Methodology
How results are collected
The tracker compares AI receptionist tools on cost and on what a business actually got back. Nothing on this site is a measured result until it comes from a shared invoice and a call log. The sample row labeled "Example data - replace with measured results" is a layout, and that page is noindex.
What a weekly post records
- Monthly cost, including the plan the business is on.
- Setup fee, copied from the invoice. If there was no setup fee, the post says so.
- Calls answered.
- Missed calls recovered: calls that had been going unanswered and were then handled.
- Bookings: appointments or jobs the log shows as booked from those calls.
- Value per booking: the figure the business assigns to one booking. We publish their number, not an estimate we made up.
- Payback, using one formula: monthly cost ÷ (bookings × value per booking ÷ 30 days). The same formula is printed on every post.
If a log does not contain a field, the post leaves it blank. We do not fill gaps with industry averages, and we do not publish testimonials.
Where the numbers come from
- A business shares its monthly cost (and setup fee) and an export of the call log.
- We copy the fields above into one row and show the payback arithmetic.
- We use the same fields for every trade, so a dental row and an HVAC row can be read the same way.
- We publish one post at a time, with the trade, the week, and the vendor plan named in the title.
No measured post has been published yet. Until one is, the weekly index only links the labeled example.
Published prices
The price table is copied from each vendor's public pricing page. The current table was checked on Oct 16, 2026. Each row links to that page. The order of the table is the order we listed the vendors. It is not a ranking, a score, or an endorsement. Confirm the final terms with the vendor before you buy. Plans change, and a price on this site can go stale between checks.
Sponsor disclosure
Each trade page has two slots for a paid placement. Both are labeled Sponsored. A filled slot names the sponsor and links out. An empty slot says "Become a founding sponsor" and links to email or the contact form.
A sponsorship does not change a measured result, which weekly post we publish, or the order and figures in the price table. The slots are configured in src/lib/ai-receptionist-tracker/sponsors.ts. Leaving a slot empty is the default.