Smith.ai sells two services with different exit terms: an AI Receptionist billed per call, which needs 30 days' notice to cancel, and live Virtual Receptionists, which bill through the end of the monthly cycle. This guide covers what you pay now, how your calls reach Smith.ai, what to save before you go, and the order of steps that keeps your phone answered during the move.
Smith.ai bills by the call, not by the minute, and it sells two different services. Its AI Receptionist has a Free plan with 25 calls a month and $3.00 for each call after that, a Pro plan from $150 a month for 75 calls with $2.50 for each extra call at that tier, and an Enterprise plan from $500 a month for 300 calls. Its Virtual Receptionists, where live people answer, cost $300 a month for 30 calls and then $11.50 a call, $810 for 90 calls and then $10.50, or $2,100 for 300 calls and then $8.50. Add-ons on the live plans are billed per call, such as $1.50 for each booked appointment and $0.25 for recording and transcription.
Before you compare anything, pull your last two Smith.ai invoices and write down three numbers: the plan, the calls billed and the overage line. Those are what a per-call plan charges for, and they are the numbers any alternative has to beat.
Chleb publishes its prices too. The AI Receptionist + Chatbot plan is $899 a month, and the Front Office Bundle, which adds the CRM, is $997 a month. Call minutes and emails are billed separately at carrier cost, with no Chleb markup. Every published Smith.ai AI plan, up to its $800 tier for 500 calls a month, costs less than Chleb's receptionist plan. The reasons to move are what the plan includes, such as the website chatbot, booking into your calendar and missed-call text-back, not a smaller invoice.
The AI Receptionist pricing page says: "AI Receptionist is a month-to-month service. This means there aren't any long-term contracts." It also says: "If you ever cancel, we need 30 days' notice, and then you're done."
Smith.ai's help center explains how the request is made. You press Request Cancellation in the Settings tab of the AI Receptionist dashboard, and "submitting a cancellation request does not immediately stop your service. Our team will contact you to complete the cancellation process." Asked whether a cancellation can be scheduled for a future date, the help center answers: "No. Currently, all cancellation requests are manually processed by our support team after you submit them."
The Virtual Receptionists page has a different rule: "If you ever cancel, we bill for and through the end of the current monthly billing cycle, and then you're done." If you use both services, each one follows its own terms.
So the day you send the request matters. You cannot queue it for later, and on the AI plan the 30 days start when you send it. Send it after the new line has passed its tests, not before. Chleb's own terms for its plans are one sentence, published on the pricing page: "Monthly plans renew each month and stop at the next renewal when you cancel. Annual plans run for the full year. Payments already made are not refunded."
There are two ways a call to your business number ends up at Smith.ai, and the one you have decides how the switch works.
Forwarding. Smith.ai's help center puts it plainly: "To turn on your AI Receptionist, forward your business calls to Smith.ai. This happens on the phone provider's website, not in Smith.ai." Your number stays with your phone company, which sends calls on to a number Smith.ai assigned you. On a Verizon mobile line, for example, that is a star code: Verizon's support page says "To forward only the calls you don't answer on your mobile phone, call *71 + the 10-digit number."
Porting. On the Virtual Receptionists plans Smith.ai offers to "port your business number at no charge." A ported number has left your phone company and sits on Smith.ai's account, which is why porting in required a signed Letter of Authorization and a recent phone bill.
Save recordings and transcripts first, because Smith.ai does not keep them long. Its AI Receptionist help center says: "Call recordings and transcripts are only kept on the Smith.ai system for 90 days." Each call's details view has a download button beside the volume control, so keep the recordings you want, such as disputed bookings or calls you use to train staff.
Save call history next. Smith.ai's article on exporting call data describes a Download CSV button on the Call History page, with each caller's name, phone, address, email, the call's disposition and a summary. That article is written for the Virtual Receptionists dashboard. On the AI Receptionist, check the dashboard for the same export before your last day, and ask support if it is not there.
