The best HVAC answering service in 2026, compared
Wakeman wrote this, and Wakeman is on the list. So every price below comes from the vendor’s own page, checked on October 20, 2026, and each entry says what its own pages say about the calls an HVAC shop actually gets. Where a vendor doesn’t publish something, it says “Not published”.
- A customer calls. You’re busy.
- Wakeman answers as your business.
- You get the job by text.
- A customer calls. You’re busy.
- Wakeman answers as your business.
- You get the job by text.
What an HVAC answering service has to get right
- No heat is not a tune-up. A dead furnace in a freeze, or no cooling with an infant or an older person in the house, needs to reach someone tonight. A filter question can wait for the morning.
- Gas, carbon monoxide and a burning smell come first. The caller should hear what to do before anything else is asked, and your on-call tech should hear about it while they are still on the line.
- The first cold snap and the first heat wave. Calls pile up on the same day. Whether you pay per minute, per call or per new caller decides what that day costs.
- Maintenance visits. A tune-up or a maintenance-plan visit should be booked or written down properly, not left as “call us back”.
- The software you dispatch from. ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro or Jobber: check it writes jobs there, and whether that is direct or through Zapier.
- A person when it can’t help. Some callers insist on one. Know where those calls go.
Which one fits your HVAC shop
Shortlist Wakeman for HVAC intake and Jobber booking; compare your software, call volume and need for staffed backup.
We publish this guide and sell Wakeman. Jobber’s included Receptionist may fit an existing Plus subscriber; Smith.ai offers staffed escalation; Rosie includes more minutes at its entry price. See the dated sources and how we compare.
- It sorts no heat and no cooling from a tune-up. No heat, no cooling and a leak that can’t wait are marked urgent and texted to your on-call phone at once; a filter question comes to you as a job summary.
- For a gas smell, carbon monoxide, or fire and smoke, it gives safety steps written in advance and tries your on-call phone while the caller is still on the line.
- It checks the address, and books the job into Jobber on Pro and Max once you switch booking on. A caller who asks for a person a second time, is angry or has a complaint is put through to your on-call phone.
- In the first cold snap you pay a published rate for the extra minutes ($0.29–$0.45/min by plan), with a monthly limit you set, and spam is never billed.
- Day and night from $49 a month, or $149 on Pro, free for 14 days or 500 minutes, with nothing charged until the trial ends.
What Wakeman works with
- If you’re on Jobber: Jobber’s AI Receptionist listens for keywords you set, such as “no heat”. Wakeman sorts no-heat calls from tune-ups, gives safety steps for ten hazards and tries your on-call phone during the call, and writes booked jobs into Jobber too.
- If you dispatch from ServiceTitan: Wakeman doesn’t write into ServiceTitan today; Avoca and Sameday do.
- If you run Housecall Pro: on Wakeman, Housecall Pro is not generally available yet. Housecall Pro’s own CSR AI has a separate after-hours on-call number.
- If many of your customers speak Spanish: Wakeman answers in English and Spanish. Rosie answers in Spanish on every plan.
- If every caller must reach a person: Ruby and AnswerConnect are people, not AI, and Smith.ai’s AI can hand a call to a live receptionist.
Every option, side by side
| Price | How it bills | Books into | On an HVAC call | When a caller needs a person | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AnswerConnect (people, not AI) | Not published (a quote form) | Minutes, counted over the whole time it takes to handle the call | Zapier, Salesforce, Zoho and others; Jobber, ServiceTitan and Housecall Pro not named | People on every call, 24/7. Billed by the minute, over the whole time it takes to handle each call. | A person answers every call, 24/7 |
| Avoca | Quote required; no public price on the reviewed product page | Not published | ServiceTitan (a certified app) | A ServiceTitan certified app. Its home page shows an “emergency escalation” step without saying who gets the call. | Not published: its pages show an “emergency escalation” step without saying who gets the call |
| Goodcall | $79 / $129 / $299 a month | Unique callers: 100 / 500 / 2,000, then 79¢ / 26¢ / 15¢ each | CRM through Zapier | Unlimited minutes, capped by unique callers: every new caller in a cold snap counts toward the cap. | Transfers to the people you choose |
| Housecall Pro CSR AI | Not published | Not published | Housecall Pro | Answers around the clock and books into Housecall Pro; its page doesn’t describe emergency handling. | Sends the call to a number you choose, or to a Housecall Pro Assist rep |
