Doing it yourself costs less: a chat tool with AI, a booking calendar and a simple CRM come to about A$173 a month at published prices, with no set-up fee. LeadGenie sets it up and keeps it working for you: Starter is A$199 a month plus A$999 set-up, ex GST. DIY suits owners with spare evenings. Done for you suits owners without them.
A slow month, a missed enquiry, and on a Sunday night you sign up for a chat tool, a booking calendar and a simple CRM. Each one is cheap. Then you log in and everything is empty: contacts to import, answers to write, a calendar to connect. A busy fortnight arrives, the set-up waits, and the subscriptions keep renewing.
What we do in your first fortnight:
Example business: Bluegum Tiling, on Starter. We set this the week after a DIY set-up was finished, which is where DIY is strongest.
Example only: Bluegum Tiling is an invented business, and A$6,500 to A$9,000 is an example rate, not a LeadGenie price or a market rate. How done for you works →
In 30 minutes we show you what we’d set up for your business, and how your enquiries would be answered.
Sign up tonight and you’re in all three tools before dinner. We take 7 to 10 business days, because we test it first.
Importing, connecting, writing and testing land on your quoting evenings, so DIY set-ups stall. We do it before you log in.
Built it yourself? Change it yourself, straight away. With us you ask, and we change it at no charge.
Three tools from three companies don’t share contacts or bookings on their own. Ours is set up and tested as one system.
DIY, you can drop one tool and keep the rest. With us it’s one system, and the A$999 set-up isn’t refunded.
A broken set-up looks like a quiet week, and you hear about it from a customer. With us, the team that set it up looks after it.
About A$173 a month for all three, with no set-up fee: about A$1,300 cheaper than Starter in year one.
Six months on, are the prices current and is anyone using it? We keep ours current, and you can cancel it in one go.
Taken from the tools’ own published pricing, converted from US dollars.
About A$123 a month (US$88): a live-chat plan, the AI add-on and the tool’s logo removed. Free plans suit a few chats a week.
About A$17 a month (US$12) for one person on a paid plan. Free plans cover the basics.
About A$33 a month (US$24) for one login on an entry plan billed monthly. Each extra person is another login.
The usual fix is another app with its own plan. When its free allowance runs out, the links stop without telling you. Not priced here.
Most bill in US dollars, so the cost rises when the dollar falls. Figures use the exchange rate of 11 September 2026.
Each tool bills from the day you sign up, built or not. A set-up that takes three months costs three months of subscriptions first. Ours charges the set-up fee on signing, and the monthly fee starts when it goes live.
Choosing, importing, connecting, writing, testing, then checking it every week. It’s real work, and it’s nowhere on the invoice.
None of this says self-serve software is bad, or that you couldn’t set it up. Plenty of owners run their own tools well for years. We’re comparing who does the work, not whose software is better.
Where these figures come from: the published pricing pages of widely used self-serve tools as at September 2026, in US dollars, converted at A$1.3951 to the US dollar and rounded. The chat tool uses the same figures as our chatbot comparison. Calendar paid plans start around US$10 a month; entry CRM plans run from about US$14 to US$24. We haven’t named the tools because their plans change often, so check current prices before you decide. Left out, which understates the DIY column: an app to link the tools, a shared inbox, a social planner, a reviews widget, card fees, GST and your own hours. What our side costs, in full →
DIY is priced as a typical small business would put it together: a chat tool with the AI on, a booking calendar and a simple CRM, from published pricing. Ours is our published price. DIY is the cheaper column.
A worked example, not a claim. With a free calendar and CRM, DIY drops to about A$1,473; on free plans, nothing. The one row we win assumes the whole year is paid: a set-up cancelled at month three costs about A$520. No dollar value is put on your hours. Work out what missed enquiries cost you →
Starter (Answer my messages): A$199 a month plus A$999 set-up, done for you. The AI answers web chat, Facebook, Instagram and email in up to 3 seconds. Unlimited conversations, fair use applies. The monthly fee starts the day it goes live.
Not included: phone calls and texts. Those start on Growth.
Prices ex GST · Locked in for your first 12 months · Month to month, no lock-in, 30 days’ notice to cancel
Set up for you and kept current. Answers web chat, Facebook, Instagram and email in up to 3 seconds, and books into your calendar. No phone line. Plus A$999 set-up.
Adds an AI receptionist that answers your phone on the first ring, with an Australian mobile number included. Calls and texts are billed by use: about A$30 to A$70 a month for most businesses (an estimate). Plus A$1,999 set-up. How Growth works →
See how long your business takes to reply to a new enquiry. Free, no sign-up. Run the speed test →
Nothing below Growth has a phone line: Get Found (A$29), Get Organised (A$59), Get Connected (A$89) and Starter (A$199) send alerts by email. Growth (A$499) and Pro (from A$799) include an Australian mobile number: calls A$0.03 a minute, texts A$0.11 sent and A$0.02 received. Smart Tools have no set-up fee and take 3 to 8 business days. AI plan set-up: A$999 on Starter, A$1,999 on Growth, from A$2,499 on Pro, not refundable except where the law requires it or for a billing error. Both plan families →
Doing it yourself is the right pick in these cases.
Only dread the set-up, and happy to answer your own enquiries? Smart Tools from A$29 a month are set up by us, with no set-up fee.
Everything in the fortnight list above, in your account, before you log in. You approve access to your calendar and inbox from your own accounts; we never ask for a password. How done for you works →
You can see every conversation and booking. Changes to what the assistant says go through us, so they’re tested first, at no extra charge. If you want to rewrite it yourself at 11pm, DIY suits you better.
Not because of this page. If customers already book through it, keep it. If you go ahead with us, keep it running until ours is live, then compare.
It writes in your words, from answers you approve, and always tells people it’s an AI assistant. Anyone who asks for a person is passed to you by email.
No. Month to month, no lock-in, no exit fee, 30 days’ notice to cancel. Prices are locked in for your first 12 months, and the monthly fee starts the day it goes live. The A$999 set-up fee isn’t refundable, except where the law requires it or for a billing error. Full terms →
Starter is A$199 a month plus A$999 set-up, ex GST, with unlimited conversations, fair use applies. DIY is about A$173 a month for three tools, before an app to link them. Calls and texts need Growth, A$499 a month plus A$1,999 set-up. AI plan prices →
A 30-minute video call, no obligation. Bring a list of the software you pay for, and we’ll show you what done for you would look like for your business.
