Marlie AI vs Beside Phone
The short answer
- Beside Phone costs least: $29.99 a month for 100 calls and $29.99 for 500.
- Pick Marlie AI if you want a summary by text after each call.
- Pick Beside Phone if you want the lower bill, bookings made during the call or calls put through to you.
 Marlie AIsolo trades and service shops that miss calls on the jobVisit site |  Beside Phonesolo trades and local teams who miss inbound calls while on the jobVisit site | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | ||
| At 100 calls a month | Marlie AI$49 | Beside Phone$29.99Lowest |
| At 500 calls a month | Marlie AI$274 | Beside Phone$29.99Lowest |
| Advertised from | Marlie AI$49 a month | Beside Phone$29 a month |
| The advertised plan covers | Marlie AIThe $49 plan covers all 100 calls. | Beside PhoneThe $29 plan it advertises stops answering after 30 calls. |
| Bills | Marlie AIper minute | Beside Phoneper call |
| Keeps answering past your allowance | Marlie AIYesCalls keep being answered past the allowance | Beside PhoneYesOn Baseline the AI stops answering once 30 calls are used and callers drop to voicemail |
| Free trial or plan | Marlie AIPartlyA 14-day free trial lets you test on a real line within minutes | Beside PhonePartlyOnly the pricier Unlimited plan has a seven-day free trial on your real line |
| Month to month, cancel online | Marlie AIYesPlans are month to month with no long-term commitment and no cancellation fee | Beside PhoneYesBaseline and Unlimited are month-to-month only and you cancel yourself in billing settings |
| On the call | ||
| Books appointments | Marlie AIPartlyReal booking into a synced calendar starts on the Standard plan | Beside PhoneYesWith a connected Google or Outlook calendar the Receptionist checks live availability |
| Transfers to a person | Marlie AIPartlyWarm transfer with the caller announced before you accept is real | Beside PhoneYesThe Receptionist transfers to a teammate or external number on rules you define |
| Human receptionists as backup | Marlie AINoThere is no human agent pool behind the AI | Beside PhoneNoNo human answering service sits behind the AI |
| After-hours rules | Marlie AIYesIt answers around the clock and you can set different after-hours behavior | Beside PhoneYesIt answers around the clock by default and Business Hours sends daytime calls to your team |
| Urgent calls escalated | Marlie AIPartlyUrgent keywords can trigger an immediate transfer to an on-call person | Beside PhoneYesA Scenario rule can recognize emergency wording |
| Texts your callers | Marlie AIPartlyIt texts callers links and automated SMS follow-ups after the call | Beside PhoneYesA Send a Text action texts the caller a link or confirmation during the call |
| Call summary by text | Marlie AIYesA post-call report with caller, issue and urgency goes out by text as well as email | Beside PhoneNoSummaries arrive in the app and, if enabled, by email to an address you set |
| Language, privacy and trying it | ||
| Languages | Marlie AIYes50+ languages | Beside PhonePartly5 languages |
| HIPAA, with a signed BAA | Marlie AINot stated | Beside PhoneNot stated |
| Hear it before you buy | Marlie AIYesFour public demo lines by industry can be called directly, plus recorded sample calls | Beside PhoneYesAnyone can phone a published demo number |
| What it connects to | ||
| Google Calendar | Marlie AIYesThe vendor names Google Calendar, Outlook and Calendly as booking targets | Beside PhoneYesGoogle Calendar and Outlook are booked into directly |
| Outlook | Marlie AIYesThe vendor names Google Calendar, Outlook and Calendly as booking targets | Beside PhoneYesGoogle Calendar and Outlook are booked into directly |
| Calendly | Marlie AIYesThe vendor names Google Calendar, Outlook and Calendly as booking targets | Beside PhoneYesCalendly is only textable as a link |
| Your trade’s software | Marlie AIPartlyTrade tools covered include Housecall Pro, Jobber, Shopmonkey, Clio | Beside PhoneNot stated |
| Keep your number | Marlie AIYesYou keep your existing business number and forward it to the Marlie number | Beside PhoneYesYou keep your carrier number and forward calls to the Beside line |
| In short | ||
| What it is | Marlie AIMarlie AI is a 24/7 AI answering service that picks up a service business's forwarded calls, screens spam, qualifies callers and books jobs into a connected calendar. Call reports with summaries and transcripts go out by email and text after every call.All answers for Marlie AI | Beside PhoneBeside 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.All answers for Beside Phone |
| Checked | Marlie AIOctober 15, 2026 | Beside PhoneOctober 14, 2026 |
Costs are for 100 or 500 calls a month of 2½ minutes each, on the cheapest public plan. How we price