CrewRobin vs Smith.ai: AI Receptionist for Contractors, Compared (2026)
Smith.ai sells AI, hybrid and human receptionists billed per call, mostly to law firms. CrewRobin is an AI receptionist built for home service shops that books the job. Here's the comparison.
9 min read
Smith.ai is an answering service that offers three ways to answer: AI first, a hybrid of AI and live agents, and human first. It says it has handled more than 25 million calls over 11 years with over 500 North American agents in English and Spanish. Its homepage speaks mostly to law firms, with home services among its other industries, and its help center documents booking into Jobber and Housecall Pro.
CrewRobin is an AI receptionist built for HVAC, plumbing, electrical and roofing shops, inside a small field service system: it books the job on your technicians' own calendars and then carries it through reminders, quotes, invoices and review requests. This comparison is for contractors choosing between an answering service and an AI front office.
The short answer
Choose Smith.ai if you want real people available to take over, Spanish-speaking agents, or booking into Jobber or Housecall Pro, and you're comfortable paying per call. Choose CrewRobin if you want AI to answer and book every call at a flat monthly price, with the job, text-back, reminders, quotes and invoices in the same place.
Key takeaways
- Smith.ai's human receptionist plans start at $300 a month for 30 calls ($11.50 per extra call); its AI receptionist plans start free for 25 calls and from $150 a month for 75 to 300 calls.
- Smith.ai's own pages give different per-call AI prices in different places, so check the one you'll be billed on.
- Smith.ai documents booking into Jobber and Housecall Pro, and logging calls into ServiceTitan. CrewRobin books into its own calendar and doesn't connect to those tools.
- CrewRobin's receptionist speaks English only and hands off only to the owner's cell; Smith.ai has live agents and Spanish.
- CrewRobin is a front office more than a full field service suite: the receptionist, missed-call text-back, online booking and reminders work together on every job, with quotes, invoices and dispatch on every plan, and AI call time is paid from the plan's monthly credits.
Disclosure: we make CrewRobin, so weigh our view accordingly. Everything we say about Smith.ai comes from its own public pages or published reviews, checked in September 2026 and linked at the end. CrewRobin is new and does less than Smith.ai in several areas; we list them.
CrewRobin vs Smith.ai at a glance
| CrewRobin | Smith.ai | |
|---|---|---|
| Who answers | AI, always | AI, AI with human backup, or humans first |
| Built for | Home service shops with 2 to 15 trucks | Law firms first, plus other small businesses including home services |
| Where the job goes | Books on your technicians' calendars in CrewRobin | Books into Jobber or Housecall Pro, Google Calendar or Calendly |
| Pricing | Flat monthly plans with credits for AI call time | Per call, by plan |
Pricing compared
Smith.ai publishes its prices, but its AI receptionist page and its homepage give different per-call figures. The table below uses its pricing pages in September 2026; its homepage shows AI-first calls at $1.60, hybrid at $2.50 and human-first at $7 per call.
| CrewRobin plan | Price |
|---|---|
| Starter | $99/month: 2 seats, 1,500 credits a month for AI call time and texts, every feature |
| Pro | $199/month: 5 seats, 4,000 credits a month, every feature |
| Crew | $349/month: 15 seats, 12,000 credits a month, every feature plus job hours on timesheets |
Every plan has every feature, including quotes, invoices and the dispatch board; only job hours on timesheets are Crew-only. Plans are month to month with no contract or setup fee, and a plan's price doesn't go up while you stay on it. Yearly billing is 10× the monthly price (two months free). The launch offer is free until your first 10 booked jobs, with no card up front: jobs booked by the AI receptionist or your online booking page count.
| Smith.ai plan | Price |
|---|---|
| AI receptionist: Free | $0 for 25 calls, then $3.00 per call |
| AI receptionist: Pro | From $150/month for 75 to 300 calls |
| AI receptionist: Enterprise | From $500/month for 300 to 1,000+ calls |
| Human receptionists: Starter / Basic / Pro | $300 for 30 calls / $810 for 90 / $2,100 for 300 a month; $11.50 / $10.50 / $8.50 per extra call |
| Per-call add-ons on human plans | Appointment booking $1.50, recording and transcript $0.25, Spanish $1.00, payments $1.00 |
CrewRobin prices by plan, not by call: Starter is $99 a month with 1,500 monthly credits and Pro is $199 with 4,000, the receptionist's call time is paid from those credits, and the rest of the front office is included. A shop taking 150 calls a month on Smith.ai's AI Pro plan would start from $150; the same calls answered by humans on the Basic plan would be $810 plus overage and $1.50 a call for booking. How far CrewRobin's credits go depends on how long your calls run, so ask what a month like yours would use. If you take very few calls, Smith.ai's free AI plan (25 calls) may cost less; if you also need text-back, reminders, quotes and invoices, add the price of those tools to Smith.ai's.
