Answerphone AI is built for trades, like us — but its £59/month Starter caps you at 200 calls, and calendar integration sits on the £199 tier. TradeHalo answers unlimited calls from £19/month, with calendar booking on the £39 Pro plan.
The short version: two AI answering services built for trades. TradeHalo removes the call caps and puts the diary features £160/month closer to reach.
| TradeHalo | Answerphone AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From £19/month | £59/month |
| Call limits | Unlimited AI-answered calls on every plan | Up to 200 calls/month on Starter; 1,000 on Growth |
| Calendar integration | Google Calendar sync + voice booking (Pro, £39/mo) | Growth tier (£199/month) |
| Built for | UK trades only | UK trades only |
| 24/7 AI answering | Included | Included |
| SMS summaries | SMS to you + confirmation SMS to the caller | SMS and email summaries to you |
| Free mini-website | Included on every plan | Not offered |
| Free trial | 14 days | 14 days, no card required |
Competitor details taken from publicly available pricing pages and independent guides, checked July 2026. Always confirm current pricing directly with the provider.
Answerphone AI publishes its pricing, which we respect: Starter at £59/month for up to 200 calls with one phone number, Growth at £199/month for up to 1,000 calls with three numbers, calendar and CRM integration and a custom AI voice, and a custom-priced Enterprise tier for unlimited calls. There's a 14-day free trial with no card required and no contracts.
The structure to notice is the caps and the ladder. 200 calls a month is fine until a cold snap, a storm or a good review sends your phone into meltdown — precisely when answering matters most. And the feature most trade businesses want from an AI answerphone — booking jobs into a calendar — sits on the £199 tier, a big jump from £59.
TradeHalo doesn't meter calls on any plan. Starter is £19/month with unlimited AI-answered calls, emergency SMS alerts and a free mini-website. Pro is £39/month and adds voice appointment booking, Google Calendar sync, travel-aware scheduling and booking reminder SMS — the diary features, at a fifth of the price point where Answerphone AI introduces calendar integration.
No 200-call ceiling, no anxiety in a busy month, no tier upgrade because business is good. Every TradeHalo plan answers every call you get, 24/7, for the same flat price.
Answerphone AI puts calendar integration on its £199/month Growth tier. TradeHalo Pro books jobs during the call, syncs Google Calendar, pads slots with travel time and texts booking reminders — for £39/month.
Both services text you the job details. TradeHalo also texts the caller a confirmation that you've been alerted — which is what stops them working down the Google results while they wait for your callback.
A February freeze bursts pipes across town. Your call volume triples. Here's how each service copes.
How the two services compare on the things that matter to a trade business.
| Feature | TradeHalo | Answerphone AI |
|---|---|---|
| Call handling | ||
| 24/7 AI answering | ✓ | ✓ |
| Unlimited answered calls on entry plan | ✓ | — |
| Dedicated UK business number included | ✓ | 1 number on Starter, 3 on Growth |
| Spam call blocking | ✓ | Not detailed on published plans |
| Short-call filter (ignore hang-ups under 30s) | ✓ | Not detailed on published plans |
| Trade job capture | ||
| Trade-specific questioning (job, location, urgency) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Emergency detection with instant SMS alert | ✓ | Escalation for complex enquiries |
| Instant job SMS to you | ✓ | ✓ |
| Confirmation SMS to the caller | ✓ | — |
| Full transcripts and AI call summaries | ✓ | ✓ |
| Bookings and diary | ||
| Voice appointment booking during the call | Pro (£39/mo) | Availability-checked booking |
| Google Calendar sync | Pro (£39/mo) | Growth tier (£199/mo) |
| Travel-aware scheduling between jobs | Pro (£39/mo) | — |
| Booking confirmation and reminder SMS | Pro (£39/mo) | — |
| Extras, price and terms | ||
| Free SEO-ready mini-website with gallery | ✓ | — |
| Call analytics and enquiry keywords | ✓ | Not detailed on published plans |
| Entry price | £19/month | £59/month |
| Cancel anytime, no contracts | ✓ | ✓ |
| Free trial | 14 days | 14 days |
Answerphone AI is a credible, trades-focused product with published pricing, a proper free trial and no contracts — the same honest model we use. If you run a multi-crew operation that wants several phone numbers under one account, CRM integration and a custom AI voice, their £199 Growth tier bundles those together in a way TradeHalo's standard plans don't, and their call escalation for complex enquiries is a thoughtful touch.
For a typical one-van or small trade business, though, the maths favours TradeHalo: unlimited calls from £19 instead of 200 calls for £59, calendar booking at £39 instead of £199, a confirmation text for every caller, and a free mini-website that gives your business a home on Google. Same idea — more of it, for less.
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Read the comparison →An AI receptionist for small service businesses from £39/month — compared with a trades-only AI assistant from £19/month with booking built in.
Read the comparison →Unlimited calls, caller confirmation texts and £39 calendar booking — free for 14 days.
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