Double Menu vs Aircall: a call menu for local businesses vs. a phone platform licensed per user
Choose Double Menuif you want to build the call flow yourself and add AI only where it helps.
Double Menu is a keypad call menu you design, with optional AI branches. You decide which paths exist, what each branch does, where AI answers and where a person picks up. The AI works inside your menu, not instead of it.
Choose Double Menu if
You need to separate urgent calls from routine ones
You want AI on some branches but human routing on others
You want one flat monthly price rather than a per-user licence
You want your call data to stay in the EU
You want a call flow you can edit yourself in a few minutes
Choose Aircallif you need a full business phone platform for a team, with integrations and agent reporting.
Aircall is a business phone system. Its Smartflows editor is a visual drag-and-drop call-flow builder with multi-level keypad menus, time and holiday rules, and routing to users and teams. Around it sit shared inboxes, integrations, analytics and an optional AI Voice Agent. Most plans are licensed per user with a three-licence minimum.
Choose Aircall if
You have a team taking calls all day and need per-user licences
You need deep CRM and helpdesk integrations
You want agent-level reporting and call coaching
A three-licence minimum is not a problem for you
Double Menu
Aircall
Caller interaction
Keypad menu you design. The same key always goes to the same place.[1]Verified
Keypad IVR built in Smartflows, Aircall's visual drag-and-drop call-flow editor, with single-digit keypad input for callers.[2]Verified
Routing controls
Keypad branches, an after-hours greeting, and a first-keypress emergency branch you define yourself.[1]Configuration-specific
Nested multi-level menus, time-based rules for business hours, holidays and custom schedules, and routing to users and teams.[2]Verified
AI deployment
Optional, per branch. The Line plan has no AI at all; AI branches start on the Smart plan.[1]Plan-specific
Optional add-on. AI Voice Agent minutes are sold separately, pay-as-you-go or prepaid; every account gets 50 free AI minutes a month plus 100 more at sign-up.[3]Verified
Caller speech sent to AI
Only inside an AI branch you switch on. A keypad-only call streams no audio to any provider — keypad booking included.[1][4]Configuration-specific
The AI Voice Agent is an optional add-on, so caller speech reaches it only where you deploy it. Call recording is listed from the Essentials plan.[3]Plan-specific
Human handoff
A direct-to-person branch on every plan: you decide which keys ring a person.[1]Configuration-specific
Human routing is the default path — Smartflows routes to users and teams. Where the AI Voice Agent is used, Aircall lists live transfer to human agents with context.[2][3]Verified
Appointment workflow
Keypad booking on the Smart and Multi plans: the caller hears the free times and presses a key, with no speech recognition involved. An AI branch can book as well. Not available on the Line plan.[1]Plan-specific
Listed as an in-call action of the AI Voice Agent add-on rather than a feature of the base plans.[3]Plan-specific
SMS to the caller
SMS auto-reply on every plan — 50, 150 or 300 messages a month, then €0.06 per message.[1]Plan-specific
Essentials and Professional can send and receive SMS and MMS, with availability and rates varying by country. Automated messaging is a separate AI Messaging product.[3]Plan-specific
Recordings and transcripts
A call log with the keypress timeline on every plan. Audio recordings and transcripts come from AI branches only, and recording is off by default.[1]Verified
Call recording is listed from the Essentials plan upwards, kept up to 1 year on Essentials and unlimited on Professional, with 6 months available in the dashboard.[3]Plan-specific
Analytics
Analytics dashboard from the Smart plan. The Line plan shows the call log only.[1]Plan-specific
Agent and team analytics. The menu option a caller selects is captured and can be pushed to your CRM by webhook.[2]Verified
Data location
The application and its database run in the EU — Hetzner, Nuremberg, Germany. Our security and data page lists every subprocessor and our retention defaults; the DPA itself is available on request.[4]Verified
For accounts opened after 3 May 2022, call recordings and voicemails follow the country code of the number used at sign-up, so an EMEA number stores them on AWS in Frankfurt, Germany. Voice transcriptions and AI-generated files are stored exclusively on AWS in Oregon, USA, wherever the recording itself sits, as is all other personal information. European personal data may also reach subprocessors in the USA, Australia and India, under Standard Contractual Clauses, the EU-US Data Privacy Framework or an adequacy decision depending on the subprocessor.[5]Verified
Published entry price
€29/month for the Line plan, which has no AI. €69/month for the Smart plan, the first with AI.[1]Verified
Aircall publishes Essentials from $30 per user per month and Professional from $50 per user per month on annual billing; the pricing page itself renders amounts in a market-sensitive widget rather than in text. Essentials and Professional normally need at least three licences, making the published entry point $90 a month for three users, before country-specific calling, number, messaging and AI charges. Custom needs at least 25 licences; the Starter AI plan has no minimum and includes 1 user.[6][7][3]Verified
Several locations
One, three or ten phone numbers depending on plan; the Multi plan adds a multi-location dashboard. One flat monthly price — nothing multiplied by seats or sites.[1]Plan-specific
SourcesLast checked: 2026-07-25
- [1]Double Menu — Pricing and plans — plan matrix, limits and top-up rates. https://doublemenu.ai/pricing
- [2]Aircall — IVR — Smartflows visual call-flow editor, multi-level keypad menus. https://aircall.io/call-center-software-features/ivr/
- [3]Aircall — Pricing and plans — AI Voice Agent minutes, messaging, call recording (prices render in a live widget, not in the page text). https://aircall.io/pricing/
- [4]Double Menu — Security and data — hosting location, subprocessors, retention defaults and DPA availability. https://doublemenu.ai/security
- [5]Aircall — Privacy FAQs — storage region per data category and transfer mechanisms. https://aircall.io/privacy-faqs/
- [6]Aircall — Aircall vs Dialpad — Aircall's own published plan price table (published 3 December 2025). https://aircall.io/blog/aircall-vs-dialpad/
- [7]Aircall — Help Center — plans: pricing and flexibility (licence minimums). https://support.aircall.io/en-gb/articles/30599733509277
How we compare: we read each vendor’s own product, pricing, help and privacy pages and link every material claim to the page we read. We have not independently tested the competing products. Where a vendor does not publish something, we say so rather than marking it as missing.
Our own column is sourced the same way: plan figures from our published pricing page, hosting and retention from our security and data page. Aircall prices per licence; Double Menu prices one account. The published Aircall prices above are a US listing in dollars on annual billing — country, phone numbers, call bundles and AI minutes all change the real total, so compare the plan you would actually need.