RingCentral AI Receptionist vs Wakeman: a receptionist for everyone, or one for the trades
RingCentral’s AI Receptionist answers for businesses of every kind, from $49 a month for 100 minutes, in six languages, and books into Google or Outlook calendars. Wakeman is built only for home-service trades and starts at $149 for 300 minutes. If price, languages or an existing RingCentral phone system decide it, choose RingCentral. If the 2am gas smell and your Jobber schedule decide it, read on.
Side by side
| Wakeman | RingCentral AI Receptionist | |
|---|---|---|
| Plans | After Hours $149 (300 min) · Front Desk $349 (750 min) · Dispatch $829 (2,000 min). After Hours answers only while you are closed. | $49/mo standalone (100 min) · $39/mo as a RingEX add-on (100 min) |
| Over your minutes | $0.59 / $0.39 / $0.29 a minute by plan, published, with a monthly spending limit you set | $0.50 a minute, billed in 30-second steps |
| Urgent calls | Gas, carbon monoxide, smoke or fire, water near electrics, major flooding, sewage: safety steps, then your on-call phone is alerted during the call. An ordinary leak is urgent and gets a text. A safety net, not 911 | Routes calls by name, location or keyword, with a call summary; emergency handling is not described on its page |
| Booking | Off until you turn it on. Then it offers the times you set, and booked jobs go into Jobber with the customer and the checked address. It doesn’t read your Jobber calendar | Books and reschedules in Google or Outlook calendars |
| Software it connects to | Jobber, built in. Housecall Pro is not generally available yet | Salesforce, HubSpot and Zoho for CRM; Jobber is not mentioned |
| Languages | English | English, Spanish, French, Italian, German and Portuguese |
| Built for | Home-service trades only: plumbing, HVAC, electrical, roofing, restoration and their neighbours | Businesses of every kind; home services and construction are among those named |
| How you start | Free for 14 days or 500 minutes, whichever comes first. No card; choose a plan once you have seen it work | 14-day free trial |
Where these facts come from · checked September 24, 2026
Checked September 24, 2026. Prices and policies change; the links are the authority, not this page.
Which one you need
Choose RingCentral if
- Your phones already run on RingCentral, where it’s a $39 add-on.
- Your callers speak Spanish, French, Portuguese or another of its six languages.
- You book into Google or Outlook calendars and keep customers in Salesforce, HubSpot or Zoho.
- You want the lowest monthly price, or you’re not a trades business.
Choose Wakeman if
- A gas smell or a burst pipe at 2am should ring your on-call phone while the caller is still on the line, with safety steps written in advance.
- You run Jobber and want booked jobs written straight into it.
- You want the questions a plumber or an HVAC tech would ask, and every address checked.
- You run a 2–15 truck plumbing, HVAC or electrical shop and want a product built only for that.
What we are not going to pretend
Common questions
Comparing more than two? Every option for contractors, on one page.
How much is RingCentral's AI Receptionist?
$49 a month on its own for 100 minutes, or $39 a month as an add-on to RingCentral's phone system, then $0.50 a minute, billed in 30-second steps. There is a 14-day free trial (RingCentral's pricing page, checked 24 September 2026).
Does it work for contractors?
RingCentral lists home services and construction among the industries it serves, alongside healthcare, legal, retail and others. It is a general AI receptionist: it routes calls by name, location or keyword, books into Google or Outlook calendars, and answers in six languages. Its page does not describe emergency handling.
Which is cheaper, RingCentral or Wakeman?
RingCentral to start: $49 a month for 100 minutes against Wakeman's $149 for 300. Per included minute Wakeman's Front Desk plan is about $0.47 and RingCentral's standalone plan $0.49, with RingCentral's overage at $0.50 a minute against Wakeman's $0.29–$0.59 by plan.
Does either write jobs into Jobber?
Wakeman does, once you switch booking on. RingCentral's page names Salesforce, HubSpot and Zoho for CRM and Google and Outlook for calendars; it does not mention Jobber.
Somebody’s always awake.
Try it on your own phone tonight. About ten minutes, no card.