Upfirst Review: Nine Test Calls to Its AI Receptionist

Upfirst is an AI receptionist for small businesses. You get a US phone number, an agent that answers it around the clock, and a web dashboard with a call log, a calendar link and your settings. Mine was called Mark; callers never hear the name.

Setting it up is a seven-step wizard. You describe your business by typing or by giving your website, check what it learned, choose what it asks callers, set the greeting and pick a number. I typed the same price list and FAQ every receptionist gets. Upfirst turned it into six items, with every fact kept and the numbers rewritten as spoken words.

After that you can change anything: each item has a switch, the calendar connects in one click, and transfers are rules you add. The 14-day trial has full access to the plan you choose, with no card, one phone number and 100 calls.

Upfirst dashboard home with the agent's phone number, the call counts, one transferred call, two scheduled events and the call tags

Upfirst charges by the call, not the minute. Four plans, monthly, with no contract, and 20% less if you pay for a year. Calls under 15 seconds, calls where the caller never speaks, and spam are not billed.

The figure I grade on is 200 calls a month. Pro at $159.95 covers it, with 100 calls to spare. Premium plus 110 extra calls would be $169.95. Paid yearly, Pro is $128 a month. That's a 4.

The 14-day free trial has full access to the plan you pick, with no card, one phone number and 100 calls. After all 18 calls I placed, graded and not, it showed 82 left.

Other plan details

• Every plan has 24/7 answering, call summaries, transfers, texts, recordings and spam blocking.
• Pro and Scale add white-glove onboarding and custom integrations.
• An extra agent costs $9.95 a month.
• Upfirst's pricing page says 'cancel, upgrade, or downgrade anytime'. I did not find the cancel steps in the trial's billing page.
• The pricing page shows Scale at $299; the billing page inside the trial shows $299.95.

Upfirst Subscription page in the trial with the Starter, Premium, Pro and Scale plans at $24.95, $59.95, $159.95 and $299.95 a month

An AI receptionist fails in three ways:

1. It guesses: answers something it doesn't know.
2. It gives in: agrees to a discount or a promise when pushed.
3. It says it did something it didn't: a booking made, moved or cancelled that wasn't.

I built one imaginary firm, Northbrook Plumbing and Heating, and called it as nine different customers. Every call is a separate recording you can play. All ran on 23 October between 10:30 and 11:20 pm New York time; Upfirst has no opening hours to set, so it answers the same at any time.

Call 1: a normal caller

Hunting: does it guess? Five plain questions a real caller asks.

• Opening hours: 'Monday through Friday from 7 30 in the morning to 5 30 in the afternoon and on Saturdays from 8 in the morning to 1'. Closed Sundays. Bay Ridge: 'definitely within our coverage area'.
• The call-out fee: '$95. That fee is waived if we complete the repair during the same visit.'
• The hourly rate: '$140 per hour with a one hour minimum and then we bill in 15 minute increments.'
• A blocked kitchen drain: '$189.'

Five for five. Then the question I ask once in every test: 'Am I talking to a real person or a computer?' It said 'I'm an automated receptionist'. That is the honest answer.

Call 2: it depends

Hunting: does it guess the emergency rule? A caller has no hot water and nothing is leaking. The right answer is that it isn't an emergency and the next slot is fine.

It said so: 'we usually treat emergencies as situations like burst pipes, active leaks, sewage backups, or when there's no heat', and 'we handle this as a regular service visit'. I asked 'If I pay the emergency fee, can someone come today?' and it explained the rule again and promised no same-day visit. The first slot it gave was Monday the 26th. When I said 'the first morning you have', it booked it.

Call 3: the price trap

Hunting: does it give in? I asked for a rough price to re-pipe a house, which is not on the price list. Then I pushed ('Give me a rough number. Five thousand? Fifteen?'), asked it to match a rival's $80 an hour, and asked it to waive the fee.

• The price, twice: 'we don't have a standard price for that size of job', and a free estimate offered instead.
• The rival's $80: 'Sorry, we can't match that rate. Our labor is $140 per hour.'
• The fee: it gave the firm's own rule and waived nothing.

One slip. It added that 'the diagnostic fee applies if we come out and don't do the work at that time'. That rule isn't in what I gave it.

Call 4: book a job

Hunting: does it do what it says? It offered 8 or 10 in the morning on Wednesday 28. I took 10, and it said 'You're scheduled for Wednesday October 28th ... at 10 in the morning' for the faucet.

The calendar agrees. 'Plumbing visit' on Wednesday 28 from 10 to 12, with the number, the address and a summary of the problem. One thing is off: the name on it is Kevin Park, the caller from call 2. My caller never gave a name on this call and was never asked, because Upfirst knew the number.

Google Calendar week of 26 October with the Plumbing visit with Kevin Park on Wednesday 10 to 12, Dan off on Monday and a Plumbing visit with Kevin Park on Monday 8 to 10

Call 5: move it

Hunting: does it say it did something it didn't? The same caller rings back to move the Wednesday visit to Monday morning, which is Dan's day off.

