An AI receptionist for your small business. Call it right now.
Small businesses miss calls all day: on a job, with a customer, after hours. This AI receptionist picks up on the first ring, works out what the caller needs, takes down their details and hands you a clean summary. Call the demo from your phone and watch your own call appear below as you talk.
One setup fee, then it is yours: you own every account and pay the providers at cost. No monthly fee to me. Based in Nashville, set up for businesses anywhere in the US.
What it does on every call
Answers every time
First ring, day or night, weekends and holidays. No hold music and no phone tree.
Triages the request
It asks the follow-up questions a good front desk would ask and works out how urgent the call is.
Captures the details
Name, callback number, the request, urgency and a good time to call back, saved as a clean record instead of a voicemail.
Hands it to your team
A summary, the transcript and the recording go wherever you already work: email, text, your CRM or a ticket queue.
What I can build for your business
The demo shows the core: answer, ask, capture, hand off. For your business I can build on top of that around your own systems. Each of these is custom-built and quoted as a fixed price; they are not part of the demo line or the $1,500 setup.
Knows who is calling
It looks up the caller's number in your CRM, so it can greet a returning customer by name and skip questions you already have the answers to.
Checks where they are
It can see where a caller is in your process, such as a job, order, appointment or claim, and tell them the status or next step.
Routes by customer and status
Beyond the simple routing included in setup, it can send the call based on who the customer is and where their job stands, such as straight to the technician or account manager already handling it.
Answers the common questions
Hours, service area, pricing ranges, status and next steps, from information you approve. If the caller is satisfied, no employee had to stop what they were doing. If not, it hands off to a person with the details already taken.
What it costs you to run
You pay the providers directly, at their list prices, and I add nothing on top. Most of the cost is the minutes it spends on the phone: with 3-minute calls, about 30 cents a call for the phone line and the AI voice. The phone number, hosting and database add about $53 a month. That is a realistic production setup (Vercel Pro, Supabase Pro, a small Render server and one local number), because the free tiers are not built for a business line: Vercel's free plan is for non-commercial use, and free Supabase projects pause when idle. Some setups can run for less, and I will tell you if yours can.
Here is that next to the lowest published price I found for a live answering service handling the same calls.
| Calls a month | AI receptionist, paid to providers | Live answering service |
|---|---|---|
| 50 | $68 | $350 |
| 100 | $83 | $395 |
| 250 | $127 | $1,050 |
| 500 | $200 | $2,025 |
| 1,000 | $348 | $4,300 |
A part-time receptionist in the Nashville area, 20 hours a week, earns about $1,565 a month in wages, and full time about $3,130. That is before payroll taxes and benefits, and either one covers business hours only. The calculator compares a part-time receptionist below 500 calls a month and a full-time one from 500 up.
Try your own numbers
At this volume most businesses need someone at the phone all day, so this compares a full-time receptionist.
AI receptionist
$83
a month, paid straight to the providers at cost. No fee from me.
Live answering service
$395
lowest published plan
Part-time receptionist
$1,565
wages only, 20 hrs/week
About $312 a month less than the lowest published answering-service plan, with no monthly fee to me.
Estimates; actual costs vary. The AI figures are what you would pay the providers directly for usage and hosting at their list prices, read on October 24, 2026. They leave out the one-time setup fee; there is no monthly fee from me. Transferred calls add Twilio's outbound rate for the forwarded part of the call, and taxes and carrier fees are extra. Answering services are the cheapest published plan for the same volume from AnswerConnect (billed per minute), Ruby (per minute, up to its largest published plan) and Smith.ai (live agents, per call), before setup fees and add-ons. Receptionist wages use the Nashville-area mean of $18.06 an hour from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (May 2025); the share of pay that is wages is from the BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (June 2026). AI sources: xAI voice pricing, Twilio US voice pricing, Render, Supabase and Vercel.
You own it. You pay cost.
Most phone answering is sold as a subscription that goes up as you grow. This works the other way: you pay me once to set it up, and that is the only thing you have to pay me.
- Every account is in your name. The phone number, Twilio, xAI, hosting and database are set up under your business, with your card on file.
- You pay providers directly, at cost. Phone and AI usage run on prepaid credits that top themselves up when they run low, up to a monthly cap you choose, so the line keeps answering and the spending has a ceiling. Hosting bills your card monthly.
- No monthly fee, markup or lock-in. No subscription to me, no per-call fee and no platform you have to keep renting. If we stop working together, it keeps running.
- Help when you want it. An optional monthly care plan, or call me when you need something and pay by the hour. Both are quoted up front, and it runs without either.
It is the same idea as the rest of my work: replacing the software you rent with tools you own, or at least making them cheaper.
Where else it saves
Wages are only part of what a phone-answering seat costs. Across private industry, wages are about 70% of what employers spend on each employee; payroll taxes, insurance, paid leave and retirement make up the rest, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A front-desk role also usually comes with:
- a phone or VoIP seat, and often a seat license for the software it uses
- a computer and a headset
- desk and office space
An AI receptionist can cut those or remove them, depending on how you use it. You do not have to replace anyone to get value from it: it can cover after hours, lunch breaks and overflow when everyone is already on a call, and take routine questions off your staff so they can spend that time on work that needs a person. If you have a role that is mostly answering the phone, it can take that over.
Live in about 7 days
The receptionist in the demo is already built and running. Setting one up for you means adapting it to your business, not starting from scratch.
- A call about your business. We go over how your phones work today, what callers usually want and what you wish happened when you miss a call.
- Your script and routing. I write the greeting and the questions it asks, and you add your staff to the contacts panel so it knows who handles what. You read the script and change anything before a single caller hears it.
- Your number and testing. We forward your existing number or set up a new one, then you and your team call it and try to trip it up.
