5 best Avoca AI alternatives for home service businesses (2026)

Avoca is an AI front office for the trades. It answers calls, books jobs into your field software, runs outbound win-back campaigns, and grades your CSRs on every call.

Its entry package is $1,100 a month for 1,000 minutes, plus a one-time $600 setup fee. Independent reviewers put its target customer at $3M or more in revenue, running ServiceTitan, with at least five CSRs to make the coaching side worth paying for. Below that size you are buying capacity and software you will not use.

Owners shopping for an alternative usually want one of two things. Something affordable and self-serve for a smaller operation, or something that books natively into the field software they already run. This guide covers five options with pricing, pros, and cons for each.

Two notes on sourcing. We build Upfirst, so we are biased, and you should read our section with that in mind. Neither Avoca nor Broccoli publishes prices, so the figures here came from customers and leads who had already shopped both and shared their quotes with us. They agreed to do that so other owners could compare real numbers without sitting through three sales calls first. Everything else comes from public pages.

The best Avoca AI alternatives at a glance

Minute and credit plans are converted at a three-minute average call so the columns compare. Pull your own average from last month's call log before you use this table.

What Avoca costs

One-time setup: $600.

Call handling, full AI:

• $1,100/month for 1,000 minutes, then $1.15/minute
• $1,800/month for 2,000 minutes, then $1.00/minute
• $2,400/month for 3,000 minutes, then $0.90/minute
• $3,000/month for 4,000 minutes, then $0.85/minute
• $3,500/month for 5,000 minutes, then $0.75/minute

Call handling, hybrid with a human in the loop:

• $1,500/month for 1,000 minutes, then $1.55/minute
• $2,800/month for 2,000 minutes, rising to $6,100/month for 5,000 minutes

Priced separately:

• Coach, the AI call evaluation product: $200 per CSR per month, plus $25 per CSR for recovery alerts and $25 per CSR for call reclassification
• Simple Scheduler: $600/month, plus $200/month for lead capture
• Outbound calls: $1.00 per minute, falling to $0.70 above 4,000 minutes
• Speed to Lead for Yelp, Angi, Google LSA, and Thumbtack: in beta

At a three-minute average, the entry tier covers about 333 calls for $1,100, or $3.30 a call before overage. Take 100 calls a month and you pay $1,100 for capacity you never touch, with $600 of setup on top.

The other constraint is fit. Avoca integrates with ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, and FieldRoutes. Shops on Workiz, FieldEdge, ServiceM8, or Service Fusion have no native path. There is no free trial and no sandbox, so you validate on a demo instead of on your own calls.

How AI answering pricing works

• Per minute. You buy minutes and pay overage when they run out. Avoca and Broccoli bill this way. Ask whether calls are billed to the second or rounded up, because rounding every call to the next whole minute adds 15% to 20% to a month of short calls. Broccoli bills to the second.
• Per call. You pay per answered call at any length. Upfirst bills this way, so a nine-minute booking costs what a two-minute message costs.
• Per conversation. Jobber counts one call or one 24-hour text thread as a conversation, and excludes spam.
• Credits. Driive deducts credits as the AI works. Unused credits expire monthly.

Then find the extras: setup fees, per-seat coaching charges, billing for spam and wrong numbers, and add-ons for texting or extra phone numbers.

How we compared these

• Setup you can finish without a project plan
• Whether it books into the software your office already runs
• Call handling that covers messages, bookings, transfers, and texts
• A bill you can predict before the month starts
• Real review history, flagged where a vendor has almost none

Jobber and Housecall Pro have thousands of verified reviews between them. Avoca, Broccoli, Driive, and Upfirst are all young enough that review counts run in the dozens at best, so a trial on your own calls beats a star rating.

1. Broccoli

Best for ServiceTitan shops that want a full AI CSR team

Broccoli is Avoca's closest competitor. AI CSRs handle inbound calls, chat, and scheduling widgets. Outbound agents run sales, membership, and estimate follow-ups. A QA agent grades your human CSRs. Everything writes into ServiceTitan, including tech assignment on the dispatch board.

