What's the main difference between Bland AI and Smith.ai?

Bland AI is ai only; Smith.ai is ai + human backup. That is the real decision here, not the price.

Bland AI vs Smith.ai

Both start at the same published price.

Both pages checked by August 19, 2026

Bland AIAI only: $0/mo; Start plan; Developer and enterprise voice AI platform that owns its own telephony, speech-to-text, LLM, text-to-speech and pathway orchestration stack and sells it on a per-minute rate plus a monthly platform fee, so buyers build and operate their own phone agents rather than buying a packaged receptionist.
Smith.aiAI + human backup: $0/mo; AI Receptionist — Free plan; Smith.ai sells small and mid-sized businesses two products off one platform: an AI Receptionist that answers, qualifies and books 24/7 with escalation to its North America-based Live Agent Network, and a fully human Virtual Receptionist service, both billed per call rather than per minute.

Bland AI is ai only; Smith.ai is ai + human backup. That is the real decision here, not the price.
Smith.ai can put a human on the line; Bland AI is bot-only.

Capability	Bland AI	Smith.ai
Live transferCan hand a hot caller to a human mid-call.	Yes	Yes
Books appointmentsWrites to a real calendar, not just a message.	Yes	Yes
Text follow-upSends the caller a text — link, quote, confirmation.	Yes	Yes
Outbound callsCalls leads back, not just answers.	Yes	Yes
SpanishHandles a Spanish-speaking caller end to end.	Yes	Yes
Human backupA person takes over when the bot is stuck.	No	Yes
Call recordingsYou can listen to what it actually said.	Yes	Yes
TranscriptsSearchable text of every call.	Yes	Yes
Spam screeningKills robocalls before they reach you.	unstated	Yes
Custom voicePick or clone the voice callers hear.	Yes	Yes
APIWire it into your own systems.	Yes	Yes

"unstated" means the vendor doesn't claim it in their own documentation. It is not the same as no — it means nobody will put it in writing.

Plan	Published price	Includes	Over that
Start	$0.14 /min — $0 platform fee. No card required.	—	—
Build	$0.12 /min — $299/month platform fee	—	—
Scale	$0.11 /min — $499/month platform fee	—	—
Enterprise	Custom — Contracted to your volume.(annual billing)	—	—

Plan	Published price	Includes	Over that
AI Receptionist — Free	$0 mo	25 calls	25 calls/mo ($3.00/call after that)
AI Receptionist — Pro (75 calls)	$150 /mo — $2.00/call (~2–3 calls/day)	75 calls	$2.50
AI Receptionist — Pro (150 calls)	$270/mo	150 calls	$2.30
AI Receptionist — Enterprise (300 calls)	$500 /mo — $1.67/call (~10 calls/day)	300 calls	$2.17
AI Receptionist — Enterprise (500 calls)	$800/mo	500 calls	$2.10
AI Receptionist — Enterprise (1,000+ calls)	Custom	—	Custom
Virtual Receptionist (human) — Starter	$300 / month	30 calls	Overage: $11.50/call over 30
Virtual Receptionist (human) — Basic	$810 / month	90 calls	Overage: $10.50/call over 90
Virtual Receptionist (human) — Pro	$2,100 / month	300 calls	Overage: $8.50/call over 300
Virtual Receptionist (human) — Enterprise	Custom	—	—