Goodcall is cheaper than us, and it is the same meter

$79 vs $99

Goodcall's Starter against Vandial's entry rung, both flat and monthly

Same unit

Both meter on unique customers per month, not on calls or minutes

7 days

how long Goodcall's Starter plan keeps call and customer detail

Goodcall and Vandial, on published figures

Read from goodcall.com/pricing on 14 August 2026.

• goodcall.com/pricing · read 2026-09-05

Where the entry plans genuinely differ

Goodcall's Starter is $79 a month per agent with unlimited minutes, 100 unique customers included and $0.50 per customer after that. It allows one logic flow, three team members, three directory contacts, and keeps call and customer detail for 7 days.

Those last two are the ones to look at before the price. Seven days of history means a dispute about what was said three weeks ago has no evidence behind it, and one logic flow means one way of handling a call, which is fine for a business with one kind of caller and constraining for one that takes emergencies, bookings and supplier calls on the same line.

What the extra $20 is actually buying

Per-trade configuration across 31 trades: the capture questions, the hard escalations and the refusal sentences are different for a locksmith, a property manager and a funeral home, because those calls are different. A locksmith's agent asks whether a child or a pet is locked in the vehicle; a property manager's asks which unit and whether anything electrical is getting wet.

A keypress-accepted escalation ladder, so a 2am dispatch cannot be absorbed by a voicemail greeting answering on somebody's behalf. Full retention of recordings, transcripts and classifications rather than a rolling window. And English–Spanish switching mid-call on the same number.

Whether that is worth $20 a month depends entirely on your trade. For a business taking one kind of call in one language, it plainly is not.

The honest recommendation

If you take a small number of similar calls, do not need history beyond a week, and want the lowest published price on a sane meter, Goodcall is the better buy and we would rather say so here than have you find out later.

If your phone carries emergencies alongside bookings, if you need to prove what was said a month ago, or if a meaningful share of your callers speak Spanish, the difference stops being about $20.

Where they are the better answer

A comparison page that finds nothing to admire anywhere else is an advertisement. This is the honest version.

The lowest published entry price in the category, on the right meter

Goodcall arrived at unique-customer pricing independently of us and it is the correct unit for a service business. A customer who rings four times about one job is one job, and a meter that counts them four times is charging you for your own follow-up. At $79 a month with unlimited minutes it is the cheapest published entry price of any vendor in this comparison set, including Smith.ai's paid tiers, and $0.50 per additional customer is a mild overage by the standards of a market where the alternative is $11.50 a call. A business at the small end should take that seriously.

Hear it before you decide anything

The free tier builds the agent, takes your services and your prices, and lets you talk to it in the browser. Nobody should hand their phone to something they have not argued with first.

Still comparing

The rest of what somebody deciding this actually needs to read.

Answered for your trade, in your words

The questions, urgency rules and escalations are configuration. 31 trades have their own page.

Questions and answers

How much does Goodcall cost?

Vandial’s paid plans start with Standard at $150 a month for 1,000 AI conversations, Pro at $350 for 2,000, and custom Enterprise plans. Contact us to discuss your workflow and setup; free trials and self-service testing are not available. Standard includes one AI channel, Pro three and Enterprise five. Additional AI conversations cost $0.40 each on paid plans. Voice minutes, phone numbers, paid messaging and implementation are quoted separately. See the pricing page for the conversation definition and plan details.

Is Goodcall or Vandial cheaper?

Goodcall publishes a lower entry subscription at $79 a month. Vandial Standard is $150 a month for 1,000 AI conversations. Goodcall counts unique customers; Vandial counts 24-hour conversation windows on each channel. Include channel-provider charges and your actual contact pattern when comparing the total.

What does Vandial do that Goodcall does not?

Per-trade capture, escalation and refusal configuration across 31 trades; a keypress-accepted transfer ladder; full retention of recordings and transcripts rather than a rolling window on the entry plan; and English–Spanish switching mid-call.

How long does Goodcall keep call history?

Seven days of call and customer detail on the Starter plan, per their published feature list. Higher plans differ; check their pricing page for current terms.

Which should a very small business buy?

If you take one kind of call, in one language, and do not need history beyond a week, Goodcall. The extra Vandial buys is trade-specific behaviour and dispatch, and a business that does not dispatch anything is paying for something it will not use.