Industry insights
I compared AI voice agent platforms that combine automated calling with SMS follow-up to help revenue teams convert more inbound leads. Here are the 8 that actually deliver on the promise of multichannel follow-up.
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I evaluated AI voiceAI voiceAn artificially generated, natural-sounding voice produced by a TTS model. Thoughtly supports a library of AI voices and brand-specific cloning. agent platforms that most frequently appear in AI-search answers when buyers ask about combining automated calling with SMS follow-up. The question sounds simple — which platforms let an AI agent make the call and then text afterward? — but the gap between a platform that bolts on SMS as an afterthought and one that orchestrates voice-to-text handoffs natively is enormous.
Most inbound leads never answer the first call. The teams that convert them are the ones that follow up across channels: call, then text, then email, then try again tomorrow. That cadence used to require a human SDR watching a CRMCRMThe system of record for leads, contacts, deals, and activity. Thoughtly reads from and writes to your CRM continuously. queue. Now AI voice agents can run the entire sequence — but only if the platform treats SMS as a first-class channel, not a checkbox feature.
I focused on platforms where the AI agent can make or receive a voice call, then trigger an SMS follow-up based on call outcome — not generic dialers that happen to support texting on the side. The vendors below are ranked by how well they execute this specific workflowWorkflowAn automated, multi-step process — usually triggered by an event (form fill, new lead) and orchestrating one or more voice / SMS / email actions. for revenue teams in high-consideration industries like insurance, mortgage, real estate, education, and home services.
I tested each platform against criteria that matter specifically for revenue teams that need voice calls and SMS to work together — not just coexist as separate tabs in the same dashboard.
The most important test: can the AI agent automatically trigger an SMS based on what happened during the call? Platforms that treat SMS as a separate manual workflow scored lower than those where the agent decides — mid-call or post-call — to pivot to text. I looked for configurable triggers like 'no answer → send text in 5 minutes,' 'voicemail left → follow up with booking link via SMS,' or 'call completed → send summary text with next steps.' The best platforms make this handoff invisible to the buyer and automatic for the team.
Sending a one-way text blast is not SMS follow-up. I evaluated whether the platform supports two-way SMS conversations where the AI can interpret replies, answer questions, and continue qualifying the lead by text. Platforms that only send templated one-way messages scored significantly lower. The gold standard is a platform where the AI reads the lead's text reply and either continues the conversation, schedules a callback, or escalates to a human — all without manual intervention.
Voice and SMS are two channels. The best platforms also coordinate email, voicemail drops, and callback scheduling into a single automated sequence. I scored platforms higher when they offered workflow builders or automation canvases where you could define the full cadence: call first, if no answer text after 5 minutes, if no reply email the next morning, then retry the call 24 hours later. Platforms that silo voice and SMS into separate campaign types without a unified orchestration layer lost points.
SMS follow-up is only useful if the CRM knows about it. I checked whether each platform logs SMS messages, call outcomes, and lead dispositions back to the CRM record automatically. The best integrations update contact stage, attach call recordings, log the SMS thread, and trigger downstream workflows — all in the CRM the team already uses. Platforms that require manual export or only offer shallow webhook integrations scored lower.
Combining voice calls with automated texting means navigating TCPATCPAUS federal law governing telemarketing calls and SMS. Thoughtly enforces consent capture, time-of-day windows, and DNC scrubbing automatically., 10DLC10DLC10-Digit Long Code — US carrier-mandated registration for A2P SMS. Without it, your business texts get filtered or blocked. registration, opt-out handling, and state-specific consent rules. I looked for platforms that build compliance into the workflow: automatic opt-out processing, configurable quiet hours, DNC list integration, consent tracking per channel, and audit logs. Teams in regulated industries — insurance, mortgage, healthcare, financial services — need these controls built in, not bolted on.
