Advertised prices are where the bill starts, not where it ends. We worked out what 200 minutes of answered calls actually costs on every NZ AI receptionist's published pricing — setup fees, GST exclusions, overage rates and launch-price asterisks included. Where a provider doesn't publish something, we say so instead of guessing.
200 minutes is roughly 60 to 80 answered calls, a normal month for a busy trade or clinic. Sorted cheapest first at that volume — note how the order changes once overage, GST and setup fees join the party.
| Provider | Advertised from | Included | Real cost · 200 min/mo | Setup fee | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TalkifyThat's us | NZ$129/mo founding | 100 min | $139 | $0 | Founding rate locked for 6 months if you join before 1 August 2026, then $199. Overage from just 10c/min, the lowest in this table. |
| Waboom | NZ$0.80/min | Pay as you go | $160 | None stated | Pure per-minute pricing scales linearly: 500 minutes is $400, 1,000 minutes is $800 (their fixed plan is $990 +GST/month). |
| BizzyBoss | NZ$147/mo | Minutes not published | ~$197 | $250 | Usage billed at "approx. 25c per minute" on top of the subscription, their wording. Chat widget is a separate $97/month product. |
| AI for Trades NZ | NZ$199/mo per seat | n/p | $199+ | $299 (sometimes waived) | Per-seat pricing scales with your team, not your call volume, and included minutes aren't published. |
| Tamaki AI | NZ$350/mo | 150 min | $384.50 | $300 | The entry plan is English-only with $0.69/min overage; multilingual answering starts at $497/month. |
| FirstVoice AI | From NZ$497/mo | n/p | $497+ | n/p | No published detail on minutes, integrations or contract terms beyond the from-price. |
All figures from each provider's own published pricing, June 2026. Real cost = entry plan plus published overage for 200 minutes in one month; one-off setup fees are shown separately, not included in the monthly figure. GST treatment varies and is noted where the provider states it. BizzyBoss usage is billed at "approx. 25c per minute" (their wording). Something changed? Tell us and we'll fix it.
A dash means not offered; "n/p" means the provider doesn't publish it — and the silences are worth reading too. SMS summaries, mobile apps, te reo, NZ data residency: count the ticks per column.
| Feature | Talkify | Waboom | BizzyBoss | Tamaki AI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Real NZ / AU voices | ✓ NZ & AU voices | ✓ "Native Kiwi" | ◐ "Choose the voice" | n/p |
| Te reo Māori + languages | ✓ 32, incl. te reo | n/p | n/p | ◐ EN/Mandarin/Korean, tiered |
| Overage per minute | ✓ From 10c | — 80c every minute | ◐ ~25c, their wording | — 69c |
| Answers 24/7 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Calls answered at once | ✓ Unlimited | ✓ Unlimited | n/p | n/p |
| NZ trade tools (Fergus, Tradify, JobLogic) | ✓ | — | n/p | n/p |
| Salon & booking tools (Timely, Kitomba) | ✓ | ◐ Calendly, Acuity | n/p | ◐ Cal.com |
| CRM sync (HubSpot, GoHighLevel) | ✓ | ✓ HubSpot, Pipedrive | n/p | ◐ Premium tier only |
| Website chat widget | ✓ $49/mo, voice + text | — | ◐ Separate $97/mo product | n/p |
| Outbound / outgoing calls | ✓ | ✓ | n/p | n/p |
| SMS summary after every call | ✓ | ◐ Booking confirmations only | ◐ Follow-up texts | ◐ 49c/text add-on |
| iOS & Android mobile apps | ✓ Both, on every plan | n/p | n/p | n/p |
| NZ data residency, stated in writing | ✓ | ◐ "In-region" (ANZ) | n/p | n/p |
| Setup fee | ✓ $0 | ✓ None stated | — $250 | — $300 |
| Lock-in | ✓ None | ✓ None | ✓ None | ✓ None |
| Try before you buy | ✓ Live line: 03 242 1183 | ◐ Paid trial, $500 | — Demo call only | ✓ 2-week trial |
✓ published and offered ◐ partial or limited — not offered n/p not published by the provider. AI for Trades and FirstVoice are priced in the cost table above but publish too little feature detail to compare fairly here. Sourced from each provider's public pages, June 2026.
Not marketing spin: these are the rows above where no NZ competitor can print a tick.
Plenty claim a Kiwi accent. We're the only one with a 24/7 public line where you can check: 03 242 1183. No form, no sales call, no card.
Not one NZ competitor publishes a te reo capability. Talkify greets in te reo and switches between 32 languages mid-call when the caller does.
Audio, transcripts and call metadata stored in NZ data centres, stated publicly. Nobody else in this comparison publishes that.
The same agent answers your phone, runs a voice-and-text chat widget on your site for $49/month, and reports to proper iOS and Android apps — transcripts, summaries and alerts in your pocket. No NZ rival publishes a mobile app at all.
Fergus, Tradify, JobLogic, Timely, Kitomba, HubSpot, GoHighLevel, Calendly, MahiTime, Google and Outlook, on every plan, not a custom-priced add-on.
$0 setup, GST-stated pricing, a flat 10c overage, and no "launch rate" that quietly rises later. The founding rate is the only date on our pricing, and it's in your favour.
An honest comparison cuts both ways.
If your call volume is wildly unpredictable and you'd rather no subscription at all, Waboom's $0.80/minute with no retainer is the purest PAYG in the market.
If you want bespoke AI tooling assembled around your exact workflow and you're happy paying setup plus usage, BizzyBoss custom-builds for Canterbury tradies.
If you'd rather hand the whole thing to an agency with white-glove onboarding and a budget north of $500/month, FirstVoice positions itself exactly there.
Nine of the questions we hear most. If yours isn't here, ring our live demo agent on 03 242 1183 — it'll either answer or queue a callback from a human.