Is voice AI worth it?
It’s worth testing if your visitors ask questions that are easier to say than type, such as a setup problem they need to talk through. Each Kawl Now workspace gets its first 50 conversations free, including your own tests, so you can try real questions before you decide.
Is an AI voice agent the same as an AI receptionist?
No. An AI receptionist is one kind of AI voice agent: it answers a business’s phone line, takes messages and books appointments. Other voice agents work in apps or in a widget on a website, like Kawl Now, which has no phone number for customers to call.
When does a SaaS company need an AI receptionist?
When customers expect to dial a number, for example when something urgent breaks or your plans promise phone support. An AI receptionist or phone system covers that line, and a website voice agent can sit alongside it for people already on your site.
Can an AI receptionist answer questions on a website?
Some providers add a website widget that lets visitors talk to the same AI in their browser. If your questions come mainly from people already on your website and you don’t need a phone line, a website voice agent such as Kawl Now does that job on its own.
Can a website voice agent transfer callers like an AI receptionist?
Some can. Kawl Now’s human handover is an early release: once your team verifies a UK or US phone number and turns handover on, a caller can choose Talk to a human in the widget, and your team hears a private briefing before the caller is connected. Customer routing is still being tested, so keep your usual contact options on the page. Receptionists such as Smith.ai and Goodcall list transfers of phone calls to your team.
Can AI voice support replace live chat?
Not for questions that need a person. Use Kawl Now for setup, how-to and feature questions your approved docs already answer, and keep live chat for billing, refunds, account changes and bugs that need investigating, because the voice agent can’t see or change customer accounts. You can run both and name the chat in the voice agent’s instructions, so it can point callers there.
Do I still need live chat if I add a voice agent?
Usually, yes, for anything that needs a person, such as account changes, refunds and bugs. Kawl Now answers product questions from approved knowledge, but it can’t look up accounts. Handing a caller to your team’s phone is an early release that needs a verified UK or US number and is still being tested, so keep live chat or email for the rest.
Can the voice agent hand a caller to our live chat team?
Not to live chat: the Kawl Now agent can’t pass a caller into your chat tool. If you turn on human handover, an early release, a caller can choose Talk to a human and your team takes the call on a verified UK or US phone after a private briefing. Customer routing is still being tested, so name your live chat in the agent’s instructions and keep the chat button visible.
Is live chat or phone support better for a SaaS product?
It depends on the question. Chat suits exact details and quick replies from your team, and a phone line suits customers who need to talk to a person. Kawl Now adds a third option: spoken answers on your website from an AI agent, with no phone line.
Can a voice agent replace a help centre?
No. A help centre lets people read, scan and copy exact steps, links and settings, which suits many questions better than listening. A voice agent suits people who would rather ask. Kawl Now works beside your help centre and answers from the articles your team has approved.
What do you need to build an AI voice agent for a website?
A voice model or framework, such as OpenAI’s Realtime API, LiveKit Agents or Pipecat, plus a server that keeps API keys out of the browser, origin checks so only your sites can start a call, search over your docs, transcript storage, and limits on call length and spend. If you’d rather not build those parts, our guide to adding a voice agent to your website shows the ready-made route with Kawl Now.
Can you build an AI voice agent without writing code?
Yes, on a hosted platform. Retell AI says you can build entirely from its dashboard with no code, ElevenLabs says a first agent needs no engineering, and LiveKit’s Agent Builder lets you prototype agents in the browser. You still write the prompt and set up knowledge and channels. Kawl Now starts you with a support agent and a sales agent, so you approve knowledge, set a greeting and voice, add your site as an allowed origin, paste one script tag and test before you switch on customer calls.
What does it cost to build an AI voice agent?
Model usage, hosting and your team’s time. On 8 October 2026, OpenAI listed its GPT-Live model, gpt-live-1, at $0.05 a minute plus backend usage, and priced Realtime API models such as gpt-realtime-2.1 per token, at $32 per million audio input tokens and $64 per million audio output tokens. LiveKit’s free Build plan included 1,000 agent session minutes a month but only $2.50 of LiveKit Inference credits, about 50 minutes of model use, so beyond that you pay for models on a paid plan or through your own provider accounts. Vapi and Retell AI start with free credits, then charge per minute. Kawl Now gives each workspace its first 50 conversations free, including tests. Paid calls aren’t available yet, so new calls stop after that.
Can you build an AI voice agent that answers phone calls?
Yes. Pipecat supports dial-in and dial-out over phone lines and SIP, LiveKit’s free Build plan includes one US phone number, and platforms such as Vapi and Retell AI provide numbers too. Kawl Now works only in the browser on your website, so it has no phone number for customers to call and doesn’t answer phone calls.