An HVAC company choosing an AI receptionist is choosing who answers a no-heat or no-cool call when the office is closed. This page compares six options on what each one publishes: what it is, where its price starts, how it books, and what it says about HVAC. It is published by Chleb AI, which is one of the six, so the Chleb row uses the same columns as every other row and the page says plainly where another option is the better fit.
Published by Chleb AI. Vendor information was read from each company's own published pages on September 20, 2026, and every row links its source. Prices and plans change, so confirm them on the vendor's page before you decide. This is a comparison of published scope and price. It is not an independent test of call quality, and no vendor paid to be listed or was asked.
| Option | Published starting price | Trial or guarantee | Booking |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chleb AI (publisher of this page) | $899 a month | No free trial is published. A demo can be booked, and the agent that answers Chleb's own line can be called. | Books into your connected booking calendar. Support for a specific scheduling tool is confirmed on an integration check before launch. |
| Rosie | $49 a month | A 7-day free trial is published, with cancel anytime. | States that it books appointments directly on your calendar, and lists a Zapier integration. |
| Goodcall | $79 a month per agent | Its pricing page offers a try-now path on each self-service plan. | Confirm the calendar and tool connections for your plan on Goodcall's own pages before you decide. |
| AgentZap | $109 a month | A 30-day money-back guarantee is published. | States that it books appointments live on the call and works with Google Calendar, Outlook and Calendly. |
| NextPhone | $199 a month | 7 days free is published, with cancel anytime. | States that it books into Google and Outlook calendars, and names ServiceTitan among its integrations. |
| Smith.ai | See their pricing page | Confirm current trial or guarantee terms on Smith.ai's own pricing page. | Its published product information covers intake, appointment handling and transfers. |
A no-heat call in January and a tune-up request are different calls. Ask each vendor how its agent tells them apart, what it asks the caller, and who on your team is told, by what channel, while the caller is still reachable.
Some options book into Google or Outlook calendars, some name field-service software such as ServiceTitan or Jobber, and some pass details to a person. Ask for the exact path into the tool your dispatcher already uses, and confirm it on a test call before launch.
Self-serve products are set up by you from a dashboard, often the same day. A configured service is set up for you from your services, hours, intake questions and handoff rules. The first costs less and asks for your time. The second costs more and asks for less of it.
A starting price is a floor. Minutes, calls, agents, customers and add-ons are billed in different ways by different vendors. Price your own busiest month, not the plan name, and ask what happens when you pass the allowance.
From $899 a month
An AI receptionist and website chatbot for service businesses, configured by the company's two founders in Tampa, Florida, with a separate CRM and a bundle that joins the two.
Best fit: An HVAC owner who wants the call flow built, tested and handed over rather than assembled from a dashboard, and who wants calls, leads and bookings in one CRM. It has the highest starting price on this page. If you want a self-serve tool under $200 a month, one of the four self-serve options here is the better fit.
From $49 a month
Describes itself as a 24/7 AI answering service that knows your business.
Best fit: An owner who wants the lowest published starting price on this page and is comfortable setting the product up.
From $79 a month per agent
Configurable AI phone agents with self-service plans, customer allowances, and an enterprise option.
Best fit: An owner evaluating a configurable AI phone agent who is comfortable pricing by agent and by customer count.
From $109 a month
Describes itself as an AI-powered receptionist that answers calls 24/7, books appointments, and handles customer inquiries for service businesses.
Best fit: An owner who wants minute-based plans with a published allowance at each step.
From $199 a month
Describes itself as an AI receptionist and answering service for law firms and service businesses that answers calls, books appointments and captures every lead.
Best fit: An HVAC company that already runs ServiceTitan and wants a self-serve product that names it.
Receptionist services with AI-first, hybrid, and human-first options.
Best fit: A team whose decision turns on how much live-agent involvement it wants in its answering.
Start with who will set it up. Four of the six options here publish entry plans from $49 to $199 a month that you configure yourself. If someone on your team has an afternoon to write the greeting, the questions and the after-hours rule, those plans cost far less than a configured service and several offer a trial or a guarantee, so you can test on your own calls before you commit.
Then look at where a booked job has to land. NextPhone names ServiceTitan. AgentZap names Google Calendar, Outlook and Calendly. Rosie lists Zapier. If your dispatcher lives in one tool, make the vendor show you that path on a test call, because a booking that lands in the wrong calendar is a missed job with extra steps.
Last, decide how much of the call you want a person in. Smith.ai publishes hybrid and human-first services next to its AI option. The other five are AI answering, with a handoff to your team.
Chleb is the most expensive starting price on this page, and the reason is what is included rather than the software. The company's two founders build each setup from your services, hours, intake questions and handoff rules, and the agent is configured and test-called before your number goes live. The plan covers phone answering and a website chatbot, and the Front Office Bundle adds a CRM so callers become tracked contacts.
That is the right trade for an owner who does not want to build a call flow, and the wrong one for an owner who does. If you want to pay under $200 a month and set it up yourself, choose from the four self-serve options above and use their trials. If you want it built, tested and connected to a CRM, book a demo or call the agent that answers our own phone at (813) 694-8671 and hear it first.
Each vendor row was written from that vendor's own published pages, read on September 20, 2026, and each row links the page it came from. Where a page did not state something, the row says so and tells you what to ask. A vendor whose pricing page could not be read was left out instead of being described from memory.
Nothing here measures how well any agent handles a call, including ours. The only fair test of that is your own calls, which is what the trials and guarantees above are for. If a price or plan on this page no longer matches the vendor's page, the vendor's page is right, and we would like to know so the row can be corrected.
Of the six options compared here, Rosie publishes the lowest starting price at $49 a month, followed by Goodcall at $79 a month per agent, AgentZap at $109 a month and NextPhone at $199 a month, as read on each vendor's pricing page on September 20, 2026. Chleb AI starts at $899 a month because the setup is built and tested for you. A starting price is a floor, so price your own busiest month before choosing.
NextPhone names ServiceTitan among its integrations on its pricing page, and AgentZap lists ServiceTitan and Jobber among its integrations. For any vendor, including Chleb AI, confirm the exact connection to your scheduling tool on a test call before launch, because a named integration does not tell you how a booking lands in your dispatch board.
An AI receptionist can answer at any hour, ask the questions you configure, and alert your on-call tech. Chleb AI asks configured triage questions, such as whether it is a no-cool or no-heat call and whether anyone in the home is at risk, then flags urgent calls and sends the on-call tech a summary. Ask every vendor to show you how its agent separates an urgent call from a routine one, and who is told.
No. It is published by Chleb AI, which is one of the six options listed. Every statement about another company comes from that company's own published pages and links its source, and the page says where another option is the better fit. It is a comparison of published scope and price, not a test of call quality.