AI phone receptionists in New Zealand.

An AI receptionist answers your phone, works out what the caller wants, and takes a message, books a slot or transfers the call. Most sold in New Zealand are monthly subscriptions configured by the provider; a few firms build custom voice agents. All but one provider below say they are New Zealand companies; Jodie is in London. If customers mostly write, see our guide to customer support AI providers.

New Zealand AI receptionist providers compared

Levy Street first, then alphabetical; prices as listed on 20 October 2026.

What 200 minutes a month costs

Assumptions: 200 inbound minutes (about 65 three-minute calls), entry plans, prices as listed on 20 October 2026, before setup and call-forwarding charges. Jodie Basic has no booking or transfers, and Tamaki AI Lite does not list booking.

Setup fees: Automate AI NZ$295 plus GST, Tamaki AI NZ$300, Bizzy Boss NZ$250; Talkify, FirstVoice and Jodie list none. At very low volume, Talkify’s pay as you go (NZ$10 a month, then $1 a minute) can beat any bundle.

Provider profiles

Levy Street

Levy Street, a Wellington AI engineering company, does not sell a subscription receptionist. It builds custom voice agents that book into your real system, are tested on New Zealand accents and Māori place names, and pass callers to a person on request. It has published no voice case study; its closest public work is the audio pipeline behind Singing Coach AI.

Automate AI

Wellington-based Automate AI sells a voice agent from NZ$70 a month plus GST and publishes a Retro Bowl case study.

Bizzy Boss

Canterbury’s Bizzy Boss Solutions sets up an AI receptionist for tradies that answers calls and books jobs; its pricing is labelled introductory, ending 30 September.

Ez-AI

Auckland’s Ez-AI builds AI receptionists that start on website chat and email and add the phone “where the call volume justifies it”.

FirstVoice AI

FirstVoice AI, a service of Digital Waves Limited, sets up and manages AI receptionists and says recordings and transcripts are stored in New Zealand by default.

Jodie

Jodie AI Limited is registered in England and Wales and run from London. Its New Zealand plans offer unlimited minutes under fair use, but it was not taking new New Zealand customers.

KiwiAgent

KiwiAgent.ai calls itself a New Zealand-based voice agent platform founded in 2026, using ElevenLabs and Deepgram, with 30 free minutes a month before paid plans.

PB Tech

PB Tech, a New Zealand-owned computer reseller with its head office in Manukau, Auckland, offers PB Aura as a managed inbound and outbound voice agent.

Talkify

Talkify Limited, built in Christchurch, sells phone agents that answer and make calls, with web chat and mobile apps, and says +64 calls are handled in New Zealand data centres.

Tamaki AI

Tamaki AI, “Auckland-built”, hand-builds receptionists that answer in English, Mandarin and Korean, and says it adds no GST because it is under the GST threshold.

Voyager

Voyager, a 100% New Zealand-owned telecommunications provider, sells VAIA voice agents that currently work with its Voyager Voice business phone system.

Waboom

Waboom AI, an Auckland agency, sells a 24/7 receptionist in New Zealand voices on prepaid credit, with an option to keep calls and data in Australia.

Subscription or custom voice agent

A subscription is the better choice for most small businesses that miss calls, including many who ask us. The provider configures it, most say they go live within two weeks, and several book directly into Google Calendar, Outlook, ServiceM8 or Cliniko. Levy Street builds custom voice agents, so weigh our view accordingly: custom earns its cost when routing goes beyond a settings page, the agent must act in a system no subscription connects to, you need your own testing and data controls, or volume is at contact-centre scale. A short assessment can show which side you are on.

Before signing with anyone, including us:

• Ring the demo line with your hardest street, suburb and surname, and ask it to read them back.
• Get the monthly cost at your real minutes, with GST, setup and forwarding charges.
• Confirm it books into your actual calendar or job system.
• Check callers can reach a person on request, including after hours.
• Ask where recordings and transcripts are stored and processed, and for how long.

Where AI receptionists go wrong

• Misheard names and addresses. Reading details back is the fix; Talkify says it reads every address back before booking. Our guide to voice agent quality evaluation shows how to test.
• Bill shock. Extra minutes add up in busy weeks, and your phone company may charge for forwarded calls.
• No way out. Callers asking for a person, or reporting an emergency, must reach one; check your plan includes transfers.
• An AI passing as human. The Fair Trading Act 1986 prohibits misleading conduct in trade. Say at the start that an AI is answering.

Recording, consent and privacy in New Zealand

This is general information, not legal advice.

• Tell callers. IPP 3 of the Privacy Act 2020 requires reasonable steps so people know their information is being collected and why. The Privacy Commissioner says recording someone without telling them may breach the Act, depending on the circumstances, and lists a pre-recorded message among the “just-in-time” notices suited to phone calls.
• Copies on request. People can ask for a copy of a recording a business made of them.
• Where the audio goes. Talkify says +64 call data stays in New Zealand, FirstVoice stores it here by default, Waboom offers an Australia-only option, and Jodie processes recordings in Ireland and the United States. A provider using data for its own purposes offshore brings in IPP 12.
• Voice biometrics. Identifying callers by voiceprint brings in the Biometric Processing Privacy Code.

Written by the Levy Street team in Wellington. Last updated 19 October 2026.