AI Front Desk Helper vs My AI Front Desk: two different products with almost the same name

If you searched for one of us and found the other, you're not alone. Here's the plain difference, and an honest read on which fits a painting, roofing, HVAC or plumbing company.

By Drew Koch · Updated September 29, 2026 · Prices checked on My AI Front Desk's own pricing page the same day.

What My AI Front Desk is

My AI Front Desk, branded Frontdesk AI on its site, is one of the larger horizontal AI receptionists. It answers calls, texts and website chat for any kind of small business, from salons to law offices to contractors. Its published plan is a single "Business-in-a-Box" tier at $99/month (or $79/month billed annually) that includes 200 voice minutes, 100 chatbot conversations and 400 SMS per month, with a credit system for anything over: voice runs 25 credits per minute at one cent a credit, so about $0.25 per extra minute. It ships with Zapier, a knowledge base you fill from your website, 20+ languages, a 7-day free trial and a white-label partner program.

It is a well-built, broad product. Nothing on this page should be read as saying otherwise.

Where My AI Front Desk is the better pick

• You want the cheapest reliable way to stop missing calls. $99/month, five-minute setup, no contract. That's hard to argue with for a solo operator whose only problem is the phone ringing out on the job site.
• Your business isn't home services. Their product is deliberately generic; ours is deliberately not.
• You already run your own automations in Zapier. Their Zapier hooks are mature and you can wire up whatever you like.
• You're an agency wanting to white-label an AI receptionist for many industries. Their partner program is designed for exactly that.

Where it runs out for a contractor

A contractor's revenue doesn't leak at the moment the phone rings. It leaks over the next ten days: the estimate that never got a follow-up text, the customer who said "let me think about it" and never heard from you again, the calendar double-booking because the AI didn't know you were already on a roof in Elkhorn. A generic receptionist answers the call and hands you a message. Then it's back on you.

Specifically, as published, My AI Front Desk doesn't do outbound calling campaigns to your past customers, doesn't run multi-day estimate follow-up sequences tuned to how contractors sell, doesn't check your Google Calendar's free/busy before offering a time, doesn't draft replies to your Google reviews, and doesn't tell you which of your marketing channels the booked jobs came from. Those aren't gaps in their engineering; they're simply not what the product is for.

The other practical difference is how many minutes come with the plan. 200 voice minutes is roughly 50 to 70 contractor calls a month; our plans include 500 to 3,000. Past that you're on credits, so a busy spring turns into a bigger bill sooner.

Side by side

Pricing, as published

My AI Front Desk

AI Front Desk Helper

AIFDH annual billing is two months free on every plan.

How AI Front Desk Helper is different

AI Front Desk Helper was built inside a working painting company in Omaha because the owner was losing jobs to voicemail on the job site, then losing more of them to no follow-up. So the product starts where a receptionist stops. When a caller books, the appointment lands on your own Google Calendar after a free/busy check so you're never booked over an existing job. When a caller doesn't book, the follow-up sequence starts: texts at 24 hours, 3, 5 and 10 days, written the way a contractor would write them, and it stops the moment they reply. If a caller says "too expensive" or "I need to think about it," the AI hears it and switches to a recovery script instead of politely ending the call.

On Elite, it works the other direction too: outbound AI calls to your past-customer list for seasonal reactivation and referral asks, review replies drafted the moment a Google review lands, and a scoreboard that ties every phone number to the marketing source it came from, so you can see which channel is producing booked revenue and which one you should stop paying for.

That's why it costs more. You're not buying minutes; you're buying the pipeline.

What AI Front Desk Helper does besides answer the phone

Answering the phone is the entry point, not the product. Here is the rest of what runs once a contractor is on AI Front Desk Helper:

• Booking that respects your calendar. Alex checks your own Google Calendar and offers real open times, so it never books a slot you're already on a job for. Jobs per time slot, arrival windows, appointment length, same-day booking and service days by ZIP code are all settings. Reschedules and cancellations move or remove the event.
• Crews, not just one calendar. Optional auto-assign books each job to a free crew member in turn, using their own calendar and work days, and adds them to the event. Repeating visits (weekly, every two weeks, monthly) can be paused for one customer or for the season.
• After-hours emergencies. You write what counts as an emergency and list up to three on-call phones. Alex rings them in order with a text briefing, and the tech presses 1 to take the call. Emergency texts and website chats alert the same phones, and a tech can reply CALL to be connected.
• Photos by text. Customers can text a photo to your number. Alex saves it to their card, forwards an emergency photo to the on-call phones, sends your Quick Quote link for a job it can price, and offers a visit for anything else.
• Straight answers on price. With the estimator turned on, for junk removal, window cleaning, pressure washing, house cleaning, pest control, garage doors, pool service, flooring, concrete, window installation, stump grinding and lawn care, Alex gives a ballpark from your own price sheet and says the crew confirms on site. Trades that price on site can set a service call fee, and Alex answers financing and insurance questions from what you set. No number you didn't give it.
• Instant online quotes. A branded quote-and-book page for your business (yours looks like quote.yourcompany.com) where customers get a ballpark and pick a time, day or night. Built in for painting, roofing, siding, fencing, gutters and the twelve trades above, and switched on with the estimator (included on Elite, a $20/month add-on on Basic and Pro).
• Estimate follow-up that doesn't quit. Text sequences at 24 hours, 3, 5 and 10 days on every quote that hasn't closed, written like a contractor, stopping the moment the customer replies.
• Objection detection. "Too expensive" or "need to think about it" triggers a recovery script instead of a polite goodbye.
• Outbound campaigns. AI calls and texts to your past-customer list for seasonal reactivation, win-backs and referral asks. You set the campaign; it dials.
• Google Business Profile, handled. Every new review gets an owner reply drafted for you; profile posts can be drafted, approved and scheduled weeks ahead; a profile health audit shows how you stack up against nearby competitors.
• Revenue coaching by lead source. Every phone number is tied to where it came from (Angi, LSA, Facebook, referral, yard sign), so the dashboard shows which marketing produces booked revenue and which to cut.
• Customer DISC profiles. Every caller and texter gets a buying-style read (D, I, S or C) from what they actually said, with a confidence flag, so you walk into the estimate knowing how to sell to them.
• Franchise HQ. One rollup across every location for multi-unit operators.
• Reseller program. Agencies can offer the whole system under their own brand. How it works.
• Optional add-on: AI Rep Coach. Records in-home estimates and coaches the people who sell, with manager review and team analytics. Sold separately, per seat.

Who should pick which

Pick My AI Front Desk if you're a one-truck operation, calls are your only pain, and $99 versus $297 is the difference between doing it and not. Genuinely. Stopping missed calls is worth more than the price gap, and you can always move later.

Pick AI Front Desk Helper if you're sending estimates and not hearing back, if you've ever double-booked because the AI didn't know your schedule, if you have a past-customer list you never call, or if you're spending on Angi, LSA or Facebook ads and can't say which one the booked jobs came from. Those are the problems we were built to solve, and a general receptionist won't touch them.

Questions people ask