Comparison
An IVR is the press-1-for-sales menu bolted onto your phone system. It routes calls, it does not answer them: when nobody picks up at the end of the branch, the caller still lands in voicemail. Estric AI answers in plain language, resolves the reason for the call, and books the job. An IVR is close to free if you already have a PBX, and that is a real advantage worth being straight about.
Estric AI
An AI front desk that answers in natural language on your existing number. It asks what the caller needs, answers from your own knowledge base, books into your live calendar, takes payment where you allow it, and escalates to your mobile on the rules you set. Flat plans from $39 a month plus GST.
IVR (phone menus)
An automated attendant built into your phone system or PBX. It plays a recorded menu, collects keypresses, and transfers the call to an extension, a ring group or voicemail. It understands nothing beyond the options you recorded, and it cannot complete a booking.
This compares an approach rather than one vendor, so the right column describes what is typical of IVR (phone menus). Individual providers vary, and the only figures that matter are the ones on your own quote.
| Feature | Estric AI | IVR (phone menus) |
|---|---|---|
| What the caller hears | A conversation. They say what they need | A recorded menu and a list of numbers to press |
| Resolves the reason for the call | Yes: answers, books, quotes or captures the lead | No: it routes, or it sends them to voicemail |
| After hours | Full conversation and booking, 24/7 | Menu still plays, then voicemail |
| Unexpected questions | Answered from your knowledge base | No path unless you recorded one |
| Books appointments | Yes, from your live calendar | Not offered |
| Lead capture | Structured fields, filed against the customer | A voicemail someone has to listen to |
| Two callers at once | Every call answered, no queue | Limited by your PBX lines |
| Languages | Detects and replies in the caller language | A separate recorded tree per language |
| Escalation to a human | Rules you set, straight to your mobile | Blind transfer or ring group |
| Setup | Self-serve, about fifteen minutes | PBX configuration, one branch at a time |
| Cost | From $39 a month plus GST, flat | Usually bundled with your phone system |
| Keeps your existing number | Yes, forward it | Yes, it sits on it |
An IVR moves the call somewhere. Whether the caller gets what they rang for depends entirely on a person being free at the other end. Estric AI is the person at the other end: it answers the question, books the slot, and only involves you when the rules say it should.
Every IVR path ends in a human or a message bank. Out of hours, on a tools day, or in a heatwave, that means voicemail. A caller who wanted a plumber tonight does not leave a message; they press end and ring the next name.
Menus make the caller guess which department their problem belongs to, and callers guess wrong. Estric AI just asks. There is no tree to maintain, and adding a new service means writing a sentence in your knowledge base rather than re-recording a branch.
If your calls genuinely only need routing between distinct departments, someone is always there to pick up, and it is already configured in a PBX you pay for, keep the menu. It is deterministic, it is effectively free, and it will outlast any subscription. You can also keep both: leave your menu in place and put Estric AI at the end of a branch, or on the after-hours path.
An IVR plays a recorded menu and routes the call based on which number the caller presses. An AI receptionist holds a conversation: it asks what the caller needs, answers from your business knowledge, books an appointment on your live calendar, and escalates to a person only when your rules say so. One moves the call, the other finishes it.
For a service business where the caller wants a booking, a quote or an answer, yes: an IVR cannot give them any of those. For a large organisation that only needs calls routed to the right department and always has staff to answer, an IVR is cheaper and does the job. The deciding question is whether your calls need routing or answering.
Estric AI is $39 a month plus GST on the Solo plan and $99 on Starter, flat, with no per-minute charges. An IVR is usually included with your phone system, so the sticker price is close to nothing. The number worth comparing is what abandoned and unanswered calls already cost you, which the missed call calculator on this site will estimate from your own volumes.
Yes, and plenty of businesses do. Leave the menu in place for daytime routing and forward the unanswered branch, or the whole line after hours, to Estric AI. Nothing changes on your signage or your listings because your published number stays the same.
It does not pretend to be a person, and it says so if asked. In practice callers care that someone picked up, took the detail properly and locked in a time.
Free 7-day trial. No card needed. Compare it against IVR (phone menus) on your own calls.
