You miss a call. The caller hangs up. You never hear from them again.
That quiet loss is what drives most small teams to look at their phone system for a fix. OpenPhone — now rebranded as Quo — launched Sona, its built-in AI receptionist, to solve exactly that. But "AI receptionist" covers a wide range of capabilities across different products. Before you add Sona to your stack, it's worth knowing what it actually handles and where it stops.
This article breaks down what OpenPhone's AI receptionist does in 2026, the real pricing, and how it compares to alternatives when your business needs more than phone coverage.
TL;DR
Product name | Sona (by Quo, formerly OpenPhone) |
What it handles | Inbound phone calls — greetings, Q&A, message capture, routing |
Language support | English only |
Free calls included | 10 Sona calls/month with any paid plan |
Paid Sona add-on | From $25/month for 50 calls |
Need chat + email too? | Solvea covers phone, live chat, and email from $0 |
What OpenPhone's AI Receptionist (Sona) Actually Does
Think of Sona like a front desk employee who only works the phone line — never checks email, never answers chat, but picks up every call without fail.
Sona uses speech recognition and large language model reasoning to handle inbound calls around the clock. When a caller rings in, Sona greets them, identifies their intent, pulls from a customized knowledge base, and either resolves the request or routes the call to the right person on your team.
What Sona handles
- Greetings and FAQs — Answers questions about hours, services, and pricing using documentation you provide
- Message capture — When a request can't be fully resolved, Sona captures the caller's details and logs the conversation
- Smart call routing — Routine questions get handled autonomously; leads or urgent situations trigger a warm transfer with full call context attached
- CRM logging — Transcripts and call data sync automatically through webhooks and integrations with HubSpot, Salesforce, and Slack
What Sona does not handle
Sona covers inbound phone calls in English only. It does not respond to live chat messages, handle emails, or make outbound calls. If your customers also reach out by chat or email — or if you serve non-English speakers — Sona addresses only part of the problem.
That gap matters. According to HubSpot's State of Customer Service report, 90% of customers rate an immediate response as important when they contact a business. Sona delivers that — but only on one channel.
OpenPhone AI Receptionist Pricing in 2026
OpenPhone/Quo pricing has two components: the base plan and the Sona add-on.
Base plan cost
Plan | Annual price | AI summaries & transcripts |
Starter | $15/user/month | No |
Business | $23/user/month | Yes |
Scale | $35/user/month | Yes + AI tagging |
AI call summaries and transcripts require the Business plan at minimum. The Starter plan gives you a phone number and unlimited US/Canada calling — none of the AI features are included.
Sona add-on pricing
Every paid plan includes 10 Sona calls per month at no extra cost. Beyond that, Quo's pricing breakdown shows paid Sona plans starting at $25/month for 50 calls, with higher tiers available for greater volume.
A two-person team on the Business plan needing more than 10 AI-handled calls per month would pay at minimum: ($23 × 2) + $25 = $71/month — before adding extra phone numbers at $5 each per month.
OpenPhone AI Receptionist vs. Alternatives
Tool | Who It's Best For | AI Channels | After-Hours | Starting Cost |
OpenPhone + Sona | Startups needing phone coverage | Phone only | Yes | $15/user/mo + Sona add-on |
SMBs needing phone + chat + email | Phone, Chat, Email | Yes | $0/mo free tier | |
Smith.ai | Teams wanting human + AI hybrid | Phone | Yes | ~$285/mo |
My AI Front Desk | Businesses already on OpenPhone | Phone | Yes | $65/mo |
The key variable is channel coverage. If your customers only ever call you, OpenPhone + Sona is a reasonable fit. If they also message via chat or email, a single-channel solution leaves gaps open.
Where OpenPhone's AI Receptionist Falls Short
OpenPhone's AI receptionist does what it promises — but its scope is narrow by design.
