Compare AI phone answering services for Australian businesses. See what each plan really costs once your calls run past the included allowance, and which vendors can actually give you a local Australian number.
100 voice minutes (Intro), 250 (Core), 700 (Premium), each with a separate SMS allowance of 50, 150 and 400 messages
None. Exceeding your tier's call count releases your phone numbers, which is a cutoff rather than a charge.
None. Unlimited minutes on every plan, "without surprise overage charges".
Charged in US dollars: USD $0.48 a minute (Business Lite), USD $0.45 (Pro), USD $0.40 (Plus), USD $0.35 (Elite). Live talk time only, tracked to the second, with partial minutes not rounded up.
$0.50 a minute on every plan, with the boundary stated outright: "Additional minutes billed at $0.50 per minute. No interruptions, no limits."
$0.90 a minute (Intro), $0.70 (Core), $0.50 (Premium). SMS is a second meter with its own allowance and its own $0.10 a message rate, which this estimate does not cover.
Not stated either way
None, "no setup fees, no minimum term"
None, "No setup fees"
None, "$0 setup fee: live and answering calls in about an hour"
From $990, one time
Yes, 14 days
Yes, 7 days: "Try Jodie risk-free for 7 days, no card required"
Yes, 7 days
Yes in effect: no card is required to activate and the first charge falls 7 days later, though the vendor never calls it a trial
No. The vendor offers a money-back guarantee instead.
Monthly. The vendor's own pricing feed publishes no annual term.
None, "no setup fees, no minimum term"
Monthly. Annual pricing is said to be available but is not priced anywhere on the page.
None on monthly, "cancel any time, no commitment". The discounted yearly rate is billed annually on a twelve-month commitment.
Monthly. No annual term is published.
What the AI Does
Books appointments, takes messages and answers questions on every plan. The tier buys AI agents, languages and phone numbers (1, 5 or 20), not features.
AI phone answering with unlimited minutes, custom message-taking, call recordings and instant lead qualification on every plan. Appointment bookings, call transfers and team members are not on the entry plan.
Answers calls and takes messages on every plan. Warm transfers, after-hours escalation, bilingual English and Spanish and calendar sync are on Pro and above; custom prompt engineering and multi-location are on Plus and above.
Appointment booking, warm transfer to a person, a visual workflow builder, cross-call memory, transcripts, concurrent call handling, an unlimited knowledge base and premium voice, on every plan. The vendor states there is "No premium tier. No add-on fees.", so the tier buys minutes only.
Lead capture and booking workflows on every plan. CRM and webhook integrations are on Core and above, with 1, 3 or 5 plug-ins by plan. Every plan includes managed onboarding and ongoing tuning by Valory staff, and a support response commitment of 48 hours (Intro), 24 hours (Core) or 12 hours (Premium).
Yes, on every plan
Yes, on Professional and above. Not on Basic.
Calendar sync on Pro and above
Yes, on every plan
Yes, booking workflows on every plan
Yes, "the call transferred to a member of your team", and calls can be routed or escalated to different numbers
Yes, on Professional and above. Not on Basic.
Yes, blind transfers on every plan; warm transfers on Pro and above
Yes, warm transfer on every plan: "Warm Transfer to a Real Person. Nobody repeats themselves. When a caller wants a human, Frontly hands the call over with a summary."
Not published as an in-call transfer. The vendor says it will "escalate urgent enquiries", and that onboarding configures "routing rules, handoffs, integrations, and escalation paths".
No vendor-supplied humans. Transfers reach your own team.
No
No vendor-supplied humans. Transfers reach your own team.
No
No vendor-supplied humans, though every plan includes managed onboarding and ongoing tuning by Valory staff
Calls & Coverage
Yes, and the vendor publishes its full country list, including the United Kingdom (+44) and Australia (+61). It covers the cost of the line.
No number is provisioned, by design. You forward your existing one: "no porting, no new numbers."
No Australian local number is published. Only an AU or NZ toll-free number, quoted in US dollars as a range of USD $20 to USD $50 a month depending on the country, and charged on top of the plan. The plan card contradicts the FAQ by listing the number as included.
