How We Compare · vs. DIY AI tools
The software is cheap.
Running it becomes your job.
Self-serve AI receptionist apps have real appeal: low monthly price, sign up today. The catch is in the word self-serve — you become the person who configures, tests, monitors, and tunes an AI phone system. That's a job, and it's now yours.
Monthly price
Who sets it up
Who tests it before it takes real calls
Who monitors and tunes it
When it mishandles a call
Direct messages and leads from Facebook or Instagram
Your time required
| DIY AI tools | Luna Front | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | Genuinely low — often under $100 | From $449/mo, $299 setup stated upfront |
| Who sets it up | You — prompts, greetings, booking logic, integrations | We do, around your services and rules |
| Who tests it before it takes real calls | You, if you think to | We do — every account is tested before going live |
| Who monitors and tunes it | You, on an ongoing basis | We do — it's managed, continuously |
| When it mishandles a call | You find out from an unhappy caller, then debug it | Escalation rules mean no call ends undefined; we adjust the config |
| Direct messages and leads from Facebook or Instagram | Not touched — it answers the phone, that's the product | DMs answered and lead forms captured, into the same intake and booking pipeline as a call, tagged by source (Growth and Pro) |
| Your time required | Hours to launch, ongoing attention forever | An onboarding conversation, then summaries |
The Honest Version
Where each one actually wins.
The hidden line item is your time
With a DIY tool, the subscription is the visible cost. The invisible one: evenings spent writing prompts, testing edge cases, listening to call recordings, and adjusting settings when the AI says something odd to a real customer. You didn't get out of front-desk work — you became the front desk's manager.
An AI on the phone is not a set-and-forget appliance
Callers ask unexpected things. Services change, hours change, booking rules have exceptions. Someone has to notice when the AI handles those badly and fix it. With self-serve software, that someone is you; with Luna Front, it's us — that's what fully managed means.
What you see instead
We configure Luna Front around your business, test it before it answers a single real call, and keep tuning it as your business changes. You see booked appointments and call summaries — not a dashboard of settings.
Questions
Asked before, answered here.
If it doesn't cover its plan fee in 30 days, you aren't charged it.
Your first plan fee isn't charged until 30 days after go-live — and only if Luna Front booked enough in those 30 days to cover it. If it didn't, that month is never billed. The one-time $299 setup fee is charged at signup and is not refundable, so the most you can be out is that $299.
No lock-in
Every plan is month-to-month. Cancel any time, no cancellation fee.