7 Best Rosie AI Alternatives in 2026
Rosie is one of the easiest AI answering services to start with: 24/7 in English or Spanish, messages, spam filtering and a text summary of every call, from $49 a month. The catches show up once your phone gets busy: booking waits for the $149 Scale plan (the $49 plan texts callers a link), going past your minutes switches you to the next tier at that tier’s price until you downgrade, and website texting is $50 a month for 25 conversations, then $1 each.
The quick answer: Carly is the best Rosie alternative for a business that wants callers booked, not sent a link. It answers when your team can’t, books on your team’s real calendars while the caller is on the line, texts from the same number, answers in Spanish when the caller does, and puts every call, text and email in one team inbox. Copy one prompt into ChatGPT or Claude, grab a number, and you’re live. For a free trial run, Smith.ai covers 25 calls a month.
US list prices from each vendor’s own pricing page, checked October 13 to 18, 2026.
Rosie’s plans, for reference
| Rosie plan | Monthly | Minutes | What it adds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Professional | $49 ($41 billed annually) | 250 | Message taking, booking links by text, spam filter |
| Scale | $149 ($124 annually) | 1,000 | Calendar booking, warm and live transfers |
| Growth | $299 ($249 annually) | 2,000 | Waterfall transfers, custom training documents, white-glove onboarding |
More in Rosie AI: pricing and limits.
Rosie AI alternatives compared
| Alternative | Books on your calendar | Charges by | Starting price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carly | Yes, round robin across your team | Plan | Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/mo |
| Smith.ai | Yes | Call | Free for 25 calls; Pro $150 for 75 |
| Goodcall | Through integrations | Unique customer | $79/mo for 100 customers |
| Dialzara | Through Zapier or Make | Talk time | $29/mo for 60 min |
| My AI Front Desk | Google or Outlook calendar | Plan with minutes | $99/mo for 200 min |
| Posh | Per your script | Minute (live receptionists) | $65/mo plus $2.30/min |
| Ruby | Per your script | Minute (live receptionists) | $250/mo for 50 min |
1. Carly
Carly is reliable and endlessly customizable: what to ask, who to book and when to hand off, written once in plain English and applied the same way to every caller.
- Books on the call. A real Google or Outlook calendar, round robin across your team, while the caller is still on the phone.
- Answers 24/7, or only when your team doesn’t pick up. Spanish callers get Spanish.
- Transfers properly to the right teammate via ring groups or a phone menu.
- Calls new web leads within about a minute, then texts and emails if they miss it.
- Texts from your number: two-way texts, reminders, group texts and a text back on every missed call.
- One team inbox and CRM. Transcripts, summaries, voicemails and texts, written back to HubSpot, Salesforce, Dynamics 365 or Carly’s own CRM.
- Runs from ChatGPT or Claude with the Carly connector: build the agents, place calls and steer a live one from a chat (how it works).
Carly connects to thousands of apps, and call outcomes can trigger free Zapier-style workflows like a review request after a visit.
Carly business setup prompt
Paste this into ChatGPT, Claude or any AI. It walks you through the rest.
Help me connect Carly Teams to this chat: read https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp.txt and follow it. If you can't open links, tell me how to add https://carlyassistant.com/team/mcp to you as a custom MCP connector, then I'll sign in.
- Best for: small businesses that have outgrown a message-taker and want every caller booked.
- Setup: copy one prompt into ChatGPT or Claude, grab a number, and you’re live.
- Pricing: Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month. Get started.
2. Smith.ai
Smith.ai’s AI Receptionist qualifies callers, books appointments and logs to your CRM, with live receptionists available from the same vendor.
- Best for: trying an AI receptionist free.
- Pricing: free for 25 calls a month ($3 a call after); Pro $150 for 75 calls ($2.50 each extra).
- Limitations: per-call billing climbs on a busy line. See Smith.ai alternatives.
3. Goodcall
Goodcall charges per unique caller, so a regular who calls five times in a month counts once, and long calls cost the same as short ones.
- Best for: busy shops with lots of repeat callers and long calls.
- Pricing: Starter $79 a month for 100 unique customers; Growth $129 for 500; Scale $299 for 2,000.
- Limitations: booking runs through integrations you set up. See Goodcall.
4. Dialzara
Dialzara undercuts Rosie on entry price, billed by talk time with a self-editable prompt.
- Best for: very low call volume.
- Pricing: $29 a month for 60 minutes ($0.48 a minute after); $99 for 220; $199 for 500; $349 for 1,000.
- Limitations: 60 minutes is about 20 short calls, and booking depends on Zapier or Make.
5. My AI Front Desk
My AI Front Desk (now Frontdesk AI) bundles calls, texts, web chat and a simple CRM, and books on Google or Outlook calendars on its one plan.
- Best for: businesses that want booking without paying for a higher tier.
- Pricing: $99 a month, or $79 billed annually, for 200 voice minutes; overage in credits.
- Limitations: 200 minutes is fewer than Rosie’s entry plan. See My AI Front Desk.
6. Posh
Posh is a live virtual receptionist service with AI options, on month-to-month plans.
- Best for: businesses that want a person answering, at low volume.
- Pricing: Chic plan $65 a month plus $2.30 a minute; other plans include minutes. Free trial of 7 days or 250 minutes.
- Limitations: per-minute billing gets expensive fast.
7. Ruby
Ruby is the best-known live receptionist service, with the same features on every plan and pricing by the minute.
- Best for: businesses where every caller must reach a person.
- Pricing: $250 for 50 minutes, $395 for 100, $720 for 200, $1,725 for 500.
- Limitations: about $5 a minute on the entry plan, against roughly 20 cents on Rosie’s.
How to pick a Rosie alternative
- Do you need callers booked? If yes, and you don’t want to pay $149 to get it, go with Carly.
- Price it on last month’s calls. Minutes (Rosie, Dialzara, My AI Front Desk), calls (Smith.ai) or callers (Goodcall).
- Check the overage rule. Auto-upgrades, credits and per-minute overage all behave differently in a busy month.
- Want a human? Posh and Ruby, at a much higher price.
For the full field, see best AI receptionist for small business, and for live answering comparisons, AI answering service.
FAQ
What is the best alternative to Rosie AI?
Carly, for businesses that want callers booked on a real calendar on every call, plus texts and email in one inbox. Smith.ai is the best free way to try an AI receptionist.
Is there a cheaper alternative to Rosie?
Dialzara starts at $29 a month for 60 minutes, and Smith.ai’s AI is free for 25 calls. Carly: Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month.
Does Rosie book appointments?
On the $149 Scale plan and up. The $49 Professional plan texts callers a booking link instead.
Rosie AI vs Smith.ai: which is better?
Rosie bills by plan and minutes; Smith.ai bills per call and adds live receptionists if you want them. Smith.ai’s AI books through your scheduling tool; Rosie books from Scale up.
Can an AI answering service answer in Spanish?
Rosie answers in English or Spanish, and Carly detects a Spanish speaker and answers in Spanish automatically.
Ready to automate your busywork?
Carly schedules, researches, and briefs you—so you can focus on what matters.
See what people say
"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."