Last, copy the call flow itself: the greeting, the intake questions, the transfer rules and the answers to common questions you gave Smith.ai. That document is the brief for the new setup, and it saves you writing the same rules twice.
Nothing in this order leaves a gap. Callers keep reaching Smith.ai until the new line is proven, and the notice clock starts only after that.
A port is the transfer of a phone number from one provider to another. The FCC's wireless number portability FAQ, written as wireless porting began in 2003, says the carrier receiving the number starts it: "Consumers should contact their prospective new carrier, who will start the porting process." When you move a number back to a phone company you control, that company is the new carrier. The FAQ adds: "Once a valid porting request has been made, the old carrier cannot refuse to port a number."
Those rules bind the carrier that holds the number, and 47 CFR 52.34 extends the duty to interconnected VoIP providers, which must facilitate a valid port request to or from another provider. A service like Smith.ai still sets the practical order through its own terms, so read them before you start.
A port does not cancel a contract. The same FAQ says customers "are still obligated to pay any early termination fees they may have under an existing contract," while the old carrier still "may not delay or refuse to port a number" because money is owed. It also says carriers "are also allowed to charge a fee to customers at the time their number is ported," so ask the phone company receiving the number what it charges. Smith.ai's porting guide says it "does not charge a fee to port your number (in or out), but other carriers and services may."
On timing, the FCC's rule at 47 CFR 52.35 requires carriers to complete a simple port within one business day and a non-simple port within four business days, once the old provider has an accurate and complete request. End to end, with paperwork, vendors quote longer: Smith.ai tells customers porting in to allow 7 to 10 business days. It also warns that after a port into Smith.ai completes there can be a few hours before the number is active, when calls may reach an "application error" message. Ask the phone company receiving your number how long its own activation takes, and port at a quiet time.
Check each of these before the day you change anything.
If your calls fit inside an AI plan's included calls and they are handled the way you want, moving costs more than it saves. If every call has to be answered by a live person, Smith.ai's Virtual Receptionists are closer to what you need than any AI receptionist, Chleb's included. Smith.ai also sells a dedicated Spanish line on those plans, and Chleb answers in US English only.
Chleb fits the appointment-driven service business that wants the receptionist, the website chatbot and the booking calendar set up by the team that builds them, with the CRM added in the bundle, and that takes enough calls to justify a flat monthly plan. Chleb's own guidance is that an AI receptionist is the wrong call below roughly 30 calls a week.
Plan what the receptionist would handle in the setup simulator, and compare the monthly cost at your own call volume in the cost calculator. When the numbers make sense, book a demo and bring your Smith.ai call flow, because it gives the team a ready brief. Questions before you book? Call (813) 694-8671.
For the AI Receptionist, the pricing page says: "If you ever cancel, we need 30 days' notice, and then you're done." For Virtual Receptionists it bills "for and through the end of the current monthly billing cycle." Both were read on September 28, 2026, so check them again before you send notice.
If you forward calls to Smith.ai, yes: the number never left your phone company, so you change the forwarding. If you ported it to Smith.ai, port it out to a phone company you control before you cancel, then forward that line to the new receptionist, and ask on the demo whether Chleb can take the number directly. Smith.ai says it does not charge to port out, though the receiving carrier may charge a fee. Federal porting rules bind the carrier that holds the number, and interconnected VoIP providers must facilitate a valid port request.
You will if you wait. Smith.ai keeps call recordings and transcripts for 90 days. Download the ones you need from each call's details view before you cancel.
No. Keep Smith.ai answering until the new line has passed test calls and your forwarding change or port is complete. Then send the cancellation request and count the notice from that day.
Not against Smith.ai's published AI plans, which run from $150 a month for 75 calls to $800 for 500. Chleb's AI Receptionist + Chatbot plan is $899 a month, with call minutes billed separately at carrier cost. Against Smith.ai's live plans, $810 for 90 calls or $2,100 for 300, it depends on your volume. Compare what each plan includes, then run your own call volume through the cost calculator.