Quick answer: the best AI receptionists in Australia right now
If you only read one paragraph: the Australian AI receptionist market has split into two camps. Self-serve platforms you can set up yourself this afternoon for under $200 a month, and sales-led platforms that cost $300 to $1,500 a month plus a setup fee, with an onboarding call in between. Both work. The right one depends on your call volume, how much hand-holding you want, and whether you need chat as well as phone.
Our picks for 2026:
- Best overall for Australian small business: Miyai. Australian voice, chat and phone in one dashboard, published AUD pricing from $19/month, no setup fee, no sales call.
- Best established Australian voice agent for trades: Sophiie AI. Mature, well-integrated with job management, from $99/month.
- Cheapest paid Australian voice entry point: Johnni AI, from $44/month with a 7-day trial.
- Best for compliance-heavy industries: Frontly, which bundles compliance into its $149/month base rate.
- Best hybrid with human backup: Smith.ai, if you can stomach USD per-call billing.
- Also compared: AiDial, ReelAI, Voqo AI and Rosie AI.
Below is the detail: what each one costs in AUD, what is included, where each one falls down, and a comparison table you can screenshot.
How we picked
Australian buyers get poorly served by global "best AI receptionist" lists. They quote USD, assume Google Calendar is your booking system and rate HIPAA compliance that means nothing under the Australian Privacy Act. We scored each provider on:
- Published AUD pricing. Whether you can see the cost without a demo call, and whether there are per-minute or per-call charges.
- Australian voice and numbers. Local accent, local phone numbers, no international call routing.
- Chat as well as voice. Most enquiries now arrive via website chat, Instagram and SMS. A phone-only agent covers half the problem.
- Integrations that matter here. ServiceM8, Simpro, Cliniko, HubSpot, Xero, salon and clinic platforms, and a webhook or Zapier path for everything else.
- Time to live and lock-in. Setup fees, contracts, and whether you can leave without losing your number.
- Data handling. In-region storage and alignment with the Privacy Act.
We used the vendors' own pricing pages where published and Australian third-party pricing guides where not. Prices are correct at the time of writing and mostly exclude GST.
What an AI receptionist is (and is not)
An AI receptionist is a voice agent that answers your business phone, understands what the caller wants, and takes an action: books an appointment, captures the lead, answers a question from your knowledge base, or transfers to a human. Good ones also handle website chat and SMS from the same brain, so the answer to "are you open Saturday?" is the same on every channel.
It is not an IVR ("press 1 for sales"), and it is not a human virtual receptionist in a call centre. We compared those two models in AI receptionist vs virtual receptionist in Australia. The short version: AI answers instantly, handles unlimited simultaneous calls, sees your calendar, and costs a flat monthly fee. Humans are better at emotionally complex calls and worse at everything else.
The 9 best AI receptionists in Australia (2026)
1. Miyai — best overall for Australian small business
Miyai is an Australian-built platform that puts a voice receptionist and a website/social chat agent in one dashboard. It is the only tool on this list with fully self-serve setup and published pricing that starts under $20.
What you get
- Voice agent with a natural Australian accent on an Australian mobile number, answering 24/7 with no hold time and unlimited concurrent calls.
- Chat agent for your website, trained on the same knowledge base, with Shopify and website embeds.
- Appointment booking into your calendar and booking platforms, lead capture with custom qualifying questions, and call routing to the right person.
- Every call and chat logged with transcript, summary and intent, routed into Leads or Support automatically, with Slack and webhook notifications.
- Industry-ready setups for tradies, clinics, dentists, law firms, real estate and salons.
- Australian data handling aligned with the Privacy Act.
Pricing (AUD, published): Starter $19/month and Standard $49/month for chat agents. Growth $199/month includes one voice agent and two chat agents. Scale $799/month for higher throughput. No setup fee, no contract, no sales call required. See the pricing page.
Weaknesses: No human fallback team, so if you want a person to pick up overflow calls you will pair it with a service like Smith.ai. Voice sits on the Growth tier, so the $19 headline is chat-only.
Best for: Owner-operated businesses and small teams that want phone and chat covered in one place, want to set it up themselves, and want to know the price before they start.
2. Sophiie AI — best established Australian voice agent for trades
Sophiie is probably the most recognised Australian AI receptionist brand, with a large volume of calls handled and a product built around trades and field service.
What you get: 24/7 call answering, job booking, SMS and email follow-up, web chat on paid tiers, outbound calling, custom voice cloning, CRM and contact history, and a mobile field app.
Pricing (AUD, published): Free tier with no calls, Starter $99/month for 30 calls, Pro $299/month for 500 calls, Max $819/month for 2,500 calls, Enterprise on request. Reseller guides note a one-off setup fee around $400 on managed plans.
