An AI receptionist that answers while you work.
You’re on a job, driving, or with another customer — and the phone still rings. Ostra answers eligible calls using business information you approve, takes down what the caller needs, and passes the details to you. When it doesn’t know something, it says it will check rather than guessing.
Built from your business’s real information. Call it yourself and try to break it — ask about prices, a job you don’t do, somewhere you don’t travel. Nothing touches your current phone number, and there’s no card until you decide to activate.
- Answers using approved business info
- Captures service requests
- Records preferred appointment times
- Organizes handled calls in one inbox
Every handled call becomes a clear, organized record.
Ostra works only from information you approve. When it doesn’t have an answer, it captures the question or follows your escalation rules — it doesn’t guess.
From answered call to organized context.
- 1Ostra answers
The caller reaches your receptionist instead of voicemail, with your approved greeting.
📞 Answered · using approved business info - 2Understands the ask
It distinguishes a general question, a service request, an appointment request, or an urgent escalation.
“Is the unit leaking now?” → details captured - 3Captures or records
It creates a service request, records a preferred appointment time, or flags the call for follow-up.
✓ Service request created · address needed - 4You get the context
The caller details, transcript, summary, and outcome land in your shared inbox.
📥 Sarah M. · Water-heater repair · Austin
See how Ostra handles a call.
Start with a real recorded call, then explore example scenarios by business type — the transcript and the captured outcome are shown below, including when a call needs human follow-up.
Apex Shine Mobile Detailing — real recorded call
A real recorded call with a fictional demonstration business — the agent confirmed a real open slot from connected availability.
Your receptionist works from information you approve.
You control the greeting, business hours, timezone, services, service area, pricing guidance, policies and FAQs, after-hours behavior, and escalation and fallback rules. You also decide what Ostra must never invent.
- Greeting
- Business hours
- Timezone
- Services
- Service area
- Pricing guidance
- Policies & FAQs
- After-hours behavior
- Escalation & fallback
- Information it must not invent
Works with your current website — or none at all.
The AI Receptionist is a standalone product. You can add an Ostra website later if you want one, but you never have to.
Open a call and know exactly what happened.
Every handled call becomes a record with a transcript, a summary, the details Ostra captured, and its honest outcome.
- Sarah M.Follow-up
Water-heater repair · water shut off · address needed
- Daniel R.Service req.
Requested an estimate for a bathroom remodel
- Maya K.Appt. request
Preferred Thursday 10:00 AM · awaiting confirmation
- Unknown callerQuestion
Asked whether you cover the Round Rock area
Caller reported a leaking water heater with the water already shut off. Ostra created a service request for the Austin service area and asked for the service address. The caller needs to provide the address before a technician is scheduled.
What it sounds like in your trade.
The receptionist answers from information you approve, so what it says changes with the work you do. These pages show the calls and the answers for three trades.
Comparing options? We read the competitors’ own pricing pages and published what we found, including where they beat us: Ostra vs Dialzara and Ostra vs Smith.ai.
Is an AI answering service the same as an AI receptionist?
For most people asking, yes — they are two names for the same job: something picks up the phone when your business can't, finds out what the caller needs, and makes sure you get it. Ostra is both. Which phrase you searched for mostly depends on your trade.
The distinction worth knowing is a different one, and it is about who answers.
A traditional answering service
People in a call centre, usually shared across many businesses, taking a message and passing it on. Typically billed per minute or per call. If what you need is a human voice on every call and you are willing to pay for it, that is a real option and Ostra is not it.
Ostra
Software on a real local number, answering from business information you have approved. It says it is an AI assistant when it picks up. It captures the caller, the reason and a callback number, and it is built to say it will check rather than invent a price or a service you don't offer.
After-hours and missed calls
Most owners who look for this are not trying to replace whoever answers the phone during the day. They are trying to stop losing the calls that arrive while they are under a sink, on a roof, or asleep. That is the narrower job, it is the one worth starting with, and it is the one you can test without changing anything about how your phone works today.
What it costs is $129 a month with 200 answered minutes included — and you can hear one built for your own business, on a private number, before deciding anything.
One plan. Available now.
Phone answering and lead capture — no Ostra Website required. Full cost breakdown.
Build my free call preview- 200 included AI receptionist minutes
- 1 local business number
- Lead & service-request capture
- Appointment requests (confirmed booking optional)
- Transcripts & summaries
- One shared inbox
- No Ostra Website required
Need a website too? You can add an Ostra Website separately. Compare all plans →
- Included minutes
- 200 / month
- Additional minutes
- $0.25 / min
- Local number
- 1 included
- Appointment requests
- Request by default · confirm with connected availability
- Billing
- Monthly · cancel anytime
Appointment requests are recorded for your team to confirm; with connected availability, Ostra can confirm a real open slot and falls back to a request if it can’t. Recording and transcription depend on your configuration and applicable consent requirements. Number availability depends on region. Monthly billing only; no live number is provisioned before payment.
Questions about the AI Receptionist
No. The AI Receptionist is standalone — it answers your phone and captures leads whether you have a website, use another site, or have no website at all. You can add an Ostra Website later if you want one.
It uses the business information you approve: greeting, hours, timezone, services, service area, pricing guidance, policies, FAQs, and escalation rules. When there is no approved answer, it captures the question or follows your escalation rules rather than guessing.
In the default request mode, Ostra records the caller’s preferred service and time as an appointment request for your team to confirm. When you enable connected availability, Ostra can check a real open slot and confirm it — and if it can’t confirm the slot, it creates a request for follow-up instead.
Yes — you can forward calls from your current number to your Ostra number and keep advertising the number your customers know. Ostra does not take over or control your original carrier line.
Your $129/month plan includes 200 AI receptionist minutes and 1 local business number. Usage is measured by call duration and shown in minutes.
Additional minutes are $0.25 each. You keep answering calls into overage at that per-minute rate — there is no hard cutoff mid-month.
Yes, according to the after-hours rules you set. You decide whether it captures requests, flags urgent calls for callback, or follows your escalation and fallback rules.
Calls can be transcribed and summarized. Recording and transcription depend on your configuration and applicable consent requirements — you control what is stored, and you are responsible for any applicable notice and consent obligations.
You can preview and configure the receptionist before checkout. A live number is provisioned or connected only after the required setup, payment, and test-call steps — no live number is provisioned before payment.
It doesn’t guess. When there’s no approved answer, it captures the caller’s question or follows your escalation and fallback rules, so the inquiry reaches your team instead of being lost.
Build your free call preview
Type your business name. We build a receptionist from your public business information and give you a private number to ring — before you pay anything, and without touching the phone number your customers already use.
No account to look. Nothing to install. Month to month.
Give callers a real answer.
We build one from your business’s real information and give you a private number to ring. Hear how it handles your callers before it ever handles a real one, then decide whether to activate. No website required.