My AI Front Desk alternative for contractors who buy leads

What My AI Front Desk is and who it is built for

My AI Front Desk, which calls its product Frontdesk, is an AI receptionist for small businesses. It "answers every call 24/7," qualifies callers and books appointments against your live calendar. Calls it can't handle can go to a person, with a full transcript. Around the phone agent it adds an SMS texting agent, a website chatbot, email drafts, website forms and a built-in CRM with automated follow-up sequences.

It's a general tool, not one built for the trades. Its homepage features property management, retail and ecommerce, therapy practices, real estate, accounting, legal and automotive. It lists "Speak Any Language" as a capability, says new inquiries get "an instant response on any channel," and connects to calendars, CRMs and other apps through Zapier.

It can also make outbound calls. Its pricing page describes them as "Calls your AI can make for you, like appointment reminders or follow-ups," with a limit on how many it places each day on the main plan. More on that below.

My AI Front Desk's real strengths

• Low price. The Business-in-a-Box plan is $99 a month, or $79 a month billed annually, on its pricing page. For a shop that mainly needs the phone answered, that's a low bar to clear.
• A lot in one plan. 200 voice minutes, 400 text messages, 100 chatbot conversations, 500 email drafts and 300 website form submissions a month, plus the CRM and unlimited automation workflows.
• Easy to try and leave. A 7-day free trial, and the page says "No contracts, no hidden fees" and "Cancel anytime."
• Texting and chat. Customers who would rather text or use a website chat get an answer too.
• Connects to what you use. Zapier is included, and the Partner/Enterprise tier adds API access and custom integrations.

My AI Front Desk vs HelloSetter at a glance

Where HelloSetter is different

My AI Front Desk is a receptionist that also does some outbound work. HelloSetter is the other way around: it's a lead caller, and that's all it does. When a homeowner fills in your website form, or a lead lands from Angi, Thumbtack or Google LSA, HelloSetter calls that person by AI voice within 60 seconds. In our testing, the call starts about a second after the lead arrives.

On the call it qualifies the lead, handles the common objections homeowners raise, and books an estimate on the HelloSetter Calendar. You subscribe to that calendar with an iCal link, and HelloSetter reads your own calendar link so it doesn't book over a job you already have.

The follow-up is part of the plan

Most paid leads don't pick up the first time. If the call hits voicemail, HelloSetter detects that and tries again, up to 16 times over several days, only inside calling hours. If the lead calls back, a local number answers. It only calls leads who gave consent, and you get an email summary after every call.

This is where the daily cap on My AI Front Desk's main plan matters. Twenty outbound calls a day is plenty for appointment reminders. But if you take 8 new leads on a busy day and several of them need a second or third attempt, 20 calls goes quickly, and the next day's new leads are competing with yesterday's retries.

Built for contractor leads

Lead sources are connected on a 30-minute setup call: website forms, Google Sheets, and webhook or Zapier feeds from Angi, Thumbtack, LSA or Facebook. The call itself is built around booking an estimate for a homeowner, not taking a message for a law office or a salon.

Priced by lead, not by minute

HelloSetter counts leads: 75, 150 or 400 a month depending on the plan, and $2 for each one past that. Retries and long conversations with a good lead cost nothing extra.

What HelloSetter won't do

To be clear about the limits: HelloSetter doesn't text leads, doesn't answer your main business line, doesn't run campaigns to past customers, and doesn't push bookings into ServiceTitan, Jobber or Housecall Pro. It's a lead caller. If any of those gaps is a deal-breaker for you, the next section is the one to read.

Where My AI Front Desk is the better choice

If what you need is an all-round receptionist at a low price, My AI Front Desk does more of that job for less. It's likely the better pick if:

• Most of your work comes from people calling you. HelloSetter isn't a receptionist for every inbound call. My AI Front Desk is.
• Budget is the deciding factor. My AI Front Desk is $99 a month, or $79 billed annually. HelloSetter starts at $197 a month at the founding rate.
• You want texting and website chat. HelloSetter doesn't send SMS and has no chatbot.
• You want a simple CRM with automated sequences built in, and you don't already use field-service software.
• Your leads are few and far between. If you get a handful of web leads a week, 20 outbound calls a day may be all you ever need.

Some shops could reasonably use both: My AI Front Desk on the main line for inbound calls and texts, and HelloSetter on the web-lead feed so every paid lead gets called fast and followed up. They don't overlap much.

Pricing compared

My AI Front Desk's pricing page lists one self-serve plan, Business-in-a-Box, at $99 a month or $79 a month billed annually. Its FAQ says "There are no separate Starter or Pro tiers," and that it "does not offer a permanently free plan." There is a 7-day free trial. Partner and Enterprise pricing is custom, and white-label partner plans start at $500 a month.

The plan includes 200 voice minutes, 400 text messages, 100 chatbot conversations, 500 email drafts and 300 website form submissions a month. Usage past that is paid in credits: 25 credits ($0.25) per extra voice minute, 4 credits ($0.04) per extra text, and 5 credits ($0.05) per extra chatbot conversation. The page lists a pool of 1,000 credits a month on the plan, which expire monthly, and auto-reload adds 1,000 credits for $10. Credits you buy don't expire.

Costs and limits to check

• Minutes past 200. At $0.25 a minute, 100 extra minutes would be 2,500 credits, about $25.
• The outbound cap. 20 calls a day on Business-in-a-Box, which the page calls "a hard daily cap."
• Seats and history. The plan lists 2 editor seats and keeps the last 200 logs of data.
• Calendar hookup. Calendars and CRMs connect through Zapier, so check how yours connects before the trial ends.

HelloSetter: $197 / $347 / $697 a month at the founding rate (regularly $297 / $497 / $997) for 75 / 150 / 400 leads, and $2 for each lead over your plan. No setup fee, month-to-month, and a free 14-day pilot after the setup call. There are no per-minute or per-message charges.

On sticker price, My AI Front Desk costs less. The fair comparison isn't price against price, though, because they do different jobs. Compare My AI Front Desk against the inbound calls you miss now, and compare HelloSetter against what one extra booked estimate a month from your paid leads is worth to you.

How to switch, or try both

Since one tool answers your phone and the other works your lead feed, you can try both at once without them getting in each other's way:

1. Count last month's web leads and inbound calls separately. That tells you which problem is bigger.
2. Start My AI Front Desk's 7-day trial on your main number if missed inbound calls are the issue.
3. Book the HelloSetter setup call and connect your website form, sheet or Zapier feed in about 30 minutes.
4. Run the free 14-day pilot on new web leads only.
5. At the end, keep whichever earned its cost, or both.

If you already use My AI Front Desk to follow up web leads and you're running into the daily outbound cap, you can move just the lead feed to HelloSetter and leave your receptionist setup as it is.

For more on why the first minutes after a form fill matter, see our guide to speed to lead for contractors.

Hear it yourself

Call (307) 414-8089 to talk to the HelloSetter AI, or tap "Call me now" on the homepage and it will call you within seconds, the same way it calls a new lead. Then start a My AI Front Desk trial and call your own number to hear how a receptionist handles the other side of the job.