FRONT OFFICE AI FOR RECEPTION — THE COMPARISON

Compare us to anything an organization is offered.

Organizations are sold one of two models for the front desk: a phone system with a menu, operated by receptionists and backed by a contact-center suite, or AI agents assembled per channel and paid per usage. No logos needed, because the same packaging habits dominate the market. Front Office was built on three different principles — and every answer to a caller comes from your approved information only.

Start free

Try it free 7 days on your own business · no credit card · per company, never per seat

REAL AI - the whole Front Office is AI, not old software with an AI button. Give it your website: it learns your company, works from your approved knowledge and gets better with every answer you approve.

Live on this site right now — the assistant in the corner is the product · Award-winning AI — CES · ISE · TMCnet

Zanus Front Office dashboard — the AI at work

One dashboard doing the jobs the others only track.

Three habits of the market — three different principles here

1 · Pricing scales per seat

Across most of the market, every hire raises the software bill — the price follows your headcount, not the work getting done.

2 · The AI is often metered on top

Credits, "AI actions", per-conversation fees, usage tiers. On many platforms the AI arrives as a second bill on top of the seats.

3 · Most AI was built to assist teams

Enrich, draft, score, summarize, coach — designed to make YOUR people faster. Newer autonomous agents go further, but are typically configured per channel and priced per usage.

Front Office was designed from the start on three different principles: one integrated product, priced by plan — not by seat-math · the AI performs complete front-office workflows, not only assists them · every answer grounded in your approved knowledge, with Protection capping the spend.

The scoreboard: how each model delivers the job

Fourteen organization jobs, three delivery models. The difference isn’t whether a capability exists somewhere — it’s what you must assemble, license and operate to get it. Descriptions reflect typical published product models, Aug 2026.

The job	Traditional CRM model	Agent & copilot platforms	Zanus Front Office
Answer the main number 24/7	Receptionists on shift; a phone menu and voicemail after hours	Configure a voice agent, numbers and usage separately	✓ Built in — every site’s numbers, hours and voices, 40 languages, nights and weekends included
Route by what the caller says	Press 1, press 2, press 7 to start over	An intent model you train and maintain per channel	✓ Plain words matched to your departments, people and rules — menus optional
Answer the general question	The receptionist looks it up, or transfers	An agent grounded on documents you curate per channel	✓ Grounded in your approved information: hours, addresses, who does what, how to apply
Transfer with a summary	A blind transfer; the caller explains again	Possible if you build the handoff yourself	✓ Whispered in: who is calling, about what, what was already said
Answer the general inbox	Everyone’s job, so nobody’s; shared-mailbox rules	AI drafts; sending policies vary by setup	✓ Read, answered, routed with the thread summarized; sensitive mail waits for a person
Route the contact-us form	A notification to a shared mailbox	Enriched, scored, handed to a queue	✓ Worked like a call: acknowledged in minutes, classified, routed, the sender kept informed
Book the meeting or the visit	The receptionist emails the host and waits	Agent invokes calendar actions you connect	✓ Booked in the conversation into the host’s calendar, visitor instructions sent
Cover every location and language	One switchboard per site, one language per shift	Per-channel, per-language configuration and usage	✓ One front desk: each site’s numbers, hours and departments, 40 languages, one record
Chase the request nobody picked up	A message slip; a second call from the caller	A workflow you build and maintain	✓ Filed and chased: the unanswered transfer becomes a case the department must close
Keep cold callers and spam off desks	Depends on who is on the switchboard	Filters you tune; usage still billed	✓ Screened by your rules: pitches taken as messages, scripts capped, your people undisturbed
Show volumes per department	Phone-system reports somebody exports	Dashboards of the channels you configured	✓ Every morning: what came in, where it went, which department did not pick up
Keep emergencies with a person	Depends on the person answering	Best effort, disclaimers apply	✓ Your rules: emergencies, press, legal notices and distressed callers reach a person, every time
Call your callers before they call you	Reminder calls made by staff when there is time; otherwise a text	Build an outbound flow, connect telephony, meter the minutes	✓ Auto-Call: an event, a funnel or a list triggers the call; the AI announces or converses, on your rules — Hi Mr. Alvarez, this is Vantage Corp: your visitor badge for Tuesday is ready; please bring photo ID to the front desk.
The bill	Per seat and per line; grows with every hire	Per seat and/or per usage: credits, minutes, conversations	✓ One plan, chosen by outcome — your callers are never counted or charged

Already running a big CRM suite? Read the story: the old way vs the AI way — keep the CRM, add the AI Front Office → And the chat below will compare us to any product you name, from its published pages.

Comparing something specific? Ask the Zanus AI below — it compares us to any vendor you name, point by point, from their published pages. Our plans are public: see pricing → Then do your own math →

The one question that cuts through every comparison: after you pay, who answers the main number and gets the caller to the right person? With Front Office the answer is: the AI does — from your approved information — and your people take the handshake, the emergency and the decision.

Questions, answered

Why don’t you name the other products?

Because the comparison is about the model, not the logo. A phone system your receptionists operate, plus metered AI bolted on, is the norm across the market; naming brands adds nothing. If you are evaluating a specific product, ask the chat — it compares us to any vendor you name, point by point, from their published pages.

Is this comparison fair to phone-system and contact-center vendors?

Every description of other models comes from typical published product pages, read August 2026, and describes what an organization must assemble, license and operate to get the front-desk job done. Where a vendor differs, the chat will show you.

Do we have to replace our phone system, directory or CRM?

No. Your numbers stay and route to the AI in any mix; your directory, calendars and systems of record stay the record. The Front Office is the system of work in front of them: calendars sync natively, contacts sync with your CRM, and webhooks, a read-only API and an MCP server feed what you authorize.

Try it free on your own organization. 7 days. No credit card.

Give it your website. It learns your company. Then call it, chat with it, e-mail it — and decide. Nothing to install, nothing to cancel.

Start free

VIEW ALL NEXT❯