Which is cheaper: Upfirst or My AI Front Desk?

Upfirst is cheaper at low call volumes: $24.95/month for 30 calls vs Frontdesk’s $99/month for 200 voice minutes. At around 100 calls a month, Upfirst’s Premium plan ($59.95 for 90 calls plus overage) lands near $70 while Frontdesk lands near $124 — but Frontdesk bundles web chat, SMS, and a CRM that Upfirst doesn’t. Compare on your volume, not the sticker price.

Does My AI Front Desk still exist? Is it called Frontdesk now?

Yes — the company now brands itself as Frontdesk (myaifrontdesk.com), though many buyers still search for “My AI Front Desk.” Same product: an AI receptionist bundled with a web chatbot, SMS agent, forms, CRM, and automations.

Does Upfirst charge for spam calls?

No. Upfirst states on its own site that spam calls, robocalls, quick hang-ups, and calls under 15 seconds are never billed — they’re filtered automatically.

Which one is better for appointment booking?

Both book appointments: Upfirst connects to Google Calendar, Outlook, Clio, Acuity, and Calendly; Frontdesk includes scheduling plus SMS follow-up and a built-in CRM. If booking plus automated follow-up sequences matter, Frontdesk’s bundle is stronger. If you just need the phone answered and booked, Upfirst is simpler and cheaper.

Can I try either one free?

Upfirst offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card required. Frontdesk offers a $0 Free plan with limited usage across the full platform — no credit card, no commitment.

Upfirst vs. My AI Front Desk (Frontdesk): Which AI Receptionist Should You Buy?

Upfirst vs My AI Front Desk compared on verified 2026 pricing: Upfirst from $24.95/mo per-call billing vs Frontdesk $99/mo multi-channel credits. Cost scenarios, features, and who should pick which.

How we checked this comparison: all plans, prices, and feature claims were read from upfirst.ai and myaifrontdesk.com on October 13, 2026. This page contains affiliate links; see our affiliate disclosure.

The short answer

Upfirst and My AI Front Desk (now branded Frontdesk) solve the same problem — nobody misses your calls — with opposite philosophies. Upfirst is a phone-first, per-call receptionist starting at $24.95/month: cheap, simple, and you pay per answered call. Frontdesk is a multi-channel front office at $99/month: the AI receptionist plus web chat, SMS, forms, CRM, and automations, metered by usage credits. Pick Upfirst if the phone is the job; pick Frontdesk if you want the whole front desk — phone, chat, text, and follow-up — in one subscription.

At a glance

	Upfirst	Frontdesk (My AI Front Desk)
Entry price	$24.95/mo (30 calls)	$99/mo ($79/mo annual)
Billing model	Per call — flat rate per answered call	Credits — voice $0.25/min, SMS/chat/forms metered separately
What’s bundled	Phone answering, transfers, scheduling, 30+ languages	Phone + web chatbot + SMS agent + forms + CRM + automations
Overage	$1.50/call down to $0.70/call by plan	$0.01/credit, auto-reload $10 per 1,000
Spam handling	Never billed; auto-filtered	Not specified on pricing page
Languages	30+, auto-switching	Not specified on pricing page
Free option	14-day trial, no card	$0 Free plan (limited usage)
Contracts	None, month-to-month	Month-to-month; annual saves 20%

Pricing deep dive (verified October 13, 2026)

Upfirst keeps it simple — four plans, priced by calls per month, from their own FAQ:

Plan	Price/mo	Calls included	Per extra call
Starter	$24.95	30	$1.50
Premium	$59.95	90	$1.00
Pro	$159.95	300	$0.75
Scale	$299	600	$0.70

No setup fees, no contracts. Calls under 15 seconds and all spam/robocalls are never billed.

Frontdesk runs three plans with a shared credit pool, from their own billing explainer:

Plan	Price/mo	Included usage	Overage
Free	$0	Limited, full platform	None — pauses at limit
Business-in-a-Box	$99 ($79 annual)	200 voice min, 400 SMS, 100 chatbot convos, 300 form submissions, 20 outbound calls/day	Voice 25 credits/min ($0.25/min); $10 per 1,000 credits auto-reload
Partner / Enterprise	Custom	Custom limits, lower credit rates	Volume pricing

The key structural difference: every Frontdesk plan includes every feature — the AI receptionist, chatbot, SMS agent, forms, CRM, sequences. You pay for usage, not for unlocking features. Upfirst sells one thing (the phone agent) and sells it cheaply.

What 50, 100, and 200 calls actually cost

Same scenario as our pricing guide: 3-minute average calls. Our estimates from the verified terms:

Monthly volume	Upfirst	Frontdesk
50 calls (150 min)	Premium $59.95 (90 calls included) → ~$60	$99 base, within 200 min → $99
100 calls (300 min)	Premium $59.95 + 10 × $1.00 → ~$70	$99 + 100 extra min × $0.25 → ~$124
200 calls (600 min)	Pro $159.95 (300 calls included) → ~$160	$99 + 400 extra min × $0.25 → ~$199

Upfirst wins on pure phone cost at every volume here. But that comparison is only fair if the phone is all you need — Frontdesk’s $99 also covers the web chat, the 400 texts, and the CRM you’d otherwise pay for separately.

Feature differences that actually matter

Where Upfirst is stronger:

Per-call billing favors real-world phone behavior. A 12-minute intake and a 1-minute message cost the same. On Frontdesk’s per-minute credits, long calls eat your allowance.
Spam economics. Upfirst’s never-billed-for-spam policy is stated outright. If your number is on every robocall list in the county, this is real money.
Language coverage. 30+ languages with automatic switching is published on their site — relevant if your customer base is multilingual.
Simplicity. One product, four plans, one bill. Nothing to configure beyond the phone agent.

Where Frontdesk is stronger:

It’s not just a phone. Web chatbot, SMS agent, website forms, CRM, and follow-up sequences are all in the $99. Replacing those separately would cost more than the difference.
Outbound. 20 AI-placed outbound calls per day included — appointment reminders, follow-ups — where Upfirst is inbound-focused.
No feature gates. Zapier, verified outbound number, and the full automation suite come with Business-in-a-Box; you’re never upsold to unlock something.

Where neither wins: neither publishes a human-backup option (compare Smith.ai’s live-agent transfer if that matters), and neither publishes HIPAA/BAA terms on the pricing pages we checked — get compliance in writing before routing regulated calls through either.

Verdict: pick Upfirst if… / pick Frontdesk if…

Pick Upfirst if: the phone is the job — you want missed calls answered, messages taken, appointments booked, and summaries texted to you, at the lowest cost per call. Solo operators, trades, and anyone whose website already handles its own chat should start here. The 14-day trial with no credit card makes it a free experiment.

Pick Frontdesk if: you want one subscription to cover the phone and the website chat and text follow-up and a basic CRM — and you’d rather pay $99 for the bundle than stitch together three tools. Businesses doing meaningful web-chat or SMS volume get the most out of it.

Pick neither yet if: you need a human to catch the hard calls (look at hybrid options), or your call volume is under ~25 calls a month (Smith.ai’s free tier covers that at $0).