Smith.ai Australia alternative
Hey Jodie answers your calls 24/7 from a flat A$99/month, with no per-call fees.
Calls answered
Plan includes 30 calls for A$463
Any number of calls
Two services that both answer your phone. The difference is what you pay per call when volume spikes.
| Hey Jodie | Smith.ai | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per call (50 calls/mo) | A$1.98 per call | A$15.44 per call (Virtual Receptionist Starter) |
| Starting monthly price | From A$99/month (Basic) | From A$154/month (AI plan) or A$463/month (human Starter) |
| Pricing model | Flat monthly, unlimited minutes | Per-call plans with per-call overage charges |
| Per-call overage | No per-call charge | A$15.44 per extra call on Starter; A$3.80 on the AI plan |
| Free trial | 7 days free, no card needed | No risk-free trial, demo call only |
| Setup time | Minutes - forward your phone | Onboarding call and intake-script briefing |
| Who answers | Trained AI receptionist | Hybrid: AI plan, US-based humans on Receptionist plans |
| Practice management integration | Clio, LEAP, Actionstep via Zapier (Premium) | Native Clio; LEAP and Actionstep not supported |
| 24/7 coverage | Included on every plan | Included on Virtual Receptionist plans |
| Trustpilot rating | 4.82 out of 5 (56 reviews) | 4.7 out of 5 |
Pricing reflects Smith.ai's published rates at smith.ai/pricing at the time of writing. Smith.ai bills in USD (no AUD price card); AUD figures convert at a 1.58 USD/AUD reference rate. Smith.ai operates three product tiers; figures reference the AI plan and the Virtual Receptionist Starter. Hey Jodie pricing is published in full in AUD on the pricing page.
Slide the calls you'd take - the calculator picks Smith.ai's cheapest plan plus overage and compares to Hey Jodie's flat plan.
Cost calculator
Hey Jodie Basic
A$99/mo
Flat. Unlimited.
Competitor: AI Receptionist Starter
$146/mo
roughly A$220/mo
$98 base + $48 overage
You'd save
A$121/month (A$1,448/year)
Smith.ai tiers and per-call overage rates are from smith.ai/pricing at the time of writing and billed in USD. Calculator picks the cheaper of the AI Receptionist ($97.50 / 30 calls + $2.40 per extra call) and Virtual Receptionist Starter ($293 / 30 calls + $9.78 per extra call). Hey Jodie Basic is flat monthly with unlimited calls at your locale rate.
FX rates as of 2026-05-13. Hey Jodie price is the published locale rate, not converted.
Verifiable differences, not marketing claims. Each comes from public information on Smith.ai's site and ours.
Smith.ai's Virtual Receptionist Starter is A$463/month for 30 calls, then A$15.44 per extra call. Hey Jodie's Basic plan is A$99 flat with unlimited calls - the price doesn't move when your phone rings more.
A$1.98 per call on Hey Jodie vs A$15.44 per call on Smith.ai Starter at 50 calls a month.
Smith.ai sits at 4.7 on Trustpilot with the recurring critical theme being pricing surprise - the per-call meter auto-bumps you into the next tier when calls spike. Hey Jodie holds 4.82 on Trustpilot with a flat monthly bill.
Smith.ai 4.7 on Trustpilot, Hey Jodie 4.82 - and no per-call meter on our side.
Smith.ai's native Clio integration suits multi-partner firms with a dedicated intake desk. Hey Jodie is built for the sole solicitor on the Gold Coast whose phone rings during a mediation, with LEAP and Actionstep handoff via Zapier on Premium.
Smith.ai if you need a US intake team; Hey Jodie if you are the team.
Smith.ai leans hard on native legal-practice-management integrations. Here's where that matters and where it does not.
| Integration | Hey Jodie | Smith.ai |
|---|---|---|
Clio Legal practice management Smith.ai pushes intake into Clio directly. Hey Jodie routes via Zapier on Professional and Premium plans. | Zapier | Native |
MyCase Legal practice management | Zapier | Native |
PracticePanther Legal practice management | Zapier | Native |
HubSpot CRM Both route via integration partners rather than first-party. | Zapier | Partner |
Salesforce CRM | Zapier | Partner |
Slack Team notifications | Zapier | Partner |
Email / SMS notifications Lead capture | Native | Native |
Zapier (6000+ apps) Universal automation Zapier-only on Hey Jodie Premium covers tools Smith.ai has no path to. | Native | Not supported |
Smith.ai's integration list is from smith.ai/integrations at the time of writing. Hey Jodie integration coverage reflects the Professional ($99) and Premium ($199) plan tiers - Basic is voice + email/SMS only. 'Native' means first-party, 'Partner' means via an official integration provider, 'Zapier' means routed through Zapier's connector library.