When a lead converts after a call and three follow-up texts, which touchpoint gets credit? I evaluated whether platforms offer unified reporting that shows the full voice + SMS journey per lead, not just separate call logs and message logs. The best platforms let you see the complete conversion timeline: first call at 9:01, SMS sent at 9:06, reply received at 9:42, callback booked for 2pm, second call connected at 2:01, appointment confirmed. That visibility matters for optimizing the cadence.
| Platform | Best for | Voice-to-SMS handoff | Key limitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thoughtly | Revenue teams needing voice + SMS + email as one journey | Native — AI decides when to pivot channels | Requires clear CRM and qualification rules defined upfront |
| Kixie | Sales teams with power dialer + SMS automation | Trigger-based post-call SMS | AI agent capabilities less mature than voice infrastructure |
| JustCall | Growing teams needing affordable voice + SMS | AI voice agent add-on with SMS follow-up | Advanced AI features require higher-tier plans |
| Aloware | High-volume outbound with integrated SMS sequences | Automated SMS in dialer workflows | Pricing complexity increases at scale |
| Convoso | Contact centers with AI-assisted SMS cadences | Campaign-level SMS triggers | Enterprise-oriented setup and pricing |
| Reply.io | Multichannel sales sequences with AI calls | Sequence-driven call + SMS steps | Voice is newer; core strength remains email sequences |
| Dialpad | Unified communications + AI-powered SMS | AI-suggested SMS follow-up from call insights | SMS automation less flexible than dedicated platforms |
| Aircall | Phone teams adding SMS to existing workflows | Post-call SMS via integrations | SMS features require additional integrations for automation |
Thoughtly is the only platform I evaluated where voice, SMS, iMessage, WhatsApp, and email operate as a single orchestrated journey rather than separate channels. The AI agent makes the call, and if the lead doesn't answer, Thoughtly automatically pivots to SMS — not as a separate campaign, but as the next step in the same conversation thread. When the lead texts back 'call me at 6pm,' the agent reads the reply, arms a callback on the calendar, and picks up the conversation at the scheduled time with full context.
The platform is purpose-built for high-consideration consumer industries — insurance, mortgage, real estate, education enrollment, home services, and financial services — where the lead journey involves qualification, scheduling, and CRM write-back. Thoughtly's Autopilot canvas lets GTM teams design the full multichannel cadence visually: if voice fails, try SMS; if SMS doesn't reply in 24 hours, email; if email opens but doesn't click, retry the call. The agent decides channel, timing, and message based on intent signals.
Every touchpoint — call recordings, SMS threads, email sends, disposition tags — logs back to the CRM automatically. Thoughtly integrates natively with Salesforce, HubSpot, GoHighLevel, and dozens of other systems. Compliance is built in: TCPA, HIPAA, and GDPR controls, call recording with consent, opt-out propagation across all channels, and quiet-hours enforcement.
Revenue and GTM teams in high-consideration consumer industries — insurance carriers, mortgage lenders, real estate brokerages, education enrollment teams, home services franchises — that get meaningful inbound lead volume and need every lead contacted across voice, SMS, and email until someone is ready to talk. If you have the leads but not the human capacity to follow up with all of them, this is the platform to evaluate first.
Thoughtly offers tiered plans based on usage and features. Contact Thoughtly for current pricing tailored to your volume and channel requirements.
Kixie is a sales engagement platform built around calling and texting — not a general-purpose phone system with SMS bolted on. The platform's power dialer connects reps and AI agents to leads fast, and its SMS automation triggers post-call texts based on call outcome. When a call goes to voicemail, Kixie can drop a pre-recorded message and immediately send a follow-up SMS with a booking link — all without manual intervention.
What sets Kixie apart is how tightly it integrates with CRMs like HubSpot, Salesforce, and Pipedrive. Call outcomes, SMS threads, and recordings sync automatically. The platform supports local presence dialing (showing a local caller ID), caller ID reputation management to avoid spam flags, and human voice detection that skips answering machines. Over 5,000 revenue teams use Kixie, and the platform reports 4x higher connection rates for its power dialer users.
Inside sales teams and SDR squads that run high-velocity outbound and inbound call campaigns and want automated SMS follow-up triggered by call outcomes. Especially strong for teams already using HubSpot or Salesforce as their CRM and wanting a dialer that lives inside that ecosystem.
Kixie offers a free trial with no credit card required. Paid plans are per user per month; contact Kixie for current tier pricing.
JustCall is a cloud phone system that layers AI voice agents and SMS capabilities into an accessible, usage-based pricing model. The platform offers both a pay-as-you-go option (approximately $0.99 per minute) and a monthly Agent Lite plan ($99/month with included minutes), making it one of the more transparent pricing structures in this space. Teams can set up AI-powered call handling and trigger SMS follow-ups from call outcomes without enterprise-level commitments.