A contractor puts Broccoli's agent through a live call in the video above, so you can hear how it handles a trades caller before you book a demo.

Pros

• Cheaper than Avoca at the same volume, with no onboarding fee against Avoca's $600
• Books jobs into ServiceTitan and assigns the tech on the dispatch board
• Call time is billed to the second with no rounding
• CSR grading is $300 a month flat, against Avoca's per-CSR pricing
• Emergency calls alert a technician instead of waiting in a queue

Cons

• Built around ServiceTitan. Shops on other field software are outside the core use case.
• Per-minute billing punishes exactly the months you need it. A heat wave that pushes you to 500 calls burns 1,500 minutes, which is 500 minutes of overage at $0.90, or $450 on top of the $950 base.
• The base plan gets email support only. Account manager meetings start at $1,950 a month.
• Outbound, chat, and QA are separate line items that can double the bill.
• Six-month subscription that renews automatically unless you give 21 days notice, with non-refundable fees.
• Almost no third-party review history

Pricing

Broccoli does not publish rates. Customers who shopped it shared these inbound tiers:

• Calabrese: $950/month, 1,000 minutes, then $0.90/minute, email support
• Broccolini: $1,950/month, 2,400 minutes, then $0.80/minute, adds the online scheduling widget, 50+ custom voices, and an account manager
• Romanesco: custom minutes at a discounted rate, adds voice cloning and priority feature requests

Add-ons price separately. Outbound agents run $1,000 a month for 1,100 minutes, then $0.80 a minute, with every 20 dials counting as one minute. AI web chat is $300 a month with unlimited chats. The QA agent that transcribes, grades, and reclassifies your human CSR calls is $300 a month for 2,000 minutes, then $0.10 a minute. Onboarding is $0 on every tier.

Free trial: None advertised. Demo and quote.

Third-party reviews: Thin. Most public detail comes from trade press rather than review sites.

Standout feature: AI CSRs that write the job into ServiceTitan and put a tech on the board.

On the entry tier Broccoli is the cheaper of the two. Both include 1,000 minutes. Broccoli charges $950 against Avoca's $1,100, overage runs $0.90 against $1.15, and setup is free against $600. That is about $750 less in month one.

Coaching widens it. Avoca charges $200 per CSR per month for Coach, plus $25 each for recovery alerts and reclassification. Broccoli's QA agent is $300 flat for 2,000 minutes. A five-CSR office pays Avoca $1,000 to $1,250 a month for that layer and Broccoli $300.

Read the term before you sign. Six months, automatic renewal, 21 days notice, and fees that do not come back. Ask for a written estimate at your busiest month's volume, not your average one.

2. Upfirst

Best for small teams that want it affordable and self-serve

Upfirst is an AI answering service for small businesses. It answers calls day and night, takes messages, books appointments, transfers to the right person, and texts callers, in 35+ languages. You describe your business in plain English and go live in 10 to 30 minutes. No setup fee, no sales call.

The walkthrough above builds an HVAC receptionist from scratch, so you can watch the whole setup before you decide whether 30 minutes is realistic for your shop.

Pros

• $24.95 a month to start, against $1,100 plus $600 setup for Avoca's entry package
• Billed per call, so a long booking costs what a short message costs
• Spam and sales calls get blocked before they reach you and are not billed
• You edit the script yourself, with no ticket and no waiting on a rep
• Every feature is on every plan, including booking, transfers, texting, and languages

Cons

• No native ServiceTitan or Housecall Pro connection, so job creation runs through Zapier
• No call scoring or coaching for an in-house CSR team
• No outbound calling
• Review counts are small, in the dozens rather than the thousands

Pricing

• Starter: $24.95/month, 30 calls, then $1.50/call
• Premium: $59.95/month, 90 calls, then $1.00/call
• Pro: $159.95/month, 300 calls, then $0.75/call
• Scale: $299/month, 600 calls, then $0.70/call
• Annual billing saves 20%. Custom pricing starts above 600 calls.

