# Chirp vs AIssie: which AI receptionist is right for your business? A low-cost self-serve receptionist you set up yourself, or an agent built and managed for you. How AIssie and Chirp compare on setup, price and results. - Publisher: Chirp AI (https://www.agentchirp.ai) - Published: 2026-10-07 - Canonical page: https://www.agentchirp.ai/post/chirp-vs-aissie **The short answer:** AIssie is a low-cost, self-serve AI receptionist from Perth that covers your phone, web chat and social messages from one plan, with no setup fee and no lock-in. Chirp is the better choice for a business that would rather have its agent built, run and improved by a local team: our Melbourne team builds the agent around how you handle calls, connects it to any software you use, and scores and retrains it every week. Chirp resolves 80.3% of customer requests on average, rising about 1 point a month. Everything here about AIssie comes from its own website, checked in September 2026. Prices and features change, so check their site before you buy. ## Chirp vs AIssie: the comparison table | | Chirp | AIssie | | --- | --- | --- | | Setup | Built and managed by Chirp's team | Self-serve. You set it up, usually live within days | | Starting price | From $16 a day, plus a one-off build fee | Voice from $99 a month (AUD) for 70 minutes. GST not stated | | Integrations | Any software you use. 6,000+ integrations, plus custom builds | Google and Microsoft Calendar, Xero, ServiceM8, HubSpot, Zapier and more | | After go-live | Every call scored. Tuned by our team every week | Every call transcribed. You update the assistant in a click | | Emergency triage | Sorts emergencies from quotes. Safety calls triaged after hours | Transfers urgent calls to you | | Channels | Phone, web chat and SMS | Phone, SMS, web chat, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, outbound calls | | Australian voice | Natural Australian voice. Melbourne team | Australian English voice. Built in Perth | | Human handover | Puts the call through to your office | Puts urgent calls through to your team | | Contract | Set out in your proposal | Month to month. No setup fee, cancel anytime | Facts about AIssie were read on its own website in September 2026. ## What AIssie is good at AIssie publishes its prices in full, and it does several things well. - **Clear, flat pricing and a free plan.** AIssie publishes every price, in Australian dollars. Voice plans start at $99 a month with 70 minutes included, chat-only from $59 a month, and the free Trial plan needs no credit card. There are no per-call fees and no after-hours premium. - **No setup fee and no lock-in.** Every plan is month to month, with nothing to pay to get started and no exit fee if you stop. - **One assistant across your channels.** Every voice plan includes the AI chat assistant for your website, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp at no extra cost, so one subscription covers your phone line and your written channels. - **Every conversation transcribed.** Every call and chat is transcribed, so you can see what customers ask and update AIssie in a click. - **Named integrations for trades.** AIssie connects to Google Calendar, Microsoft Calendar, Xero, ServiceM8, HubSpot and Zapier, so bookings, invoices and customer details sync. - **Outbound calls and invoice chasing.** Voice plans place booking reminders, follow-ups and callbacks automatically, and with Xero connected, AIssie rings customers about overdue invoices. **Who AIssie suits:** Price-conscious small businesses and tradies who want to set it up themselves, with no setup fee and no lock-in, and one AI covering phone, web chat and social messages on a single low-cost plan. ## Where Chirp is different Chirp is a managed service. Our team does the setup, the integrations and the upkeep, and keeps doing it after you go live. - **Built and managed for you.** Our Melbourne team maps how your business handles calls and writes those operating rules into the agent. You're live in weeks, and our team does the configuring. - **Tuned every week, with a person in the loop.** Every Chirp call is scored. The misses surface, our team retrains the agent, tests the change against last week and ships it. That loop runs every week, and Chirp's resolution rate is rising about 1 point a month. - **Built for the calls that matter.** Chirp sorts emergencies from quotes, books the job into the software you already use and puts the call through to your office when it should. It connects to 6,000+ integrations, and our team builds any custom connection you need. - **Backed by the Go-Live Guarantee.** Run Chirp live for 60 days. If it hasn't delivered for your business, your Build & Implementation Fee comes back. ### It gets better every week Every AI receptionist gets things wrong. With Chirp, every call is scored, the misses surface on their own, and our team ships the fix that week. Chirp resolves 80.3% of customer requests on average, up from 52.6% in June 2025, and rising about 1 point a month. That comes from the self-healing loop, which runs every week: 1. **Every call is scored.** Each conversation is measured against what good looks like for your business. 2. **The misses surface.** Analytics and observability show exactly where your agent fell short. 3. **The agent is retrained.** Our team makes the fix. A person is in the loop every week. 4. **The change is tested.** This week's agent is measured against last week's before anything ships. 5. **It ships, and the loop runs again.** Your agent this month is better than your agent last month. ### It works with every system you use Chirp connects to the software you already run, and if yours isn't on the list, our team builds the connection. Chirp works with the software you already use: 6,000+ integrations, plus any custom connection you need. - **Ready-made connections.** More than 6,000 apps, including ServiceM8, simPRO, Fergus, HubSpot and Google Calendar. - **APIs and data connectors.