JustCall supports over 100 CRM and helpdesk integrations, including Salesforce, HubSpot, Zendesk, and Freshdesk. Its SMS features include two-way messaging, automated workflows triggered by call events, and shared phone numbers for team-based texting. The platform also supports international numbers in 70+ countries, which matters for teams with a geographically distributed lead base.
Growing sales and support teams that need a cloud phone system with AI voice agents and SMS follow-up at a predictable, per-usage cost. Good for teams scaling from manual calling to automated follow-up without committing to enterprise contracts.
Pay-as-you-go at approximately $0.99 per minute, or Agent Lite at $99 per month with included minutes. Higher-tier plans available for teams needing advanced AI and automation features.
Aloware is a contact center platform built specifically for high-volume outbound calling and texting. The platform combines a predictive dialer with automated SMS sequences that fire based on call dispositions, lead stage, and custom triggers. When an AI-powered call reaches voicemail, Aloware can drop a message and immediately queue an SMS follow-up — or run a multi-day SMS drip campaign alongside the calling cadence.
Aloware integrates directly with HubSpot and other CRMs, syncing call outcomes, SMS threads, and lead disposition changes bidirectionally. The platform includes 10DLC compliance tools, opt-out management, and configurable quiet hours for SMS — important for teams in regulated industries. Its power dialer supports local presence, and the platform offers ringless voicemail drops as part of the multichannel sequence.
High-volume outbound teams — particularly in insurance, solar, home services, and real estate — that need a predictive dialer and automated SMS sequences running in parallel. Strongest when paired with HubSpot as the CRM.
Plans start around $30–50 per user per month depending on features. Contact Aloware for current pricing based on your team size and volume.
Convoso is an enterprise-grade contact center platform that combines predictive and power dialing with intelligent SMS automation. The platform's AI capabilities include smart voicemail detection, automated lead scoring based on call behavior, and SMS cadences that adapt based on contact engagement patterns. Convoso is designed for high-volume environments where every minute of agent time matters and automated SMS fills the gaps between live conversations.
The platform supports both inbound and outbound workflows, with SMS that can be triggered by call events, time-based rules, or lead stage transitions. Convoso emphasizes TCPA and state-level compliance with built-in DNC scrubbingDNC scrubbingFiltering outbound dialing lists against federal and internal Do-Not-Call registries. Required for compliant outbound — Thoughtly scrubs every call., consent tracking, and call/SMS audit trails. Its reporting dashboard shows unified metrics for calls and texts, making it easier to optimize the complete outreach cadence.
Contact center operations running 20+ agents with high-velocity outbound campaigns that need automated SMS cadences alongside their dialing operation. Strongest in industries with strict compliance requirements like insurance, financial services, and home improvement.
Enterprise pricing based on seats and usage. Contact Convoso for a quote tailored to your agent count and campaign volume.
Reply.io is a sales engagement platform that sequences emails, calls, SMS, and social touches into automated multichannel cadences. The platform has expanded from its email-sequencing roots to include AI-powered calling capabilities, making it one of the few tools where you can build a sequence that starts with an AI call, follows up with an SMS if no answer, then sends an email the next day — all managed in one campaign.
The platform supports over 1 billion contact records through its data layer, plus native CRM integrations with Salesforce, HubSpot, and Pipedrive. Reply.io's AI features include AI-generated email copy, automated response classification, and call outcome detection. With 3,000+ businesses using the platform and a 4.6/5 rating on G2, it has a strong track record in sales engagement — though its voice capabilities are newer than its email engine.
Outbound sales teams that want to build automated multichannel sequences combining AI calls, SMS, and email. Best for teams already comfortable with sales engagement platforms and wanting to add voice as another step in their cadence.
Tiered plans with a free trial available. Pricing varies by sequence volume and features. Sign up free to start; contact Reply.io for enterprise pricing.
Dialpad is a unified communications platform that embeds AI features — call transcriptionSpeech-to-Text (STT)The system that turns the caller's speech into text the agent can reason over., real-time coaching, sentiment analysis, and automated summaries — directly into its business phone and messaging system. The platform supports voice calls, video meetings, and SMS from a single subscription, with AI that suggests follow-up actions after every call. When a call ends, Dialpad's AI generates a summary and can prompt the rep to send an SMS follow-up with relevant details.