Free trial: 14 days, full features, no credit card.

Third-party reviews: G2 4.9 and Capterra 5.0, both on small review counts.

Standout feature: setup. Describe your business in plain language and take calls the same day.

Run the volumes side by side. Avoca's entry package is $1,100 a month for roughly 333 calls. Upfirst's Scale plan is $299 for 600 calls, and most small shops sit two tiers below that. Per-call billing also removes the clock from the conversation, so your AI can spend nine minutes booking a full HVAC install without changing the bill.

Upfirst covers the call itself. It books appointments on Google Calendar, Outlook, or Clio, transfers calls with a brief on who is calling and why, sends texts during or after a call, and blocks spam before your phone rings. Every call produces a summary, a transcript, and a recording.

The businesses testing this hardest are trades. Handyman Pro in Ashland, Oregon tried more than 40 AI answering services before landing here, and Shannon keeps it mostly for spam, which had grown to 60% of incoming calls. A.R.E. Louisiana had been paying people to answer the phone, and Rick still ended up calling customers back himself because the service could not answer an electrical question. "A lot of my customers don't even know it's any kind of bot AI," he says.

JM's Hydro Wash shows the intake side. Jamie's AI asks how many window panes a house has and how they open, because he cannot quote a window job without knowing. Adkins Ranch and Land Care runs heavy equipment all day, where a vibrating phone in a pocket goes unnoticed and every missed call used to mean shutting the machine down.

It will not replace a dispatch stack. Jobs written straight into ServiceTitan with a tech assigned to the board is what Broccoli does at the top of this list. Scoring every CSR call is Avoca's Coach. Upfirst is for owners whose actual problem is that the phone goes unanswered.

3. Jobber Receptionist

Best if you already run Jobber

If your office lives in Jobber, the lowest-friction fix is Jobber's own Receptionist. It answers calls and texts, books jobs and estimates, handles reschedules and cancellations, creates work requests, and escalates urgent calls, all inside the account you already pay for.

Jobber's own demo shows the Receptionist taking a call and creating the request, which is the flow to compare against what actually lands in your account during a trial.

Pros

• Bookings land in Jobber with no integration to maintain
• $29 a month if you already subscribe, and free with unlimited use on the Plus plan
• Urgent calls transfer live to your escalation contact's phone, or send a transcript snippet with a callback link
• Text threads count as one conversation for 24 hours, so a chatty customer costs one credit
• Spam conversations do not count toward your limit

Cons

• It collects the caller's contact details but does not ask what the job is. Owners on Jobber's own community forum report bookings arriving with no idea what the customer needs, and have asked for mandatory intake questions.
• Business callers confuse it. Forum users describe it recording a company name as the customer's last name, or dropping it.
• Script customization is thin. Owners describe rigid, form-like conversations and want more free-text training. Jobber says tone and training controls are coming.
• Only worth it if Jobber is your system of record
• US, Canada, and UK only

Pricing

• Receptionist add-on: $29/month for 30 conversations, then $0.79 per extra conversation
• Included with unlimited use on the Plus plan
• Jobber plans, billed monthly: Core $49, Connect $139, Grow $199, Plus $499 with 5 users

Free trial: 14 days on Jobber itself.

Third-party reviews: Jobber sits near 4.6 on both G2 and Capterra across hundreds of reviews, though those cover the platform, not the Receptionist.

Standout feature: jobs the AI books appear on the schedule your crew already checks.

The math works for a Jobber shop at moderate volume. A hundred conversations runs about $84 a month, roughly a twelfth of Avoca's entry tier, and nothing has to sync.

The intake problem is the one to test during your trial. A booking with a name and a phone number but no description of the job still costs your office a callback, which is the cost you were trying to remove. Call your own line, book a fake repair, and read what lands in Jobber. If the ticket says nothing about the work, price a tool with custom intake questions instead.

