CaughtLeads vs Smith.ai: Which Answering Service Fits a Small Contractor?

Looking at Smith.ai? Start with how it bills

If you have been shopping for an answering service, you have probably come across Smith.ai. It is a well-known service, and it offers both an AI receptionist and real human receptionists.

We are a different kind of service: an AI receptionist built for home-services trades like HVAC, roofing and plumbing. Both of us answer your calls when you can't. The biggest difference is how each one bills you, and that decides which one costs less for your shop.

Every Smith.ai price here is from its own pricing pages, checked on 8 October 2026. Prices change, so check them again before you decide.

Per call against per minute

Smith.ai charges per call. You pick a block of calls each month. Its AI receptionist is free for 25 calls ($3.00 a call after that), then $150 for 75 calls, $270 for 150 or $500 for 300. Calls over your plan cost $2.17 to $2.50 each. Its human receptionists start at $300 a month for 30 calls, then $11.50 for each extra call.

We charge per minute. A $49 monthly base that includes your own local number, then $0.12 for each minute of talk time. Each call is rounded up to the next whole minute, and calls under 15 seconds are not billed. Texts to your customers are $0.03 a segment once your business's text registration is approved, and alerts to you and your team are free. A 3-month plan takes 15% off the base, a 12-month plan 30%, and there is no setup fee.

So it comes down to one number: how long your calls last. On Smith.ai's 150-call plan, a call costs $1.80 however long it runs. With us, $1.80 buys 15 minutes.

If your calls average under 15 minutes, paying by the minute costs less. If they run longer, paying by the call costs less.

What a normal month costs

Here is an example with round numbers. Swap in your own.

• Your shop gets 150 calls a month that need answering, averaging 3 minutes each.
• On Smith.ai's AI plan for 150 calls: $270 a month.
• On Smith.ai's human plans: the 90-call plan at $810 plus 60 extra calls at $10.50, which is $1,440 a month.
• On CaughtLeads: $49 base plus 450 minutes at $0.12, which is $103 a month, plus any texts.

Price is only half of it. What each call does for you matters just as much, so here is where each one is stronger.

Where Smith.ai is the better choice

You want real people. If you want a human to take your calls, or to step in when the AI can't handle something, Smith.ai offers that. It says calls go to its AI first and can be passed to a live agent when something complex comes up. We are an AI receptionist. We can transfer a caller to your own team when they ask for a person, but we do not supply human receptionists.

You rely on a particular connection. Smith.ai has integration pages for ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, Jobber and AccuLynx, plus many CRMs.

Your line is very quiet. Its free AI plan covers 25 calls a month.

You need recordings. Smith.ai offers call recording and transcripts. We keep transcripts in your account, but call recording is switched off today.

Where we are different

Built around home-services calls. Our receptionist asks what is wrong, where the job is and when suits the caller, then books the appointment into one of your open slots.

Safety calls come first. If a caller mentions a gas smell or a carbon monoxide alarm, the receptionist tells them to get somewhere safe and call 911, then emails you and phones the emergency contacts who agreed to take these calls. It does not try to book a gas leak.

You see which bookings actually happened. Many services report calls answered or appointments booked. We report which bookings were kept and what each job was worth, using the final invoice total. You enter the total, or it comes back from Jobber or ServiceTitan through your own Zapier account, or from Housecall Pro directly (in beta).

Honest limits. It tells callers it is an AI. Texting your customers switches on only after your business's text registration (A2P 10DLC) is approved, and only for people who agreed to receive texts.

Test both on your own calls

You do not have to take our word for it, or theirs. It takes an afternoon.

• Pull last month's call log. Count the calls and work out the average length.
• Price that month on both. The maths above takes five minutes.
• Call both free versions the way a customer would, including one awkward call.
• Ask each one what happens when a caller says "I smell gas".

You can build and test our receptionist in your browser for free, with no card. The trial on a real phone line lasts 14 days or 100 voice minutes, whichever comes first.

Pick the one that fits your calls

If you want people on your phones, your calls run long, or you depend on one of its integrations, Smith.ai is the better fit.

If most of your calls are a few minutes long, you would rather pay for the minutes you use than for a block of calls, and you want to see which booked jobs actually went ahead, we are worth a test.

If you are also weighing human answering services, how much an AI answering service costs covers the other pricing models.