Most NZ voice-AI receptionists sell against a minutes bundle—200 minutes is roughly 60 to 80 answered calls, a normal month for a busy trade business. The table below is sorted on that basis: what each provider actually costs at that volume, past any teaser or founding rate.
Prices are each provider's own published, publicly-listed rates as at 18 September 2026. Confirm current pricing directly with each provider before quoting it to a customer—introductory rates, inclusions and minute allowances change.
Looking for how Call Catcher actually handles a call?This page is about price. For how Call Catcher captures a missed enquiry and keeps a caller from hanging up on an AI voice, read the full story →
How they compare
| Provider | Approach | Practical detail | Price at ~60–80 calls/month |
|---|
| Talkify | Voice AI only | Real NZ/Aussie voices, te reo Māori + 31 languages, NZ data residency, iOS/Android apps, deep integrations (Xero, GymMaster and more) | $129/mo for new sign-ups' first 3 months, then $199/mo for 200 minutes — equivalent to ~60–80 calls (Business tier) |
| CallCover | Voice AI only | Kiwi-voice options, call forwarding (keep your existing number), Fergus/Simpro/Timely/Palace integration | $99/mo (Premium, 200 minutes, first month free); $149/mo for the Pro tier (more minutes, analytics) |
| Swoopd | WhatsApp-first; SMS still a coming, paid add-on in NZ | Auto-books the enquiry into a calendar on the tradie's behalf; Xero/Stripe integration | From ~$99+GST/mo billed monthly; annual plans work out to roughly $41–$75/mo but commit you for a year |
| missedcall.co.nz | On-device SMS from the tradie's own number; Android only | No new number, no per-message cost to them — but no iPhone support, no central job board, and the free tier's message carries their own branding into your customer's inbox | Free (limited) up to roughly $249/mo for a fuller plan |
| Call Catcher | Voice AI with an automatic text fallback | Carl answers; anyone who doesn't want to talk gets a text instead, so the enquiry is still captured. Structured job card, one-tap accept/decline, urgency triage, Fergus integration | $79/mo (Catch Voice, 60 calls) or $109/mo (Catch More Voice, 100 calls) |
Call Catcher is the only service here that answers by voice and automatically falls back to text—every other voice option has no fallback if the caller doesn't want to talk to an AI, and every text-based option (Swoopd, missedcall.co.nz) has no voice option at all if the caller would rather talk. Pricing is a flat monthly rate for the calls included, with a $0.50 per-call fee beyond that and no lock-in—on average, about half the price of Talkify at the same call volume.
How to decide what's right for your business
Before choosing any missed-call service, test it using the calls your business actually gets: an urgent problem where the caller wants an immediate answer; a routine quote request; a vague description that needs a sensible follow-up question; background noise or a poor connection; a customer who's upset, older or in a hurry; and someone who doesn't want to talk to an automated receptionist.
Then look past how human the demo sounds. Check whether the right details reached the job board, whether urgency was handled properly, whether anything false was promised, whether you stayed in control of the decision—and what it'll actually cost at your real call volume, not the provider's advertised minimum.
Call Catcher starts from $79/month for Catch Voice—60 calls, Carl plus automatic text fallback—or $49/month for text-only Catch. No setup fee, no lock-in, 7-day free trial.
How this actually worksPrice is only half the decision. See how Call Catcher keeps a caller from hanging up on an AI voice, and what happens to the enquiry after that. Read the core story →
See how Call Catcher captures a missed enquiry → callcatcher.co.nz/simulator
Sources and editorial notes
- Talkify, CallCover, Swoopd and missedcall.co.nz pricing pulled directly from each provider's public site on 18 September 2026. Re-verify before treating this as current if it's been more than a few weeks—several of these providers run limited-time or founding rates.
- AI Tools NZ, CallAI and ReceptionHQ, present in an earlier comparison, aren't included here—their pricing wasn't re-verified for this pass.
- Catch Voice, Catch More Voice and Catch Pro Voice are shown at list price ($79/$109/$139). Call Catcher is currently running a $10/month discount on the first 50 sign-ups to Catch Voice—left out of the table above since that offer may have closed by the time you're reading this. Check callcatcher.co.nz/talkify-alternative or get in touch for the current rate.