Comparison · AI answering service
HighLevel AI Employee vs Smith.ai
Both answer your business line when you cannot. They are built on two different ideas. HighLevel AI Employee is pure AI sold as a flat monthly add-on per location, inside a CRM. Smith.ai bills per call and keeps live North America based receptionists behind its AI, or sells fully human answering on separate plans.
The short answer: if your calls are routine (booking, qualifying, questions about hours and prices) and volume is high, the flat price wins. If a share of your callers needs a human on the line, as in legal intake, Smith.ai's hybrid model is the reason to pay per call.
Side by side
The three criteria that decide it
| HighLevel AI Employee | Smith.ai | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | $97 per month per location for AI Employee Unlimited, on top of a HighLevel plan ($194 per month for one business on Starter). Calls are not counted; telephony is billed at carrier rates. | Billed by the call. AI Receptionist: Free with 25 calls, Pro from $150 per month (75 to 300 calls), Enterprise from $500 per month (300 to 1,000+ calls). Fully human Virtual Receptionists: from $300 per month for 30 calls. |
| Simultaneous calls | Answers more than one call at once; no per-call meter. | Not stated on its pricing pages. Each extra call above the plan is billed ($1.67 to $3.00 on AI plans, $8.50 to $11.50 on human plans). |
| Who answers | AI only: Voice AI answers, qualifies, books, transfers to your team or takes a message. | AI first, with transfer to a live receptionist any time, day or night. Human only plans also exist. |
| Sectors it suits | Local and service businesses with routine, repeatable calls and a need for CRM follow-up (SMS recap, pipeline, reviews). | Law firms come first in its industry list, then home services, IT, medical, real estate and financial services: callers who may need a person. |
| Way to try it | 14-day free trial, cancel anytime. | Free AI plan with 25 calls; 30-day money-back guarantee on human plans. |
Smith.ai figures come from its own pricing pages (AI Receptionist and Virtual Receptionists). HighLevel figures come from its AI and pricing pages. Both vendors change prices; check them before you sign.
Criterion by criterion
What each difference means for your phone line
Pricing model: flat per location or per call
HighLevel charges the same $97 per location whether the AI takes 40 calls or 400 in a month, plus the HighLevel plan the add-on sits on and carrier minutes. Smith.ai charges for the volume: the AI Receptionist Pro plan starts at $150 per month for 75 calls and every extra call is billed. At low volume, Smith.ai's free plan or its entry tier can cost less. As volume rises, the per-call meter keeps running while the HighLevel price stays put, so the break-even point depends on your own call count. Pull last month's call log before you decide.
Simultaneous calls: what happens at the 9 a.m. rush
An AI agent does not put the second caller on hold to finish with the first: HighLevel's Voice AI answers calls in parallel, which matters when calls bunch up after a promotion or at opening time. Smith.ai's AI answers first as well, but it does not publish a concurrency figure on its pricing pages, and any call routed to a human depends on receptionist availability. If peaks are your problem, run a test day with real traffic on either service.
Sectors: routine calls or calls that need a person
HighLevel fits businesses where most calls follow a script: book, reschedule, quote a price range, answer hours and location, qualify a lead, then hand off. Everything lands in the CRM with recording and transcript, and the same subscription covers SMS, chat and review replies. Smith.ai positions itself where a human voice still matters: law firm intake, sensitive medical or financial calls, callers who will not talk to a machine. Paying per call buys that safety net.
Test HighLevel's AI on your own calls first
Load your services, prices and calendar, forward your line, and listen to 14 days of real calls before you compare invoices. Then decide whether you still need a human behind the AI.
Start the 14-day free trial14-day free trial · Cancel anytime · Onboarding session included
How the AI answering service works in detail
Setup steps, the full cost breakdown and a day-by-day plan for the trial are on the main guide: how to run the 14-day free trial. For the product on its own, modules and real monthly cost, see the full HighLevel AI Employee review.