Weaknesses: Calls are metered per plan, and 30 calls on Starter disappears in a week for a busy business. Integrations lean toward job management and Google or Outlook calendars rather than clinic or salon platforms. We compared the two in Miyai vs Sophiie.
Best for: Plumbers, electricians, builders and other trades that want a trades-native booking flow.
3. Johnni AI — cheapest paid Australian entry point
Johnni positions itself as "Australia's AI receptionist for businesses" with natural Australian voices and a focus on qualifying the caller and booking the job into your CRM.
What you get: 24/7 answering, caller qualification, calendar and CRM booking with ServiceM8, Simpro, ServiceTitan, HubSpot, Pipedrive, Zoho and Google Calendar.
Pricing (AUD): From $44/month, 7-day free trial on every plan, no contract. Higher tiers are quoted.
Weaknesses: Phone-first with limited chat. Integration list is trades and field-service heavy. Per-plan limits are not fully published. See Miyai vs Johnni.
Best for: Sole traders who want a cheap Australian voice agent and already run their diary in a CRM Johnni connects to.
4. Frontly — best for compliance-heavy industries
Frontly is an Australian provider that markets itself on including compliance in the base rate rather than charging for it as an add-on, which matters for legal, finance and health practices.
Pricing (AUD, published): $149/month for 200 minutes, $249 to $449/month for 400 to 800 minutes, custom above that. Setup fee waived on annual plans and charged as a one-off on month-to-month.
Weaknesses: Minute-based pricing, a setup fee unless you commit annually, and a sales-led onboarding process.
Best for: Law firms, accountants, financial advisers and allied health practices that want compliance handled for them.
5. AiDial — enterprise-style onboarding, bigger minute bundles
AiDial is an Australian AI receptionist aimed at businesses that want a managed, done-for-you implementation.
Pricing (AUD, published): $199/month for 300 minutes, $299/month for 600 minutes, $499/month for 1,200 minutes. Setup fees of $1,500 to $3,000 are quoted, and compliance modules are an extra $100/month.
Weaknesses: The setup fee is the biggest on this list. Combined with compliance add-ons, year one can run over $6,000 before you have taken a call.
Best for: Businesses with a budget for managed implementation and higher, predictable call volume.
6. ReelAI — per-call bundles
ReelAI prices per call rather than per minute, which is easier to reason about if your calls are short.
Pricing (AUD, published): $99/month for 50 calls, $279/month for 200 calls, $899/month for 800 calls. A $395 setup fee is listed but often waived.
Weaknesses: 50 calls a month is thin for the entry price, and the jump to 200 calls nearly triples the cost.
Best for: Businesses with low but high-value call volume, such as consultancies and specialist clinics.
7. Voqo AI — budget Australian option
Voqo AI is a lower-cost Australian voice agent with straightforward tiers and no setup fee.
Pricing (AUD, published): $50/month entry, $110/month mid-tier, $500/month top tier. No setup fee.
Weaknesses: Thinner integration ecosystem and fewer published case studies than the bigger names.
Best for: Small businesses that want phone answering at a low monthly cost without a lot of integration work.
8. Rosie AI — simplest pricing ladder
Rosie is a lightweight AI answering service with an easy three-step pricing ladder.
Pricing (published): $49/month, $99/month and $199/month tiers.
Weaknesses: Australian voice and local number options are less prominent than the AU-native providers, and integrations are basic.
Best for: Businesses that want a simple message-taking and appointment-request agent and do not need deep integrations.
9. Smith.ai — hybrid AI plus human receptionists
Smith.ai is a US company that pairs an AI receptionist with human agents who take over when the AI cannot handle a call. It is the option for businesses that want a person in the loop.
Pricing: Quoted in USD and billed per call bundle. Australian guides put the entry plan at roughly A$290/month for around 30 calls, rising to roughly A$975/month for 120 calls, with per-call overage.
Weaknesses: Expensive at volume, US-based agents and hours, and no Australian accent.
Best for: High-value professional services where a human fallback is worth a premium.
Australian AI receptionists compared
| Provider | Entry price (AUD/mo) | Included | Setup fee | Australian voice | Chat included | Self-serve |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miyai | $19 chat / $199 with voice | Chat agents; 1 voice + 2 chat on Growth | $0 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Sophiie AI | $99 | 30 calls | ~$400 on managed plans | Yes | Paid tiers | Yes |
| Johnni AI | $44 | Not published | $0 | Yes | Limited | Yes, 7-day trial |
| Frontly | $149 | 200 min | Waived on annual | Yes | Not published | No |
| AiDial | $199 | 300 min | $1,500–$3,000 | Yes | Not published | No |
| ReelAI | $99 | 50 calls | $395 (often waived) | Yes | Not published | No |
| Voqo AI | $50 | Tiered | $0 | Yes | Not published | Partly |
| Rosie AI | $49 | Tiered | Not published | Limited | No | Yes |
| Smith.ai | ~$290 (USD billed) | ~30 calls | Not published | No | Yes | Partly |
Prices are as published by each vendor or reported by Australian pricing guides at the time of writing, and most exclude GST. Confirm directly before buying.