| Jobber AI Receptionist | Included with unlimited usage on Plus; $29/month for 30 conversations on eligible other plans, then $0.79 each | Conversations: 30 or 100 included (its help pages differ); one says $0.79 each after | Jobber, through Online Booking | Listens for trigger words you set, such as “no heat”, then texts you or transfers the call. Books through your Jobber Online Booking settings. | When it hears a trigger word you set, it transfers to your one escalation contact or texts you |
| NextPhone | $199/mo (Pro); $299 (Growth); $599 (Scale) | Flat: unlimited calls, no per-minute or extra-call charge | Google or Outlook calendar on every plan; Jobber directly on Growth ($299); ServiceTitan and Housecall Pro through Zapier | Its own HVAC page: no-heat and no-cool calls go straight to your on-call tech, and a gas smell or carbon monoxide alarm gets safety instructions first. Unlimited calls at a flat price, so a surge doesn’t change the bill. | Transfers to you or your team, or takes a message if nobody is free |
| Rosie | Professional $49 (250 minutes); Scale $149 (1,000); Growth $299 (2,000) | Minutes; moves you up a plan when you go over | Your calendar, on Scale and up. Logs callers and calls in Jobber and Housecall Pro, without booking the job there; Zapier | Going over your minutes moves you up a plan, so a surge month can change the plan you pay for. | Warm and live transfers from the $149 plan; the $299 plan tries several numbers |
| Ruby (people, not AI) | $250/mo (50 min) to $1,725 (500 min) | Minutes; each call rounded up to 60 seconds, hold time counts | Not named on its pricing page | People on every call. Each call is rounded up to 60 seconds and hold time counts, so a surge costs by the minute. | A person answers every call |
| Sameday | Launch from $449 (500 minutes); Scale from $789 (1,000); Enterprise custom | Minutes; overage not published | Lists ServiceTitan, Jobber, Housecall Pro and others | Built for home services; lists ServiceTitan, Jobber and Housecall Pro. | Not published |
| Smith.ai | Free: 25 calls/month; Pro from $150 for 75 calls; Enterprise from $500 for 300 | Per call; $2.10–$3.00 an extra call | Lists Jobber (via Zapier), ServiceTitan and Housecall Pro | Can hand a call to a live receptionist at any hour. Billed per call, so a surge costs per call. | Can hand the call to a live receptionist, any hour |
| Wakeman (our entry) | $49/mo (100 min); $149 (500); $399 (1,500), day and night | Minutes included; then $0.29–$0.45/min by plan, with a monthly limit you set. Spam is never billed | Jobber on Pro and Max, once you switch booking on | Sorts no heat or no cooling from a tune-up and texts it to your on-call phone at once as urgent. For gas, carbon monoxide or fire it gives safety steps written in advance and tries your on-call phone while the caller is on the line. | Puts the caller through to your own people: your on-call phone, then the owner’s if nobody picks up. It does this on a dangerous call, a complaint or an angry caller, or when someone asks for a person twice. The AI answers every call; there’s no call center |
Where these prices come from · checked October 20, 2026
Checked October 20, 2026. Prices and policies change; the links are the authority, not this page.
- Jobber pricing — $29 add-on; Plus includes it
- Jobber help: Receptionist — 30 conversations, $0.79, escalation contact, Jobber number
- Jobber help: add-ons — 100 conversations a month
- Housecall Pro CSR AI
- Avoca — no public pricing page
- Sameday pricing
- Sameday integrations
- Rosie pricing — and its terms, for going over
- Smith.ai AI Receptionist pricing
- Smith.ai and Jobber — through Zapier
- Goodcall pricing
- NextPhone pricing
- NextPhone for HVAC — emergencies, Jobber on Growth, ServiceTitan and Housecall Pro through Zapier
- Ruby plans and pricing
- Ruby billing basics — 60-second rounding, hold time
- AnswerConnect — 24/7 live people; prices behind /view-pricing, a quote form
Each option, in a paragraph
AnswerConnect (people, not AI)
Live receptionists around the clock: “real people, not automated voices”. It no longer publishes prices; you get a quote. Plans are by the minute, counted over the whole time it takes to handle a call. For shops where every caller must reach a person.
Avoca
Built for larger home-services operators, with a ServiceTitan certified app. It publishes no price and starts with a 20-minute demo, so allow for a sales process.
Goodcall
Minutes aren’t metered, but plans are capped by unique callers: 100 on the $79 plan, then 79¢ each. Spam and wrong numbers don’t count. Suits a business whose callers are few and repeat; it connects to CRMs through Zapier.
Housecall Pro CSR AI
Housecall Pro’s own AI, at a price it doesn’t publish. It answers calls and chats around the clock and books jobs into Housecall Pro, and it can send a call to a number you choose or to one of Housecall Pro’s own reps. Made for shops that run Housecall Pro.
