Birdeye alternatives and what it costs
The short answer
Birdeye, the review and listings software for multi-location businesses, publishes no prices: a form asks your location count, and pricing is per location. By default its terms renew automatically unless you give 90 days’ written notice, and add an 8% fee at renewal. Alternatives include Podium, GoHighLevel and Allo for messaging and phones, and Upfirst or CoveDesk if you need calls answered.
This is Birdeye the review and messaging software at birdeye.com, not the crypto token tracker with the same name. Owners hire it to collect reviews and keep listings right across locations. Its Receptionist isn’t an answering service in the usual sense: the setup guide has forwarded calls going to voicemail. Here’s what its terms ask of you, and which tools do each job.
Updated November 3, 2026. CoveDesk is one of the services on this page; other companies’ prices and features are from their own websites, linked below.
Birdeye alternatives, by what you need
- Podium: Another tool for the same job: texting and reviews in one inbox, with list prices on its page and a phone system of its own. From $399/month: 250 bulk message credits, as published.
- GoHighLevel: Review templates, listings add-on and missed-call texts with month-to-month plans, if you’re comfortable running marketing software or have an agency. From $97/month: 3 sub-accounts, as published.
- CoveDesk (that’s us): if you want calls picked up, missed callers texted, and your Google profile and website looked after, all set up and run for you. Not live receptionists. Front Desk is $249/mo with 250 minutes. Free 14-day pilot.
- Housecall Pro: Review requests sent after each job, inside job software, if you’re a home-service business with no need for a separate review tool. From $79/month: 1 user, as published.
- Allo: If what you really want from Birdeye’s Receptionist is your phones handled: a team phone system with texts after missed calls and a receptionist add-on. From $15/seat/month: One person, as published.
- Upfirst: Picks up forwarded calls, takes messages and texts callers you miss, billed per call, for an owner who needs a voice and not a review suite. From $24.95/month: 30 calls, as published.
Birdeye doesn’t publish full prices
We couldn’t find plan prices on Birdeye’s website (opens in a new tab) when we checked on November 3, 2026.
Birdeye’s pricing page is a quote form that asks for your location count and contact details. It describes pricing as outcome-based and paid per deployed location, on one contract, with no dollar figures. Any number you see elsewhere is someone else’s estimate. Its terms add an 8% fee on recurring fees at auto-renewal, unless your agreement predates April 1, 2024 or says otherwise.
Birdeye vs CoveDesk
| What to compare | Birdeye | CoveDesk |
|---|---|---|
| Who answers | Your own staff. Its Receptionist takes forwarded calls, records and transcribes voicemail and texts mobile callers afterward. Its pricing page also describes Myna, a software coworker, running the front desk 24/7. Source: Birdeye, who answers (opens in a new tab) | A trained voice assistant, set up and run by our team, in your business’s name, day or night. Not live receptionists. Callers hear a short notice at the start of the call. |
| Published price | Not published. A quote form asks how many locations you have. Source: Birdeye, published price (opens in a new tab) | Front Desk: $249/mo with 250 minutes. Text-Back alone: $99/mo. |
| How use is counted | Per deployed location, described as outcome-based. How calls are counted is not stated on the pages we read. Source: Birdeye, how use is counted (opens in a new tab) | By the minute. Seconds are added up over the month and rounded once, not per call. Extra minutes $0.35 each. Alerts at 80% and 100% of your minutes. |
| Setup fee | Not stated on the pages we read. Source: Birdeye, setup fee (opens in a new tab) | None. |
| Contract | Length set in your order form. Unless that says otherwise, renews for the same length unless you give written notice at least 90 days before. Payment obligations are non-cancellable. Source: Birdeye, contract (opens in a new tab) | Front Desk is month to month. See pricing for other plans. |
| Free trial | Not stated on the pages we read. Source: Birdeye, free trial (opens in a new tab) | Free 14-day pilot. We set it up, it’s live within 48 hours, and you can start with just your after-hours calls. |
| Money-back guarantee | Not stated on the pages we read. Its terms call payments non-refundable, with listed exceptions. Source: Birdeye, money-back guarantee (opens in a new tab) | 30-day money-back guarantee. If it isn’t working for you, tell us within 30 days of your first plan payment and we’ll end the plan and refund your first month’s plan fee. |
| Who sets it up | You set the greeting and auto-reply in Settings and set up forwarding with your phone company. Support helps if yours isn’t on its list. Source: Birdeye, who sets it up (opens in a new tab) | Our team sets it up, writes your script and runs it. |
| Urgent calls | Not mentioned in its Receptionist setup guide. Source: Birdeye, urgent calls (opens in a new tab) | Urgent calls are put straight through to you. No on-call rotation yet. |
| Booking | Its website chat books appointments. Myna is described with appointments, reminders and a waitlist. Source: Birdeye, booking (opens in a new tab) | Takes the details and sends them to you to call back. No calendar booking yet. |
| Job software and CRMs | Names QuickBooks, Square, ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, JobNimbus and Service Fusion. Jobber isn’t named. Source: Birdeye, job software and crms (opens in a new tab) | None yet. Details arrive by text and in your CoveDesk account. |
| Spanish | Not mentioned on the pages we read. Source: Birdeye, spanish (opens in a new tab) | Not yet. |
| Text back after a missed call | Yes, on forwarded calls: an auto-reply text after the caller hangs up, to mobile callers only. Source: Birdeye, text back after a missed call (opens in a new tab) | Yes, included in Front Desk or on its own with Text-Back. |
| Review requests | Automatic review requests by text or email. Source: Birdeye, review requests (opens in a new tab) | Done for you with Google Business Profile Management, $149/mo. |
| Google profile care | Listings across many directories and a stated Google partnership. Editing a Google profile specifically isn’t described. Source: Birdeye, google profile care (opens in a new tab) | Done for you, $149/mo, or included in Front Office. |
| Website | Pages and Content appear as products, with no details. Source: Birdeye, website (opens in a new tab) | Built and looked after for you, or included in Front Office. See pricing. |
Stay with Birdeye if
- You look after reviews and listings for several locations. That’s what the pricing is shaped around, with listings across many directories. CoveDesk’s Google profile care covers your Google profile, not a directory network.
