Sameday AI alternative for contractors who buy leads

What Sameday AI is and who it is built for

Sameday AI sells AI phone agents for home-service companies. Its homepage says it will "Answer every call, everywhere." The AI answers calls, books jobs directly into your schedule and updates your CRM around the clock. You can port your number or keep your current carrier. Calls and bookings are logged for review, and Sameday says "anything sensitive waits for your approval."

It goes beyond answering. Sameday says its agents also make outbound calls and texts, for example a reactivation campaign that calls first and texts if nobody answers, and follow-ups on estimates you've sent. Its site lists playbooks for after-hours calls, a nights-and-weekends emergency line, and speed to lead, though it doesn't describe how the speed-to-lead playbook works or how fast it calls. Texting is built in, with manual and AI texts kept in one thread.

Sameday lists a wide range of trades: HVAC, plumbing, roofing, electrical, solar, pest control, garage door, landscaping, locksmith, and commercial and window cleaning.

Sameday AI's real strengths

• Bookings in your field-service software. Sameday lists ServiceTitan (as a certified app), Housecall Pro, FieldRoutes (as an official partner), AccuLynx, JobNimbus, Maid Central and Service Fusion. Its plans include what it calls "Pro scheduling (ServiceTitan etc)."
• Lead platforms named. Sameday shows Thumbtack, Google Local Services, Angi and Facebook among its connections.
• Inbound and outbound in one tool. The same system answers your phone, texts, and runs reactivation and estimate follow-up campaigns.
• Room for bigger shops. Both listed paid tiers include unlimited users. Launch covers 3 locations and Scale covers unlimited locations. Scale adds voice cloning.
• Quick start. Sameday's pricing page FAQ says most people can start taking calls "in just 30 minutes."

Sameday AI vs HelloSetter at a glance

Where HelloSetter is different

Sameday is built phone-first: it answers your line and adds outbound playbooks on top. HelloSetter is built lead-first. It does one job: when a new lead comes in from your website or a lead service, it calls that person by AI voice within 60 seconds. In our testing, the call starts about a second after the lead arrives, while the homeowner is still holding their phone.

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.

If the call goes to voicemail, it 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.

A lower starting price, with the number on the page

Sameday's listed plans start at $449 a month. HelloSetter starts at $197 a month at the founding rate, and even the middle plan, $347 a month for 150 leads, comes in under Sameday's starting price. It's month-to-month with no setup fee, and you get a free 14-day pilot after the setup call. For a one- or two-truck shop that mostly needs paid leads called fast, that gap matters.

Set up around your lead feed

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. You don't need ServiceTitan or any field-service software, and nothing about your phone line changes.

Priced by lead, not by minute

HelloSetter counts leads, not minutes. A lead that takes several call attempts and a long conversation still counts as one lead. With a minute-based plan, long calls and retries draw down your allowance, so it helps to know your average call length before you pick a tier.

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 Sameday AI is the better choice

Sameday covers far more of the front office than HelloSetter. It's probably the better fit if any of these sound like you:

• You need every inbound call answered. HelloSetter answers callbacks from leads it called, but it isn't a receptionist for your whole phone line. Sameday is built for that.
• You want bookings to land in ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, FieldRoutes, AccuLynx or JobNimbus. HelloSetter has no native ServiceTitan, Jobber or Housecall Pro integration and books onto its own calendar.
• You want texting. HelloSetter doesn't send SMS. Sameday has texting built in.
• You want to work past customers and old estimates. Sameday runs reactivation campaigns and estimate follow-ups. HelloSetter only calls new leads.
• You have several locations or a team. Sameday includes unlimited users on its listed plans, and Scale covers unlimited locations.

If two or more of those describe you, Sameday, or a full front-office tool like it, is probably the right fit, and HelloSetter would be a second tool at best.

Pricing compared

Sameday's pricing page lists three tiers. Launch "starts at" $449 a month and starts with 500 minutes, unlimited users and 3 locations. Scale "starts at" $789 a month and starts with 1,000 minutes, unlimited locations and voice cloning. Enterprise is custom and adds multilingual voices, advanced analytics, hands-on training, API access and custom integrations. The page has a minutes slider from 50 to 10,000 or more and says the plans come with "zero surprise fees."

At the starting prices, that works out to about 90 cents a minute on Launch and about 79 cents a minute on Scale. What the page doesn't list: the rate for minutes past your plan, any setup or onboarding fee, contract length, or a free trial. For those, Sameday points you to its sales team or a demo.

Questions to ask Sameday

• What do extra minutes cost once I pass my plan?
• Is there a setup, onboarding or implementation fee?
• How long is the contract, and how do I cancel?
• Is the speed-to-lead playbook included on my plan, and how fast does it call a new lead?
• Is there a trial or pilot before I commit?

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.

When you compare, look at the cost of a full year, not one month, and compare against what each tool actually does for you. If you'd use Sameday for every inbound call plus campaigns, its price covers a lot more work. If you'd mainly use it to call web leads, you'd be paying for parts you don't use.

How to switch, or try both

This doesn't have to be either-or. Some shops run one tool on the phone line and a separate caller on new web leads. If you're weighing the two, a simple test works:

1. Pull last month's lead count by source, and note how fast someone actually called each one back.
2. Book the HelloSetter setup call and connect your website form, sheet or Zapier feed. It takes about 30 minutes.
3. Run the free 14-day pilot on new web leads only. Leave your phones exactly as they are.
4. Book a Sameday demo in the same window and ask the pricing questions above.
5. Compare leads reached, estimates booked, and what each option costs over a year.

If you're already on Sameday and only want the lead-calling piece handled separately, check your agreement for notice terms first, then point your web-lead feed (form, sheet or webhook) at HelloSetter. Your phone line doesn't have to change.

For more on working paid leads, see our guide to Angi and Thumbtack lead follow-up.

Hear it yourself

The fastest way to judge an AI caller is to talk to it. Call (307) 414-8089, or tap "Call me now" on the homepage and HelloSetter will call you, the same way it calls a new lead. Then book a demo with Sameday and compare the two on your own terms.