# Beside Phone — Business phone app with a 24/7 AI receptionist, call summaries, transcripts and shared team inboxes.

> Source: Receptionist Index — https://receptionistindex.com/beside-phone (structured, researched, re-verified)
> Facts last verified: 2026-10-14

Beside Phone is a mobile and web business phone line whose AI receptionist answers inbound calls around the clock, captures caller details, qualifies leads and books appointments. Calls, texts, summaries and transcripts live in one shared team app.

| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Website | https://www.beside.com/phone |
| Price | from $29/month |
| Free trial | Partly |

Beside Unlimited includes a 7-day free trial, payment method required, auto-renewing unless canceled, with texting capped at 15 messages during the trial. Beside Baseline has no trial and bills immediately.

## What it costs at your call volume

**Cost at 100 calls a month** · Yes — $29.99 a month on Beside plan (App Store and Google Play) for 100 calls of 2.5 minutes.

> Per seat | $29.99/month | $199.99/year (~45% off, ~$16.67/month)
> — https://help.beside.com/en/articles/10509427-plans-and-pricing · Beside plan pricing table, 'Per seat' row

**Cost at 500 calls a month** · Yes — $29.99 a month on Beside plan (App Store and Google Play) for 500 calls of 2.5 minutes.

> Per seat | $29.99/month | $199.99/year (~45% off, ~$16.67/month)
> — https://help.beside.com/en/articles/10509427-plans-and-pricing · Beside plan pricing table, 'Per seat' row

**What it bills by** · Yes — Billing is a flat monthly fee per business, not per minute: the only metered thing is how many calls the Receptionist answers on Baseline.

> The web plans are $29/month per business for Baseline and $99/month per business for Unlimited. Each includes one line and team access for up to 20 seats; extra lines cost $4.99/month.
> — https://www.beside.com/phone/pricing · FAQ, 'What does Beside Phone cost?'

**Past your allowance** · Yes — On Baseline the AI stops answering once 30 calls are used and callers drop to voicemail; there is no overage rate and no top-up, only an upgrade.

> Once you have used all 30 calls, your Receptionist stops answering calls for the rest of your billing period.
> — https://help.beside.com/en/articles/16516168-understand-your-ai-call-limit · Section 'What happens when you reach the limit'

**Spam calls not billed** · Partly — Carrier-flagged spam can be routed to voicemail or the Receptionist, but the default is to ring with a badge and robocalls the AI answers still use the allowance.

> Yes - if a robocall reaches your line, your Receptionist will answer and greet the caller. Most automated systems hang up at that point since they're not designed to respond to a live-sounding voice.
> — https://help.beside.com/en/articles/14625729-how-beside-handles-spam-and-robocalls · FAQ, 'Will my Receptionist answer robocalls?'

## What it does on the call

**Books appointments** · Yes — With a connected Google or Outlook calendar the Receptionist checks live availability and writes the event during the call; iCal is not supported.

> your Receptionist can check your availability in real time and book appointments directly into your Google or Outlook calendar - automatically, during calls and texts it handles on your behalf
> — https://help.beside.com/en/articles/11525406-schedule-appointments-with-your-receptionist · Intro paragraph

**Transfers to a person** · Yes — The Receptionist transfers to a teammate or external number on rules you define, announces the caller and leaves a context banner, though you cannot hand off a call you answered yourself.

> The Receptionist remains a silent participant during the transfer but stops speaking. This enables a smooth warm handoff.
> — https://help.beside.com/en/articles/14645335-set-up-call-transfer-for-your-receptionist · Section 'How Call Transfer works', note after step 6

**After-hours rules** · Yes — It answers around the clock by default and Business Hours sends daytime calls to your team, with a separate closed-hours greeting available.

> Your AI Receptionist picks up 24/7 by default - evenings, weekends, holidays, and during your busiest hours. You can set business hours so calls ring your team during the day and route to the AI outside those windows.
> — https://www.beside.com/llms-full.txt · Beside Phone Frequently Asked Questions, 'What happens after hours or during peak times?'

**Urgent calls escalated** · Yes — A Scenario rule can recognize emergency wording and transfer the caller straight to your personal number, including outside business hours.

> set up a rule that recognizes urgency and transfers the call to you immediately - even outside Business Hours
> — https://help.beside.com/en/articles/14645335-set-up-call-transfer-for-your-receptionist · Common use cases, 'Route urgent or emergency calls directly to you'

**Human receptionists as backup** · No — No human answering service sits behind the AI: calls it cannot handle are handed to your own team, and past the Baseline cap callers get voicemail rather than a person.

