Arini AI: Dental AI Receptionist, Pricing and Alternatives
Arini is an AI receptionist built only for dental practices. It answers missed and after-hours calls, books patients into your schedule using your providers’ real templates, calls patients for recall and confirmations, and tracks the revenue it books. It sells to single offices up to groups with 100+ locations.
The quick answer: Arini suits dental groups and DSOs that want a dental-only vendor with its own engineers, and a sales-led rollout. Pricing is by quote. For a practice that wants an AI receptionist answering and booking this week, with texts, reminders and a team inbox, Carly is the faster start. It answers when the desk can’t, books on your practice software or calendar, texts patients from your number and signs a BAA on Enterprise plans. Set it up on carlyassistant.com, or ask ChatGPT or Claude to set it up for you.
Arini at a glance
Checked against Arini’s site and its Y Combinator profile on November 4, 2026.
| Arini | |
|---|---|
| What it is | An AI receptionist and patient engagement platform for dental practices |
| Company | Y Combinator Winter 2024, based in San Francisco. Founded by Abdul Jamjoom (CEO) and Rami Rustom (CTO) |
| Who it’s for | Single practices, small groups and DSOs with 100+ locations |
| Does | Answers calls, books appointments, answers patient questions, outbound recall and confirmation calls, online scheduling |
| Analytics | ”Watchtower,” a dashboard of calls, bookings and revenue by location and provider |
| Enterprise | Forward-deployed engineers who build custom workflows with large groups |
| Pricing | By quote. No public price list |
What Arini does
- Answers every call your team misses, during lunch, at peak hours and after hours, and escalates to your team when needed.
- Books like your front desk. Arini learns your providers, appointment types, durations, templates and scheduling rules, then books into your practice management system.
- Answers patient questions about insurance plans you accept, hours, providers and services.
- Calls patients out for hygiene recall, confirmations and reactivation.
- Online scheduling that you embed on your practice website.
- Watchtower shows how many calls turned into appointments, why patients didn’t book and how much production Arini booked.
Its case studies are big: Arini says it booked $342,000 in production for Pearl Street Dental Partners in 10 months, and that Snow Orthodontics recovers about $42,000 a month in new-patient lifetime value from missed calls. Those are Arini’s own figures.
How Arini pricing works
Arini doesn’t publish prices. You book a demo, and pricing depends on your number of locations and which agents you turn on. Larger groups also get its “Enterprise AI Partner” service, where Arini’s engineers work with your operators to build custom workflows. Ask for the per-location monthly price, any implementation fee and the contract length.
What to check before you sign
- Your practice management system. Arini says it integrates with cloud and on-premise systems. Confirm yours by name, and that booking writes into your real schedule rather than creating a request.
- HIPAA. Get a signed Business Associate Agreement before patient calls go through any AI receptionist.
- Time to live. A sales-led rollout with custom training takes longer than self-serve. Ask how many weeks until it answers your phones.
- References. Ask for two or three practices your size, and call them.
- What happens after the call. Check how confirmations, reminders and texts reach patients, and from which number.
Best Arini alternatives
1. Carly: the fastest start
Carly runs your practice’s calls, texts, WhatsApp and email in one place. It’s reliable and endlessly customizable: you write the rules in plain English (“new patients get the first open hygiene slot with an exam, emergencies go to the on-call dentist”) and it follows them on every call.
- Answers when the desk can’t. Your team gets the first ring and Carly takes the rest, or every call 24/7.
- Books during the call into your practice software through its API where it has one, or on the Google or Outlook calendar your front desk uses.
- Texts from your practice number: confirmations, reminders, a text back on every missed call and recall reminders.
- Handles emergencies your way. It asks your triage questions, then rings the on-call dentist or texts them a summary.
- Speaks English and Spanish, picked from how the patient talks.
- Signs a BAA on Enterprise plans. Book a call to set one up.
It connects to everything. Carly connects to thousands of apps, so a booked call can update your patient list, post to Slack and add a follow-up task as free Zapier-style workflows.
Setup takes minutes. Paste the prompt below into ChatGPT or Claude, grab a number in the chat or forward the calls you miss, and Carly answers.
Carly business setup prompt
Paste this into ChatGPT, Claude or any AI. It walks you through the rest.
Help me connect Carly Teams so I can work with my organization's business texts, phone calls, voicemail and voice/text agents from this chat. I'll add it to you myself: tell me exactly what to click for the app you are, one step at a time, and wait for me to confirm before moving on. If a step doesn't match what I see, ask me what's on my screen. If you can do the setup yourself (Claude Code, Codex, Muse, Grok Bot), go ahead, and ask me for any key in your secure credential prompt, never in the chat. Don't tell me it's connected until list_phone_lines works, and if I have several teams, ask which to use. Before sending a text or making a call, confirm the team, recipient and message or task with me. The steps are below.
# Connect Carly Teams to an AI app
> Carly Teams works a team's business phone lines through the team's AI agents: business texts, phone calls, voicemail, the voice and text agents, and the team's CRM.
