Smith.ai is a mature product with a genuinely free entry tier, and it is a United States service. Its pricing is published in US dollars, with no Australian pricing on its pricing page. For an Australian business the deciding question is not features, it is whether being billed in USD by an American operation is acceptable.
AiDial is a competitor of Smith.ai and publishes this page, so read it for the sourced facts rather than the verdict. Every Smith.ai figure below is quoted from its own current public pages, checked on 25 August 2026, and is in USD as published. Nothing here comes from a review site.
What Smith.ai is good at, stated plainly
- There is a real free tier. The AI Receptionist Free plan is $0 a month with 25 calls included, then $3.00 a call. No Australian provider we know of, us included, offers anything comparable. If you want to try an AI receptionist for nothing, start there.
- The AI pricing is aggressive. Pro is $150 a month for roughly 60 to 90 calls at $2.00 a call; Enterprise is $500 a month for roughly 300 or more calls at $1.67 a call.
- AI-initiated human escalation is free. Its page states that if the escalation is AI-initiated there is no fee, with live agent involvement available as a per-call add-on if you choose to add it.
- It states it does not use overseas agents. A meaningful claim in a market where several providers quietly route offshore.
- The commercial terms are buyer-friendly. No setup fees, month-to-month service, a 30-day money-back guarantee and a 10% discount for annual commitment.
- It is a mature product with deep integrations. Smith.ai has been in this market considerably longer than most, and it shows in the breadth of what it connects to.
The three things that matter if you are in Australia
One: the price is in US dollars and there is no published Australian price. Every figure on its pricing page is USD. Your actual cost is the USD amount plus whatever your card or bank adds in conversion and international transaction fees, and it moves with the exchange rate. This page does not convert the figures, because any conversion would be out of date by the time you read it — but budget for the invoice being a moving number rather than a fixed one, and confirm the GST position with your accountant, because it is not the same as buying from an Australian supplier.
Two: “no overseas agents” is a statement about US operations. Read from Australia, “no overseas agents” naturally sounds like a promise about your calls being handled locally. It is not — it is a US company describing its US staffing. Its pricing page does not mention Australian pricing or Australian phone numbers. If where your calls are answered matters to you, ask specifically, and ask separately about where recordings and transcripts are stored.
Three: the human plans are a different price bracket entirely. Its live virtual receptionist plans start at $300 a month for 30 calls, with overage at $11.50 a call; Basic is $810 a month for 90 calls at $10.50 over, and Pro is $2,100 a month for 300 calls at $8.50 over. All USD. Those are strong numbers for a US professional services firm and a very large number for a small Australian business. Make sure you are comparing the AI product, not the human one.
Do your callers need a local number answered in Australian hours, and does anyone ever have to ask you where the call data lives? If neither, currency is the only real issue. If either, it is a bigger one.
Swipe to compare →
| Compared | Smith.ai | AiDial |
|---|---|---|
| Where it sits | ||
| Billing currency | USD no Australian pricing published | AUD |
| Base of operations | United States; states “No overseas agents” | Australia |
| Australian data residency | Not published | Yes “hosted & processed in Australia” |
| Australian phone numbers | Not mentioned on the pricing page | Yes |
| AI receptionist pricing | ||
| Free tier | Yes $0/mo, 25 calls, then $3.00/call | None |
| Entry paid plan | $150/mo, approx. 60–90 calls, $2.00/call | $149/mo Core, 60 calls, $2.49/call |
| Top published plan | $500/mo, approx. 300+ calls, $1.67/call | $449/mo Max, 400 calls, $1.49/call |
| Currency of the above | USD | AUD |
| Human involvement | ||
| AI-initiated escalation | No fee | Included escalates to your people |
| Live agent add-on price | Not published | Not offered we do not staff a human desk |
| Full human reception plans | Yes $300 / $810 / $2,100 per month USD | No |
| Commercials | ||
| Setup fee | None | None |
| Lock-in | None month to month | None |
| Money-back guarantee | 30 days | Not published |
| Annual discount | 10% | Not published |
| GST treatment | Not an Australian supply check with your accountant | Not stated on the pricing page |
Four rows there go to Smith.ai outright: a free tier we do not have, a published money-back guarantee we do not publish, an annual discount we do not publish, and a full human reception service we do not offer at all. On the AI plans the two price cards are remarkably close in their own currencies — $150 against $149, $500 against $449 — which means the decision is almost entirely about currency and locality rather than value.
When to stay, and when to look
You want to trial an AI receptionist for nothing before committing
Start with Smith.ai’s free tier
You are a US business, or your callers are mostly American
Stay with Smith.ai
You need a full human reception team on tap
Stay with Smith.ai, or look at Oracle CMS in Australia
Being billed in AUD, with GST handled as a domestic supply, matters to you
Look at an Australian provider
Someone will ask you where call recordings are stored
Look at a provider that publishes data residency
Your callers expect a local number answered in Australian hours
Look at an Australian provider
Sources and method
Every Smith.ai figure and quotation was read from its own current public pages on 25 August 2026 and is reproduced as published, in the currency published. No exchange rate is applied anywhere on this page. Where a figure is not published, this page says so rather than estimating it. Prices change; anything here more than six months old will be removed rather than shown stale.
| Source | What was taken from it, checked 25 August 2026 |
|---|---|
| Smith.ai AI Receptionist | smith.ai AI receptionist page: the Free, Pro and Enterprise plan fees, included call bands, per-call rates, and the statement that AI-initiated escalation carries no fee while live agent involvement is a per-call add-on |
| Smith.ai pricing | smith.ai pricing page: the Starter, Basic and Pro live receptionist plans with their monthly fees, included calls and overage rates; no setup fees; month-to-month terms; 30-day money-back guarantee; 10% annual discount; 24/7 answering; and “No overseas agents”. All figures USD; no Australian pricing published |
| AiDial | aidial.com.au pricing page: Core, Scale and Max plan fees, included calls, extra-call rates, setup and contract terms, and Australian hosting and processing |
Frequently asked questions
Does Smith.ai work in Australia?
It is a US service and its pricing page does not publish Australian pricing or mention Australian phone numbers. Whether it will serve an Australian business is a question for them directly. Ask about a local number, Australian business-hours coverage, and where recordings and transcripts are stored.
How much does Smith.ai cost in Australian dollars?
There is no published AUD price. The AI Receptionist plans are $0, $150 and $500 a month in USD, and your real cost is that amount plus conversion and international transaction fees, changing with the exchange rate. We deliberately do not print a converted figure here, because it would be wrong within days.
Is Smith.ai’s free plan really free?
As published, yes: $0 a month with 25 calls included, and $3.00 a call after that. Note that $3.00 is a high per-call rate by this market’s standards, so the free plan is best read as a trial rather than a long-term plan — past about 25 calls a month a paid plan is cheaper.
What is the best Australian alternative to Smith.ai?
It depends which Smith.ai you mean. If you want the AI receptionist, compare Australian AI providers on AUD pricing and data residency. If you want its human reception service, the closest Australian equivalent is a staffed call centre such as Oracle CMS, which states that all of its call centres are based in Australia and that it operates all year round.
Talk to an Australian team about it
AiDial is an Australian AI receptionist and answering service, priced in Australian dollars, hosted and processed in Australia, on month-to-month plans with no setup fee. If a free trial is what you are after, we will say plainly that Smith.ai’s free tier is the cheapest way to test the idea.
Compare how the AI receptionist providers stack up, see what each answering service tier really costs, read the after-hours comparison, check the virtual receptionist options, or see what the review platforms actually show.
