fonio.ai vs Heilo: an AI voice agent or business call recording?

fonio.ai is a voice agent that answers calls and talks to callers instead of your staff. It scores well on review sites: 4.4 out of 5 on Trustpilot and 4.8 out of 5 on OMR Reviews. Heilo works differently: it never talks to callers; it records the calls your sales reps handle and sends the notes to your CRM.

Reviewed: 19 October 2026. This comparison is written by the Heilo team, based on fonio's published product information and our knowledge of Heilo. We have not compared both systems on a controlled audio sample or measured their sales outcomes.

Voice agent versus conversation capture

fonio describes an AI phone assistant linked to a fonio phone number or your own phone system, with behaviour you define and more than 30 integrations, including calendar tools and CRMs (checked 19 October 2026). When testing an agent, check how accurately it answers, how it handles unfamiliar questions and how it transfers callers to a person. Go beyond the examples used in a successful demo.

Heilo never talks to callers. It records the calls your sales reps make and take, and after a missed call it can play a greeting so the caller can leave a message. It produces a transcript, a summary and suggested tasks, and on Heilo Line the call coach shows after each call what went well and what to improve. The notes go to the customer's existing CRM through the API and webhooks, Zapier or Make. Smaller firms without a CRM can use its built-in contacts and tasks.

Do not infer Polish-language quality from the supplier's country of origin. Test the actual names and questions you use. A translated website is also not proof that a particular phone-number type is available.

fonio.ai reviews

fonio.ai's ratings on review sites (checked 19 October 2026):

• Trustpilot: TrustScore 4.4 out of 5 from 279 reviews.
• OMR Reviews: 4.8 out of 5 from 327 reviews. OMR is a German review site, so check which language the reviewers' calls were in.

According to OMR's summary, users praise the easy setup, the intuitive interface, the natural voice and fast, competent support. Some criticise the billing logic and an inflexible pricing structure, problems recognising names, missing features such as rescheduling appointments, and the time it takes to write the agent's instructions.

An average score does not tell you how the agent will handle your questions, customer names and product names. Only a trial on your own calls will. We make a different product, so we do not give fonio a score of our own.

Price conditions matter

fonio publishes net prices, excluding VAT, for each market (checked 19 October 2026). On its English pricing page the Solo phone plan with 1,000 minutes costs €99 per month billed annually or €119 billed monthly; the Polish pricing page lists 399 PLN and 479 PLN for the same plan. Solo includes one phone number and one user, and its plan card says it takes no concurrent calls; the Team plan takes three. When the included minutes run out, fonio adds 100-minute packs automatically (€15 or 50 PLN each). Use the pricing page for your own market rather than converting these figures.

Heilo is priced per number and billed monthly; the current plans and prices are on the pricing page. For a sales team the plan is Heilo Line: each rep who takes and makes calls through Heilo needs their own number. Heilo Line includes 6 hours of recorded calls per number in each billing period; each extra hour is billed per minute at the rate on the pricing page and added to the next invoice. Heilo Voicemail and Heilo Select carry an indicative limit of 500 recorded minutes per number per month that never blocks calls. Carrier forwarding charges and integration tools may cost extra.

To compare total costs, set the agent's bundle of minutes in fonio against the number of reps who need a Heilo number, rather than comparing an entry-level message service (Heilo Voicemail) with a voice agent's bundle of minutes.

Heilo's capture boundaries

• Heilo Line gives each rep a Polish company number (+48) (call assistant). Incoming calls to it and outgoing calls started with “Call via Heilo” are recorded automatically. Outgoing calls go to +48 numbers only, and calls placed with your phone's ordinary dialler are not recorded. Heilo orders the number from the carrier after verifying the company by its Polish tax ID (NIP).
• Heilo Select: you keep your number and add Heilo to a chosen call; your carrier must support conference calls. Only the part of the call after Heilo joins is recorded (invite to record).
• Heilo Voicemail: you forward missed calls at your carrier, and Heilo plays a greeting and takes the caller's message (business voicemail).

If SMS notifications are configured, they provide context and a link; the full transcript is available in Heilo. After an unanswered call, you can only learn what the caller wanted if they leave a message.

Choosing and testing

fonio is the better choice if you want an agent to answer and handle calls on its own, for example after hours, for appointments or for frequent questions; Heilo does not do that. Consider Heilo if your team will handle conversations and needs the call details in its existing CRM. Test the exact recording setup, recording procedure and export. Review data-processing terms, subprocessors and international transfers; hosting the app in Europe does not by itself tell you where all data is processed or establish legal compliance.

For other comparisons, see Heilo vs Ringostat and call recording to CRM.

FAQ

Can Heilo answer knowledge-base questions instead of fonio?

No. It does not conduct conversations with callers.

Can I keep my current number?

Yes, with Heilo Voicemail or Heilo Select: both work on your existing number, through missed-call forwarding or by adding Heilo to a call, where your carrier supports this. Heilo Line is a new Polish company number (+48). fonio links its assistant to a fonio phone number or to your own phone system (fonio, checked 19 October 2026). With a fonio number you keep your own number and forward calls from your business number to the assistant (AI answering machine, checked 19 October 2026). fonio's pricing page lists SIP trunk integration, which connects your own system, for the Team and Scale plans but not for Solo.

Does setup always take five minutes?

There is no fixed setup time. The work required depends on the number, carrier, recording procedure and integration.