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Smith.ai vs Abby Connect in 2026
These are the only two vendors we track that sell both an AI receptionist and a human one, and publish prices for both. That makes them easy to compare and easy to get wrong, because they count different things. Smith.ai charges per call: $300 for 30 calls is $10.00 a call, however long it runs. Abby charges per minute: $165 for 50 minutes is $3.30 a minute. The switch happens at about 3.0 minutes.
The short answer. Short calls in volume go to Abby. Long calls go to Smith.ai. At 100 calls a month, Abby costs $329 if those calls average a minute and $1,380 if they average five, while Smith.ai charges $915 in both cases because length costs it nothing. Abby includes Spanish everywhere and Smith.ai charges $1.00 a call for it. Smith.ai publishes every overage rate and Abby publishes none.
The two price ladders side by side
| Tier | Smith.ai | Abby Connect |
|---|---|---|
| AI, entry | AI Receptionist Free $0 for 25 calls, then $3.00 a call | Starter $165, volume not published |
| AI, working tier | AI Receptionist Pro $150 for 75 calls, or $2.00 a call | Essential $329 for 200 AI minutes and Professional $599 for 400 |
| People, entry | Starter (live agents) $300 for 30 calls, or $10.00 a call | Starter $165 for 50 minutes, or $3.30 a minute |
| People, mid | Basic (live agents) $810 for 90 calls, or $9.00 a call | Essential $329 for 100 minutes, or $3.29 a minute |
| People, top published | Pro (live agents) $2,100 for 300 calls, or $7.00 a call | Professional $599 for 200 minutes, or $3.00 a minute |
| Overage | Published on every tier: $11.50, $10.50, $8.50 a call on the human plans | Not published for any tier, human or AI |
| Spanish | $1.00 a call on human plans, included on AI plans | Included on every plan |
Where the two models cross over
Smith.ai's Starter (live agents) plan costs $300 divided by 30 calls, which is $10.00 per call. Divide that by each of Abby's per-minute rates and you get the exact call length at which the answer flips.
| Abby plan | Cost per minute | Working | Flip point |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $3.30 | $165 divided by 50 minutes, then $10.00 divided by $3.30 | 3.0 minutes |
| Essential | $3.29 | $329 divided by 100 minutes, then $10.00 divided by $3.29 | 3.0 minutes |
| Professional | $3.00 | $599 divided by 200 minutes, then $10.00 divided by $3.00 | 3.3 minutes |
| Growth | $2.76 | $1,380 divided by 500 minutes, then $10.00 divided by $2.76 | 3.6 minutes |
Under roughly three minutes a call, Abby's minute pricing wins. Over it, Smith.ai's flat per-call price wins, and the longer your calls the wider the gap gets, because Smith.ai's bill does not move at all with length.
A full month at 100 calls
Smith.ai's cheapest route for 100 calls is not the plan most people assume. The Starter (live agents) plan plus 70 extra calls at $11.50 comes to $1,105. The Basic (live agents) plan plus 10 extra calls at $10.50 comes to $915. The bigger plan is cheaper, so $915 is the number used below. Abby's column steps up its ladder, because no overage rate is published and inventing one would be guessing.
| Average call | Minutes used | Smith.ai | Abby Connect | Cheaper by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 minute | 100 | Basic (live agents) at $915 | Essential at $329 | Abby Connect by $586 |
| 2 minutes | 200 | Basic (live agents) at $915 | Professional at $599 | Abby Connect by $316 |
| 3 minutes | 300 | Basic (live agents) at $915 | Growth at $1,380 | Smith.ai by $465 |
| 5 minutes | 500 | Basic (live agents) at $915 | Growth at $1,380 | Smith.ai by $465 |
The three-minute row is the turn. At two minutes Abby is $316 cheaper. At three minutes Smith.ai is $465 cheaper, because 300 minutes does not fit Abby's 100 minutes plan and the next rung is Professional at $599. That jump from $329 to $599 with nothing in between, and no published overage to soften it, is the single biggest budgeting risk in Abby's pricing.
