Austin buyers ask what it writes to, not what it integrates with
Fair question, and most vendors answer it with one vague word. Our matrix has three states and one of them is a plain no.
Caller
“We're evaluating you against two others. Does the booking write into Google Calendar directly or does it go through Zapier?”
What happened next
- Logged an evaluation call, competitor comparison in progress
- Answered directly: Google Calendar is a direct write
- Routed to a person for the rest of the technical questions
A market that reads the fine print
Austin buyers are unusually technical, and they have been sold to before. The word integrates has been stretched so far in this category that it now means anything from a native write to a webhook somebody could build if they wanted, and the people buying here know it.
So the integration matrix on our site has three states and no fourth. Writes directly, which means a native write. Through Zapier, which means it works, but our webhook has to be caught by a Zap on a paid Zapier plan. Not yet, which is a plain no. That last state is the one competitors do not publish, and it is the only one that makes the other two believable.
The same buyers ask what happens at the edges. The assistant transfers to your team when a caller asks for a person or when it is unsure, and you get the transcript either way. We describe that mechanism rather than quoting a resolution rate, because we have not measured one.
Central Time
Central time, and a software market that keeps West Coast hours by habit. Plenty of Austin companies have a customer base three time zones wide and a team that starts at ten, which means the first two hours of the business day belong to whoever answers the phone.
Who is calling an Austin business
A software economy with a hard-working service sector underneath it.
Software and professional services
Evaluation calls, support inquiries and scheduling, from callers who will ask a specific technical question in the first thirty seconds.
Home services in a fast-growing city
A construction boom and a lot of new arrivals who do not have a plumber yet. Those callers are choosing, not returning.
Restaurants and music venues
Hours, bookings and event questions arrive during service, when nobody free can pick up the phone.
Recording and AI disclosure in Texas
Texas is permissive on recording, and the disclosure setting is worth switching on for reasons beyond the law.
Texas is a one-party consent state for recording, though the legislature has been active on AI and the ground may not stay still.
GreetKeeper can announce that a call is recorded and that the caller is speaking to an assistant. You write the wording, and you decide whether either notice plays. Our reading of the wider rules, with the dates, sits on the compliance page.
What it costs, including the part most vendors leave off
Booking is on every plan, and the rate after the allowance is published.
| Plan | Monthly | Calls included | After that |
|---|---|---|---|
| StarterFor a single location taking calls one line at a time. | $49 | 200 | $0.45 per call |
| ProfessionalBooking, routing and transfers included, not an add-on. | $149 | 750 | $0.35 per call |
| ScaleFor busy phones and longer opening hours. | $349 | 2,000 | $0.25 per call |
What we cannot tell you
Questions from Austin businesses
What actually writes natively?
Google Calendar and Outlook, plus a webhook for anything you build yourself. Everything else that works, works through Zapier, which catches that webhook and needs a paid Zapier plan. Anything we have not verified is listed as not yet. That is the whole matrix and we would rather it be short and true.
How does it decide to hand off?
On the rules you write, plus a hand-off when the caller asks for a person or the assistant is unsure. We describe the mechanism and not a success rate, because we have not measured one and would not publish a number we could not stand behind.
Do you have a free tier?
Not yet. Smith.ai has a free tier at $0 for 25 calls if you want to try the category without paying. Our Starter is $49 for 200 answered calls with booking included.
Why should I trust a vendor with no customers?
On this evidence you should not trust us on service quality, because there is none to inspect. What you can check is the price, the overage rate and the integration matrix, all published. Judge those.
Hear it take one of your calls
Your own scenario, your own greeting, in a couple of minutes.