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Belline vs Smith.ai
Smith.ai answers your calls with live receptionists based in North America, with AI and hybrid options, and charges by the call. Belline is an AI receptionist: it answers your phone, your website and a WhatsApp number from your own hours, prices and rules, at all hours, for a monthly price that does not rise with each call, and hands your team what it should not answer.
Checked against Smith.ai’s own pages on 9 November 2026.
The short answer
Built for different businesses.
Smith.ai is built for
A business that wants a person to answer its calls, in English or Spanish, with intake, screening and transfers done by trained people, and is happy to pay by the call.
Belline is built for
A clinic, salon, garage or restaurant that wants every call, chat and WhatsApp message answered, even when several arrive at once, for one dirham price rather than a price per call.
Side by side
Price, setup and channels.
Smith.ai’s prices are in US dollars on its own site; the dirham figures use the fixed rate of AED 3.6725 to the dollar.
| What | Belline | Smith.ai |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A receptionist. It answers your phone line, the chat and voice button on your website, and a WhatsApp number, from your own information, and passes requests to your team. | A call answering and intake service with live agents based in North America, with AI and hybrid options listed on its home page. |
| Who answers | Belline answers every conversation. Your team takes over anything it should not answer, from the inbox or the phone. | On the plans priced on its pricing page, live agents. Its home page also lists AI-only and hybrid options, which that price page does not price. |
| Cheapest plan with the AI | WhatsApp Receptionist: AED 129 a month, with 250 text conversations a month, shared across your website chat, WhatsApp and Instagram. | Not published for an AI-only plan on the page read. Its cheapest priced plan is Starter with live agents: USD 300 a month (about AED 1,102) for 30 calls, then USD 11.50 for each extra call. |
| With a phone line | Starter: AED 249 a month, with 100 voice minutes a month, shared across your phone line and your website's voice button and 250 text conversations a month, shared across your website chat, WhatsApp and Instagram. | Calls are what it sells. A dedicated phone number is free on its plans; its pages do not say which countries' numbers it offers, so ask before you rely on it in the UAE. |
| Larger plans | One receptionist on every plan; the larger plans add allowance and locations, not a different product. | Basic: USD 810 a month (about AED 2,975) for 90 calls, USD 10.50 a call over. Pro: USD 2,100 a month (about AED 7,712) for 300 calls, USD 8.50 a call over. Enterprise is custom. |
| How it is billed | Per location, with a monthly allowance of voice minutes and conversations. For more, a business moves up a plan. | By the call, with most features as per-call add-ons: booking appointments USD 1.50, call recording and transcription USD 0.25, taking payments USD 1.00, a Spanish line USD 1.00. |
| A WhatsApp number is answered by the same receptionist, with no per-message charge on top of the plan. | Not stated on the pages read. Its price page lists text and email follow-up as a per-call add-on. | |
| Setting it up | Set up by you. Belline reads your website for your hours, prices and rules, and you register the WhatsApp number yourself in your dashboard. | Agents are trained on your business, according to its pages. The pages read do not describe the steps. |
| Free trial | 7 days, with no card. Nothing is charged unless you choose a plan. | No free period is named on its pricing page. Every plan carries a money-back guarantee within 30 days, up to USD 1,000, and extra calls over the plan are not refunded. |
| Languages | Answers in English. | English, with a Spanish line as an add-on. |
| Security certifications | None yet. What we do with your data is on the privacy page, in plain words. | None is named on the pages read. Ask Smith.ai for its current certifications. |
Which to choose
Either can be the right answer.
Choose Smith.ai if
- You want a trained person on the phone, not an AI.
- Your calls need judgement: intake, screening, conflict checks or a warm transfer.
- Your callers speak English or Spanish.
- You take few calls and a per-call price suits you.
- You want to choose between AI, hybrid and human answering from one vendor.
Choose Belline if
- You want the price to stay the same however many people call.
- Enquiries also come on WhatsApp and your website, not only the phone.
- You want every call answered at any hour without a per-call add-on for booking.
- You want one dirham price in the UAE.
- You want it answering tonight, without briefing agents.
Your data
What we can promise today.
No badges we have not earned. These are true of every Belline account now, and the privacy policy says each of them in full.
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The official WhatsApp Business Platform
Belline answers WhatsApp through Meta's business platform, never through an unofficial app that can get a number blocked.
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Card details go to Stripe, not to us
Your card is entered in Stripe's own form. Belline never sees or stores the card number.
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Your conversations do not train the AI
Belle's replies are written with Anthropic's models, and Anthropic's commercial terms do not allow it to train on your conversations.
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Calls are not recorded, except a voicemail
Belline keeps a written summary and transcript, not the audio, apart from a voicemail a caller chooses to leave before you go live.
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Your data, on your terms
Phone numbers and emails are kept out of our logs. Ask for a copy of your data, or for it to be deleted, and we answer within 30 days.
Questions
What operators ask us.
Is Belline a Smith.ai alternative?
For a business that wants calls answered without paying by the call, yes, and Belline also answers the website and WhatsApp. If you want a person on the phone, Smith.ai is built for that and Belline is an AI.