Add-ons change the verdict, so add them before deciding
Smith.ai's human plans price two things that Abby includes. The Spanish line is $1.00 a call and appointment booking is $1.50 a call. At 100 calls a month, Spanish costs $100 and booking costs $150, so a Spanish-speaking, appointment-booking practice pays $915 plus $250, which is $1,165. Abby includes Spanish on every plan and Calendly booking from the Essential tier at $329. Run that comparison against the three-minute row and Smith.ai's win of $465 turns into a loss.
What each one is honestly better at
Smith.ai
- Every overage rate is published, so you can model a bad month.
- A genuinely free AI tier: $0 for 25 calls. Nobody else in this market does that.
- Call length costs nothing, which suits long intake conversations.
- The Pro (live agents) plan carries 10 transfer destinations for multi-person firms.
- No setup fee, and a 30-day money-back guarantee up to $1,000.
Abby Connect
- Spanish included on every plan, human and AI, with no per-call charge.
- The clearest AI-against-human price comparison published by any single vendor.
- Per-minute billing, which is far kinder on short calls than $10.00 a pop.
- A free trial on every plan, not a refund promise, though the length is not published.
- Calendly booking on the Essential tier rather than $1.50 a call.
The catch on each side. Smith.ai charges more per call outside your plan than inside it: $11.50 against $10.00 on Starter (live agents). Abby publishes the included minutes on every plan and says overage is billed at your own plan's minute rate, but never prints that rate as a number, so a month that runs long is arithmetic you have to do from the plan price yourself.
Who should pick which
Law firm with long intake calls
Smith.ai. At five-minute calls, 100 calls cost $915 against $1,380 at Abby, a gap of $465 a month. Length is free on a per-call plan, and published overage means a busy quarter is a number you can forecast.
Clinic or trade with short, frequent calls
Abby Connect. At one to two minutes a call, Abby costs $329 to $599 against Smith.ai's $915. Add included Spanish and booking and the gap widens further. Ask for the overage rate in writing before you sign.
Testing AI answering for the first time
Smith.ai's free tier, then decide. $0 for 25 calls costs nothing to hear. Abby's free trial is the fuller test, but Abby does not publish its length and the plan's call allowance is not published, so establish that first.
Two questions to ask before you pay either one
Ask Abby for the overage rate and the AI call allowance in writing. Ask Smith.ai whether Spanish and booking apply to your call mix. Prices here were read from both pricing pages on 2026-09-04.
Where to go next
- Every Smith.ai plan, AI and human
- Every Abby Connect plan and the missing overage
- Smith.ai vs Ruby, the same per-call against per-minute question
- AI receptionist vs virtual receptionist, with both categories priced
- Smith.ai alternatives compared
- All published prices in one table
Frequently asked questions
Is Abby Connect cheaper than Smith.ai?
On short calls, yes. Smith.ai's Starter (live agents) plan works out at $10.00 a call regardless of length. Abby's Starter plan is $3.30 a minute, Essential is $3.29 and Professional is $3.00. Break-even lands at 3.0 minutes on Abby's entry plan and 3.3 minutes on its largest. Below those lengths Abby is cheaper, above them Smith.ai is.
How many minutes does the $165 Abby Connect plan include?
Abby publishes this now, which is a change from earlier in 2026. There is one ladder (Starter $165 for 50 minutes, Essential $329 for 100 minutes, Professional $599 for 200 minutes, Growth $1,380 for 500 minutes), the minutes are shared between people and AI, and choosing AI doubles them. So the AI allowance is published: Starter 100 min, Essential 200 min, Professional 400 min, Growth 1000 min. What is still not published is a separate overage rate; Abby only says overage is billed at your own plan's minute rate.
Does Smith.ai charge extra for Spanish?
On the human plans, yes: $1.00 per call for the Spanish line, and appointment booking is a further $1.50 per call. Abby includes Spanish on every plan, human and AI, and puts Calendly booking on the Essential tier. At 100 calls a month those two Smith.ai add-ons come to $250, which is enough to reverse the verdict in several rows of the table on this page.
Which one lets you try it first?
Abby states a free trial on every plan, though it does not publish how long it runs. Smith.ai does not offer a trial as such, it offers a 30-day money-back guarantee up to $1,000, which is a refund rather than a test. Smith.ai does however publish a genuinely free AI tier: AI Receptionist Free at $0 for 25 calls, with $3.00 per call after that. That is the cheapest way to hear what AI answering sounds like on your own number.