- You run on ServiceTitan or Housecall Pro. Birdeye names both, plus JobNimbus and Service Fusion. CoveDesk has no job software connection yet.
- Review requests by text or email are the job. They go out on their own, and that’s the core of the product.
- You want website chat that books. Its chat answers questions and books appointments. CoveDesk takes phone details so you can call back.
When is your last day to give Birdeye notice?
Count back 90 days from your renewal date, which is in your order form. Written notice has to arrive by then, or the term repeats.
- Renewing January 1. Notice by October 3.
- Renewing July 1. Notice by April 2.
- Renewing October 1. Notice by July 3.
- What missing it costs. Another full term, with the 8% fee on top: every $100 of monthly fees becomes $108, unless your agreement says otherwise.
Does Birdeye answer your phone?
Its pages give two pictures. The Receptionist setup guide has you forward calls from your line; Birdeye plays your greeting, records and transcribes a voicemail, and sends an auto-reply text once the caller hangs up, to mobile phones only. Its pricing page describes Myna as running the front desk at every location around the clock, and doesn’t say which businesses that’s sold to. Ask which of the two your quote covers.
Why owners look past Birdeye
- You can’t see a price first. Nothing on the pricing page has a dollar figure, so you hand over your details before you learn what it costs.
- The exit window closes early. Ninety days’ written notice means deciding a full quarter before renewal. Miss it and the agreement runs for another term of the same length.
- Renewal adds 8%. The terms apply it to all recurring fees when an agreement auto-renews, unless yours says otherwise.
- It’s written for many locations. The pricing page talks about every location and per-location deployment, which is a different shape from a one-shop owner’s month.
- Calls may not reach a voice. The setup guide, dated November 18, 2025, describes voicemail and a text. Whether Myna’s voice answering is sold to a small single-location business isn’t stated.
Where CoveDesk is different
- A voice on the line. A trained voice assistant answers in your business’s name and takes the details, where Birdeye’s setup guide describes voicemail, a transcript and a text.
- You can read the price and leave monthly. CoveDesk’s prices are on our pricing page, there’s no setup fee, and Front Desk is month to month.
- What you give up. No multi-location review dashboard or directory listings, no job software connection, no calendar booking and no Spanish yet. Callers hear a short notice at the start of the call.
Switching from Birdeye
- Unless your order form says otherwise, agreements renew for the same length as the first term unless written notice of non-renewal reaches Birdeye at least 90 days before the renewal date. Its terms list legal@birdeye.com for notices. Source: Birdeye’s terms (opens in a new tab)
- At auto-renewal, an 8% fee applies to all recurring fees, unless you signed before April 1, 2024 or your agreement specifically changes it. Source: Birdeye’s terms (opens in a new tab)
- Payment obligations are non-cancellable and payments non-refundable, except where the terms say otherwise, and we found no right to leave mid-term simply because you want to. Source: Birdeye’s terms (opens in a new tab)
- If it ends because of your breach, you pay what would have been due for the rest of the term. Late payments can carry up to 1.5% a month. Source: Birdeye’s terms (opens in a new tab)
Before you cancel anything, forward your calls to the new service and make three test calls of your own: a new customer, an urgent problem and a wrong number.
How we checked this
We make CoveDesk, so we’re not neutral, and this page isn’t a review. Everything about Birdeye comes from its own website, read on November 3, 2026, with the pages linked below. We haven’t bought its service, and we don’t quote ratings or anyone’s opinion as fact. Where we couldn’t find a fact, we say so instead of guessing, and “not mentioned” means not on the pages we read, which isn’t a search of its whole site.
Common questions
How much does Birdeye cost per month?
Is Birdeye free to use?
What is Birdeye used for?
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Can I keep my number if I leave Birdeye?
How do I cancel Birdeye?
Is CoveDesk a live receptionist service?
Sources
What this page says about Birdeye comes from these pages of its website, read on November 3, 2026:
- https://birdeye.com/pricing/ (opens in a new tab) (plans and prices, how use is counted, setup fee, free trial, website)
- https://support.birdeye.com/en/articles/12653071-how-to-set-up-birdeye-receptionist (opens in a new tab) (who answers, who sets it up, urgent calls, text back after a missed call)
- https://birdeye.com/terms/ (opens in a new tab) (contract, money-back guarantee, switching)
- https://birdeye.com/home-services/ (opens in a new tab) (booking, job software and crms, spanish, review requests, google profile care)
- CoveDesk: our pricing page
Prices and features change; check Birdeye’s website before you buy. Company names are the trademarks of their owners and are used only to identify their services; none of them is affiliated with or endorses CoveDesk. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we’ll fix it.
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