CiaoSepp alternative: Voko and CiaoSepp compared (2026)

Who CiaoSepp is

CiaoSepp (ciaosepp.ch) is an AI phone assistant named Sepp, based in Baar (canton of Zug).

Sepp answers calls, takes the request and creates a task with a summary and a transcript, which the team then works through. Customers start on their own: they register, enter their company and activate call forwarding.

Voko (Bern) is also an AI phone assistant for small businesses, set up by the business itself.

Prices and contract

The Voko plans differ in features as well as minutes. Starter has answering, booking into your calendar, call summaries, opening hours and holidays, voicemail and one transfer number. Pro adds appointment reminders, contacts with caller recognition and routing, several transfer destinations with a team directory, and bexio. Business adds the after-call webhook, booking in your own system through the booking API, number porting and priority support. The knowledge the assistant reads in full grows with the plan: 40,000 characters on Starter, 100,000 on Pro, 200,000 on Business. CiaoSepp also gates features by plan, so the fair comparison is plan against plan: judge the CHF 99 rows on Starter’s features. The free trial shows everything except number porting.

Three months at each provider’s entry plan: CiaoSepp Lite costs 3 x CHF 29 = CHF 87, for 50 minutes a month. At CHF 99, either provider costs 3 x CHF 99 = CHF 297, for 500 minutes a month.

Now take a month of 600 minutes (our own example). On Voko Starter, 100 extra minutes at CHF 0.35 make CHF 35, so CHF 134. CiaoSepp Starter adds 100 minutes at CHF 0.40, so CHF 139. Lite cannot buy extra minutes, so you would have to upgrade.

Neither price includes VAT. On Voko, transferred calls, reminders and website chat messages also count as minutes; browser test calls do not. CiaoSepp’s terms do not say how minutes are rounded.

Feature by feature

Languages and Swiss German

Voko offers seven languages (Swiss German as a beta) and can switch between six of them mid-call. CiaoSepp lists five. Both claim Swiss German, in different ways. These are two claims, not two measurements.

CiaoSepp’s own blog calls names, numbers and addresses weak spots for voice AI in general, and tells readers not to trust marketing promises, its own included. We apply the same rule to ours: test with a real call. On the Du/Sie switch, CiaoSepp is ahead.

Booking and calendar

Voko wins this group today: it books and checks slots on every plan, and sends reminders from Pro. Its drawback is the extra layer in between: calendars connect through Cal.com, there is no direct Google or Outlook link, and one assistant books one appointment type. CiaoSepp’s planned Google and Outlook connection would remove that layer, if it arrives.

Transfers, opening hours and voicemail

Voko wins on call handling: transfers (one number on Starter, several destinations from Pro; CiaoSepp announces a similar split by plan), holidays, closures, blocking. CiaoSepp’s emergency flag is a good idea: the team is emailed at once, which exists today, while a transfer to a phone is only announced.

Contacts and caller memory

Voko wins on recognition and routing, but only from Pro: Starter has no contacts. CiaoSepp adds contacts automatically from calls. Voko only suggests “Add to contacts” in the call list.

Knowledge the assistant learns from

Voko wins today with documents and scheduled website re-reads, though the amount it reads in full is capped by plan, at 40,000 characters on Starter. CiaoSepp states no size limit for its free text.

Summaries, transcripts and recordings

Voko offers more tools for working through calls. CiaoSepp’s task list sorted by urgency, with a morning email, is a clear way to start the day.

Integrations, API and webhooks

Voko is ahead today, but its list is short: bexio from Pro and, on Business only, the booking API and one webhook. CiaoSepp’s roadmap (API, HTTP tool calls, webhook) looks broader and is also reserved for its top plan, but none of it is available yet.

Phone numbers

Close to a draw. Voko states more about porting and numbers. With Voko you cannot pick an area code; CiaoSepp says nothing on this.

Team, security and support

Voko states more about access control and sign-in. CiaoSepp states an availability target and a hotline labelled “24/7”; its site does not say how the hotline is staffed.

Data and privacy

CiaoSepp’s column is its own statement, mostly from its terms and data processing agreement, not a check of ours.

CiaoSepp’s provider list names Google and Telnyx, not ElevenLabs, OpenAI or Twilio. It speaks of “primary” storage in Switzerland and discloses which providers process data elsewhere, such as Telnyx (USA) for telephony.

CiaoSepp is better suited if the public agreement and a Swiss storage claim matter most. Voko is better suited if stated retention periods and a zero-retention mode do.

Setup and trial

CiaoSepp says most customers are ready within 15 minutes, a claim we cannot check. The customer registers, enters the company and sets up call forwarding with their carrier. Personal onboarding is for Team and above. Its site lists no free trial, but offers a free demo call with no signup and a free 30-minute demo appointment.

Voko is also self-serve: you give your website, choose a language and a voice, test with a call in the browser, then set up forwarding. We state no go-live time. The free trial lasts 7 days or 30 minutes, whichever ends first, with no card. The trial shows every feature except number porting.

Reasons to choose each

Reasons to choose CiaoSepp

• A CHF 29 plan with 50 minutes: the lowest entry price in this comparison.
• Contacts added automatically from calls, plus a morning overview email.
• A 30-day money-back clause, on written request.
• Primary storage in Switzerland by its own statement, a provider list without ElevenLabs, OpenAI or Twilio, and a public data processing agreement.
• A Du/Sie setting, an emergency flag with immediate email, and a stated 99.5% availability target.

Reasons to choose Voko

• Books into a calendar during the call, checks slots, moves and cancels its own bookings.
• Transfers calls today (one number on Starter, several destinations from Pro); CiaoSepp announces it.
• A free trial without a card, and a lower extra-minute rate on the matching plans (Starter CHF 0.35 against CHF 0.40, Pro CHF 0.25 against CHF 0.30).
• Holidays and closures, voicemail, documents and scheduled website re-reads on every plan; reminders and caller recognition from Pro.
• Seven languages against five (Swiss German as a beta at Voko), two-factor sign-in and roles (not stated on CiaoSepp’s site).

When to choose which

When to choose CiaoSepp

• you want the lowest entry price and about 50 minutes a month is enough;
• an assistant that takes requests and sends a task list suits you, with no booking or transfer yet;
• a public data processing agreement and Swiss primary storage weigh most for you.

When to choose Voko

• you want appointments booked into your calendar, or calls put through to a person, today (one number on Starter, several destinations from Pro);
• you want to test without a card first, and then rely on opening hours, holidays and voicemail on any plan, and on reminders or caller recognition from Pro;
• you need documents as a source, French, German, Italian, Spanish or Portuguese, or want to try Swiss German as a beta.

Either way, listen to a real call before you sign. You can hear ours right now: enter your website, and an assistant that knows your business answers you. For the providers side by side, read the 2026 comparison, and for the full arithmetic, how much an AI phone assistant costs.