> It works alongside them. The AI handles calls based on the scenarios you define, collects the right details, and logs everything. Anything that needs a human gets handed off so your team stays focused
> — https://www.beside.com/llms-full.txt · Beside Phone FAQ, 'Does the AI Receptionist replace my team?'

**Asks your questions** · Yes — Scenarios let you write the trigger phrases and the exact questions the AI asks, and the answers land in the call summary as lead qualification.

> Ask a Question | Your Receptionist asks the caller to provide information and uses the answer. | Lead qualification, callback numbers, project details.
> — https://help.beside.com/en/articles/15276020-set-up-scenarios · Table 'The six actions your Receptionist can run'

**Answers about your business** · Yes — Each line has its own knowledge base of FAQs, hours, contact details and priced products and services, and it can be imported by scanning your website.

> Beside scans your site for your Website, Company Name, Industry, Address, Operating Hours, Products & Services, and FAQ, then walks you through the suggested content one field at a time
> — https://help.beside.com/en/articles/12292213-train-your-receptionist · Section 'Add or update your knowledge from your website'

**Texts your callers** · Yes — A Send a Text action texts the caller a link or confirmation during the call, and a separate Text Receptionist holds two-way SMS conversations on the line.

> Your Receptionist can reply to incoming text messages from clients, leads, and collaborators, ensuring timely, consistent responses even when you're unavailable.
> — https://help.beside.com/en/articles/12117952-enable-and-manage-your-text-receptionist · Opening paragraph

## What you get after the call

**Call summary by text** · No — Summaries arrive in the app and, if enabled, by email to an address you set, plus an optional once-daily recap; no per-call SMS summary is documented.

> Receive call summaries and transcripts by email after each call, including ones answered by your Receptionist.
> — https://help.beside.com/en/articles/12905367-manage-your-notifications · Section 'Email call summaries'

**Recordings and transcripts** · Partly — Every call is transcribed and recordings replay inside the app, but raw audio cannot be downloaded or exported, even for legal or compliance needs.

> To ensure privacy and compliance, Beside keeps call audio accessible only inside the app. You cannot export or download raw audio files.
> — https://help.beside.com/en/articles/9882823-listen-to-and-download-call-recordings · Section 'Why downloading is not supported'

## What it connects to

**Google Calendar** · Yes — Google Calendar and Outlook are booked into directly

> Beside currently supports Google Calendar and Outlook Calendar. iCal is not supported.
> — https://help.beside.com/en/articles/11525406-schedule-appointments-with-your-receptionist · Section 'Connect your calendar'

**Outlook** · Yes — Google Calendar and Outlook are booked into directly

> Beside currently supports Google Calendar and Outlook Calendar. iCal is not supported.
> — https://help.beside.com/en/articles/11525406-schedule-appointments-with-your-receptionist · Section 'Connect your calendar'

**Calendly** · Yes — Calendly is only textable as a link, or connectable on Android when already linked in Beside Agentic.

> Beside currently supports Google Calendar and Outlook Calendar. iCal is not supported.
> — https://help.beside.com/en/articles/11525406-schedule-appointments-with-your-receptionist · Section 'Connect your calendar'

**CRM, Zapier and webhooks** · Yes — Named CRM integrations ship on every plan and Zapier carries call events onward, so call data can reach thousands of other apps.

> CRM integrations (HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho, Follow Up Boss, Monday) and Zapier
> — https://help.beside.com/en/articles/10509427-plans-and-pricing · Section "What's included", bullet list

## Trying it, starting and leaving

**Free trial or free plan** · Partly — Only the pricier Unlimited plan has a seven-day free trial on your real line; Baseline charges from the moment you check out.

> Baseline starts billing immediately, without a trial. Unlimited offers seven days free with a payment method, then bills automatically unless canceled. Trial texting is limited to 15 messages in total.
> — https://www.beside.com/phone/pricing · FAQ, 'Is there a free trial?'

**Card required to start** · Yes — The Unlimited trial cannot start without a payment method and converts to a paid subscription automatically unless you cancel first.

> Beside Unlimited includes a 7-day free trial. A payment method is required to start it, and your subscription continues automatically when the trial ends unless you cancel beforehand.
> — https://help.beside.com/en/articles/10509427-plans-and-pricing · Section 'Free trial'

**Sign up without a sales call** · Yes — You sign up and pay online by card or Apple Pay through Stripe, or in the app stores; sales is only suggested for large teams.

> Go to app.beside.com and create your account | Choose Beside Baseline or Beside Unlimited | Complete the Stripe checkout (credit card or Apple Pay)
> — https://help.beside.com/en/articles/10509427-plans-and-pricing · Section 'How to subscribe', 'At app.beside.com'

**Contract and cancelling** · Yes — Baseline and Unlimited are month-to-month only and you cancel yourself in billing settings, with access running to the end of the period.