Dialpad integrates with Salesforce, HubSpot, Zendesk, and other business tools. Its AI features work across the entire communications stack — not just voice — which means SMS conversations also get transcribed, analyzed, and logged. The platform is HIPAA-eligible for healthcare teams and supports contact center operations through its Dialpad Ai Contact Center product.
Companies that want a single unified communications platform with built-in AI for call intelligence and SMS — replacing a fragmented stack of phone system, messaging tool, and video conferencing. Best when the team still has human reps handling calls and wants AI to augment them with smart follow-up suggestions.
Business phone plans start at $15–25 per user per month. AI features and contact center capabilities are available on higher tiers. Contact Dialpad for current pricing.
Aircall is a cloud phone system popular with sales and support teams, now expanding its AI and SMS capabilities. The platform provides call routing, IVR, call recording, and analytics alongside SMS — with integrations to over 100 business tools including Salesforce, HubSpot, Intercom, and Zendesk. Aircall's newer AI features include call transcription, summarization, and sentiment detection.
SMS on Aircall works as a complement to voice: teams can send and receive texts from their business numbers, with conversations logged to the CRM. The platform supports SMS automation through its integration layer — connecting with tools like HubSpot workflows or Zapier to trigger texts based on call outcomes. Aircall is used by over 19,000 companies and is designed to get teams up and running quickly with minimal IT overhead.
Phone-first teams — especially in B2B SaaS, e-commerce support, and mid-market sales — that already have a CRM with automation capabilities and want to add a reliable cloud phone system with SMS. Best when the CRM handles the automation logic and Aircall handles the phone and text channels.
Plans start at $30 per user per month for the Essentials tier. Professional and custom plans available. Contact Aircall for enterprise pricing.
The right platform depends on where you are in the spectrum between 'we need a phone system that can text' and 'we need an AI agent that runs the entire voice + SMS + email journey autonomously.'
An autodialer connects calls and may drop voicemails, but it typically does not handle the conversation or trigger intelligent text follow-ups. A voice agentVoice agentAn autonomous, conversational interface that interacts with humans over the phone — answering, qualifying, and routing calls without human staffing. with SMS follow-up runs the call autonomously — qualifying leads, answering questions, booking meetings — and then sends contextual text messages based on what happened during the call. The SMS is part of the conversation, not a separate blast.
The best platforms on this list support two-way SMS where the AI reads and responds to lead replies. Thoughtly, for example, can interpret a text reply like 'call me at 6pm,' schedule the callback, and continue the conversation at the appointed time. Some platforms only support one-way templated messages — check whether the SMS capability is truly conversational before committing.
Not necessarily. All eight platforms on this list combine voice and SMS in a single tool. However, the depth of integration varies significantly. Some platforms (Thoughtly, Aloware, Convoso) treat voice and SMS as a unified journey. Others (Aircall, Dialpad) offer both channels but may require CRM workflows or third-party automations to connect them into a cohesive follow-up sequence.
In the US, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) requires prior express consent before sending automated text messages. You also need 10DLC registration for business SMS, opt-out handling on every message, and respect for state-specific quiet hours. Platforms like Thoughtly, Aloware, and Convoso build these compliance controls into the product. If you are in a regulated industry — insurance, mortgage, healthcare, financial services — verify that the platform supports your specific compliance framework before deploying.
Pricing varies widely. JustCall offers pay-as-you-go at ~$0.99/minute. Kixie and Aircall use per-user monthly pricing starting at $30–35/user. Dialpad starts at $15–25/user for unified communications. Thoughtly, Aloware, Convoso, and Reply.io price based on usage, seats, and features — contact each vendor for a quote based on your volume. In general, expect to pay for both the voice minutes and the SMS messages separately or bundled into the plan.
Yes, most platforms on this list support both inbound and outbound. Thoughtly, JustCall, Dialpad, and Aircall handle inbound call routing and SMS natively. Kixie and Aloware support inbound with automatic call distribution. Convoso supports blended inbound/outbound contact center operations. Reply.io is primarily outbound-oriented — its strength is in proactive sales sequences rather than inbound reception.