MCP server: https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp (streamable HTTP, OAuth)
## Setup
Carly Teams isn't in any plugin or connector directory yet, so it's added as a custom connection by URL.
1. Add Carly Teams:
- ChatGPT: open https://chatgpt.com/plugins, click Add, and choose Create MCP App (not Create plugin or Upload plugin archive). If Create MCP App isn't on the menu, turn on Developer mode first in Settings > Security and login. Name it "Carly Teams" with the description "Work with my team's business texts, calls, voicemail and voice/text agents," paste https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp as the server URL, choose OAuth, create it, and sign in. Then in the message box open the + menu, choose Developer mode, and pick Carly Teams. No plugin needs to be built, packaged or uploaded.
- Claude (claude.ai, Claude Desktop, or Cowork): Customize > Connectors > Add custom connector, name it Carly Teams, paste https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp, and sign in.
- Claude Code: `claude mcp add --transport http --scope user carly-teams https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp`, then /mcp, pick carly-teams, and authenticate.
- Codex: `codex mcp add carly-teams --url https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp`, then `codex mcp login carly-teams`.
- Cursor: add {"mcpServers": {"carly-teams": {"url": "https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp"}}} to ~/.cursor/mcp.json, then sign in to carly-teams from Customize.
- Muse: a custom connector to https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp with a Carly API key as its bearer token. The key comes from carlyassistant.com/account (API key under Carly Teams) and goes in Muse's connector settings, not in a chat message.
- Grok: grok.com/connectors > New Connector > Custom, paste https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp, and sign in.
- Grok Bot: a custom remote MCP server named carly-teams at https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp. Approve it and sign in.
- Perplexity: Plugins in the sidebar (or Customize > Connectors), then Add custom > Connector > Add MCP connector. Choose Remote, name it Carly Teams, paste https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp, pick OAuth, check the box and click Add, then click the Carly Teams card to sign in.
- Anything else: a remote MCP server (streamable HTTP) named carly-teams at https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp. It signs in with OAuth.
Sign in with the Carly account that belongs to the organization.
2. Once it's added, the Carly Teams tools show up in the chat, including list_phone_lines. If they don't, turn Carly Teams on for the chat or start a new chat.
3. To check it worked, call list_phone_lines: it returns the teams and phone lines the account can reach. A team with no phone line yet can get one with find_numbers (optionally by area code) and get_number, which may return a checkout link to finish.
4. Something to try first: "Review our missed calls and voicemail and help me reply to customers." Carly Teams also reads and answers business texts, has the team's agent make calls, and edits the voice and text agents. Texts and calls go out at once from the agent's number and can't be taken back. Team permissions apply.
## Email, calendars and workflows
Email, calendars, files, booking pages and workflows are the regular Carly connector, added separately. It's listed in ChatGPT's plugin directory (https://chatgpt.com/plugins/plugin_asdk_app_6a67a26316b88191860222f918d4ec54) and Claude's connector directory (https://claude.ai/directory/carly), and connects anywhere else at https://carlyassistant.com/mcp/. Its setup is https://carlyassistant.com/mcp.txt.Get started, or watch the 2-minute video.
2. Viva AI
A dental-only AI receptionist that sets up through Viva’s team in about a week and books into supported practice software. Good for practices that want a dental specialist vendor without a DSO-scale rollout.
3. Weave AI Receptionist
Built into Weave’s phone and texting platform, with automatic booking on qualified dental practice software. Best for practices already on Weave. See Weave AI Receptionist.
4. A human dental answering service
For a person on every after-hours call. See dental answering service.
For the full ranking, see best AI dental receptionist.
FAQ
What is Arini AI?
Arini is an AI receptionist for dental practices. It answers calls, books appointments into your practice management system, answers patient questions and makes recall and confirmation calls. It came out of Y Combinator’s Winter 2024 batch.
How much does Arini cost?
Arini doesn’t publish prices. Pricing is quoted after a demo and depends on your number of locations and which agents you use.
Is Arini HIPAA compliant?
Ask Arini for a signed Business Associate Agreement before going live. Any AI receptionist handling patient calls should sign one.
Who founded Arini?
Abdul Jamjoom (CEO) and Rami Rustom (CTO). The company is based in San Francisco and went through Y Combinator in Winter 2024.
What is the best alternative to Arini?
Carly, for practices that want an AI receptionist answering and booking in minutes, with texts, reminders and a team inbox. Viva AI and Weave AI Receptionist are dental-only options.
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"Before Carly, I relied on a Calendly link, but the whole process felt impersonal and not very professional. Carly changed that by handling all the back-and-forth, so I'm no longer stuck in endless email threads trying to line up schedules.
Now Carly reaches out to candidates, shares my real-time availability, lets them pick a slot, then sends a Zoom link and drops it straight into my calendar. She sends reminders to both of us before each call, which has significantly reduced no-shows and last-minute confusion.
On top of scheduling, Carly acts like a full executive assistant, sending me my schedule the night before so I can prepare for each call. It reminds me of the old x.ai assistant, but Carly is noticeably smarter, faster, and better suited to my healthcare recruitment business."
