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You're under a sink. Your phone is ringing in the truck.
That's the whole problem, isn't it? A burst pipe doesn't wait for you to dry your hands. And the homeowner with water coming through the ceiling isn't leaving a voicemail — she's calling the next plumber on Google.
Run the rough math on your own shop. Say you miss 20 calls a month (most shops miss more). If half of those would have booked, and your average ticket is $450, even after knocking off the few who call back, you're looking at something like $190 lost on every single missed call. Multiply it out. It stops being funny fast.
An AI receptionist answers on the first ring, 24/7, takes the job details and books it onto your calendar. The question isn't really whether anymore. It's which one — because these five tools bill you in completely different ways, and the cheapest headline price is not always the cheapest bill.
Short version, if you're in a hurry:
- Tight budget, mostly message-taking: Rosie, from $49/month
- Long calls, lots of repeat customers: Goodcall, from $79/month (unlimited minutes)
- Cheapest way to test the idea: Dialzara, from $29/month
- You want a human safety net too: Smith.ai (bring your wallet)
- Already run your shop on Jobber: Jobber's own AI Receptionist, $29/month add-on
| Tool | Starts at | How you're billed | Books jobs? | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rosie | $49/mo | Per minute (250 min included) | Yes — on the $149 Scale plan | Small plumbing & HVAC shops |
| Goodcall | $79/mo | Per unique caller (100, unlimited minutes) | Yes | Repeat customers, long calls |
| Dialzara | $29/mo | Per minute (60 min included) | Yes — on $99+ plans | Solo operators testing AI answering |
| Smith.ai | Free tier, then ~$150/mo | Per call (25 free AI calls) | Yes, with human backup | Bigger shops that want a human safety net |
| Jobber AI Receptionist | $29/mo add-on | Flat add-on to Jobber | Yes — straight into Jobber | Existing Jobber users |
How we compared them (no, we didn't fake this part)
We went through each vendor's published pricing, plan limits and feature pages, and cross-checked them against 2026 roundups that read the same pages. Prices below were current in October 2026 — check the vendor before you buy, because these companies move their pricing around more than a apprentice loses 10mm sockets.
One thing matters more than the brand name: how you're billed. Per-minute plans punish you for chatty customers. Per-caller plans punish you for one-off emergency calls. Pick the billing model that fits your call pattern first, then pick the tool.
1. Rosie — the home-services favourite, from $49/month
Rosie is built for trades and home services, which shows in the details: it answers, screens spam, qualifies the job and texts you the call summary.
- $49/month gets you 250 minutes of answering and message-taking
- $149/month (Scale) gets you 1,000 minutes — and this is where booking and call routing actually start
The catch: the $49 plan doesn't book jobs for you. If booking is the whole point (it usually is), your real starting price is $149. Still predictable, still reasonable — just don't budget $49 and expect a dispatcher.
Best for: small plumbing and HVAC shops that want a trades-focused tool and can live on the Scale plan.
2. Goodcall — the one that doesn't watch the clock, from $79/month
Goodcall bills by unique callers, not minutes. $79/month covers up to 100 unique callers, with unlimited minutes.
That flips the maths in your favour if your customers are repeat callers or your calls run long — a 12-minute call about a remodel costs you the same as a 2-minute "my tap is dripping." The Growth tier ($129/month) is where a busy shop lands.
The catch: a month full of brand-new emergency callers eats your caller allowance fast, and extra callers are billed on top.
Best for: established shops with a loyal customer base and long, detailed calls.
3. Dialzara — cheapest seat at the table, from $29/month
Dialzara's entry plan is $29/month for 60 minutes. That's real money saved if you're a solo operator who just needs someone (something) picking up after hours.
The catch: 60 minutes disappears quicker than you think, and job booking only starts on the $99/month plan and up. Treat the $29 tier as a trial with training wheels.
Best for: one-truck operations testing whether AI answering works for them at all.
4. Smith.ai — AI with humans behind it, free to start, expensive to grow
Smith.ai is the hybrid: AI first, real human receptionists behind it. There's a free tier (25 AI calls a month), then paid AI plans from around $150/month for 75 calls.
The catch: per-call pricing past your allowance adds up brutally at volume, and the human-staffed plans are in a different price universe altogether (hundreds per month before overages). The quality ceiling is the highest here. So is the bill.
Best for: bigger shops where a mishandled call costs more than the service does.
5. Jobber AI Receptionist — the no-brainer if you're already on Jobber, $29/month add-on
If your jobs, invoices and schedule already live in Jobber, its built-in AI receptionist ($29/month add-on, included on some higher Jobber plans) answers calls and books straight into the system you already use. No new dashboard, no duct-taping two tools together.
The catch: it's an add-on, not a product. No Jobber, no deal — and it's newer and simpler than the dedicated tools above.
Best for: existing Jobber shops. Everyone else, start with Rosie or Goodcall.
So which one would we put in a two-truck plumbing shop?
Rosie on the Scale plan. Not the cheapest headline, but the bill is predictable (1,000 minutes is a lot of talking), it's built for trades, and it actually books the job instead of just taking a message you'll return three hours too late.
If most of your callers are regulars, swap that pick for Goodcall and never think about minutes again.
FAQs
Can an AI receptionist handle a real emergency call?
Yes, if you set it up properly — burst pipe at 2 a.m. should route straight to your on-call phone, not get booked for Tuesday. Every tool above supports some form of urgent-call routing. Test it yourself, at night, before you trust it.
Will my customers hate talking to a robot?
Some will. Most won't care, because the alternative they hate more is voicemail. The callers who hang up on voicemail mostly never call back — that's the whole problem we're solving.
What does this replace — my office staff?
No. It replaces the calls nobody was answering anyway: after hours, weekends, and whenever the office phone rings while everyone's already on a job.
FREE TOOL
What does an AI receptionist really cost? Headline prices mislead — billing models differ (per minute, per call, per caller). Our true-cost calculator runs your real call volume through each model so you can compare like with like.
Prices and plan details checked October 2026 from vendor pricing pages. AI receptionist pricing changes often — confirm on the vendor's site before you buy. This page contains affiliate links; if you buy through one, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
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