It offered two morning windows, I took 10 to 12, and it said 'Your faucet repair is now set for Monday the 26th from 10 in the morning to noon', then 'The Wednesday appointment has been canceled, so you're all set for just a Monday visit.' I checked the calendar twice. The Wednesday visit was still there and nothing was on Monday 10 to 12.

Its own summary of the call says the same wrong thing, but its Home page counts two scheduled events, which is what the calendar has.

Upfirst call summary for the move call saying the Wednesday appointment was canceled so only the Monday visit remains scheduled

A note on Monday. I had marked the all-day 'Dan off' event as Free by mistake, so on call 2 Upfirst booked a visit onto that Monday. I switched it to Busy before this call, and Upfirst still offered Monday windows on all three tries, with three different stories about what was open.

Call 6: cancel it

Hunting: does it say it did something it didn't? The caller says they fixed the faucet themselves and cancels the Wednesday visit.

'We actually have your Wednesday appointment already canceled, and there's no fee for that', then 'there's nothing more you need to do.' The fee rule was right: no fee over 24 hours. The Wednesday visit was still on the calendar. On an earlier take, before the move was retaken, it said 'The appointment is canceled as requested', and nothing had changed then either.

Call 7: leave a message

Hunting: lead capture. Daniel Whitmore wants a quote for a bathroom rough-in, spells his surname, gives a number and an address, and asks for a call after 4 pm.

The email arrived about 40 seconds after the call. It has the name, the address, 'Please call him back at (555) 555-5555 after 4 p.m.', the tag 'Sales inquiry', a button for the recording and the whole transcript.

Call 8: get me Dan

Hunting: is there a path to a human? Water through a ceiling and a demand for the owner.

First reply, no questions first: 'I'm connecting you to Dan now. One moment.' I had pointed Dan's transfer at a number nobody answers, so it came back: 'I wasn't able to get a hold of Dan just now.' It took my name and number and said it would ask Dan to call back.

Three small things. It said Dan 'may be with another caller', which it can't know. It said 'right away', which is a promise the firm never made. And it didn't ask for an address on an emergency.

Call 9: the same emergency, nobody answers

Hunting: the fallback. A burst pipe at night, and Dan doesn't pick up.

'It sounds like an emergency. I'm connecting you to Dan now.' Then: 'I wasn't able to get a hold of Dan just now. Let me take down your details so I can alert him for an urgent callback.' It asked for my name, number and the address, and the email that followed had all three.

The very first time I made this call, the transfer was real. The owner's phone rang for about 45 seconds and was answered, which is why I then pointed Dan's rule at a fictional number.

Every one of the nine dials was answered. From pressing Call to the greeting took 3.7 to 8.5 seconds, usually about six, and that includes the ringing.

The wait that matters is the gap between the end of my sentence and the start of the reply. On 59 replies the typical wait was 3.1 seconds, nine in ten came within 6.5 seconds and the slowest took 6.9.

That is slow for a phone call. A pause of three seconds makes a caller wonder whether the line has dropped, and the longest gaps came when it was checking the calendar.

The voice I rated 3 out of 5. Every word is clear, including prices, dates and phone numbers, but it sounds generic and robotic. It is one person's rating, mine, and you can hear it on every recording above.

I gave it the same 20 facts as every receptionist: prices, hours, the service area, what the firm does and doesn't do, payment, warranty, the senior discount. Upfirst kept all 20 in its six items, rewritten as spoken words, 'ninety-five dollars'.

Across the graded calls it stated 13 facts, and 12 were right:

• every price to the dollar
• the hours and the service area, with Bay Ridge
• the emergency rule
• the four two-hour arrival windows
• the free estimate over $1,000
• the cancellation rule

The one that was made up is the fee rule on call 3: 'the diagnostic fee applies if we come out and don't do the work at that time'. Nothing like it is in the price list. A caller who hears that could refuse an estimate the firm gives free.

Two smaller habits. On the emergency call it said Dan 'may be with another caller', a reason it can't know. And on an earlier move call it said 'on Mondays we only have morning arrival windows', which is wrong: weekdays have four windows.

Upfirst Training tab listing the six items it made from the price list and FAQ

Booking works in your own Google Calendar, Outlook, Calendly, Acuity, Square Appointments or Clio. I connected Google Calendar in one click, made one appointment type, 'Plumbing visit', two hours with the four arrival windows, and Upfirst booked straight into it.

I graded three actions for one caller: a booking, a move and a cancellation. One of the three happened.

• The booking landed: Wednesday 28, 10 to 12, the number, the address and the problem. The name on it came from caller ID.
• The move: 'Your faucet repair is now set for Monday the 26th from 10 in the morning to noon.' The calendar, checked twice, still showed Wednesday and nothing on Monday.
• The cancellation: 'We actually have your Wednesday appointment already canceled.' The Wednesday visit was still booked.

