Six AI receptionists are actively sold to New Zealand small businesses: KiwiAgent, Talkify, Hey Jodie, Waboom AI, FirstVoice AI and Sophiie. This page compares them on what their own pricing pages say: entry price, included minutes or calls, overage, trial, contract, and where the company is based. Every figure was read from the provider's public page on 11 September 2026 and is linked so you can check it yourself.
Disclosure: we make KiwiAgent. We have kept this to published facts and left out opinions about anyone's voice quality or reliability, because ours would not be worth much. Prices change; treat this as a starting point and confirm on each site before you buy.
How we compared them
- Only providers with a public pricing page or published price. "Contact us for pricing" was excluded.
- Prices as shown, in the currency and GST treatment the page states. Where a page does not state its currency, we say so rather than guess.
- Where the company is based, from its own website.
- Trial and contract terms, from the same pages.
We did not test call quality, accents or booking accuracy. You should, with your own scenarios. Our buyer's guide and test-call checklist gives you ten calls to make against any provider on this list.
Side by side
| Provider | Based | Entry price | Included | Extra minutes | Trial | Contract |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KiwiAgent | New Zealand | $49 a month, NZD ex GST | 100 minutes | $0.49 a minute | Free pilot, 30 minutes a month | Month to month |
| Talkify | Christchurch | $129 a month founding rate for 3 months, then $199 (business); $89 personal plan | 200 minutes and 50 texts (business); 50 minutes (personal) | 10c a minute for 3 months, then 20c | Demo line and a demo number | No lock-in; Fleet plan 12 months |
| Hey Jodie | Site lists a London company address | NZ$49 a month | Unlimited minutes, per the site | None stated | 7 days, no card | No contracts, per the site |
| Waboom AI | Auckland | 500 minutes for $500 plus a $130 platform fee, plus GST | 500 minutes, credits do not expire | Monthly plans charge overage at the tier rate | Pay as you go, no lock-in | None on pay as you go |
| FirstVoice AI | New Zealand | From $497 a month | Not stated | Not stated | Free demo and discovery call | Not stated |
| Sophiie | Australia; sells in NZ, UK and US | Free plan; Starter $99 a month (currency not stated on the page) | 30 calls on Starter, 500 on Pro at $299, 2,500 on Max at $819 | Not stated | Free plan | Not stated |
| Human benchmark: Spark Business Receptionist Plus | New Zealand | $150 a month ex GST | 75 minutes | $2.50 a minute ex GST | None stated | Not stated |
The six, one by one
KiwiAgent
New Zealand owned and operated. Plans are $49, $149 and $349 a month for 100, 300 and 800 minutes, in NZD excluding GST, with extra minutes at a flat $0.49 on every paid plan. Concurrent calls are 3, 10 and 25 by plan, and NZ phone numbers are included. Every business starts with a free pilot of 30 minutes a month, and the team sets up the agent from what you tell them, with most businesses live within a day. Calls are recorded and transcribed, and our privacy policy lists the processors and retention periods.
Talkify
Built and operated in Christchurch. The pricing page lists a personal plan at $89 a month for 50 minutes, a business plan at $129 a month for the first three months at a founding rate and $199 after that for 200 minutes and 50 texts, a pay-as-you-go option at $1 a minute plus $10 a month for a number, and a custom Fleet plan on a 12-month contract. Extra minutes are 10c for the first three months, then 20c. No setup fee and no lock-in on the standard plans. The site says data is stored in New Zealand and Australian data centres and offers a demo line you can ring.
Hey Jodie
The New Zealand page lists a single plan at NZ$49 a month with unlimited minutes, no per-minute charges and no contracts, plus a seven-day free trial with no card. The site's footer gives a London company address for Jodie AI Limited. Features listed include call forwarding from your existing number, a mobile app, transcripts and SMS or email summaries. We could not find a fair-use policy for the unlimited plan on the page; ask for it in writing.
Waboom AI
Auckland based, positioned as an AI implementation partner offering voice agents for inbound and outbound calls alongside training and automation services. The voice agent pricing page lists pay-as-you-go at 500 minutes for $500 plus a $130 platform fee plus GST, with credits that do not expire, then a Starter plan at $990 a month for 1,165 minutes and a Growth plan at $2,425 a month for 3,030 minutes, each plus the platform fee. Calls are billed per second. The higher plans add CRM and calendar integration and reporting.
FirstVoice AI
A New Zealand provider whose homepage lists pricing from $497 a month with up to 20 calls at once, aimed at trades, restaurants, salons and local services. Included minutes, overage and contract terms are not stated on the page. There is a free demo and a discovery call rather than a self-serve trial.
Sophiie
An Australian company that also sells in New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. Its pricing page lists a Free plan, Starter at $99 a month for 30 calls, Pro at $299 a month for 500 calls, and Max at $819 a month for 2,500 calls, each with SMS and AI-action allowances, plus an Enterprise tier. The page does not state which currency the prices are in, and we did not find NZ-specific pricing, so confirm before comparing it with NZD plans.
The human benchmark
For scale, Spark's Business Receptionist Plus puts a human operator on your line 24 hours a day for $150 excluding GST a month, including 75 minutes, then $2.50 excluding GST per minute with a one-minute minimum per call. Our cost comparison works through what that means at 80 calls a month.
Which one, going by the published facts
- Lowest flat fee with no minute cap: Hey Jodie's published plan, if the unlimited terms hold up when you ask about fair use.
- New Zealand based with a minute allowance and NZD pricing: KiwiAgent or Talkify. Talkify's business plan includes more minutes at a higher price; KiwiAgent's Starter is the cheaper entry and its Pro plan sits between the two on minutes.
- Setup done for you, with a free pilot before you pay: KiwiAgent. This is our pitch, so weigh it accordingly, but it is also a published fact about how we onboard.
- Pay-as-you-go by the second, and outbound as well as inbound: Waboom AI.
- A human on the line: Spark, or one of the answering services in our cost comparison.
Whichever you shortlist, ring it. Make the ten calls in our test-call checklist, including a M膩ori place name and a question it should not know, and read the transcripts. The pricing table tells you what you will pay. Only the calls tell you what your customers will get.
About these numbers
Checked on 11 September 2026 against each linked page. Founding and launch rates end, unlimited plans usually have fair-use terms, and GST treatment differs between pages. If you find a figure here that no longer matches the provider's page, tell us and we will correct it.
Next step
To hear KiwiAgent before you read another word about it, talk to the demo agent on our homepage. If it sounds right, tell us about your business and we will set up a free pilot with your own greeting and knowledge base.