Aircall vs KaiCalls
Three licenses minimum, or one flat price for the business.
Aircall sells its phone system per license, $30 a month billed yearly with at least 3 licenses, and bills its AI Voice Agents by the minute (prices checked November 6, 2026). KaiCalls is one flat monthly price with no per-user fee: your cell rings first, and Kai, your secretary, answers the calls you miss.
$30 or $50 per license a month, billed yearly.
Kai Backup, ~20 Kai-answered calls/mo. No per-user fee.
Flat monthly on every plan.
Built for a team at desks, or for a business that’s out working.
A cloud phone system for sales and support teams, sold per license with a 3-license minimum, plus AI Voice Agents billed by the minute.
Pick Aircall if
- You run a sales or support team of three or more people who take calls at a desk all day.
- You want HubSpot, Salesforce, Zendesk or Shopify connected to your phone system.
- You want an AI agent that hands calls to reps already working inside Aircall.
Pick KaiCalls if
- You are a one- or two-person shop and a 3-license minimum means paying for empty seats.
- You want one flat monthly price with no per-minute charges for the calls Kai answers.
- You want your own cell to ring first, with Kai picking up only when you can’t.
Aircall: three licenses minimum, then AI by the minute. Row by row.
Aircall facts come from Aircall’s own pricing and product pages, with the date we checked.
| What you get | Aircall | KaiCalls |
|---|---|---|
| Who answers the call | Your team, in the Aircall app. Their AI Voice Agents can answer and hand off to a rep. | Your cell rings first. Kai, your secretary, picks up when you can’t. |
| Starting price | $30 per license a month billed yearly (Essentials), with a 3-license minimum. Monthly prices are not listed. | $10/month for ~20 Kai-answered calls/mo. |
| Past the plan | Calling is priced per license. AI Voice Agents: 50 minutes a month included, then $0.29 a minute or bundles from $250 for 1,000 minutes. | No per-minute or per-call charges on any plan. |
| Per-seat fee | Yes. $30 or $50 per license a month billed yearly, with a 3-license minimum. | No per-user fee. Teammates’ cells ring free. A desk phone past your plan is $29/month. |
| Per-minute charges | No for US and Canada calls on Essentials and Professional. AI Voice Agents are $0.29 a minute pay as you go; on their own they carry a $99 monthly minimum. | None, on any plan. The price is flat each month. |
| Books appointments | AI Voice Agents can book appointments through Calendly. | Yes, into Google Calendar, on every plan. |
| Texts the caller back | Their AI answers incoming texts and WhatsApp messages. Texting rates are “contact us.” | Yes, on every plan: Kai texts the link or details the caller asked for, once your number is approved for texting. |
| Nights, weekends and busy times | AI Voice Agents handle calls 24/7 and hand off to your team when needed. | Same answer 24/7, and any number of calls at once. No after-hours charge. |
| Contract and cancelling | Save 25% by paying yearly. AI minute bundles need a yearly commitment. Enterprise needs 25 licenses. | Month to month. 30-day money-back guarantee. |
Aircall facts checked November 6, 2026 from Aircall pricing, Aircall AI Voice Agent. Spot something out of date? Tell us and we’ll fix it.
What a 5-person team pays each month.
Aircall’s cheapest plan at its own published per-license price, against the KaiCalls plan that covers the same calls.
Scroll across to compare.
| Service | Who answers in this maths | 5-person team, 100 calls (about 400 minutes) | Heavier month: 5 people, 300 calls (about 1,200 minutes) | Prices read |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KaiCalls | Your cell rings first; Kai, your secretary, answers when you can’t. | $79/mo on Kai Line: $79 flat, ~170 Kai-answered calls/mo; 5 teammates’ cells ring free | $349/mo on Kai Office: $349 flat, ~800 Kai-answered calls/mo; 5 teammates’ cells ring free | Live plan catalog |
| Aircall | Your team answers in the Aircall app. Not counted: AI Voice Agent minutes past the 50 included each month. | $150/mo on Essentials: 5 users × $30 (billed yearly) | $150/mo on Essentials: 5 users × $30 (billed yearly) | Nov 6, 2026 |
Each figure is the cheapest published plan that covers the month, using only the numbers on that company’s own pricing page (linked by date). “Not published” means a number the maths needs, such as the rate past the plan, is not on their page. Taxes and carrier fees are left out for everyone; KaiCalls puts regulatory fees and telecom taxes on their own invoice line.
Aircall vs KaiCalls: straight answers.
What owners ask when per-license pricing meets a small team.
How much does Aircall cost for a small business?
As of November 6, 2026, Aircall Essentials is $30 per license a month billed yearly, and Professional is $50. Both need at least 3 licenses, so the smallest Essentials account is $90 a month on a yearly plan. Monthly prices are not listed on their pricing page; they say yearly billing saves 25%.
Does Aircall charge per minute?
Not for US and Canada calls on Essentials and Professional. Their AI Voice Agents are billed by the minute: 50 minutes a month come with the plan, then $0.29 a minute pay as you go, or bundles from $250 for 1,000 minutes with a yearly commitment. On KaiCalls: There are no per-minute overage charges. Your plan includes an expected monthly call allowance. If your call volume stays higher, we recommend the next plan and notify you before anything changes. You can choose to keep your current plan, and we move you back down if volume drops.
Is KaiCalls cheaper than Aircall?
It depends on who answers. If your team answers every call in the Aircall app, three Essentials licenses are $90 a month billed yearly. If you want calls answered for you, KaiCalls Kai Line is $79/mo for ~170 Kai-answered calls/mo, with no per-user fee, so a 5-person team pays the same as one person.
Can I keep my own cell phone with KaiCalls?
Yes. Your cell rings first. When you can’t pick up, Kai, your secretary, answers, books into Google Calendar, and texts you what happened. Teammates’ cells can ring too, at no extra charge.
Reps at desks all day? Aircall. Nobody free to pick up? KaiCalls.
Per-license pricing pays off when every license is a person on the phones.
Warm transfers without the dashboard mess
KaiCalls is built for teams that still want a human in the loop when the call matters. The AI captures context first, then routes the caller with a concise briefing instead of forcing staff to open a console mid-conversation.
Ring the team first
KaiCalls can ring your team before the AI takes over, so live staff still get first chance at urgent calls.
Brief before handoff
The transfer includes who is calling, what they need, and why the call should move to a human now.
Capture the full trail
Each call can produce a transcript, structured lead fields, score, owner alert, and CRM or webhook handoff.