Smith.ai vs RingCentral AI Receptionist (AIR)
Side-by-side from the Top 11 rankings of Weave vs Dental Intelligence vs Arini: 11 Best AI Receptionists for a Dental Office 2026 and RingCentral vs Nextiva vs Upfirst: 11 Best AI Receptionists for Small Business 2026. Last verified September 16, 2026.
The short answer
RingCentral AI Receptionist (AIR) ranks higher on Top 11 (#1 vs #6) for Practice owners, office managers and DSO operations leads at United States dental practices choosing an AI answering service that has to reach Dentrix, Eaglesoft, Open Dental, Curve or Denticon / Owners of United States small businesses, roughly 1 to 50 people, who miss calls while they work and want an AI receptionist that books the appointment and logs the caller, not one that only takes a message.. Names its calendars and CRMs, works with any phone system, and prints the whole bill. From $49 a month.
At a glance
| Smith.ai | RingCentral AI Receptionist (AIR) | |
|---|---|---|
| Top 11 rank | #6 / Weave vs Dental Intelligence vs Arini: 11 Best AI Receptionists for a Dental Office 2026 | #1 / RingCentral vs Nextiva vs Upfirst: 11 Best AI Receptionists for Small Business 2026 |
| Score (out of 9.4) | 7.9 | 8.9 |
| Best for | Practices that want a real person available when the AI call goes wrong | Owners who want booking and CRM logging without changing phone provider |
| Pricing | $ to $$$ (AI receptionist free for 25 calls a month, $150 a month at $2.00 a call, $500 a month at $1.67 a call; human plans from $300 to $2,100 a month) | $ (standalone from $49 a month with 100 minutes, or $39 a month on top of RingEX Core at $30; $0.50 a minute after that; 14 day trial) |
| HQ | Los Altos, California | — |
| Founded | — | 1999 |
Smith.ai
Publishes every rate to the cent and puts a real person behind the AI. Knows nothing about dentistry.
smith.ai/ai-receptionistRingCentral AI Receptionist (AIR)
Names its calendars and CRMs, works with any phone system, and prints the whole bill. From $49 a month.
www.ringcentral.com/ai-receptionist.htmlMethodology and scoring weights live at /methodology. No vendor pays for placement — see about.