Skip to content

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

DIY AI toolsGenuinely low — often under $100
LunaFrontFrom $449/mo, $299 setup stated upfront

Who sets it up

DIY AI toolsYou — prompts, greetings, booking logic, integrations
LunaFrontWe do, around your services and rules

Who tests it before it takes real calls

DIY AI toolsYou, if you think to
LunaFrontWe do — every practice is tested before going live

Who monitors and tunes it

DIY AI toolsYou, on an ongoing basis
LunaFrontWe do — it's managed, continuously

When it mishandles a call

DIY AI toolsYou find out from an unhappy caller, then debug it
LunaFrontEscalation rules mean no call ends undefined; we adjust the config

Your time required

DIY AI toolsHours to launch, ongoing attention forever
LunaFrontAn onboarding conversation, then summaries
DIY AI toolsLunaFront
Monthly priceGenuinely low — often under $100From $449/mo, $299 setup stated upfront
Who sets it upYou — prompts, greetings, booking logic, integrationsWe do, around your services and rules
Who tests it before it takes real callsYou, if you think toWe do — every practice is tested before going live
Who monitors and tunes itYou, on an ongoing basisWe do — it's managed, continuously
When it mishandles a callYou find out from an unhappy caller, then debug itEscalation rules mean no call ends undefined; we adjust the config
Your time requiredHours to launch, ongoing attention foreverAn 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 patient. 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 LunaFront, it's us — that's what fully managed means.

What you see instead

We configure LunaFront around your practice, test it before it answers a single real call, and keep tuning it as your practice changes. You see booked appointments and call summaries — not a dashboard of settings.

Questions

Asked before, answered here.

If you have the time and interest to configure, test, and continuously tune an AI phone system, a DIY tool can work. Most practice owners don't — and an unmonitored AI answering real patient calls is a risk to the thing a front desk exists to protect: how your practice sounds.

Configuration around your services, booking rules, and voice; testing before launch; going live in about 5 business days; ongoing monitoring and tuning; and defined escalation rules so no call ends undefined. Your team never touches software.

The differences that matter most aren't in the model — they're in everything around it: how it's configured, tested, monitored, and corrected. That operational layer is the product. It's also why LunaFront costs more than software and less than a hire.

If it doesn't cover its plan fee in 30 days, we refund that fee.

If LunaFront doesn't book enough in your first 30 days after go-live to cover your monthly plan fee, we refund that month's plan fee. The one-time $299 setup fee is not refundable.