How much should you pay?
Use volume, not features, as the first filter:
- Under 50 calls a month: You should be under $100. Miyai Starter or Standard for chat, Johnni or Voqo for phone.
- 50 to 300 calls a month: $150 to $300 is the fair range. Miyai Growth gives you voice and chat for $199 with no setup fee. Frontly and AiDial land in the same range but add minute caps and setup fees.
- 300 plus calls a month or multiple locations: Expect $500 to $1,000. Compare Miyai Scale, Sophiie Max and ReelAI's top tier on included volume, not headline price.
Watch for three traps: setup fees that quietly double year-one cost, per-minute overage rates above $1 a minute, and annual contracts required to unlock the advertised price. We break the numbers down further in how much an AI receptionist costs in Australia.
Which one is right for your business
- Tradie or field service: Sophiie or Johnni if you live in ServiceM8 or Simpro. Miyai if you also want website chat and a lower monthly cost. See the tradies guide.
- Clinic, dental or allied health: Miyai for chat plus voice with practice-platform integration, or Frontly if you want compliance bundled.
- Law or accounting firm: Frontly or Miyai. Both handle intake and qualification. Frontly is sales-led; Miyai is self-serve.
- Salon, spa or beauty: Miyai, or your booking platform's native agent. Full breakdown in best AI receptionist for salons and spas.
- Real estate: Miyai for lead capture across phone and chat, with routing to the right agent.
- Any business that wants a human backstop: Smith.ai, accepting the cost.
Questions to ask any vendor before you sign
- Can I hear the Australian voice and call it myself, right now, before a demo?
- What is the total year-one cost including setup, compliance add-ons and overage at my expected volume?
- Does it see live availability in my booking system, or does it email me a booking request?
- What happens to my phone number if I cancel?
- Where is call data stored, and for how long?
- Does the same knowledge base power website chat and SMS, or is that a separate product?
If a vendor cannot answer the first question with a phone number, keep looking.
The bottom line
For most Australian small businesses, the best AI receptionist is the one you can set up today, hear before you pay, and afford every month without watching a minute counter. That is why Miyai is our overall pick. Sophiie and Johnni remain strong choices for trades, Frontly for compliance-heavy practices, and Smith.ai if you need humans in the loop.
Hear it for yourself. Start free with Miyai or book a 15-minute demo and we will run a live call for your business.
FAQ
What is the best AI receptionist in Australia?
For most small and medium businesses, Miyai is the best overall AI receptionist in Australia in 2026 because it combines an Australian-accent voice agent, website and social chat, appointment booking and lead capture with published self-serve pricing from $19 AUD per month and no setup fee. Sophiie AI and Johnni AI are strong Australian alternatives for trades, and Frontly suits compliance-heavy industries.
How much does an AI receptionist cost in Australia?
Published Australian pricing runs from about $19 to $500 per month for a single business. Chat-only agents start at $19, voice agents typically cost $44 to $299 per month, and managed enterprise-style providers charge $199 to $499 per month plus setup fees of $395 to $3,000. Most vendors quote prices excluding GST.
Is there a free AI receptionist in Australia?
Sophiie offers a free tier with limited AI actions but no phone calls. Johnni offers a 7-day free trial. Miyai lets you sign up and test a chat agent without a credit card, with paid plans from $19 per month. Fully free voice answering with an Australian number does not currently exist at any meaningful volume.
Do AI receptionists have Australian accents?
Yes. Miyai, Sophiie, Johnni, Frontly, AiDial and RingRing AI all offer Australian voices. US-based services like Smith.ai use American agents and voices, which some Australian callers find jarring.
Can an AI receptionist book appointments into my software?
Most can book into Google or Outlook calendars. Deeper integrations vary: Sophiie and Johnni connect to ServiceM8, Simpro and ServiceTitan; Miyai connects to calendars, booking platforms and CRMs through API and Zapier-style workflows and routes every call into a leads or support inbox. Always ask the vendor to demonstrate a live booking into your exact system.
Is an AI receptionist better than a virtual receptionist?
For businesses that mostly need calls answered, questions handled and bookings made, an AI receptionist is usually cheaper and faster, answers 24/7 with no hold time, and handles unlimited simultaneous calls. A human virtual receptionist still wins for emotionally complex or highly sensitive conversations, which is why hybrid services like Smith.ai exist.