Smith.ai publishes most figures up front - the question is what the bill looks like once per-call overage and tier auto-bumps kick in.
| Hey Jodie | Smith.ai | |
|---|---|---|
Base monthly price | ||
Per-call overage rate Hey Jodie has no per-call charge. Smith.ai publishes $2.40/extra call on the AI plan and $9.78/extra call on Virtual Receptionist Starter. | ||
Setup fee Both are $0 setup. | ||
Free trial (no card) Hey Jodie offers 7 days free with no card. Smith.ai's site offers a demo call only. | ||
Auto tier-upgrade rules Hey Jodie's flat plan doesn't auto-upgrade. Smith.ai's tier behaviour at the overage ceiling is in the terms of service, not the pricing page. | ||
Total first-year cost calculable from public info Hey Jodie: 12 x flat plan. Smith.ai: depends on your call volume because the per-call rate compounds. |
Smith.ai's A$463 Starter floor is priced for multi-partner firms. If your phone rings while you are in court or on a site visit, these are the AU businesses Hey Jodie was built for.
LEAP and Actionstep - the practice systems most Australian firms run - are not on Smith.ai's native list. A$99 flat with Zapier-routed LEAP or Actionstep handoff on Premium beats A$463 for 30 calls plus A$15.44 per overage.
See Hey Jodie for lawyers & law firmsFor a single-doctor clinic with 40 inbound calls a week, Smith.ai's per-call cap doesn't survive a flu surge. Hey Jodie answers in seconds and notifies the front desk at a flat price.
See Hey Jodie for medical centres & gp clinicsA buyer scrolling Domain at 8pm calls the next agent if you don't pick up. 24/7 cover comes standard on Hey Jodie Basic at A$99 - not gated behind an A$463 Receptionist plan.
See Hey Jodie for real estate agentsBAS and tax season volumes spike fast. A flat plan with unlimited calls beats A$15.44 per overage when every client is calling about an ATO notice at once.
See Hey Jodie for accountantsSmith.ai's AI Receptionist is around A$154/month for 30 calls plus A$3.80 per extra call. The Virtual Receptionist Starter is around A$463/month for 30 calls plus A$15.44 per extra call. Hey Jodie publishes A$99 Basic, A$199 Professional, A$399 Premium - all with unlimited calls.
Smith.ai is a US-incorporated company in Palo Alto with no Australian office, no smith.ai/au site and no AU phone number. Australian firms sign up through smith.ai by forwarding a landline; agents are US-based and the invoice is in USD. Hey Jodie supports Australian numbers natively and bills in AUD.
Yes. Smith.ai is a US-incorporated company founded in 2015 and based in Palo Alto, with a 4.7 Trustpilot rating and thousands of US law-firm customers. The questions worth asking are about price predictability and contract terms, not legitimacy.
The pattern is consistent: praise for receptionist quality and the native Clio integration. The recurring critical theme is pricing surprise - a busy week pushes you into overages, and a busier month auto-bumps you to the next tier.
Hey Jodie is A$99/A$199/A$399 with unlimited calls, billed in AUD. Smith.ai bills per call in USD. Australian-built options like OfficeHQ and Wavetel mostly charge per call or per minute on top. Smith.ai's per-call pricing is rare, so model your expected call volume before you sign.
For sole solicitors and small firms, yes. Australian firms more often run LEAP or Actionstep alongside Clio, and Hey Jodie's Premium plan routes into all three via Zapier at A$399/month flat.
Hey Jodie setup is minutes - forward your phone and Jodie starts answering. Smith.ai's site states month-to-month, but check your agreement. Most businesses run both for 5-7 days during cutover, then cancel.
Move from a per-call meter to a flat plan without losing coverage. Most switchers run both for a week, then cancel Smith.ai.
Total time: Under 1 hour active time, 5-7 days for safe parallel running
Sign up at the register page. No card needed. You get your Hey Jodie phone number on the spot.
Set conditional forwarding (busy / no answer / always) from your phone provider to the Hey Jodie number.
Hey Jodie picks up via the forward; if it does not work for you, you cancel Hey Jodie and your Smith.ai line is unaffected. Listen to a few call recordings.
Smith.ai's site states month-to-month - cancel from your account dashboard or via your sales contact. Watch for any pro-rated per-call overage on the final invoice.
Once Smith.ai is cancelled, leave the forward to Hey Jodie in place. Confirm a test call lands on Hey Jodie and a summary arrives in your inbox.
Buyer's guides
This comparison is part of our independent buyer's guides ranking the whole field.
7 days free. No card needed. Cancel in one click.
First 7 days free, then pricing from A$99/month
