Bigly Sales vs Smith.ai

Smith.ai answers your phone with trained human receptionists and charges per call, starting at thirty calls a month. Bigly Sales runs a managed AI calling operation priced by minutes or by calls in volume blocks, built for teams whose phone volume runs into the thousands. The two are not really chasing the same buyer, and the number that decides it is how many calls a month you actually take.

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Why Teams Compare Both

Smith.ai is a genuinely good answer below a few hundred calls a month, and the people answering are people. Bigly becomes the better fit at the point where per-call pricing starts growing faster than the revenue those calls produce.

Priced For Volume

Bigly charges by minutes or by calls in blocks, so the cost of each conversation falls as volume rises instead of staying flat at a per-call rate.

Outbound As Well As Inbound

Bigly runs qualification, aged lead reactivation and follow-up campaigns on the same platform, not only the calls that happen to arrive.

Compliance Before The Dial

Consent checks, suppression lists, known litigant screening and state calling rules run before a call is placed rather than being reviewed after the fact.

Connected To Your Stack

Call outcomes, transcripts and dispositions write back into your CRM and calendar rather than sitting in a separate dashboard, so your team works from the records it already uses.

TECHNICAL BREAKDOWN

A practical comparison for teams choosing between a human answering service and a managed AI calling operation. Smith.ai figures are their published plans, ours are the live Bigly tiers.

Smith.ai plans and rates as published on their pricing page. Bigly tiers as published on our Try Now page. Both were checked in August 2026 and pricing changes, so confirm before you budget.
FEATURE CAPABILITYBIGLY SALESSMITH.AI
Best fitTeams handling thousands of calls a monthTeams handling tens to a few hundred calls a month
Who answersAI voice agents, with live transfer to your teamTrained human receptionists, with an AI-first option
Pricing modelMinutes or calls in volume blocksPer call, billed against a monthly call allowance
Entry price$2,999 a month for 20,000 inbound minutes$300 a month for 30 calls
Effective rate at plan sizeAbout 15 cents a minute on Launch, 8 cents on VelocityAbout $10 a call on Starter, $7 a call on Pro
Cost of 1,000 inbound callsInside the $2,999 Launch plan at no extra chargeAbout $8,050 on the Pro plan once overage applies
Outbound campaignsIncluded and priced per call, from 25,000 calls a monthSold as a separate outreach service
Pre-call compliance screeningLitigant list and state rule checks before the dialNot stated in their published plans
Whitelisted local numbersMore than 200 owned lines with local presenceNot stated in their published plans
ContractMonthly plan sized with an account managerMonth to month, no long-term contract

STOP PAYING BY THE CALL

Bigly Sales handles inbound answering and outbound campaigns on one platform, priced so the cost of each conversation falls as your volume rises. Bring your own call mix and we will size it honestly on a demo.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What buyers ask when comparing Bigly Sales and Smith.ai.

What is the main difference between Bigly Sales and Smith.ai?
Smith.ai is a human answering service billed per call, with an AI-first option, sized for businesses taking tens to a few hundred calls a month. Bigly Sales is a managed AI calling operation billed by minutes or by calls in volume blocks, sized for teams taking thousands. The pricing model is the real difference, because one gets cheaper per conversation as you grow and the other does not.
When is Smith.ai the better choice?
When your call volume is genuinely low and you want a person on the line. At thirty to a few hundred calls a month their per-call pricing costs less than any volume plan we sell, and a trained human receptionist handles nuance an AI agent will not. If that describes your business, buy theirs rather than ours.
At what volume does Bigly cost less?
Somewhere around four hundred inbound calls a month. Their Pro plan covers three hundred calls for $2,100 and charges $8.50 for each call beyond that, so four hundred calls lands close to $2,950. Our Launch plan is $2,999 for 20,000 minutes, which absorbs several thousand calls at no extra cost. Past that point the gap widens quickly rather than gradually.
Does Bigly use humans or AI to answer calls?
AI voice agents answer, qualify and book, then transfer live to your team when a human is needed or when the caller asks for one. We do not staff receptionists. If you want every call answered by a person, that is a reason to choose a human service rather than any AI platform including ours.
Can Bigly make outbound calls as well as answer them?
Yes, and this is where the two offerings stop overlapping. Outbound qualification, aged lead reactivation, speed to lead callbacks and follow-up campaigns run on the same platform and the same lead record as inbound. Outbound plans are priced per call, starting at 25,000 calls a month.
How does compliance compare?
Bigly runs consent validation, suppression, known litigant screening and state calling window checks before a call is placed, and stores the record behind each decision. Smith.ai does not describe pre-call screening of this kind in its published plans. Either way the legal obligation stays with you as the seller, and no vendor removes that.
Will Bigly connect to our CRM?
Yes. The platform integrates with mainstream CRMs, calendars and lead capture tools, and your account manager will confirm the specific connectors for your stack during setup. Call outcomes, transcripts, recordings and dispositions write back in real time, so your team works from the records it already uses rather than logging into a separate dashboard to find out what happened on a call.
Is there a minimum volume to work with Bigly?
In practice yes. Plans start at $2,999 a month for 20,000 inbound minutes or 25,000 outbound calls, so this suits teams with steady volume rather than a single line taking a few calls a week. Below that level a per-call answering service is the more sensible purchase and we will tell you so.
Do we have to replace our current answering service on day one?
No. Most teams start with after hours, overflow, or one campaign, keep their existing provider running alongside, and expand once they have seen the outcomes on their own calls. Nothing has to switch over before you are satisfied with what the agent is doing.
How should we choose between the two?
Count your inbound calls for one month. Below roughly four hundred, and if a human voice matters more than cost per conversation, choose a human answering service. Above that, or if you also need outbound campaigns and pre-call compliance screening, a managed AI operation is the cheaper and more capable purchase.