Talkify / Alternatives / reception.ai / Head to head
AI receptionist, overseas · Read off their own pages · Checked August 2026

Why Talkify over reception.ai.

A United States number, for a New Zealand business?

This is the comparison where we are most careful, because the product is good. The difference is not voice quality, it is fit for a New Zealand business: a real 09 or 03 number, an invoice your accountant can code, GST, someone in this timezone to ring, and call data that stays in the country.

Hear Talkify · 03 242 1262 What reception.ai sells →

What each of us publishes.

Not what we think they do, and not what a salesperson said on a call. Their column is what reception.ai states on their own website, read in August 2026. Where they do not publish something, the row says so instead of guessing, because "not published" is a fact about the website and everything else would be a guess about the company.

What to look atreception.aiTalkify
The phone number you get Their own documentation asks you to pick a United States area code. A real 09, 03, 04 or 07 number on a New Zealand line we sell you.
The currency on your invoice United States dollars, with no New Zealand GST invoice, so your accountant deals with the exchange rate and your card issuer adds a conversion fee. New Zealand dollars with GST, from a New Zealand company.
Where your call recordings and transcripts are held No New Zealand data residency is published. New Zealand data centres, stated in writing.
Voice quality Excellent, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. The same standard. Ring our demo line and judge it yourself rather than taking either of our words for it.
Calls answered at once on the entry plan One at a time, per their own documentation. Unlimited simultaneous calls on every plan.
Where support answers from No New Zealand support number is published, and no New Zealand timezone cover. A New Zealand phone number, in your timezone, answered by the people who built it.
Who sells the phone line Numbers are issued overseas and the line is not a New Zealand service. We do. Numbers sit on our own New Zealand carrier account, with the agent already on the line.
What else runs on the same account Inbound reception. Reception, plus outgoing campaigns, phone surveys, invoice chasing from your own Xero, wellness checks, an on-call roster, a front counter agent and a website chat widget.

Taken from reception.ai's own public pages in August 2026, and from ours. Something changed, or we have described your product wrongly? Tell us and we will correct it. Costs are deliberately not in this table: they live on the comparison table, in one place, with a checked date against them.

The fair bit

Where reception.ai is the better pick.

A business operating internationally, comfortable in US dollars, that does not need a New Zealand phone number or a GST invoice. The underlying voice quality is excellent and we are not going to pretend otherwise.

We would rather you bought the right thing than bought from us. If the paragraph above describes your situation, go and talk to them, and tell them we sent you.

Ask both of us the same things.

Three questions worth putting to reception.ai before you sign anything. They are not gotchas and they are not accusations: they are the things about this kind of product that cost people money when they find out late.

Question 1.

Whether you can get a New Zealand number on it, since the documentation asks for a US area code.

Question 2.

How the billing works for a New Zealand company: US dollar invoices, no GST, foreign exchange and a card conversion fee.

Question 3.

How many calls the entry plan handles at once, and what every minute past the included allowance costs.

Now turn them on us. Here are the answers.

A page telling you to interrogate everyone else and then going quiet about itself is worth nothing. So these are ours, written down, and we will put any of them in an email if you want them in writing.

How long have you been going? Talkify has answered New Zealand business calls since 2024. The studio behind it, D3V Services Limited in Christchurch, has been building software for over twelve years and was doing voice and telephony work before Talkify had a name.
Who answers when something is wrong? A New Zealand phone number, in your timezone, answered by the people who wrote the thing. Not a chat widget, and not a reply from another hemisphere in the morning.
Where are my call recordings held? New Zealand data centres. Audio, transcripts and call metadata, stated in writing on the privacy policy rather than implied by a claim about ownership or encryption.
Who sells the phone line? We do. We hold a direct commercial relationship with the New Zealand carrier our numbers ride on, so numbers are provisioned on our own account, the routing is ours to change, and the number stays yours if you leave.
Which integrations are real? All of the ones we name. We keep a hard internal rule that nothing is named on this website until the connector behind it exists and we can point you at it in code, which is why the list is shorter than some.
Is there an API? Yes, a documented REST API with webhooks and Zapier, so whatever we have not built a connector for, you or your developer can.
Is there an app? Yes, iOS and Android, on every plan. Transcripts, summaries and alerts in your pocket rather than in an email you re-read later.