One channel, one language
Sona handles phone calls and nothing else. No live chat widget, no email inbox, no SMS thread management beyond basic routing. It also operates in English only, which rules it out for businesses serving multilingual customers or operating in non-English markets.
The difference between modern AI voice agents and older systems helps put this in context. The AI phone answering vs IVR comparison shows that Sona meaningfully improves on traditional phone trees — but it shares their core limitation: it only touches one channel.
Ten free calls is a thin buffer
Ten Sona calls per month won't last long for any active business. A medspa handling appointment questions, a law firm fielding intake calls, or a retailer answering order status inquiries will hit that ceiling fast. Sona then becomes a recurring line item stacked on top of per-user plan pricing.
No cross-channel handoff
When Sona transfers a call, it hands off to a human agent. What it can't do is connect that phone interaction to a follow-up email or a live chat session the same customer opens an hour later. Each channel stays siloed — you get a log, not a unified conversation thread.
Solvea: When Your AI Receptionist Needs to Cover Every Front
If you need one front desk that handles phone, live chat, and email — and keeps every interaction in a single thread — that's the problem Solvea was built for.
Think of Solvea like the best front desk employee you've never had to train: it picks up every call, responds to every chat message, and replies to every email, 24/7, across languages, without a line of code to set up.
Solvea handles:
- Phone — inbound calls + SMS, with intent detection and routing
- Live Chat — embeddable widget for your website
- Email — auto-receive and auto-respond across shared inboxes
- Escalation — handoff to human agents via a shared Inbox when the situation calls for it
Setup takes under 3 minutes. No code required. Over 10 industry templates — for retail, medspa, law firms, restaurants, and more — mean you're not starting from a blank configuration.
Solvea's free plan includes 1,000 credits/month and 3 agents at $0. Paid plans start at $30/month. Anker, one of Solvea's enterprise customers, reduced manual customer service work by 70% after deploying it — and the resolution rate across Solvea customers averages 80%.
Conclusion
OpenPhone's AI receptionist (Sona) does one thing well: answers inbound calls 24/7 so small teams stop missing leads. For businesses where the phone is the only inbound channel, Sona is a reasonable add-on to an already solid phone system.
But if you're watching calls go unanswered and chat messages pile up and emails stack in the inbox — Sona won't close all three gaps. For that, you need an AI receptionist that works across every channel from one place.
Your AI Receptionist, Live in Minutes.
Scale your front desk with an AI that never sleeps. Solvea handles unlimited multi-channel inquiries, books appointments into your calendar automatically, and ensures zero missed opportunities around the clock.
FAQ
Does OpenPhone have an AI receptionist?
Yes. OpenPhone (now rebranded as Quo) offers an AI receptionist called Sona. It handles inbound phone calls 24/7, answers questions using a custom knowledge base, captures messages, and routes calls to your team. Every paid plan includes 10 Sona calls per month; additional calls start at $25/month for 50 calls.
What is Sona in OpenPhone?
Sona is Quo's (formerly OpenPhone's) AI voice agent. It uses speech recognition and large language model reasoning to greet callers, understand their intent, answer questions, and either resolve requests or transfer calls to a human with full context. Sona only handles inbound phone calls and currently supports English only.
How much does OpenPhone's AI receptionist cost?
Every paid Quo plan includes 10 Sona calls per month at no extra charge. Beyond that, paid Sona plans start at $25/month for 50 calls. AI call summaries and transcripts require the Business plan at $23/user/month billed annually.
Can OpenPhone's AI receptionist handle live chat or email?
No. Sona only manages inbound phone calls. It does not respond to live chat messages or emails. If your customers contact you through multiple channels, you will need a separate tool for non-phone coverage.
Is there an AI receptionist that handles phone, chat, and email in one place?
Yes. Solvea handles inbound phone calls, live chat, and email from a single platform. It offers a free plan with no credit card required, and paid plans start at $30/month. Setup takes under 3 minutes and requires no coding.
