Comparison
CoveredLine vs Aira
Aira is an AI-first receptionist for service businesses - law, auto, construction, real estate, salons - and it prices by the completed call rather than by the minute, from $24.95/mo for 30 calls up to $299 for 600. CoveredLine meters talk time instead, from $19/mo for 100 minutes, so a 30-second wrong number costs cents rather than a whole call out of your allowance.
| Feature | CoveredLine | Aira |
|---|---|---|
Entry plan that answers live calls | $19/mo · 100 min included | $24.95/mo · 30 calls included |
Pricing model Their pricing page puts it as “Per call, not per minute. No runaway meter.” The trade runs both ways: a 30-second wrong number spends a whole included call, and a long booking spends only one. | Per minute ($0.25/min overage) | Per call ($0.70-$1.50/call overage by plan) |
Books into your Google Calendar Both book. Their site also describes a scheduler agent that “sends booking links by text so callers can choose a time”. | Native, two-way | Google Calendar and Outlook among their integrations |
Live transfer of urgent calls to a human | Every plan; whisper + accept from $49 | Direct transfer to your team, by your rules |
Built-in web chat widget Their site describes phone call handling only; no website chat product appears on it. | Every plan, no monthly allowance to run out | Not listed on their site |
Website / FAQ pages the receptionist learns | 25 on Starter, 100 on Team, 500 on Growth | Agent knowledge base; no page allowance published |
Call recordings, transcripts and summaries | Included - recording off by default, with a spoken notice | Recordings, transcripts and instant call summaries |
Screening spam and robocalls | Automatic screening plus your own block list | Spam filtering on the included number |
Connects to your CRM and other apps | Zapier app, signed webhooks, CSV + API export | Built-in CRM plus Zapier integrations |
Free trial | 7 days | Not listed on their pricing page |
Why teams pick CoveredLine
You pay for talk time, not for whole calls
Aira bills by the completed call - $24.95 for 30 of them, with overage from $0.70 to $1.50 a call. A wrong number, a hang-up and a ten-minute booking all cost the same. We meter the minutes actually spoken and charge $0.25 for each one past your plan, so a quick “are you open today?” costs cents.
The phone line and the website, one receptionist
Our web chat widget is on every plan with no monthly conversation allowance, and it answers from the same knowledge and books the same calendar as the phone line. Aira’s site describes phone call handling only.
Everything included from $19
Booking into your real Google Calendar, live transfer of urgent calls, texting your callers, web chat and multiple languages are all on the $19 Starter. There is no feature you have to move up a tier to unlock.
Private by design
Call recording is off by default with a spoken consent notice; texting stays in the transactional TCPA lane; every business’s data is row-isolated; transcripts are never used to train models.
On pricing
Aira: Starter $24.95/mo (30 calls, $1.50/call overage), Premium $59.95 (90 calls, $1.00), Pro $159.95 (300 calls, $0.75) and Scale $299 (600 calls, $0.70), billed per completed call rather than per minute, with 20% off on annual billing and no free trial listed. Ours: $19 (100 min), $49 (280 min), $99 (620 min) and $149 (1,100 min), metered per minute with $0.25/min overage and an optional spend limit you set.
The verdict
Aira and CoveredLine do a similar job for a similar buyer, and the honest split is the meter. If your calls run long and few, per-call pricing can suit you. If you field the short calls most small businesses field - hours, directions, wrong numbers - per-minute metering is cheaper, and our $19 Starter includes the web chat widget their site does not list.
Sources
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Build yours free →Comparison based on publicly available information as of September 9, 2026. Details change - tell us if something is out of date. All product names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners; this page is not endorsed by or affiliated with them.