Six things that are hard to see on a demo call.

None of them are features, and every one is something you can check rather than something we can claim. They are the reasons this comparison usually turns on something other than the voice.

Each of those is argued out, with what backs it, on the alternatives page, beside every other provider selling into New Zealand. The rest of the platform the fifth of those names, outgoing campaigns, phone surveys, invoice chasing from your own Xero, wellness checks, the on-call roster, the front counter agent and website chat, runs on the same account and the same bill.

And what ours costs.

One price, published, with the allowance and the rate past it published beside it. reception.ai's pricing is not on this page on purpose: competitor prices live in one place on this website, under the date they were last checked, because a figure kept in two places drifts and one of the two starts lying.

Talkify, NZD, plus GST

$129 a month, founding rate.

200 minutes included, then 10c a minute, both published. No setup fee, no lock-in, and no platform fee bolted on top of the minutes. The founding rate holds for your first 3 months and the standard rate after it is $199, printed here rather than discovered on invoice four.

See the cost table → Our pricing →

The comparison table works out what 200 minutes of answered calls actually costs on every provider's published pricing, setup fees, monthly platform fees, GST treatment and per-minute overage included. For what reception.ai sells, who it suits and the whole New Zealand market grouped by what each provider actually is, see the reception.ai page and the alternatives.

Frequently asked.

The questions we hear most. If yours isn't here, ring our live demo agent on 03 242 1262, it'll either answer or queue a callback from a human.

What is the difference between Talkify and reception.ai?
This is the comparison where we are most careful, because the product is good. The difference is not voice quality, it is fit for a New Zealand business: a real 09 or 03 number, an invoice your accountant can code, GST, someone in this timezone to ring, and call data that stays in the country.
When is reception.ai the better choice?
A business operating internationally, comfortable in US dollars, that does not need a New Zealand phone number or a GST invoice. The underlying voice quality is excellent and we are not going to pretend otherwise.
What should I ask both of you?
Whether you can get a New Zealand number on it, since the documentation asks for a US area code. How the billing works for a New Zealand company: US dollar invoices, no GST, foreign exchange and a card conversion fee. How many calls the entry plan handles at once, and what every minute past the included allowance costs. Ask us the same ones. Our answers are on this page and we will put any of them in writing.
Which is cheaper, Talkify or reception.ai?
Competitor prices are not on this page, deliberately. They live on our comparison table with the date they were last checked against them, because a price kept in two places drifts and one of the two starts lying. That page works out what 200 minutes of answered calls costs on every provider's published pricing, with setup fees, monthly platform fees, GST treatment and per-minute overage included.
Where does this information about reception.ai come from?
Their own public pages, read in August 2026. Where they do not publish something we say that rather than guessing, and nothing in the table is a claim about how they run their business. If we have got something wrong about your product, email [email protected] and we will fix it.
Can I hear Talkify before I decide?
Yes, and without handing over your details. Ring 03 242 1262 any time, day or night, and talk to a live Talkify agent in a real New Zealand voice. No form, no card, no follow-up call unless you ask for one. Try to do the same with everyone on your shortlist.
TALKIFY VS RECEPTION.AI

Still weighing it up?
Ring ours and listen.

Hear it yourself · our AI agent, 24/7 · ask it anything 03 242 1262 Sign up, sales & support · we'll set you up 0800 002 967
● No card● No lock-in● Free to call● The demo line can sign you up too
Text our agent · 027 204 8827

Or run it from your pocket

Download Talkify Mobile on the App Store Get Talkify Mobile on Google Play
Get your first agent · No card needed

Talkify is currently available to businesses in New Zealand & Australia only.

Personal Assistant
Single mobile or landline. Built for one person, not a business.
$89/mo
Shortwave plan

Founding rate On a monthly plan your price is locked in at the founding rate for your first 3 months, then the standard rate applies. Pay as you go has no founding step: the rate is just the rate. Plans include 50 to 200 minutes a month, then 10c a minute. The first 20 texts each month are free, then 9c each.

● Your data stays in NZ.