SkipCalls vs AI Receptionist
AI answering services side by side: what a month of calls costs, what each does on the call, and where each falls short.
The short answer
- SkipCalls costs least at both 100 and 500 calls a month.
- AI Receptionist has the lowest advertised price ($14), but costs $57.75 at 100 calls.
- Only AI Receptionist holds a two-way text conversation with callers on every plan.
| SSkipCallssolo trades and service businesses that miss calls while on the jobVisit site | AAI Receptionistsolo professionals and small businesses that miss calls while workingVisit site | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | ||
| At 100 calls a month | SkipCalls$19.99Lowest | AI Receptionist$57.75 |
| At 500 calls a month | SkipCalls$176.50Lowest | AI Receptionist$261.50 |
| Advertised from | SkipCalls$19.99 a month | AI Receptionist$14 a month |
| The advertised plan covers | SkipCallsThe $19.99 plan covers all 100 calls. | AI ReceptionistThe $14 plan covers 30 of 100 calls.70 cost extra. |
| Bills | SkipCallsper call | AI Receptionistper minute |
| Keeps answering past your allowance | SkipCallsPartlyNothing is cut off or auto-charged past the call allowance on Starter and PRO | AI ReceptionistPartlyCalls are not auto-upgraded or billed down: once the monthly minutes run out the… |
| Free trial or plan | SkipCallsPartlyA seven-day free trial lets you run it on your real line before paying, but there is no… | AI ReceptionistPartlyA 7-day trial lets it answer your real line: you get 30 minutes of live calls and can… |
| Month to month, cancel online | SkipCallsYesMonth-to-month with no contract, cancellable from the app without contacting anyone, and… | AI ReceptionistYesMonth-to-month with no contract, and you cancel yourself in the app without phoning anyone |
| On the call | ||
| Books appointments | SkipCallsYesThe agent checks live calendar availability during the call and writes the event itself,… | AI ReceptionistPartlyIt books into the caller’s slot during the call, but only through a connected Google… |
| Transfers to a person | SkipCallsYesBoth warm and cold transfers are offered, with the AI briefing the team member on a… | AI ReceptionistYesTransfers are warm by default: it texts you who is calling and why, shows the live… |
| Human receptionists as backup | SkipCallsNoThere is no vendor-staffed human answering tier: calls the AI cannot handle are… | AI ReceptionistNoNo human agents sit behind the AI |
| After-hours rules | SkipCallsYesAnswering runs nights, weekends and holidays, and you can configure different… | AI ReceptionistPartlyAnswering is 24/7 on every plan including weekends and holidays, and out-of-hours… |
| Urgent calls escalated | SkipCallsYesYou define keyword triggers per agent | AI ReceptionistYesEmergency recognition is a documented behaviour: the vendor says it triages urgent calls… |
| Texts your callers | SkipCallsPartlyAutomatic SMS follow-ups come on every plan, but two-way AI text conversations answered… | AI ReceptionistYesCallers can text the same number and hold a full SMS conversation answered from the same… |
| Call summary by text | SkipCallsYesSummaries are pushed by text as well as email and the dashboard, which is what the… | AI ReceptionistYesYou can get per-call alerts by SMS as well as email, with a daily SMS and email digest as… |
| Language, privacy and trying it | ||
| Languages | SkipCallsYes10 languages | AI ReceptionistYes57 languages |
| HIPAA, with a signed BAA | SkipCallsNoThe vendor states plainly on its transcription page that the product is not HIPAA… | AI ReceptionistNoNo BAA today on any plan: the vendor lists HIPAA compliance and Business Associate… |
| Hear it before you buy | SkipCallsYesA public demo number answers without signup, and the site also offers a scenario-driven… | AI ReceptionistYesThree live demo receptionists are published with their phone numbers and suggested… |
| What it connects to | ||
| Google Calendar | SkipCallsYesGoogle Calendar, Outlook/Microsoft 365, Calendly, Cal.com, Apple Calendar, TidyCal,… | AI ReceptionistYesGoogle Calendar is the only calendar it books into, included from the $14 plan up |
| Outlook | SkipCallsYesGoogle Calendar, Outlook/Microsoft 365, Calendly, Cal.com, Apple Calendar, TidyCal,… | AI ReceptionistYesthe vendor says support for other calendar platforms is still to come, and names no… |
| Calendly | SkipCallsYesGoogle Calendar, Outlook/Microsoft 365, Calendly, Cal.com, Apple Calendar, TidyCal,… | AI ReceptionistYesthe vendor says support for other calendar platforms is still to come, and names no… |
| Your trade’s software | SkipCallsPartlyHousecall Pro and Jobber are supported for home-services scheduling and job creation, but… | AI ReceptionistNot stated |
| Keep your number | SkipCallsYesYou keep your number and carrier and switch on forwarding | AI ReceptionistYesYou keep your existing line and forward it with carrier star codes, documented per… |
| Our verdict | ||
| In short | SkipCallsSkipCalls is an AI receptionist and answering service for small businesses that answers calls on a forwarded or SkipCalls number, books appointments, screens spam and sends summaries. It is run from an iOS, Android or web app.All answers for SkipCalls | AI ReceptionistAI Receptionist is a 24/7 AI phone answering service for small businesses and solo operators. It greets callers, answers their questions from your own business information, books appointments, screens spam and sends you a summary of every call.All answers for AI Receptionist |
| Checked | SkipCallsOctober 14, 2026 | AI ReceptionistOctober 14, 2026 |
Costs are for 100 or 500 calls a month of 2½ minutes each, on the cheapest public plan. How we price