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Ernie or an AI receptionist?

An AI receptionist answers your phone. Ernie answers on your website. Both take the job details when you can’t, and the website is the gentler place to start.

Side by side

Ernie

an AI receptionist

Where it answers

On your website, in a chat

On your phone line, by voice

What it answers from

Only your own website, which it reads again every day

Whatever you set it up with, often a script or a list of answers

What you get

An email and a text with the enquiry and any photos

Usually a call summary by text or email

Setting it up

Paste one line into your website, with a step-by-step guide for each website builder

Forward your calls or missed calls to the service, then set it up

Pricing

From A$29 a month, by chats

Usually a monthly plan with a set number of call minutes, or a price per minute

Do customers know it’s AI?

Yes. The chat says so at the top

Depends on the service and how it’s set up

Which one suits you?

Choose an AI receptionist when

  • Most of your work comes in by phone, not through your website
  • Your customers would rather ring than type
  • You want calls booked straight into your calendar

Choose Ernie when

  • Customers find you on Google and look at your website first
  • You’re not ready to have AI talk to customers on your phone line
  • You want answers that come only from what your website says
  • You want photos of the job before you call back

They aren’t either-or. You can keep your phone as it is, or add an AI receptionist later, and still have Ernie answer the people who never pick up the phone.

Compared in October 2026 from public information. Check each provider for current details.