> Both plans are billed monthly. Yearly billing isn't available on Beside Baseline or Beside Unlimited.
> — https://help.beside.com/en/articles/10509427-plans-and-pricing · Pricing table note under Beside Baseline and Beside Unlimited

## Which languages it speaks, and how it sounds

**Languages** · Partly — Calls run in English plus one bilingual language per voice, always starting in English, and multilingual voices are iOS only for now.

> Depending on the voice you choose for your Receptionist, it can handle calls in English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, and Russian. The Receptionist always starts calls in English.
> — https://help.beside.com/en/articles/9887394-supported-languages-and-countries · Section 'Languages spoken by the Receptionist'

**Choose or clone the voice** · Yes — You pick from a library of twenty professional voices or record a roughly thirty-second clone of your own voice, which is English-only.

> Voice: Clone your own voice or choose from a range of pre-recorded options in our Voice Library.
> — https://help.beside.com/en/articles/12785394-customize-your-receptionist-s-voice-and-language · Intro bullet list

**Hear it before you buy** · Yes — Anyone can phone a published demo number and talk to a live Beside receptionist without booking a meeting or creating an account.

> Anyone can experience Beside Phone before signing up: call +1 (424) 855-1231 and a real Beside AI receptionist answers. Ask it anything about the product, act like a customer, try to break it.
> — https://www.beside.com/llms-full.txt · Section 'Try Beside Phone live'

## Your phone number and where it works

**Keep your number** · Yes — You keep your carrier number and forward calls to the Beside line, which the vendor says most of its customers do rather than porting.

> No. 55% of businesses on Beside keep their existing number and forward calls - your callers keep dialing the same number, nothing changes on their end.
> — https://www.beside.com/llms-full.txt · Beside Phone FAQ, 'Do I have to change my phone number?'

**Move your number in** · Yes — Eligible numbers port in, and any Beside number ports back out via your new carrier with no PIN, but only while you are still a paying subscriber.

> Port-out is only available to paying subscribers. If you are not currently on a paid Beside plan, we are unable to process a port-out request.
> — https://help.beside.com/en/articles/14018666-port-your-number-out-of-beside · Warning callout above Step 1

**Canada** · Yes — Your Beside business line - calls, texts, and your Receptionist - is US and Canada only.

> Your Beside business line - calls, texts, and your Receptionist - is US and Canada only. It needs a US or Canadian phone number.
> — https://help.beside.com/en/articles/9887394-supported-languages-and-countries · Section 'Where your phone line works'

**Australia** · Yes — the UK, EU and Australia get no line at all, and only the separate agent product works there.

> Your Beside business line - calls, texts, and your Receptionist - is US and Canada only. It needs a US or Canadian phone number.
> — https://help.beside.com/en/articles/9887394-supported-languages-and-countries · Section 'Where your phone line works'

## Who it is built for

**Industries it is set up for** · Yes — The vendor publishes trade pages and industry use cases for contractors, real estate, insurance, legal and healthcare, and the knowledge base has an industry field.

> Industry - helps your AI answer in the right context.
> — https://help.beside.com/en/articles/12292213-train-your-receptionist · Provide business details, '1. Business Details'

**Several locations or numbers** · Yes — One account runs several lines, each with its own Receptionist, knowledge and transfer rules, at a published four-dollar-and-ninety-nine-cent monthly fee per extra line.

> Each plan includes 1 phone line, however many people are on the account. Extra lines are $4.99/month each, and are billed automatically based on how many phone numbers are on your account.
> — https://help.beside.com/en/articles/10509427-plans-and-pricing · Section 'Users and phone lines'

## Getting set up and getting help

**Setup help** · Partly — Setup is self-guided through an onboarding checklist and a website scan rather than done for you, and the vendor claims about ten minutes to go live.

> Setup takes about 10 minutes - download the app, configure your AI receptionist, and go live. Most users set up during the day and their AI receptionist handles the first real business call the next morning.
> — https://www.beside.com/llms-full.txt · Beside Phone FAQ, 'How quickly can I get started?'

**Support** · Partly — Support is in-app chat or email with a help center behind it; the vendor states plainly that it publishes no support phone number, and no hours are given.

> Reach Beside support from the app for the fastest reply, or email support@beside.com. Privacy questions go to privacy@beside.com.
> — https://www.beside.com/contact · Contact page, opening line

## What changed

- 2026-10-14 — Capabilities · Free tier · Plan limits · Price · Terms

## Corrections

If you represent Beside Phone, or anything here is wrong or out of date, send a correction with a source. The operations this site accepts from an agent are listed at https://receptionistindex.com/.well-known/agents.json — that catalog needs no key to read, and each entry states its own auth.