For general, family and specialty dental practices. Five questions decide whether an AI receptionist earns its keep in a trade, then an honest table of 8 products with each figure as its maker published it on 2026-09-05.
A new patient who reaches voicemail books with the next practice on the list. Ask what the receptionist does with a new-patient call: does it collect the name, the reason, the insurance carrier and a callback time, and does it say when someone will call back?
Most callers ask whether you take their plan. Ask whether the receptionist answers from your own list of accepted carriers, and what it says when a plan is not on it.
A toothache call on a Friday afternoon needs a different answer from a cleaning request. Ask how urgent calls are recognized and who hears about them, and make sure clinical advice stays with your clinicians.
Calls carry names, dates and health details. Ask where recordings and transcripts are kept, who can open them, and whether the vendor will sign the agreement your practice requires.
A message in a separate app becomes a second inbox at the front desk. Ask whether the call lands on the patient's record in a system your team already works from.
| Product | Describes itself as | Entry price · included | CRM | Stored |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Front Desk Company | An industry receptionist — 27 industries, each with a name, a face and that trade's vocabulary | $49 · 250 inbound minutes (Starter), $0.15/min over, up to a cap you set | The full EngageSuite360 CRM in every plan — contacts, companies, deals, tasks, calendar, reports — shaped for your industry | Starter: one sentence per call, no recording, no transcript. AI Front Desk ($397): transcripts and recordings |
| Rosie | AI answering service for home services and small businesses | $49 · 250 minutes | None — Zapier triggers only | Transcripts and recordings on all plans |
| Smith.ai AI Receptionist | AI and human receptionists for your front office | $150/mo + $2.00 per call; free tier of 25 calls/mo (card required) | Integrations only — Salesforce, HubSpot, Clio, Zapier | Recorded and transcribed; summary after every call |
| Goodcall | AI phone calls made easy | $79 per agent · unlimited minutes, 100 unique callers, $0.50 per caller over | Integrations only — Zapier, Sheets, GoHighLevel | Summaries; transcripts and recordings not stated |
| Dialzara | The AI receptionist who never misses a call | $29 · 60 minutes, $0.48/min over | Integrations only — Zapier, Make, webhooks | Yes, plus an SMS/email summary |
| My AI Front Desk | Agentic AI for every stage of the customer journey | $20 Basic takes no calls; first calling plan $99 · 200 minutes, $0.25/min | Built-in CRM, plus HubSpot, GoHighLevel, Zapier | Recordings and post-call notifications |
| Upfirst | AI receptionist that answers calls while you run your business | $24.95 · 30 calls, $1.50 per call over | Integrations only — HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, GoHighLevel, Zapier | Yes, with instant summaries texted or emailed |
| Reception by ElevenLabs | AI receptionists that answer every call | $22 · 60 minutes, $0.40/min over | Google Calendar, Zapier, webhooks only | Yes, on all plans |
Figures as published on 2026-09-05; each product links to its own comparison page with the source.
Dr. Cleo answers in your trade's words and writes every call on the customer's record in EngageSuite360. Starter plans take the message; the AI Front Desk adds texting and booking. Meet Dr. Cleo →
New-patient calls, Insurance questions, Emergencies and pain, Patient privacy, Where the call ends up. Put each one to every vendor as a question and compare the answers, not the headlines.
Of the 7 products in our table, none describes itself that way on its own site; all of them describe a general small-business receptionist. The Front Desk Company gives each industry its own receptionist; for dental practices that is Dr. Cleo.
On the Starter plans the receptionist takes the name, the callback number and what the caller needs, writes it on the CRM record and emails you; it does not book or text. The AI Front Desk plan ($397) adds transcripts, recordings, texting and booking on the same number and CRM.
Every rival figure is as published on that product's own pricing page on 2026-09-05; each has its own comparison page with the source. If a figure has changed, tell us and it will be corrected.