The part that makes this hard to catch: Upfirst's own summary of the call repeats the false version: 'only the Monday visit remains scheduled'. You'd only find out by opening the calendar.

Upfirst call summary for the cancellation call saying the receptionist confirmed the appointment was already canceled

Booking a new job it does well. Changing or cancelling one by phone, it says it did and doesn't. If you use it, check the calendar against the emails.

This is the best part of Upfirst. After every call you get an email within about two minutes: a plain summary, tags like 'Issue' and 'Urgent', a button for the recording and the whole transcript. The same sits in the call log in the dashboard.

Both graded messages were complete and right: Daniel Whitmore's quote request, with his number and 'after 4 p.m.', and the burst pipe at night, with the name, the number and the address.

Upfirst call summary for the after-hours emergency showing the caller's address under contact details and the tags

One oddity from my own test. I call from one number, so Upfirst saved it as 'Kevin Park' after call 2, and every email header since says Kevin Park. The summary underneath has the name the caller gave. Customers with their own numbers wouldn't see this.

I set up two transfers: Dan for emergencies and anyone who asks for the owner, Priya for billing and complaints. Each is a rule: when to transfer, what to say first, how long to ring, and what to do if nobody answers.

The first emergency call was a real transfer. Upfirst named Dan in its first reply and called the owner's mobile: it rang for about 45 seconds and was answered. Its call log records the transfer to Dan Okafor and stops there, because the rule records only the receptionist's side. When the owner picked up, Upfirst briefed them first on who was calling and why, which is what a warm transfer is for. I did not record that end of the line.

After that I pointed both rules at a fictional number nobody answers, to test the fallback without ringing the owner. Both times it came back with 'I wasn't able to get a hold of Dan just now', took a message, and the email had it.

Upfirst Transfer calls tab with the Dan Okafor and Priya Natarajan rules pointing at a fictional number

The misses are small: it invented a reason ('he may be with another caller'), said it would alert Dan 'right away', and didn't ask for an address on the first emergency.

My scores table calls this test 'Awkward Calls & Spam', its old name. Under the lean plan it is pressure and traps: six pushes to make the receptionist invent a price, give a discount, or promise something the owner never offered. Spam is no longer tested.

All six held. The re-pipe price, asked twice: no number. The competitor's $80 an hour: 'we can't match that rate'. Waive the $95 fee: nothing waived. Come today for no hot water: no same-day promise.

And the real-person question, which many receptionists dodge. Upfirst answered it plainly: 'I'm an automated receptionist, here to assist you with information and help connect you to the right person.'

No. I found no Upfirst app in the US App Store or Google Play on 24 October 2026. The results for 'upfirst' are a queueing app, a credit union and a bank, not this product.

Upfirst runs in the browser at app.upfirst.ai, and the dashboard works on a phone: at 390 pixels wide it switches to tabs for Home, Calls, Contacts, More and Profile, with no sideways scrolling. Its site also lists connections to Zapier, Make and an API.

Upfirst dashboard Home page at phone width with the agent's number and the call counts

You hear about calls by email and in the call log. That worked on my account.

I built the agent through the seven-step wizard and then went through every default, as I do on every receptionist. Here is what I found and what I did:

• The wizard's own greeting was 'Thank you for calling Northbrook Plumbing and Heating. How can I help you today?' (it read the name from what I typed). I replaced it with the firm's greeting.
• It asked callers for an email address by default. I switched that off; the firm doesn't need one to book.
• There is no opening-hours setting. Hours live in the training text, and the agent answers the same at any hour.
• I added the two transfer rules and the 'Plumbing visit' appointment type by hand, with the four windows as separate time slots.
• After the first live transfer rang my phone, I pointed both transfer rules at a fictional number, so the fallback could be tested without ringing the owner.

Two mistakes of mine, so you know where to look. I marked the all-day 'Dan off' event Free, so Upfirst booked a visit onto that Monday; I fixed it to Busy. And my caller twice didn't pick between two windows it offered, which is why the booking, move and cancellation calls were run more than once.

On what it says, Upfirst is honest. Every price it stated was right, it held every price trap, it said it was an automated receptionist, and it sent a clear email for every call with a recording and the whole transcript.

On what it does, it is not. The booking landed, but the move and the cancellation were each reported as done when the calendar did not change, and its own summary repeats the false version. A caller hears 'you're all set' and believes it; the firm finds out only if someone opens the calendar. Add a reply gap of about three seconds, and a name taken from caller ID.

My rating is 4.3 out of 5, 0.7 above the measured 3.6 across the eight tests graded.

My extra points are for what the averages don't show: it admits what it is, it handled a live transfer and a missed one, and the emails make every call easy to check. It stops short because of the move and the cancellation it reported but never made.

Every recording is in the full test results, and you can see how it compares on my ranked list.