The best AI personal assistants for business owners in 2026

How we compared them

We looked at four questions an owner actually asks: What jobs does it do on its own? How do I run it (chat, email, text or voice)? Does it handle my phone line? What does it cost at the entry plan? Prices are list prices from each vendor's own site, or from two independent 2026 sources where the vendor page couldn't be read, and they can change.

At a glance

Tool	Best for	How you run it	Handles your phone line	Entry price
Unmanually	Owners in the field who want the whole office handled	Voice (also app and chat)	Yes, on your own Twilio or Telnyx number	$49/mo billed monthly; $35/mo founding annual
Lindy	Inbox, meetings and calendar at a desk	Chat in Slack and iMessage, email	Not listed on its site	Team plan from $29.99/mo, billed monthly; free trial credits
Carly	Owners who prefer to delegate by email or text	Email, text, Slack, chat	Business calling and AI receptionist are paid add-ons on Organization plans	$35/mo (Personal), billed monthly
Sintra	Ready-made helpers for marketing, content and admin	Chat	Not listed on its site	$39/mo for one helper, billed monthly; all helpers listed at $97/mo, lower on longer terms
Vellum	A personal assistant you own, on your Mac or in its cloud	Mac app, plus mobile, web, voice, email and Slack	Not listed on its site	Free to run on your own machine; cloud plans from $30/mo, billed monthly
Smith.ai	AI call answering with live human backup	Phone	Yes	Free tier (25 calls/mo); Pro $150/mo for 75 calls
Goodcall	Simple AI phone answering for local businesses	Phone	Yes	$79/mo (Starter), billed monthly
April	Voice control of Gmail and Google Calendar	Voice (iPhone and iPad app)	No	$14.99/mo monthly, or $129/yr
Mucka	UK heating, plumbing and HVAC firms	Phone answering, mobile app, WhatsApp	Yes, AI voice receptionist	Free plan; Solo £29/mo, billed monthly
ChatGPT Plus	Drafting, thinking and research	Chat, voice	No	$20/mo, billed monthly

Prices checked October 2026, in US dollars unless marked. “Not listed” means we couldn't find it on the vendor's public pages, not that it's impossible.

The tools, one by one

Unmanually: best for owners who run the business from the van

Unmanually is a 24/7 AI executive assistant you run by voice. It answers your business line and books jobs on the call, calls back missed calls within minutes, sends quotes and invoices through your own Stripe, QuickBooks or Xero, sends payment reminders, orders from suppliers, and handles email, texts and your calendar. You set what needs your OK; outbound messages wait in an undo window, and costs are shown before anything runs.

• Pick it if: you're on job sites, the phone and the paperwork both pile up, and you'd rather talk than type.
• Pick something else if: your work is mostly meetings and documents at a desk (an inbox-first assistant may suit you better), or you only need calls answered.

Price: Starter $49, Growth $99, Scale $399 a month; founding annual $35, $79, $299 a month. Bring your own Twilio or Telnyx number. Every plan includes a 1:1 setup call. See plans.

Lindy: best for inbox and meetings

Lindy is an AI assistant you message in Slack, iMessage or email. It drafts, schedules and replies across your inbox and calendar, and records and summarizes meetings. Paid plans are credit-based, starting with the Team plan at $29.99 a month.

• Pick it if: email and meetings are the main problem.
• Consider Unmanually instead if: you need your phone line answered and field work handled by voice.

Carly: best for delegating by email or text

Carly gives you an assistant you reach by email, text, Slack or chat. The Personal plan is $35 a month; Organization plans are $35 per seat a month, with business calling and an AI receptionist available as add-ons billed separately.

• Pick it if: you live in email and text and want no new app.
• Consider Unmanually instead if: calls, quotes and invoices are where the time goes.

Sintra: best for ready-made helpers

Sintra offers a set of 12 pre-built AI helpers (for example for social media, customer support and admin) that you chat with, with a monthly credit allowance. One helper is $39 a month; the full set is listed at $97 a month, with lower monthly rates on longer terms.

• Pick it if: you want marketing and content help in one subscription.
• Consider Unmanually instead if: you want one assistant that answers your phone and does operational work.

Vellum: best for a personal assistant you own

Vellum is a personal AI assistant that runs on your own Mac or in Vellum's cloud. It remembers how you work and handles email, calendar, research, documents and recurring tasks across your tools, and you can reach it from mobile, web, voice, email and Slack. It's free to run on your own machine; cloud plans start at $30 a month.

• Pick it if: you work mainly from a computer and want an assistant you control, running on your own machine.
• Consider Unmanually instead if: you want your business phone line answered and everything run by voice from your phone.

Smith.ai: best when you want humans in the loop on calls

Smith.ai's AI receptionist answers calls 24/7, and complex calls can be transferred to a live North America-based receptionist. It also offers human-first receptionist plans. There's a free tier with 25 calls a month; Pro starts at $150 a month for 75 calls.

• Pick it if: you want a person available as backup on calls.
• Consider Unmanually instead if: you also need quotes, invoices and follow-ups done.

Goodcall: best for simple AI phone answering

Goodcall answers calls, books appointments and captures leads for local businesses. Plans start at $79 a month (Starter), priced by the number of unique customers a month.

• Pick it if: answering and booking calls is the whole job.
• Consider Unmanually instead if: the office work after the call is also piling up.

April: best for voice control of email and calendar

April is a voice-first executive assistant for Gmail and Google Calendar on iPhone and iPad: it summarizes email, sends replies you dictate, and reads and changes your schedule, hands-free. It costs $14.99 a month, or $129 a year, after a short free trial.

• Pick it if: inbox and calendar by voice is all you need.
• Consider Unmanually instead if: you also need your business line answered and jobs billed.

Mucka: voice-first job management for UK heating and plumbing

Mucka is job-management software for UK heating, plumbing and HVAC firms. An AI voice receptionist answers calls and books jobs, and it handles quotes, scheduling, invoices, payment chasing and gas safety certificates, through a mobile app and WhatsApp. There's a free plan; Solo is £29 a month.

• Pick it if: you run a UK heating, plumbing or HVAC business and want job management with call answering.
• Consider Unmanually instead if: you work outside the trades and markets it serves, or want supplier orders, email and calendar handled by voice too.

ChatGPT: best general thinking partner

ChatGPT is strong for drafting, research and talking through decisions, including by voice. ChatGPT Plus is $20 a month. It isn't connected to your business phone line or your invoicing out of the box.

• Pick it if: you want help thinking and writing.
• Use it alongside: any of the tools above.

Which one should you choose?

If your biggest problem is…	Start with
Missed calls and nothing else	An AI receptionist (Goodcall, Smith.ai)
Email and meetings at a desk	Lindy, Carly or April
Marketing and content	Sintra
Running a UK heating or plumbing firm	Mucka
Calls and quotes, invoices, payments and suppliers, while you're in the field	Unmanually

What to check before you buy any AI assistant

1. Does it act or only draft? Ask what it sends on its own and what waits for you.
2. Who owns the phone number? Keeping your own number (for example through your own Twilio or Telnyx account) avoids lock-in.
3. Can you stop or undo it? Look for approval rules, spend limits and an undo window.
4. Where does your data go? See our guide on AI agent data privacy.
5. What does it really cost at your volume? Check capacity limits and top-ups, not only the entry price. Our calculator compares a plan against an office hire.