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Upfirst vs Marlie AI

The short answer

  • Marlie AI costs least: $49 a month for 100 calls and $274 for 500.
  • Upfirst has the lowest advertised price, $24.95, but costs Not priced yet at 100 calls.
  • Pick Upfirst if you want bookings made during the call or calls put through to you.
  • Pick Marlie AI if you want Spanish.
Upfirst vs Marlie AI, compared
Upfirstsmall businesses whose phone goes unanswered while the owner is out on the jobVisit siteMarlie AIsolo trades and service shops that miss calls on the jobVisit site
Cost
At 100 calls a monthUpfirstNot priced yetMarlie AI$49Lowest
At 500 calls a monthUpfirstNot priced yetMarlie AI$274Lowest
Advertised fromUpfirst$24.95 a monthMarlie AI$49 a month
The advertised plan coversUpfirstNot countedMarlie AIThe $49 plan covers all 100 calls.
BillsUpfirstMarlie AIper minute
Keeps answering past your allowanceUpfirstYesCalls past the allowance keep being answeredMarlie AIYesCalls keep being answered past the allowance
Free trial or planUpfirstPartlyYou can put it on your real line before paying, but only for the fourteen-day trialMarlie AIPartlyA 14-day free trial lets you test on a real line within minutes
Month to month, cancel onlineUpfirstYesMonth to month with cancellation, upgrade or downgrade at any time and no call requiredMarlie AIYesPlans are month to month with no long-term commitment and no cancellation fee
On the call
Books appointmentsUpfirstYesIt checks the connected calendar during the call, offers open timesMarlie AIPartlyReal booking into a synced calendar starts on the Standard plan
Transfers to a personUpfirstYesRule-based transfers to a person, department or extension, and warm transfers brief you onMarlie AIPartlyWarm transfer with the caller announced before you accept is real
Human receptionists as backupUpfirstNoUpfirst supplies no human agents for callsMarlie AINoThere is no human agent pool behind the AI
After-hours rulesUpfirstYesCoverage is a choice per account: all calls, overflow only, or after hours onlyMarlie AIYesIt answers around the clock and you can set different after-hours behavior
Urgent calls escalatedUpfirstYesEmergencies are recognized from what the caller describes and handled by your own rulesMarlie AIPartlyUrgent keywords can trigger an immediate transfer to an on-call person
Texts your callersUpfirstPartlyIt can text the caller mid-call on every plan with no extra chargeMarlie AIPartlyIt texts callers links and automated SMS follow-ups after the call
Call summary by textUpfirstYesA summary of the key details goes out by text or email the moment the call endsMarlie AIYesA post-call report with caller, issue and urgency goes out by text as well as email
Language, privacy and trying it
LanguagesUpfirstYes35+ languagesMarlie AIYes50+ languages
HIPAA, with a signed BAAUpfirstPartlyA Business Associate Agreement is listed only in the Custom tier's feature setMarlie AINot stated
Hear it before you buyUpfirstYesA public number answered by its own AI receptionist is published on the siteMarlie AIYesFour public demo lines by industry can be called directly, plus recorded sample calls
What it connects to
Google CalendarUpfirstYesGoogle Calendar, Outlook, Calendly, Acuity, SquareMarlie AIYesThe vendor names Google Calendar, Outlook and Calendly as booking targets
OutlookUpfirstYesGoogle Calendar, Outlook, Calendly, Acuity, SquareMarlie AIYesThe vendor names Google Calendar, Outlook and Calendly as booking targets
CalendlyUpfirstYesGoogle Calendar, Outlook, Calendly, Acuity, SquareMarlie AIYesThe vendor names Google Calendar, Outlook and Calendly as booking targets
Your trade’s softwareUpfirstPartlyField service tools such as ServiceTitan, Housecall ProMarlie AIPartlyTrade tools covered include Housecall Pro, Jobber, Shopmonkey, Clio
Keep your numberUpfirstYesEvery plan includes an Upfirst number and you keep your existing lineMarlie AIYesYou keep your existing business number and forward it to the Marlie number
In short
What it isUpfirstUpfirst is an AI receptionist that answers a small business's phone around the clock, answers caller questions from the owner's own information, books appointments and transfers urgent callers. Plans are sold by monthly call allowance and set up self-serve from the business website.All answers for UpfirstMarlie 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
CheckedUpfirstOctober 16, 2026Marlie AIOctober 15, 2026

Costs are for 100 or 500 calls a month of 2½ minutes each, on the cheapest public plan. How we price