like we are sitting in your office.

And it’s no surprise that we integrate seamlessly with nearly every major calendaring software and most CRMs (and for the more technically minded, chat apps like Slack and DIY integration tools like Zapier, Make, and open APIs).

For growth-minded business owners who care about price transparency, seamless integrations, and robust customizations that deliver the experience of in-house customer engagement and sales development, Smith.ai is the superior choice for your 24/7 Virtual Receptionists partner, over AnswerConnect.