Compare
410 vs. answering services.
Different tools, different problems. The honest version.
Answering services
- A human (or AI) answers live and takes a message.
- Smith.ai’s human plans run $300 a month for 30 calls ($10 per call) up to $2,100 for 300 calls, plus $1.50 per call to book. Overages run $8.50 to $11.50 per call. (Smith.ai published pricing, checked September 2026.)
- Smith.ai’s AI plans start free for 25 calls a month, then run per-call tiers from $150.
- You buy answered calls by the bucket: wrong numbers and 30-second questions cost the same as a full booking.
410 Business Solutions
- We don’t answer your calls. We text back the ones you miss, in about 16 seconds, and book the job.
- $450 a month, flat, with the whole back office in core: booking, reminders, estimate and invoice chase, photo intake, reviews and replies, reschedules, Day Sheet, monthly proof report. No per-call fees or overages.
- Done for you on your real number. No app to log into, ever.
- No annual contract. Month to month, cancel by text or email, effective at the end of the month you already paid for.
When each one wins
Pick an answering service if you want a live person picking up during business hours and taking messages.
Pick 410 if your problem is the calls you miss: after hours, on a job, on weekends. 62% of business calls go unanswered, and 78% of consumers say they have abandoned a business after an unanswered call (CallRail survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers, 2025). 410 catches those calls in about 16 seconds and books the job instead of leaving a voicemail nobody returns.
Plenty of businesses eventually want both. Fix the missed call first: that customer is already dialing a competitor.
The problem in numbers: missed-call statistics, 2026. Page updated October 2026.