My AI Front Desk review: one $99 plan for calls, chat and texts

My AI Front Desk, which now brands itself Frontdesk, sells an AI receptionist as part of a bigger bundle. The same $99 plan that answers your phone also runs a website chatbot, two-way texting, email drafts, a simple CRM and follow-up automations (Frontdesk). If you only want calls answered, you’re paying for a lot you may not use. If you want one tool for every way customers reach you, that bundle is the appeal.

Who it’s for

It suits a small business that wants calls, website chat and texts handled in one place and is happy with a self-serve setup. It also connects directly to property management software (AppFolio, Yardi, Buildium, Entrata, RealPage) and therapy practice systems (SimplePractice, TherapyNotes, Jane App and others), and it signs a business associate agreement (BAA) for HIPAA (mental health practices).

It fits less well if you take a lot of calls. The only self-serve plan includes 200 voice minutes, and there’s no bigger published plan between that and custom Enterprise pricing.

What callers hear

The AI answers every call and routes callers by what they want. It books appointments into Google Calendar, Outlook or Calendly and texts a confirmation. Urgent calls are transferred live to your team with a spoken summary, so whoever picks up knows what the call is about before saying hello. Spam calls are blocked, and every call is recorded, transcribed and summarized (AI phone receptionist).

It answers in English, Spanish, Mandarin and Vietnamese, among others. The pricing page says 20+ languages (pricing), so if your callers speak something else, test it during the trial. It can also make outbound calls, capped at 20 a day on the self-serve plan.

What it costs at real call volumes

There’s one self-serve plan, Business-in-a-Box: $99 a month, or $79 a month billed annually, with 200 voice minutes. Those minutes are shared between phone calls and the website voicebot.

Extra minutes are paid in credits, where 1 credit is $0.01 and a voice minute costs 25 credits ($0.25). The plan includes a monthly pool of 1,000 credits, which covers about 40 extra minutes, and auto-reload adds 1,000 more credits for $10 (pricing). Texts and chatbot conversations draw from the same pool.

Take 200 calls a month at about 3 minutes each, 600 minutes:

• The plan covers 200 minutes, and the included credit pool about 40 more.
• The remaining 360 minutes cost $0.25 each, or $90 in auto-reloads.
• Total: about $189 a month ($169 on annual billing), or about $0.95 a call.

That’s reasonable, but the extra minutes are where most of your money goes. Compare Rosie, whose $149 Scale plan covers 1,000 minutes, or Goodcall, which charges $129 for 500 unique callers regardless of call length. At lower volume, say 60 calls at 3 minutes, the $99 plan covers you with minutes left over.

The plan is sized for 1 to 10 interactions a day; Frontdesk points businesses with more than 25 a day to quoted Partner or Enterprise pricing, where voice starts at $0.07 a minute (pricing).

Trial, contracts and setup

There’s a 7-day free trial and no contract; you can cancel anytime. Read the terms before you start, though: usage charges can still apply during the trial, and refunds are generally not given (terms). Watch your usage while you test.

You keep your existing number by forwarding it or porting it in, or you can get a new local or toll-free number. What a new number costs isn’t spelled out, so check at signup.

What it books into

Appointments go into Google Calendar, Outlook or Calendly (AI calendar). Beyond the calendar, the industry integrations are the real differentiator: property managers can connect AppFolio, Yardi, Buildium, Entrata or RealPage (AppFolio), therapy practices their EHR, and online stores Shopify, WooCommerce or Klaviyo (Shopify). Zapier covers the rest. API access is only on the custom plans.

When the AI can’t handle a call

It transfers urgent calls live to your team with that spoken summary. Those transfers go to your own staff; if you want a human answering service behind the AI, look at Smith.ai or Abby Connect.

One limit worth knowing: the self-serve plan keeps only your last 200 call and chat logs. At 200 calls a month that’s about a month of history, so export what you need to keep.

Privacy

The terms let AI Front Desk use data from your usage, and AI-generated content, to improve its services and AI platform. They don’t say plainly whether call recordings train its models. If that matters to you, ask before you sign, especially with a BAA in place.

How it compares

vs Rosie. Cheaper at higher volume and bilingual, but booking and transfers need its $149 plan, and beyond Shopify it connects to other software through Zapier.

vs Dialzara. Also per minute with published overage, from $29 for 60 minutes. Its $99 plan includes 220 minutes, but extra minutes cost $0.45, nearly double.

vs Upfirst. Billed per call from $24.95, with Clio, Square and Acuity booking. A BAA needs Upfirst’s custom Enterprise plan.

Verdict

My AI Front Desk is a good fit for a small business that wants phone, chat and text handled in one place, or for a property manager or therapy practice that needs its AI receptionist to talk to AppFolio, Yardi or an EHR. The $99 price, $0.25 overage and BAA are all published, which is rare at this level. It gets less attractive past a few hundred minutes a month, and the trial terms deserve a careful read. Property managers can compare it with other options on our best AI receptionists for property management page.