- Go live. It starts answering real calls. For the first 30 days I watch closely and make adjustments based on what callers actually say.
What you can customize
Business hours
Answer every call, only after hours, or only when nobody picks up, with different greetings for each.
Staff contacts and transfers
Add or edit staff names, roles or departments and numbers yourself. Callers get transferred to the right person, or it takes a message for them.
Intake questions
Your questions in your order: service address, job type, insurance, budget, whatever your team needs to call back ready.
Email and text handoff
Each call's summary and transcript go out by email, or by text once business texting is registered. CRM and calendar connections are quoted separately.
Voice and tone
Pick the voice and how formal it sounds, and give it your business's name, services and FAQs.
Languages
It speaks more than 20 languages, including Spanish, and answers in the language the caller uses.
Setup starts at $1,500
One fee, paid once. For one location, $1,500 ships:
- The AI receptionist. It answers every call, takes a message (name, callback number and reason) and emails you the summary and transcript.
- A staff contacts panel. You add or edit your staff's names, roles or departments and numbers, and the receptionist uses them for simple routing: it transfers the caller to the right person, or takes a message for them.
- Every account set up in your business's name: phone number, Twilio, xAI, hosting and database
- Auto-recharging credits and monthly spending caps, so you pay the providers at cost and the balance tops itself up
- Your greeting, script and business hours
- Your phone number, or forwarding from the one you have
- Testing with your team, and the first 30 days of adjustments after launch
- Handoff docs and a walkthrough, so you know what you own and where everything lives
Transfers are set up for your business and your staff. The public demo line takes messages but does not transfer calls.
Bigger work is quoted separately, as a fixed price before anything starts: CRM lookups, job or order status checks, routing by customer, appointment booking, multiple locations and other custom integrations.
After setup, you pay the providers directly for what you use. There is no monthly fee from me.
Help after launch, only if you want it
Monthly care plan
I monitor it, handle provider and pricing changes, make small updates and you get priority help. Quoted for your business.
Call me when you need me
No plan at all. When you want a change or have a question, call and I bill by the hour, quoted before I start.
The receptionist keeps running without either one.
How it is built: on accounts you own
Each piece runs on an account in your name, billed to you at the provider's price with nothing added.
- Grok voice by xAI holds the conversation in a natural voice and writes the transcript of every call.
- Twilio provides the phone line and records each call.
- Next.js on Vercel runs the page where you watch calls come in and read them back.
- Supabase keeps your call records and puts each line on your screen as it is said.
- A small Node bridge on Render connects the phone call to the voice in real time.
The part that takes the time is making it sound natural: captions in step with its voice, clean interruptions, the recording notice, spending caps, and billing set up in your name. That is what the setup covers.
Privacy on the demo line
The receptionist says at the start of every call that it is an AI and that the call is recorded and transcribed. You only ever see your own call, using the 6-digit code it reads to you, and that view shows your phone number and anything you tell it. Calls are capped at 4 minutes and 3 per caller per day, and recordings, transcripts and details are deleted automatically after 7 days. Please do not share anything sensitive. The details are in the privacy policy.
Questions business owners ask
Is there a monthly fee?
Not unless you want one. Setup is a one-time fee, starting at $1,500. After that you pay the phone, voice and hosting providers directly, at their own prices, from accounts in your name, with no markup, subscription or per-call fee from me. A monthly care plan is available if you want someone watching it, but the receptionist runs fine without it.
Do I own it?
Yes. The phone number, the Twilio, xAI, hosting and database accounts, and the code all belong to you. If we ever stop working together, it keeps running exactly as it is, and you are never locked in to me or to a platform.
What happens if I need changes later?
The first 30 days of adjustments after launch are included. After that you can add or change staff contacts yourself in the contacts panel, and the handoff docs show how everything is set up. For anything else, there are two optional ways to get help: a monthly care plan, where I keep an eye on it, handle provider changes, make small updates and you get priority help; or just call me when you need something, billed by the hour. Both are quoted up front, neither is required, and any developer can work on it because you own the code and the accounts.
What does it cost to run?
Mostly the minutes you use. At the providers' list prices, a 3-minute call costs about 30 cents, plus about $53 a month for the phone number and a production-grade hosting setup. Some setups can run for less. The calculator above shows your own numbers, and you pay those providers directly.
Will this replace my receptionist?
Only if you want it to. Plenty of businesses use it to cover after hours, lunch breaks and overflow when the front desk is already on a call, so their staff can spend time on work that needs a person. It can also take over a dedicated answering role completely.
Will callers know they are talking to an AI?
Yes. It says so in its first sentence, along with any recording notice your business needs. Being upfront keeps trust intact, and what most callers want is a fast, useful answer.
Can it transfer a caller to a real person?
Yes. Setup includes a staff contacts panel where you add your team's names, roles or departments and numbers. When a caller asks for someone, or the call belongs to a certain department, the receptionist transfers them, or takes a message for that person if they cannot pick up. Transfers are set up for your business; the public demo line does not transfer calls.
Do I have to change my phone number?
No. Most businesses keep their number and forward calls to the receptionist: all calls, only after hours, or only when nobody answers. A new local number is also an option.
Can it connect to my CRM or job system?
Yes, if your CRM, scheduling or job system has an API, and most modern ones do. I can build it to look up callers, check job or order status, book appointments and write each call into your records. These connections are built for your business and quoted as a fixed price. Business texting needs a one-time carrier registration, which I can take care of during setup.
Does it speak Spanish?
The voice model speaks more than 20 languages, including Spanish, and answers in the language the caller uses. I test every language you want before it goes live.
What if it gets something wrong?
Every call is recorded and transcribed, so you can see exactly what it said. I tune the script after launch using real calls, and it is told to take a message or hand off to a person instead of guessing when it is unsure.