4. Housecall Pro CSR AI

Best if you already run Housecall Pro

Housecall Pro sells its own AI CSR inside the platform. It answers calls and web chats around the clock, books against your real availability, pulls up existing customer records mid-call, hands off to a human or a Housecall Pro Assist rep on request, and logs summaries and transcripts to the job.

The clip above shows CSR AI confirming a technician and an appointment, which is the part of the job most owners want proof of before handing over the phone.

Pros

• Books into Housecall Pro directly, with customer history on screen during the call
• Covers web chat as well as phone
• Hands the caller to a person when they ask for one
• Greeting, scripts, tone, hours, and services are all configurable
• One vendor and one bill if Housecall Pro already runs your business

Cons

• No published price. You need a sales conversation before you can model the cost.
• Add-on creep is the pattern departing customers describe: sign at $149 a month, land at $300 to $400 six months later as add-ons like CSR AI stack up.
• Phone support only comes with the Max plan at $329 a month. Lower tiers get chat.
• Housecall Pro's Trustpilot score has fallen since 2024 and now sits near 2.9, driven by billing and support complaints rather than the AI.
• Only worth it if Housecall Pro is your system of record

Pricing

• CSR AI: sold separately, quote only.
• Housecall Pro plans, billed monthly: Basic $79 for 1 user, Essentials $189 for 5 users, Max $329 for 8 users. Annual billing drops those to $59, $149, and $299.

Free trial: 14 days on Housecall Pro. CSR AI trial terms depend on your quote.

Third-party reviews: Capterra 4.7 across thousands of reviews, G2 4.3, Trustpilot near 2.9.

Standout feature: the AI answers with your customer's service history in front of it, so a repeat caller does not start over.

For a Housecall Pro shop this is the shortest path. Nothing to integrate, nothing to sync, and jobs land where your techs already look. Ask your rep about it before you take an Avoca demo.

Then pin down the number. Get the monthly rate, the included volume, and the overage rate in writing, and add them to what you already pay for the platform. The complaint pattern here is not about call quality. It is owners who agreed to a base plan and found the invoice 2x larger once the add-ons were running.

5. Driive

Best for booking that respects drive time

Driive starts from the schedule, not the phone. Its agent, Dot, takes calls, texts, emails, and web forms, qualifies the homeowner against your rules, checks technician availability against real drive time, and books. Assist mode is the lighter version, where Dot speeds up your own CSRs and they keep the call.

Pros

• Publishes its prices, which almost nobody in this category does
• Books around real drive time, so the calendar reflects routes your techs can actually run
• Three modes: assist your team, let customers self-book, or hand Dot the phone
• Connects to CompanyCam, GoHighLevel, Google Calendar, Outlook, and Zapier, with an open API
• 14-day free trial, no credit card

Cons

• Credits expire monthly, and the $99 tier covers roughly 30 three-minute calls
• Scheduling-first, so it does less than Avoca or Broccoli on outbound and QA
• No native ServiceTitan or Housecall Pro booking
• Raised a pre-seed round in May 2026, so there is no meaningful review history and no long track record

Pricing

• Starter: $99/month, 6,000 credits, calendar integration, dedicated number, 3 users
• Growth: $199/month, 30,000 credits, integrations and white-glove onboarding
• Scale: $499/month, 120,000 credits, API access
• Enterprise: custom, for teams of 50+
• One-time credit top-ups available

Free trial: 14 days, 2,000 credits, no credit card.

Third-party reviews: Very limited. The company is early stage.

Standout feature: drive-time aware booking, so you stop selling slots your techs cannot reach.

Driive suits a shop whose real problem is the calendar. If your CSRs book jobs that strand a tech across town, route-aware slotting is worth more than another voice.

Check the credit math first. The $99 tier covers about 30 average calls and credits reset monthly. Simple message-taking costs less on a per-call plan.