Feature by feature: CrewRobin vs Smith.ai
| CrewRobin | Smith.ai | |
|---|---|---|
| Answering | AI receptionist answers 24/7 with your business name, asks the problem, address, ZIP, urgency and the caller's name, and books the job | AI, hybrid or human receptionists, 24/7 |
| Booking | Offers up to three open times in the next 7 days from your technicians' hours and bookings, shared out round robin, and books the job | Books into Jobber, Housecall Pro, Google Calendar or Calendly; logs calls into ServiceTitan |
| Service area and prices | Checks the caller's ZIP against your service area (5-digit ZIPs or prefixes) before booking; quotes only the price range you set per job type, and says the technician confirms on site | Follows your call scripts; details depend on setup |
| Human backup | Transfers emergencies to the owner's cell if you choose; otherwise takes a message | Live agents on hybrid and human plans |
| Languages | English only | English and Spanish (Spanish is an add-on on human plans) |
| Recordings | Two-channel call recording, a summary and the full transcript on each job (recording can be turned off) | Included on AI plans; $0.25 a call on human plans |
| Missed-call text-back | Missed-call text-back within a minute, on by default, message editable; replies land in your inbox; STOP honored | Not found on its public pages |
| After the call | Reminders, quotes, invoices, review requests and dispatch on the same job | Texts and notifications; payments taken on calls ($1 a call on human plans) |
What comes with CrewRobin
Most shops with a few trucks pay for field service software, an answering service or AI add-on, a texting tool and a review tool, then copy the same customer between them. CrewRobin puts the parts that win and keep the job in one place, starting at $99/month. If you're weighing Smith.ai, check which of these you'd pay extra for there.
| Included | What it does |
|---|---|
| AI receptionist | AI receptionist answers 24/7 with your business name, asks the problem, address, ZIP, urgency and the caller's name, and books the job; checks the caller's ZIP against your service area (5-digit ZIPs or prefixes) before booking |
| Missed-call text-back | Missed-call text-back within a minute, on by default, message editable; replies land in your inbox; STOP honored |
| Online booking | Online booking page that checks the ZIP, asks for texting consent and turns each booking into a scheduled job |
| Reminders and call backs | Reminder text about a day before each visit (not for last-minute bookings); the customer replies C to confirm or R to reschedule. When it can't book, it takes a message and adds a call back; you get a text when the call ends |
| Quotes and invoices | Good, better, best quotes (every plan) the customer picks and signs online, sent by text; follow-up texts on day 2, 5 and 10. Invoice from the job (every plan), sent by text with a pay link; card payments through your own Stripe account, or PayPal |
| Reviews | One Google review request by text once an invoice is paid in full, sent straight to your Google page |
| Dispatch | Dispatch board (every plan): day and week views per technician, drag to reassign or move, clash check, one-click text of the new time |
What CrewRobin doesn't do
| Mobile app | No native app: technicians use My day in their phone's browser |
| GPS and routing | No GPS tracking or route optimization |
| Accounting | No QuickBooks or Xero sync |
| Financing | No consumer financing |
| Customer portal | No customer portal: customers get links to their quote, invoice and your booking page |
| Languages | The receptionist speaks English only |
Where Smith.ai is the better choice
People when you want them
Smith.ai's hybrid and human plans put trained agents on your calls, which some callers and some situations need. CrewRobin is AI only.
Spanish
Smith.ai offers Spanish-speaking agents. CrewRobin's receptionist speaks English only.
It books into the software you already use
Its help center documents booking into Jobber and Housecall Pro, plus Google Calendar and Calendly. CrewRobin books into its own calendar.
Track record
Eleven years and tens of millions of calls, with 4.3 out of 5 from 373 reviews on Trustpilot.
Where CrewRobin is the better choice
Built for trades calls
CrewRobin asks what's wrong, the address and ZIP and how urgent it is; checks your service area; quotes only your price ranges; and handles no heat, active leaks and gas smells by your rule. See the AI receptionist.
The whole job, not just the call
The booked job gets a confirmation and a reminder before the visit, then a quote, an invoice and a review request, all on the same record.
A flat monthly price
Call time comes out of the plan's monthly credits, so there's no per-call charge, and there are no per-call add-ons for booking or recordings.
Missed callers get a text
Callers nobody talked to hear from you within a minute. See missed-call text-back.
Who should choose which
Choose Smith.ai if
- You want live people to answer, or to take over from the AI.
- Many of your callers speak Spanish.
- You want bookings to land in Jobber or Housecall Pro.
- You take few calls and prefer paying per call.
Choose CrewRobin if
- You want every call answered by AI at a flat price.
- You want the booked job, reminders, quotes, invoices and reviews in one place.
- You're not tied to Jobber or Housecall Pro, or you're happy to move.
- Your callers are English speakers.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Smith.ai cost?
As of September 2026, its AI receptionist is free for 25 calls and then from $150 a month for 75 to 300 calls, and its human receptionists start at $300 a month for 30 calls. Its homepage shows different per-call AI prices, so confirm the rate on the plan you choose.
Does Smith.ai work with Jobber or Housecall Pro?
Yes. Its help center documents booking appointments and creating customers in Jobber and Housecall Pro. For ServiceTitan it documents logging calls and creating customers.
Is CrewRobin an answering service?
It's an AI receptionist inside a small field service system. It answers and books calls, then handles reminders, quotes, invoices and review requests for the job.
Can CrewRobin transfer calls to a person?
Only emergencies, and only to the owner's cell if you set emergencies to transfer. Otherwise it takes a message and texts you.
Try it on your own phone line
Make a test call and compare it with your answering service. Set up your job types and hours, make a test call, and listen to how it handles a real problem. CrewRobin is free until your first 10 booked jobs, no card up front. Start free or see pricing.
Related: how CrewRobin handles the AI receptionist, missed-call text-back, online booking and quotes and invoices, or how it works for HVAC companies.
Sources
Competitor details in this post were checked against these public pages in September 2026. Products and prices change, so confirm with each vendor before you decide.