Which is cheaper?
It depends on how many calls you take. Smith.ai starts at USD 300 a month for 30 calls on its live-agent plans, and booking is a per-call add-on. Belline starts at AED 129 a month with the allowance on the plan. Count your own calls a month and put them against each.
Does Belline answer the phone?
Yes, from the Starter plan. You forward your line to Belline and it answers from the same information as your website and WhatsApp. Urgent calls are put through to your team on Growth and Scale.
Can a customer reach a person?
Belline hands anything it should not answer to your team, and urgent calls are put through to them on the plans that include it. The people are yours, not ours.
Where do these Smith.ai details come from?
From Smith.ai's own pricing and home pages, read on the date printed on this page. Prices and plans change; if something here is out of date, tell us at hello@belline.ai and we will correct it.
Pricing
Per location, per month.
The same prices as everywhere else in the United Arab Emirates. No setup fee, no per-call charge.
- No per-user fees
- No per-message fees
- No AI surcharge
Every plan includes
- One location
- Books appointments, or takes the request for your team
- Your team can take over any chat from the inbox
Starter
For a small business that wants every enquiry answered.
- 100 voice minutes a month, shared across your phone line and your website's voice button
- Video receptionist · 40 video minutes (each uses 2.5 voice minutes)
- 250 text conversations a month, shared across your website chat, WhatsApp and Instagram
- Up to 2 users on your dashboard
- Keep your number - forward it to Belline
- Answers questions from your own hours, prices and policies
- Summary and full transcript of every call and chat
- Your own words and colours on the website buttons
Growth
For a team that wants urgent calls put through live, and its own rules for what Belline may decide.
- 250 voice minutes a month, shared across your phone line and your website's voice button
- Video receptionist · 100 video minutes (each uses 2.5 voice minutes)
- 600 text conversations a month, shared across your website chat, WhatsApp and Instagram
- Everything in Starter, plus:
- Up to 5 users on your dashboard
- Puts urgent calls through to your team, live
- Your own rules about what it may and may not decide
- Restore earlier settings any time
Scale
For higher-volume teams with more complex reception rules.
- 500 voice minutes a month, shared across your phone line and your website's voice button
- Video receptionist · 200 video minutes (each uses 2.5 voice minutes)
- 1,500 text conversations a month, shared across your website chat, WhatsApp and Instagram
- Everything in Growth, plus:
- Up to 15 users on your dashboard
- Priority support
Only need website chat, WhatsApp and Instagram?
WhatsApp Receptionist
AED 129 per location, per month Billed monthly. Cancel anytime.
For a business that wants every WhatsApp and Instagram message and website chat answered. 250 text conversations a month, shared across your website chat, WhatsApp and Instagram. No phone line and no voice button - add those any time with Starter.
- Answers WhatsApp, Instagram and your website chat from your own hours, prices and policies
- Text only: WhatsApp, Instagram and website chat, with no phone line and no voice button
- Answers on a second WhatsApp number you register yourself
Compare the plans
| Starter | Growth | Scale | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price a month, per location | AED 249 | AED 499 | AED 999 |
| Voice minutes a month | 100 | 250 | 500 |
| Text conversations a month | 250 | 600 | 1,500 |
| Users on your dashboard | 2 | 5 | 15 |
| Keep your number - forward it to Belline | Included | Included | Included |
| Answers questions from your own hours, prices and policies | Included | Included | Included |
| Summary and full transcript of every call and chat | Included | Included | Included |
| Your own words and colours on the website buttons | Included | Included | Included |
| Puts urgent calls through to your team, live | Not included | Included | Included |
| Your own rules about what it may and may not decide | Not included | Included | Included |
| Restore earlier settings any time | Not included | Included | Included |
| Priority support | Not included | Not included | Included |
An answering service takes a message. Belline answers the question, takes the details and tells your team what to do next.
What counts as a minute
A minute is time Belline spends on a live call with your caller - on your phone line or through the voice button on your website - from the moment it answers to the moment the call ends, rounded up to the next whole minute. Calls you make from your own test console do not count, and neither do calls cut short by a fault on our side.
What counts as a conversation
A conversation is one customer's thread in your website chat, on WhatsApp or on Instagram in which Belline replies at least once. Everything that customer says in the 24 hours after Belline's first reply is the same conversation. Threads your team answers without Belline do not count.
When an allowance runs out
When an allowance runs out, you choose what happens: move up to the next plan, or stop at the allowance. We tell you at 70%, 90% and 100%. Nothing is ever added to your bill without you choosing it.
7 days free
7 days free: 30 voice or 12 video minutes and 50 text conversations, with your website chat, the voice button on the same page, WhatsApp and Instagram all switched on, plus your phone line where Belline has a line in your country. No card: nothing is charged unless you choose a plan, and on day 8 without one Belline pauses until you do. Standard onboarding is free.
Where this comes from
Read on 9 November 2026.
Everything said here about Smith.ai is from its own pages, read on that date. Prices and plans change. If something is out of date, write to hello@belline.ai and we will correct it. Smith.ai is a trademark of its owner; Belline is not affiliated with it.
