Upfirst review: small per-call plans with the extras included
Upfirst is an AI answering service for small businesses, sold in bundles of calls. Starter is $24.95 a month for 30 calls, Premium $59.95 for 90, Pro $159.95 for 300 and Scale $299 for 600. Each extra call costs between $1.50 and $0.70, depending on the plan. Above 600 calls, Upfirst quotes a custom plan.
Its tagline, "Hate missed calls? Us too.", sets the tone for a product aimed at owners who answer their own phones. Most features appear on every plan, so the tier you choose comes down to call count. We read Upfirst's pricing page, its FAQ and its homepage on 24 September 2026.
What Upfirst charges
Every Upfirst plan counts calls, not minutes, so a long conversation costs the same as a short one. The four published plans step up in calls and step down in the price of each extra call. Annual billing saves 20%, which brings Starter to $20 a month. Spam, telemarketing and political robocalls don't count against any plan.
| Plan | Monthly | Included | Per call |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $24.95 | 30 calls | $1.50 |
| Premium | $59.95 | 90 calls | $1 |
| Pro | $159.95 | 300 calls | $0.75 |
| Scale | $299 | 600 calls | $0.70 |
Source: upfirst.ai/pricing (monthly view), read 24 September 2026. Annual billing saves 20%. Plans above 600 calls are quoted. The 14-day free trial gives full access to the plan you pick.
Features Upfirst puts on every plan
Starter already carries most of the product. You choose whether Upfirst takes every call, only overflow, or only after hours. Each call ends with a summary sent by text or email, plus a recording and transcript you can revisit.
Upfirst can hand a caller to you with a live, warm transfer. It books into Google, Outlook, Clio, Acuity, Calendly and others, and it can text a scheduling link or directions mid-call. Its memory recognises returning callers and recalls their past calls.
Zapier pushes caller details into your CRM, and Upfirst names HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive and GoHighLevel among 195+ CRMs. Pro and Scale add white-glove onboarding, custom integration help and priority support.
From forwarding to a booked appointment on Upfirst
Upfirst's homepage describes setup in three steps, and its pricing page explains how a call is booked. Put together, they trace one caller asking for an appointment. It follows Upfirst's own description. We didn't run a test call.
Forward your line, or take a local number
Forward calls from a cellphone, landline or VoIP line with no porting, or choose a new number with your area code. Upfirst says most customers are live in under 15 minutes.
Write the greeting and the rules
Add your business details, a custom greeting and your call handling preferences. You also choose what information the receptionist collects from each caller.
The caller asks for a time
Upfirst either texts the caller a link to your calendar or asks for their preferred date and time. With a connected calendar, it books the slot directly.
Some calls go straight to a person
Calls you mark as needing a human are routed to you or a team member with a warm handoff.
The summary lands as the call ends
Upfirst sends the key details by text or email the moment the caller hangs up. Spam calls blocked on the way in never reach your call count.
Sources: upfirst.ai homepage and upfirst.ai/pricing FAQ, read 24 September 2026. A retelling of Upfirst's published description, not a hands-on test.
Call volumes that match Upfirst's ladder
A sole trader taking about one call a day fits Starter's 30 calls. At that size, $24.95 buys the whole feature list.
Shops with steady volume between 90 and 600 calls a month can match a published plan. Premium, Pro and Scale cover that range at $59.95, $159.95 and $299.
Owners who prefer no commitment get month-to-month terms. Upfirst's FAQ says there's no contract and you can cancel anytime, and email and chat support run 7 days a week.
GreetKeeper, another per-call receptionist
Disclosure: GreetKeeper is our product. Like Upfirst, GreetKeeper bills per answered call. The allowances are larger: Starter is $49 for 200 answered calls, Professional $149 for 750, and Scale $349 for 2,000.
Take a shop answering 450 calls a month. On GreetKeeper that fits inside Professional's 750 for $149. Extra calls cost $0.45, $0.35 or $0.25 by plan, and spam, robocalls and very short calls never count.
A transfer nobody picks up rolls to a second number you nominate. Closure dates make GreetKeeper answer as closed on holidays, and the Multi-location plan runs from $299 per location with its own number for each site.
GreetKeeper answers calls forwarded to its dedicated local number in all four carrier modes: every call, busy, no answer or unreachable. Your 14-day free trial has every feature on and needs no card.
Questions people ask about Upfirst
Is Upfirst charged per call or per minute?
Per call. Each Upfirst plan includes a set number of calls, from 30 on Starter to 600 on Scale, per its pricing page read in September 2026. Extra calls cost $1.50 on Starter, falling to $0.70 on Scale.
Do spam calls use up my Upfirst plan?
No. Upfirst says it detects and blocks spam, telemarketing and political robocalls, and those calls never count against your plan.
Can Upfirst answer only after hours?
Yes. Every Upfirst plan lets you choose every call, overflow only, or after hours. You forward your existing line to Upfirst, and no number porting is needed.
What happens past 600 calls on Upfirst?
Upfirst's largest published plan is Scale, $299 for 600 calls, with $0.70 per extra call. For higher volumes, its pricing page invites you to schedule a call about a custom plan.
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Fit a busy month into one plan
Professional holds 750 answered calls for $149. Try every feature free for 14 days.