What to look for in an Avoca alternative

• What is your system of record? Jobber shops should price the Receptionist first. Housecall Pro shops should ask about CSR AI. ServiceTitan shops comparing Avoca should also demo Broccoli.
• How many calls do you take? Under a few hundred a month, packages sized for 1,000+ minutes are the wrong shape.
• Do you have CSRs to coach? Avoca's Coach and Broccoli's QA agent exist for offices with a phone team. Without one, you are buying software nobody will open.
• Do you need outbound? Win-back campaigns and happy calls are core to Avoca and Broccoli. Most receptionist tools handle inbound only.
• How fast do you need to be live? Upfirst and Driive let you start yourself. Avoca, Broccoli, and Housecall Pro's CSR AI all begin with a sales call.

What to watch out for

Setup fees never appear in a "starts at" number. Avoca charges $600 before it answers a single call.

Per-minute billing looks cheap on the page and gets expensive in July. Long calls, hold time, and repeat callers all draw from one bucket, and overage in this category runs $0.75 to $1.55 a minute. Ask for an estimate at your busiest month, then compare it against a flat per-call plan.

Quote-only pricing costs you time. Avoca, Broccoli, and Housecall Pro all keep rates off their sites, so you learn the number after a demo. The figures in this guide came from owners who went through that process and passed the quotes along.

Contract length is the one owners skip. Broccoli's order form runs six months, renews automatically, and needs 21 days notice to stop, with non-refundable fees. Ask every vendor how long you are locked in and how you get out.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Avoca AI cost?

Full AI call handling starts at $1,100 a month for 1,000 minutes, with a $600 one-time setup fee and $1.15 per minute overage, rising to $3,500 a month for 5,000 minutes. The hybrid option with a human in the loop starts at $1,500. Coach runs $200 per CSR per month, the Scheduler is $600 a month, and outbound calling is billed per minute.

What is the most affordable Avoca alternative?

Upfirst at $24.95 a month for 30 calls, and Jobber's Receptionist at $29 a month for 30 conversations if you already pay for Jobber. Driive starts at $99. Broccoli's entry plan is $950, and Housecall Pro's CSR AI is quote only.

Which Avoca alternative works with ServiceTitan?

Broccoli. It books jobs into ServiceTitan and assigns techs on the dispatch board, starting at $950 a month for 1,000 minutes with no onboarding fee. Standalone receptionists including Upfirst connect to field software through Zapier.

Do I need Avoca if I already use Jobber or Housecall Pro?

Probably not. Both platforms sell their own AI receptionist, and native booking removes an integration you would otherwise maintain. Price the add-on at your real call volume, and remember a native receptionist ties your phone setup to that platform. Leave the platform and the receptionist goes with it.

Is per-minute or per-call billing better?

Per minute suits short, high-volume calls. Per call suits longer conversations, since an eight-minute booking costs what a two-minute message costs. Pull last month's call log and check your average before you choose.

Can these tools answer Spanish-speaking callers?

Upfirst answers calls in 35+ languages, including Spanish. Coverage varies elsewhere, so test a Spanish call during the trial if bilingual callers are part of your day.

Which Avoca alternative is right for you

• Want the bill down and the setup self-serve? Upfirst answers, books, transfers, and texts in 35+ languages, and plans start at $24.95 a month.
• Run Jobber? Add the Receptionist for $29 a month, then test whether its bookings tell you what the job is.
• Run Housecall Pro? Ask about CSR AI, and get the overage rate in writing.
• Run ServiceTitan at scale? Demo Broccoli next to Avoca. Same 1,000 minutes, $950 against $1,100, no setup fee.
• Losing money on drive time more than on missed calls? Driive books around routes and publishes its prices.

Run two of them on your own calls for two weeks. Listen to the recordings, check what got booked, and total what the month would have cost at your real volume. Upfirst gives you 14 days free with no credit card to start.