Jobber AI Receptionist
Included on Jobber Plus; otherwise a $29 a month add-on. It books through your Online Booking settings, listens for trigger words you set such as “no heat”, then texts you or transfers the call to your escalation contact. It runs on a Jobber phone number.
NextPhone
One flat price with unlimited calls: $199 a month on Pro, which you set up yourself, or $299 on Growth and $599 on Scale, which NextPhone sets up. Its HVAC page says Jobber connects directly on Growth, and ServiceTitan and Housecall Pro through Zapier, and that no-heat and gas calls go to your on-call tech. A 7-day free trial. Built for law firms and service businesses, with an HVAC page.
Rosie
From $49 a month for 250 minutes, with English and Spanish on every plan and a 7-day trial. Booking into your calendar and call transfers start on the $149 plan, and going over your minutes moves you up a plan. A general AI receptionist for every kind of business, with a home-services page.
Ruby (people, not AI)
People, not AI: live receptionists from $250 a month for 50 minutes up to $1,725 for 500, with each call rounded up to 60 seconds and hold time counted. For callers who must reach a person.
Sameday
Built for home services, from $449 a month for 500 minutes and $789 for 1,000; overage isn’t published. It lists ServiceTitan, Jobber and Housecall Pro, and starts with a demo.
Smith.ai
An AI receptionist with live receptionists behind it, billed per call: a free plan with 25 calls, then Pro from $150 for 75 calls at $2.00 each. Known spammers aren’t counted, and you can remove up to 10% of calls as spam. It lists Jobber (through Zapier), ServiceTitan and Housecall Pro.
Wakeman (our entry)
Built only for home-service trades. It asks the questions a plumber or HVAC tech would and checks the address. For gas, carbon monoxide, a downed power line, fire or smoke, a medical emergency, a child or pet locked in a car, water near electrics, a structural collapse, major flooding and sewage inside it gives safety steps written in advance and tries your on-call phone during the call; no heat, no cooling and a leak that can’t wait are texted to your on-call phone at once. It books into Jobber on Pro and Max once you switch booking on. Day and night from $49 a month, or $149 on Pro, free for 14 days, with nothing charged until the trial ends. It writes into Jobber, not ServiceTitan, and answers in English and Spanish.
Call it with an HVAC job
Most of these offer a trial or a demo number. Call it three times: once as a routine tune-up, once with no heat on a cold night, and once saying you smell gas. Then check what each call wrote down, who it rang, and what it told the caller to do.
Every price and plan here comes from the vendor’s own pages, checked on October 20, 2026; the notes on HVAC calls are what those pages say, and how each one bills applied to a busy day. We have not run a hands-on test of every product. Found something out of date? Email info@wakeman.ai and we’ll correct it and change the date at the top.
What Wakeman works with
Works with
How Wakeman handles an HVAC call, from no heat to a gas smell. Free for 14 days, $0 today.
Choosing an HVAC answering service
What the first cold snap does to a Wakeman bill, worked through on each plan: what a busy week costs.
What should an HVAC answering service do when a caller smells gas?
Tell them what to do before asking anything else — leave the building, don't touch light switches, and call 911 from outside — and get word to your on-call tech while they're still on the line. Ask any service you're considering exactly what it says on that call, and who it rings.
How much does an HVAC answering service cost?
From the vendors' own pages (checked 20–21 October 2026): AI services start at $29–$49 a month for general ones (Dialzara, Rosie), $49 a month day and night for Wakeman, and $449 for Sameday. Live answering costs more: Abby Connect from $164 a month for 50 minutes, Ruby from $250 a month for 50 minutes, and AnswerConnect gives its prices only by quote. Avoca doesn't publish a price.
Which HVAC answering services work with ServiceTitan?
Avoca is a ServiceTitan certified app, and Sameday and Smith.ai both list ServiceTitan on their own pages. Wakeman does not write into ServiceTitan; it writes into Jobber. Housecall Pro shops have Housecall Pro's own CSR AI.
What happens to my bill in the first cold snap?
That depends on how the service bills. Per-minute plans (Wakeman, Ruby, Abby Connect) charge for the extra minutes; Rosie moves you up a plan when you go over. Smith.ai bills per call. Goodcall's plans are capped by unique callers, so every new caller that day counts. Check the overage rate before the season, not after.
Is an AI answering service good enough for an HVAC company?
It can be, if it tells a dead furnace from a tune-up, handles gas and carbon monoxide calls properly, and writes jobs into the software you dispatch from. The quickest test: call its trial or demo number three times — a routine tune-up, no heat on a cold night, and a gas smell — and check what it wrote down and who it rang.
Somebody’s always awake.
Try it on your own phone tonight. About ten minutes, and $0 today.
Hear it answer