Compare Conduit to the alternatives.
A Conduit comparison is a side-by-side, dimension-by-dimension look at what Conduit and an alternative each actually do — answering, booking, missed-call text-back, calendar sync — with dated market prices and a plain verdict that names the cases where the other option is the right call for you.
Market claims last verified August 2026 · competitor plans change — check their current pricing
Want the whole market on one page? The best AI receptionists and answering services, ranked honestly.
About these comparisons
Why do your comparisons say when a competitor is the better choice?
Because sometimes they are, and pretending otherwise costs more trust than a lost signup. If all you need is the phone answered, a cheaper receptionist solves it — our product only earns its price when you need the follow-up work done too.
How current are the numbers on these pages?
Market prices and claims are dated in the text and re-verified periodically (last verified August 2026). Competitor plans change — always check their current pricing before deciding.
What should I actually compare between AI receptionists?
Five things decide it, and price is rarely the one that bites. First, what happens after the call — does it only take a message, or does it book against your real calendar? Second, the pricing model: per-minute billing looks cheapest until a chatty caller runs six minutes, and the sentence describing what happens at your cap is the one to read twice. Third, whether business texting is included and whether the vendor files your US carrier registration for you. Fourth, the emergency path — anything urgent must reach a human, not loop. Fifth, what it does when it does not understand: transfer, take a callback number, or strand the caller.
Is an AI receptionist cheaper than a human answering service?
Usually, and the gap widens with volume. Live answering services bill roughly $1–3 per minute, so cost scales directly with how much your callers talk. AI receptionists are typically a flat monthly fee between $50 and $500. A human handles a genuinely strange call better than any current model, so the honest comparison is not cheaper-versus-better — it is predictable flat cost plus calendar access, against human judgment on the calls that need it.
Do I have to switch phone numbers?
No. The standard setup forwards your existing business number to the assistant, so what you have printed on your vehicle, your cards, your invoices, and your Google Business Profile keeps working. Forwarding is a code you dial once with your carrier, and you can forward every call or only the ones you miss.