Wakeman vs RingCentral
An AI receptionist built for plumbing, HVAC and electrical calls, next to one for every kind of business.
Comparison · Smith.ai
Smith.ai vs Wakeman: an AI built for the trades, or people behind the AI
Wakeman is an AI receptionist built only for home-service trades, billed by the minute. Smith.ai answers for businesses of every kind, bills by the call, and its AI can hand a call to a person at any hour.
- Facts from each company’s own pages
- Checked September 24, 2026
At a glance
| Wakeman | Smith.ai | |
|---|---|---|
| Plans | From $49 a month, 100 minutes | Free plan, 25 calls a month; Pro from $150 |
| Over your allowance | $0.29–$0.45 a minute | $2.17–$3.00 a call |
| A person | Your on-call phone, then the owner’s | A live receptionist, any hour |
| Built for | Home-service trades only | Every kind of business |
The full table, and where each fact comes from, is below.
Side by side
| Wakeman | Smith.ai AI Receptionist | |
|---|---|---|
| Plans | Starter $49 (100 min) · Pro $149 (500 min) · Max $399 (1,500 min). Every plan answers day and night; any plan can be set to answer only while you are closed. | Free: 25 calls/month; Pro from $150 for 75 calls; Enterprise from $500 for 300 |
| Over your allowance | $0.45 / $0.35 / $0.29 a minute by plan, published, with a monthly spending limit you set | $3.00 a call on Free; $2.17–$2.50 a call on Pro |
| Spam | Calls it classifies as spam are never billed | Known spammers are filtered out, and you can remove up to 10% of calls as spam each cycle |
| A person when needed | 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 | Can transfer to a live receptionist in North America, any hour; handoff price not published on the AI pricing page |
| Urgent calls | 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: safety steps, then Wakeman tries your on-call phone during the call. No heat, no cooling or a leak that can’t wait is urgent and texted at once. A safety net, not 911 | Urgent calls reach on-call technicians, based on the escalation rules you configure |
| Field-service software | Jobber, built in on Pro and Max. Housecall Pro is not generally available yet | Lists Jobber (its Jobber page’s guides use Zapier), ServiceTitan and Housecall Pro |
| Built for | Home-service trades only: plumbing, HVAC, electrical, roofing, restoration and their neighbours | Businesses of every kind, with a home-services page |
| Contract | No minimum term; cancel in the billing portal | Month to month, with 30 days’ notice to cancel |
| How you start | Free for 14 days or 500 minutes, whichever comes first. You pick a plan at sign-up; nothing is charged until the trial ends, and you can change the plan or cancel before then | The free plan: 25 calls a month |
Pricing refreshed November 6, 2026. Other facts 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 Wakeman if
- You run a 2–15 truck plumbing, HVAC or electrical shop and want a receptionist built only for that.
- A gas smell or water near electrics at 2am should reach 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 minutes included, a published price for each extra minute, spam never billed and a monthly limit you set.
Choose Smith.ai if
- Consider Smith.ai when a caller needs a staffed receptionist behind the AI. Its FAQ advertises live North American escalation; confirm that availability and its cost for your selected plan.
- You want a live receptionist to take over when the AI can’t help, at any hour. Wakeman is AI only; a caller who asks for a person a second time is put through to your on-call phone.
- You dispatch from ServiceTitan. Wakeman doesn’t write into ServiceTitan today; Smith.ai lists it.
- You run Housecall Pro. On Wakeman, Housecall Pro is not generally available yet; Smith.ai lists it.
- Your business isn’t a home-service trade. Wakeman is built only for the trades.
Published by Wakeman, one of the products compared. Sources, review dates and corrections. Wakeman capabilities and limits.
Hear a scripted Wakeman booking example, then test the same workflow during your trial. The example uses AI-generated voices; it is not a head-to-head performance test.
Common questions
Comparing more than two? Every option for contractors, on one page.
How much does Smith.ai cost?
Smith.ai's AI Receptionist has a free plan with 25 calls a month, then $3.00 a call, and Pro plans from $150 a month for 75 calls to $500 for 300, with extra calls at $2.17–$2.50. Its human receptionists start at $300 a month for 30 calls, up to $2,100 for 300, with extra calls at $8.50–$11.50. Both bill per call, not per minute (Smith.ai's pricing pages, checked 24 September 2026).
Does Smith.ai have people as well as AI?
Yes. Its AI receptionist can transfer a call to a live receptionist based in North America at any hour; its AI pricing page does not publish the price of that handoff. Wakeman is AI only: a caller who asks for a person a second time is put through to your on-call phone.
Does Smith.ai work with Jobber?
Smith.ai lists Jobber on its integrations pages, and the guides on its Jobber page connect the two through Zapier. It also lists ServiceTitan and Housecall Pro. Wakeman writes confirmed jobs straight into Jobber once you switch booking on; it does not write into ServiceTitan, and Housecall Pro is not generally available yet.
Does Smith.ai bill spam calls?
Smith.ai filters out known spammers and lets you remove up to 10% of calls as spam each billing cycle. Wakeman never bills calls it classifies as spam.
Is per-call or per-minute pricing cheaper?
It depends on how long your calls run. Per-call pricing favours long calls and per-minute pricing favours short ones. Pull a month of call lengths from your phone system and price both before you choose.
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