Frontly vs Aircall
Aircall is a cloud business phone system that equips your team to make and take calls from anywhere. Frontly Answer is an AI front desk that picks up your inbound calls 24/7 when nobody is free, qualifies the caller, and books the appointment. Different categories. Frequently run together.
- If your team needs a unified phone system with a dialer, softphone and call logging, Aircall is the answer
- If you want every inbound call answered automatically, day or night, with the booking captured in your dashboard, Frontly is the answer
- If you want both, run them together: inbound hits Frontly first and anything needing a person warm transfers into your Aircall queue over SIP
- Aircall does not replace a receptionist. It gives your team better calling tools
- Frontly does not replace a phone system. It replaces or augments the person at the front desk
What each one actually does
| Feature | Frontly | Aircall |
|---|---|---|
| Outbound dialing for your sales team | No | Yes |
| Inbound calls answered automatically by AI | Yes | No |
| 24/7 coverage with nobody on shift | Yes | No |
| Appointment booked during the call | Yes | No |
| Softphone and desktop app for agents | No | Yes |
| Call recording and team analytics | Transcripts and summaries | Yes |
Outbound dialing for your sales team
Frontly
NoAircall
YesInbound calls answered automatically by AI
Frontly
YesAircall
No24/7 coverage with nobody on shift
Frontly
YesAircall
NoAppointment booked during the call
Frontly
YesAircall
NoSoftphone and desktop app for agents
Frontly
NoAircall
YesCall recording and team analytics
Frontly
Transcripts and summariesAircall
YesInbound handling
| Feature | Frontly | Aircall |
|---|---|---|
| Answered in seconds by AI | Yes | Routed to staff |
| Caller qualified during the call | Yes | No |
| Contact and transcript captured automatically | Yes | No |
| Cross-call memory of returning callers | Yes | No |
| Call queue and IVR menu | Replaced by an AI conversation | Yes |
| Voicemail to email transcription | Not needed, the AI answered | Yes |
Answered in seconds by AI
Frontly
YesAircall
Routed to staffCaller qualified during the call
Frontly
YesAircall
NoContact and transcript captured automatically
Frontly
YesAircall
NoCross-call memory of returning callers
Frontly
YesAircall
NoCall queue and IVR menu
Frontly
Replaced by an AI conversationAircall
YesVoicemail to email transcription
Frontly
Not needed, the AI answeredAircall
YesSetup and control
| Feature | Frontly | Aircall |
|---|---|---|
| Visual workflow builder for call handling | Yes | IVR builder |
| Works with your existing numbers | Yes | Yes |
| Warm transfer to a SIP destination | Yes | Yes |
| Runs without a phone system at all | Yes | No |
Visual workflow builder for call handling
Frontly
YesAircall
IVR builderWorks with your existing numbers
Frontly
YesAircall
YesWarm transfer to a SIP destination
Frontly
YesAircall
YesRuns without a phone system at all
Frontly
YesAircall
NoBilling model
| Feature | Frontly | Aircall |
|---|---|---|
| Priced per business | Yes | No |
| Priced per user seat | No | Per user, per month, as published |
| Minimum licenses to start | None | 3 on published plans |
| Cost moves with | Minutes answered | Headcount on the phone system |
Priced per business
Frontly
YesAircall
NoPriced per user seat
Frontly
NoAircall
Per user, per month, as publishedMinimum licenses to start
Frontly
NoneAircall
3 on published plansCost moves with
Frontly
Minutes answeredAircall
Headcount on the phone systemDEEP DIVE
Key Differences Explained
Aircall is a phone system. Frontly is a front desk.
Aircall replaces the desk phone hardware your team used to own. It is an excellent product if your team is on the phone all day and you want one interface with a dialer, recording and CRM logging. By design it does not replace the person at the front of your business. When an inbound call arrives, Aircall routes it to a softphone or a queue, and a human still has to pick up.
Frontly answers the calls Aircall would route to staff
Frontly sits in front of, or alongside, your phone system and handles the inbound. The AI picks up in seconds, qualifies the caller, books the appointment, files the transcript in your dashboard, and escalates only when something needs real judgment. If you already run Aircall and you are still missing calls, especially at night and on weekends, Frontly fills that gap without replacing anything.
How they coexist
We integrate at the call-routing layer. Inbound calls hit Frontly first. Routine inquiries such as bookings, hours, status updates and common questions get resolved end to end. Anything that genuinely needs your team is warm transferred into your Aircall queue with the transcript attached, so whoever picks up already knows the context. Your team works exactly as before and Frontly catches everything else.
If you only have budget for one
Most small businesses weighing this question already have a working phone. They do not actually need a new phone system. They need something to answer the phone they already have. In that case Frontly is the higher-leverage spend: forward your existing number and you have 24/7 coverage the same day, without rolling out anything to your team. Add a phone system later, when outbound calling volume justifies it.
Per seat versus per business
Aircall's published plans are priced per user per month with a three-license minimum, so the cost climbs each time somebody is added to the phone system whether or not call volume changed. Frontly Answer is one flat monthly rate for the business, sized by monthly minute allowance, so what you pay tracks how much is being answered rather than how many people are logged in. Check aircall.io for their current per-seat rates before you compare the two.
How Pricing Compares
Frontly Answer is the inbound AI front desk, billed at one flat monthly rate for the business and sized by monthly minute allowance. Sizes and inclusions are on /pricing.
Aircall publishes per-user, per-month plans with a three-license minimum and a discount for annual billing. Their pricing page renders current rates, so read the figures there rather than from a comparison page. Plan structure as published on aircall.io in August 2026, indicative only.
INDUSTRY FIT
Is Frontly right for your industry?
AI IVR to replace your phone menu already routes calls with a menu tree. The gap is that routing is all it does, so every call it handles still lands on a person who then does something simple.
AI intake reception for law firms already has a phone system that routes calls well during business hours. The gap is the new-matter inquiry at 8pm that reaches voicemail and then calls the next firm.
AI receptionist for accounting practices does not need a second phone system, it needs the overflow answered when filing season triples the call volume the existing lines were sized for.
AI helpdesk reception for MSPs sits closest to the hybrid model: keep your routing stack and put an AI front desk in front of the after-hours queue, so the SLA clock starts on answer rather than on callback.
AI front desk for any business already routes calls perfectly well during business hours. The gap is who answers when the routing runs out of people to route to.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
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