Nextiva AI Receptionist (XBert): Pricing and Alternatives
Nextiva’s AI receptionist is called XBert. It answers calls, texts and website chat, books appointments on your calendar, sends confirmation texts and hands callers to your team.
It’s a solid add-on if you already run your phones on Nextiva. If you don’t, you’re buying a phone system to get a receptionist, and the receptionist is metered.
The quick answer: XBert is $99 a month for 100 interactions, then 99¢ for each one after that, added to a Nextiva plan. Nextiva’s plans are $15, $25 or $75 per user a month billed annually, more month to month. XBert answers calls, texts and chats, books appointments and transfers to your team. If you want an AI receptionist that rings your team first, calls new leads back within a minute and runs from ChatGPT or Claude, without switching phone providers, Carly does that from one prompt.
Prices from Nextiva’s pricing and XBert pages, checked October 21, 2026.
Nextiva and XBert pricing
| Price | |
|---|---|
| Core | $15/user/mo billed annually |
| Engage | $25/user/mo billed annually |
| Scale | $75/user/mo billed annually |
| XBert AI Receptionist | $99/mo for 100 interactions |
| Each extra interaction | $0.99 |
Core includes 100 text messages per user a month and Engage includes 500. Live chat and a toll-free number are add-ons on Core.
What 100 interactions buys. A shop that gets 300 calls and chats a month pays $99 plus 200 × 99¢, about $297 for XBert alone, before phone seats. XBert’s own pricing card says “answer unlimited calls,” which is true in the sense that it keeps answering and keeps billing.
What XBert does well
- Answers calls, texts and website chat from one setup, using your knowledge base.
- Books appointments into your calendar and sends confirmation texts and reminders.
- Hands off to a person through Nextiva’s call routing.
- No long contract for XBert, with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Where XBert falls short
- It’s sold as an add-on to a Nextiva plan. If your number lives with another provider, you’re changing phone systems to get it.
- Metered past 100. Every interaction after the first 100 is 99¢, so a good month costs more.
- Texting has caps on the plan. Core includes 100 texts per user a month, which a receptionist confirming appointments can burn through.
- It answers. XBert captures leads that come in. Calling a new web lead back in under a minute is a separate job.
- It lives inside your phone system. Your inboxes, calendars across accounts and the rest of your follow-up stay somewhere else.
Why Carly is the better pick
Carly answers your business line on your rules, the same way every time, and you don’t have to move your phone system to use it.
- Live from one prompt. Paste Carly’s setup prompt into ChatGPT or Claude, describe how calls should go, and grab a number in the chat. Or forward just the calls you miss.
- Your team rings first. In business hours Carly rings your people and answers only if nobody picks up. After hours it answers right away.
- Calls new leads back within about a minute of a form fill, then texts and emails if they miss it (how it works).
- Two-way texting from your business number, plus a text back on every missed call.
- Ring groups and phone menus with up to nine options.
- English and Spanish, detected from the caller.
- Works with your whole stack. Calls log to HubSpot, Salesforce, Dynamics 365 or Carly’s own CRM, bookings land on every Google and Outlook calendar, and Carly connects to thousands of apps.
- Steer it from your AI chat. Place calls, send texts and steer a live call from ChatGPT or Claude (see how).
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/integrations (Advanced > API Keys > Create a new key, with Owner set to the team and all scopes selected) 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.Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month. Get started.
XBert vs Carly
| Nextiva XBert | Carly | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $99/mo for 100 interactions, then $0.99, plus Nextiva seats | Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month |
| Needs a new phone system | Added to a Nextiva plan | No |
| Rings your team first | Through Nextiva routing | Yes, then Carly picks up |
| Calls new leads back | Not a listed feature | Within about a minute |
| Texting | Yes, within plan text limits | Two-way, plus missed-call text back |
| Email and calendar | Calendar booking | Every Gmail and Outlook inbox and calendar |
| Run from ChatGPT or Claude | No | Yes |
Other Nextiva alternatives
- Carly: the AI receptionist, lead callbacks and texting, on the number you choose.
- RingCentral: a full phone system with its own AI receptionist, AIR. See RingCentral AI receptionist and RingCentral vs Nextiva.
- Quo: a simpler business phone with an AI agent. See Quo alternatives.
- Dialpad: AI-heavy phone system for larger teams. See Dialpad alternatives.
More options in best small business phone systems and best AI receptionist.
FAQ
How much is Nextiva’s AI receptionist?
XBert is $99 a month for 100 interactions, then 99¢ per interaction, on top of a Nextiva plan from $15 per user a month billed annually.
Does XBert answer unlimited calls?
It keeps answering after 100 interactions, but each one after that is billed at 99¢.
Do I need Nextiva to use XBert?
Nextiva sells XBert as an add-on to its plans. Carly works without changing phone providers: grab a number in the chat or forward the calls you miss.
What is the best Nextiva alternative?
Carly if the AI receptionist and lead follow-up are what you need. RingCentral or Dialpad if you want to replace the whole phone system.
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