** Chirp reads and writes to your systems directly, so it can look up a customer and book the job. - **Custom integrations.** If your software isn't on the list, our team builds the connection for you. Examples: ServiceM8, simPRO, Fergus, ServiceTitan, HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, Shopify, Notion, Zapier, Make. ## The real cost of managing it yourself A tool you run yourself is cheaper on the invoice. What you don't pay upfront, you can end up paying for in your own hours and in calls that go elsewhere. Here is Chirp's estimate for a typical trade business. **$45,840** is what a self-managed AI receptionist can cost a trade business in its first year, on top of the subscription. That is about $126 a day. | Cost | How we worked it out | A year | | --- | --- | --- | | Setting it up properly | 3 days defining process flows and operating logic, once, at $80 an hour | $1,920 | | Connecting your software | 2 days building the integration layers, once, at $80 an hour | $1,280 | | Managing it week to week | 2 hours a week at $80 an hour | $8,320 | | Troubleshooting | 1 hour a week at $80 an hour | $4,160 | | Maintenance and retuning | 1 hour a week at $80 an hour | $4,160 | | Performance drops | 2 calls a week handled badly, half of which would have become a $250 job | $13,000 | | Missed calls | 2 calls a week missed, half of which would have become a $250 job | $13,000 | | **Total** | First year, on top of the subscription | **$45,840** | For comparison, Chirp starts from $5,840 a year ($16 a day), plus a one-off Build & Implementation Fee. Setup, integration, troubleshooting and tuning are done by Chirp's team. An illustrative estimate for a trade business running a self-serve AI receptionist itself, in its first year, on top of the subscription. The hours and call counts are Chirp's assumptions. Your numbers will differ. Hourly and job values are from the low end and the midpoint of the ranges in the [hipages plumber cost guide](https://hipages.com.au/article/how_much_does_a_plumber_cost). ## What Chirp costs - Chirp plans start from $16 a day, plus a one-off Build & Implementation Fee for the custom build. - The price depends on call volume, coverage hours and the work you want handled. - Custom built, fully managed and tuned every week by an Australian team. - 90% lower cost than a part-time receptionist. - The Go-Live Guarantee: run it live for 60 days, and if it hasn't delivered, your Build & Implementation Fee comes back. ## The verdict If you want your calls answered well without running the software yourself, choose Chirp. Our Australian team builds the agent around your rules, connects it to the software you already run, and scores and retrains it every week. Chirp has booked more than 10,000 appointments and handled more than 20,000 successful customer calls for businesses like Riser Bespoke Builders and Gaslec Safety. Plans start from $16 a day, plus a one-off Build & Implementation Fee, and the Go-Live Guarantee means that fee comes back if it hasn't delivered after 60 days live. - AIssie: [AIssie home page](https://www.aissie.com.au/), [AIssie pricing](https://www.aissie.com.au/pricing), [AIssie for tradies](https://www.aissie.com.au/ai-for-tradies) - Chirp: [How we work](https://www.agentchirp.ai/how-we-work), [Guarantee](https://www.agentchirp.ai/guarantee), [Case studies](https://www.agentchirp.ai/case-studies), [Industries](https://www.agentchirp.ai/industries) If you work at AIssie and something here is out of date, email hello@agentchirp.ai and we'll fix it. ## See it on your own calls [Book a 15-minute discovery](https://www.agentchirp.ai/book). We'll map how your calls come in today and show you what your agent would do with them. You can also read our [case studies](https://www.agentchirp.ai/case-studies), try the [missed-call calculator](https://www.agentchirp.ai/calculator), or see how Chirp compares with [every alternative](https://www.agentchirp.ai/post/ai-receptionist-australia-comparison). ## Questions people ask ### What is the difference between Chirp and AIssie? AIssie is self-serve software: you set it up yourself, it covers phone, web chat and social messages, and you update it from your call transcripts. Chirp is a managed service: our Melbourne team builds the agent around your operating rules, connects it to any software you use, and scores every call and retrains the agent every week. ### Is Chirp better than AIssie? Yes, for a business that would rather have its agent built, run and improved by a local team. Chirp resolves 80.3% of customer requests on average, rising about 1 point a month. Every call is scored, and our team retrains the agent every week. It sorts emergencies from quotes, connects to any software you use, and it's backed by the Go-Live Guarantee. ### How much does AIssie cost? On the pages we read in September 2026, AIssie's Voice Starter plan was $99 a month in Australian dollars with 70 minutes of calls included, and $0.65 a minute after that. A chat-only plan started at $59 a month and a free Trial plan was available. The page doesn't say whether GST is included. Check aissie.com.au for current pricing. Chirp starts from $16 a day, plus a one-off Build & Implementation Fee. ### Is running an AI receptionist yourself cheaper? It can cost more than it looks. Chirp estimates that running an AI receptionist yourself can cost a trade business about $45,840 in its first year on top of the subscription, in your own time and in lost jobs. It's an estimate, and with Chirp that work is done by our team. ### Does Chirp integrate with my software? Yes. Chirp connects to any software your business uses, through more than 6,000 integrations, APIs and data connectors. If your software isn't on the list, our team builds a custom integration for you. ### What happens if Chirp doesn't work for my business? Chirp is backed by the Go-Live Guarantee. Run it live for 60 days, and if it hasn't delivered for your business, your Build & Implementation Fee comes back.