Yes, one dedicated AU local number (SIP) included on every plan
Yes, AU local numbers included: 1 on Intro and Core, 2 on Premium
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Yes, 24/7: "Start answering your business calls 24/7 with our AI receptionist"
Yes, 24/7, listed under "All plans include"
Yes, 24/7: "Frontly answers within 3 rings day, night, weekends, and public holidays"
Yes, 24/7 inbound coverage on every plan, with an explicit coverage row on the plan table
English in US, British and Australian accents, among others. The tier buys 1, 5 or 20 languages.
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Bilingual English and Spanish on Pro and above
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Integrations & Support
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Zapier on the higher tiers
Calendar sync on Pro and above
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CRM and webhook integrations on Core and above. 1, 3 or 5 plug-ins by plan.
No, US dollars only whatever country you are in. The figure shown here is converted.
Yes, a genuine AUD rate card on the vendor's Australian locale path, written with an explicit A$ prefix
No, US dollars only, including the number rental. The figure shown here is converted.
Yes, a genuine AUD rate card from an Australian vendor, and the tax basis is explicit: every figure is followed by "+ GST"
Yes, an Australian vendor pricing in Australian dollars, though the page never writes "AUD" and states no GST basis
Estimates based on $15,000/mo volume. Rates can change without notice, confirm current pricing with the provider before signing on.How we calculate this
Estimated cost: each provider’s published prices and rates applied to the inputs you set above (such as volume, team size, or invoices), plus any fixed monthly fees.
Providers with an incomplete cost (shown as “+ processing”) and quote-only providers are never ranked as the cheapest while a complete-cost option exists. A “+ payroll” tag means payroll is not built in, so you would run it on separate software; those providers are still ranked on cost, and you can hide them with the Payroll included filter.
These are estimates. Published rates can change and your final pricing depends on your business, so confirm current pricing with the provider before switching.
Provider details
The top providers, expanded.
Same data as the table above, broken out per provider with the use cases each one fits best.
We may earn a commission when you click through to a provider. This never affects ranking or data shown. Read our terms.
Simple Phones
The one vendor here that publishes a full country list, including UK and Australian numbers.
Est. cost
$69/mo
★
Best for
UK and Australian businesses that want an AI receptionist with a local number and a local accent
Entry plan
$69/mo (Basic)
Included
Up to 100 calls a month (Basic), 500 (Advanced), 2,500 (Premium)
Overage
None. Exceeding your tier's call count releases your phone numbers, which is a cutoff rather than a charge.
Local number
Yes, and the vendor publishes its full country list, including the United Kingdom (+44) and Australia (+61). It covers the cost of the line.
The cleanest ladder in this category: minutes included, an overage rate on every plan, billed to the second.
Est. cost
$189/mo
★
Best for
Businesses that want a per-minute bill they can predict and check
Entry plan
$41/mo (Business Lite)
Included
60 minutes (Business Lite), 220 (Pro), 500 (Plus), 1,000 (Elite). Live talk time only, tracked to the second with partial minutes not rounded up.
Overage
Charged in US dollars: USD $0.48 a minute (Business Lite), USD $0.45 (Pro), USD $0.40 (Plus), USD $0.35 (Elite). Live talk time only, tracked to the second, with partial minutes not rounded up.
Local number
No Australian local number is published. Only an AU or NZ toll-free number, quoted in US dollars as a range of USD $20 to USD $50 a month depending on the country, and charged on top of the plan. The plan card contradicts the FAQ by listing the number as included.
Managed Australian AI receptionist with staff onboarding and tuning included, and a setup fee.
Est. cost
$329/mo
★
Best for
Australian businesses that want the service built and tuned for them rather than configuring it themselves
Entry plan
$149/mo (Intro)
Included
100 voice minutes (Intro), 250 (Core), 700 (Premium), each with a separate SMS allowance of 50, 150 and 400 messages
Overage
$0.90 a minute (Intro), $0.70 (Core), $0.50 (Premium). SMS is a second meter with its own allowance and its own $0.10 a message rate, which this estimate does not cover.
Local number
Yes, AU local numbers included: 1 on Intro and Core, 2 on Premium
Not sure which AI phone answering service is right for you?
Almost every plan here bundles a set number of calls or minutes, so the cheapest option flips the moment you run past that allowance. Tell us your call volume and we can help you work out which one actually fits.