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 September 24, 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”.
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
- A ServiceTitan HVAC operator with a customer-service team: Avoca (no published price) or Sameday (from $449 a month).
- On Housecall Pro: Housecall Pro’s CSR AI, with its separate after-hours on-call number.
- On Jobber: Jobber’s AI Receptionist if your calls are simple — it listens for keywords such as “no heat”. Wakeman if you want no-heat calls sorted from tune-ups, a safety step for gas and CO, and your on-call phone rung during the call, from $149.
- Every caller must reach a person: Ruby or AnswerConnect. AI with people behind it: Smith.ai. Spanish-speaking customers: Rosie, with Spanish on every plan.
Every option, side by side
| Price | How it bills | Books into | On an HVAC call | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AnswerConnect (people, not AI) | $350/mo (200 min) + $49.99 setup; $395 (300 min), no setup; $575 (400 min) + $49.99 setup | Minutes; $1.85–$2.50 a minute over. The first 30 calls under 30 seconds each cycle are free | Not published on the pages checked | People on every call, 24/7. Billed by the minute; short calls under 30 seconds are free up to 30 a cycle. |
| Avoca | Not published | Not published | ServiceTitan (a certified app) | Its own page: emergency calls get routed to your on-call tech immediately. A ServiceTitan certified app. |
| Goodcall | $79 / $129 / $249 per agent per month | Unique callers: 100 / 250 / 500, then $0.50 each | CRM through Zapier | Unlimited minutes, capped by unique callers — every new caller in a cold snap counts toward the cap. |
| Housecall Pro CSR AI | Not published (“sold separately”) | Not published | Housecall Pro (its help article still lists booking as coming soon) | Its own pages: a separate after-hours on-call number, and emergency handling that is always on. |
| Jobber AI Receptionist | Included on Plus; otherwise an add-on at $29 or $99/mo (Jobber’s pages differ) | Conversations: 30 or 100 included (its help pages differ); one says $0.79 each after | Jobber, through Online Booking | Listens for keywords you set, such as “no heat”. Books through your Jobber Online Booking settings. |
| Rosie | $49/mo (250 min); $149 (1,000); $299 (2,000) | Minutes; moves you up a plan when you go over | Google Calendar or Calendly, on Scale and up; Zapier | Going over your minutes moves you up a plan, so a surge month can change the plan you pay for. |
| Ruby (people, not AI) | $250/mo (50 min) to $1,725 (500 min) | Minutes; each call rounded up to 60 seconds, hold time counts | Clio, JobNimbus, Zapier; Jobber not listed | People on every call. Each call is rounded up to 60 seconds and hold time counts, so a surge costs by the minute. |
| Sameday | From $449/mo (500 min); $789 (1,000) | Minutes; overage not published | Lists ServiceTitan, Jobber, Housecall Pro and others | Built for home services; lists ServiceTitan, Jobber and Housecall Pro. |
| Smith.ai | Free (25 calls); Pro from $150/mo (75 calls) | Per call; $2.17–$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. |
| Wakeman | $149/mo (300 min); $349 (750); $829 (2,000) | Minutes; then $0.29–$0.59 a minute by plan | Jobber, once you switch booking on | Sorts no heat or no cooling from a tune-up, says a safety step written in advance for gas, carbon monoxide and fire, and rings your on-call phone while the caller is on the line. |
Where these prices come from · checked September 24, 2026
Checked September 24, 2026. Prices and policies change; the links are the authority, not this page.
- Jobber pricing — and /features/, which lists $99
- Jobber help: Receptionist
- Housecall Pro CSR AI
- Avoca — no public pricing page
- Sameday pricing
- Rosie pricing — and its terms, for going over
- Smith.ai AI Receptionist pricing
- Goodcall pricing
- Ruby plans and pricing
- AnswerConnect — plan cards on the homepage; /pricing returns 404
Each option, in a paragraph
AnswerConnect (people, not AI)
Live receptionists around the clock. Its homepage lists 200 minutes for $350 a month plus a $49.99 setup fee, 300 for $395 with no setup fee, and 400 for $575 plus setup, then $1.85–$2.50 a minute. The first 30 calls under 30 seconds each billing cycle are free. Choose it when every caller must reach a person.
Avoca
Built for larger home-services operators, with a ServiceTitan certified app and emergency calls routed to the on-call tech. It publishes no price and starts with a demo, so allow for a sales process. A fit for a ServiceTitan shop with a customer-service team; not built for a two-truck shop that wants to start tonight.
Goodcall
Priced per agent with unlimited minutes, but capped by unique callers — 100 on the $79 plan, then $0.50 each. Robocalls, blocked numbers and silent callers 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, sold separately at a price it doesn’t publish. It answers around the clock, has a separate after-hours on-call number and always handles emergencies; Spanish is listed as coming soon, and one help article still lists booking as coming soon. The obvious first look if you run Housecall Pro.
Jobber AI Receptionist
Included on Jobber Plus; otherwise an add-on that Jobber’s own pages price at $29 or $99 a month. It books through your Online Booking settings, listens for keywords you set such as “no heat”, and runs on a Jobber phone number. If you’re on Plus and your calls are simple, try it first.
Rosie
From $49 a month for 250 minutes, with English and Spanish on every plan and a 7-day trial. Calendar booking (Google Calendar, Calendly) starts on the $149 plan, and going over your minutes moves you up a plan. A low price for a general AI receptionist that has 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. Choose it when callers must reach a person. It lists Clio, JobNimbus and Zapier, not Jobber.
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. A fit for a home-services shop that wants a guided setup and has the budget for it.
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. 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
Built only for home-service trades: it asks the questions a plumber or HVAC tech would, gives safety steps written in advance for six hazards and rings your on-call phone during the call, and books into Jobber once you switch booking on. $149–$829 a month, free for 14 days. It doesn’t write into ServiceTitan, doesn’t answer in Spanish, and is early, with no customer count to quote.
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 September 24, 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.
Where Wakeman fits, and where it doesn’t
Honest limits
Choosing an HVAC answering service
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 24 September 2026): AI services start at $29–$49 a month for general ones (Dialzara, Rosie), $149 for Wakeman and $449 for Sameday. Live answering costs more: Ruby from $250 a month for 50 minutes, AnswerConnect from $350 for 200 minutes plus a $49.99 setup fee. 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, Rosie, Ruby, AnswerConnect) charge for the extra minutes, and 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, no card.