What it actually does
Frontdesk is the 2026 name for My AI Front Desk. Same Delaware company, AI Front Desk, Inc. Same live domain, www.myaifrontdesk.com. You forward the existing shop number. An AI greets inbound callers 24/7, qualifies them, can book a live calendar, SMS-confirms, and can warm-transfer VIPs or emergencies. Transcripts land in their CRM. That is the product.
It is not a human answering service. There is no North America receptionist behind the bot. It is not a phone system (OpenPhone, JustCall, Aircall). Missed-call text-back is a use-case page built from the receptionist plus SMS, not a priced SKU. Web chat and review-request automations ride inside the same plan. Do not tag those aisles. Do not confuse this vendor with aifrontdesk.com, frontdesk.ai, or Weave’s True Lark (formerly FrontdeskAI).
The plan that answers the phone is Business-in-a-Box at $99 a month cash: 200 voice minutes, 400 SMS, 100 web chats, 1,000 overage credits, two editor seats. Annual is $79 shown as monthly, $948 prepaid. Do not put $79 on the card. Basic is $20 a month with zero voice minutes. The pricing page says it does not answer calls. Partner and Enterprise are custom. White-label starts at $500 a month, apply-only.
Native booking I would actually hook up: Google Calendar, and Housecall Pro for home services. The Jobber help article is a 404. Dentrix, Mindbody, and Clio are not native. Zapier is on Business. That is glue, not a PMS.
Who should buy it
Buy it
Buy it if you are a Housecall Pro plumber or HVAC shop, after-hours is the leak, you will live with an AI-only voice, and 200 minutes is close to your real month. Salons and dentists can book if they run Google Calendar or Acuity. Skip if they live in Mindbody or Dentrix. Law is situational. There is an intake page and no Clio. The only live Capterra review is a law-practice owner at 2 stars (Sep 2025) who was told HubSpot was native and got Zapier: “It. Does. Not.”
Skip it
Do not buy it if a botched 2 a.m. emergency needs a person. That is Smith.ai at $150 or Ruby at $250. Do not buy it as a Jobber dispatch brain. Do not buy Basic $20 thinking it is a cheap receptionist. Do not prepay a year to “really try” Zapier.
The catch
The reason not to buy is the minute meter plus the missing human, with a prepaid trap on top. 200 minutes, then $0.25 a minute. Their own billing tutorial: 350 minutes on Business lands around $126.50 that month. Auto-reload is $10 per 1,000 credits unless you turn it off. Outbound is a hard 20 calls a day. Credits cannot buy more. ToS effective May 12, 2026: auto-renew monthly or annually, fees generally non-refundable, AAA arbitration in California. Marketing says cancel anytime. That means end of the current term, not a refund. Indexed Trustpilot 1-stars in March 2026: one shop paid $1,428 annual after a sales call they say promised a refund, product never went live, money stayed. Company chrome has not replied to negatives. ToS still lists $0.12 a minute. Live pricing is $0.25. Use the pricing page.
The verdict
Public list, self-serve, 7-day trial. G2 4.8 from 10 (Wayback August 23, 2026; live HTML DataDome 403). Newest body July 21, 2026. Five of the 5-stars posted the same day in May. Capterra live is 2.0 from 1. Trustpilot live HTML blocked. Indexed around 3.6 to 3.8 from about 9 to 11. Reddit: empty. BBB: no profile. Named plumber, dentist, salon, or HVAC independent reviewer: zero. Homepage “10,000-plus businesses” is marketing.
Situational. Cheap enough to trial monthly on overflow if Housecall Pro is already the shop OS. Not the default for a storm-week plumber, a Dentrix office, or a firm that needs a human on first contact. If you only needed a voice bot and unlimited minutes, Goodcall is $79. If you needed a person, pay Smith.