ASD Alternatives: Funeral Home Answering Service Options Compared (2026)

ASD, short for Answering Service for Directors, has answered funeral home phones for more than 50 years and works only with funeral homes. It says more than a third of funeral homes use it. Looking for an ASD alternative does not have to mean the service is bad. There are three sound reasons to look: the bill, the way messages reach your team, and a wish to see what else exists. This guide compares the alternatives on the same terms, shows what to adjust at ASD first, and explains how to switch without missing a call.

Why do funeral homes look for an ASD alternative?

The best list of reasons comes from ASD itself. In a March 2025 post it answered, one by one, the complaints it hears. The same complaints can be made about any answering service.

• Operators ask the caller too many questions.
• Directors are woken at 3 AM for messages that could have waited.
• The service feels expensive for the call volume.
• Callers and operators struggle to understand each other.
• Callers are asked to spell the same names more than once.

ASD’s answer to most of these is that the settings are yours to change, which is covered below. A second reason to look elsewhere is the handoff. A message relayed by text or app still has to be typed into the case the next morning, unless your software receives it directly.

What ASD does well

A fair comparison starts with what the incumbent is good at. These are ASD’s own published claims, not our measurements.

• Experience. More than 50 years in service, working solely with funeral homes.
• Speed. ASD says it answers 90 percent of calls on the first ring and puts fewer than 2 percent of callers on hold.
• Training. Its call specialists receive six months of training.
• Spanish. It says a bilingual team is available at all hours for Spanish-speaking callers.
• Records. It says it records the calls it answers and transcribes messages.
• Crisis calls. Its suicide call patch system lets a call specialist connect a suicide hotline operator.
• Software links. Its FuneralSync program lists 19 partners.

ASD alternatives at a glance

For a wider field, see the best funeral home answering services.

Live funeral answering services

These are the closest like-for-like alternatives. A person answers, takes the first call, and reaches your director.

FuneralCall quotes each firm privately and publishes no rates. It bills on 12 monthly cycles and contrasts that with the 28-day cycle it says other services use, which would mean 13 invoices a year. Plans include texting, email, call connecting, first call notifications, a mobile app, recorded messages and IT support. It suits a firm that wants a live service billed by the calendar month. It does not suit a firm that wants to see a price before speaking to a sales representative.

Directors’ Choice describes itself as a 24-hour funeral home contact center. It serves funeral homes, cremation providers, cemeteries and pet services, and lists HITRUST certification, deathcare-only agents, bilingual agents, a mobile app, web chat, live transfers and CRM integrations. It suits a firm that wants phone and web chat handled together, or one that also runs a cemetery or pet service. It publishes no pricing, so it does not suit a firm that needs a number up front.

Director On Call is the only one of the three to publish a rate card: $159.95 a month for 50 minutes, $349.95 for 200, and $669.95 for 500, in US dollars. It also states that its average client pays $6,000 per year, which is $500 a month. It offers message taking, call recording, first call intake, virtual reception and overflow handling. It suits a firm that wants daytime reception as well as night cover. It may not suit a firm whose current bill is well below that average.

For a closer look, see ASD vs FuneralCall vs Directors’ Choice. For the billing models, see what a funeral home answering service costs.

General AI receptionists

These vendors sell to small businesses in general, not to funeral homes in particular. Their prices are public. Upfirst starts at $24.95 a month for 30 calls, Dialzara at $29 for 60 minutes, Rosie at $49 for 250 minutes, and Goodcall at $79 for 100 unique callers. Their top published plans run from $249 to $349 a month.

They suit a firm with low call volume and someone willing to do the setup. They do not suit a firm that expects funeral knowledge on day one, so plan to write the death call instructions yourself. Ask each vendor where the first call goes afterward. If the answer is a transcript in a dashboard or an email, someone at your firm still types it into the case. Test with a real script, such as the first call script, and read what to test in an AI receptionist first.

How FuneralHQ handles this

FuneralHQ puts the assistant in the same system as the case. AI phone answering is optional and stays off until you switch it on, per location and per phone number. In the default mode, "Only when staff cannot answer", your staff phones ring first. The assistant answers in English, Spanish, or both, opens with a notice that the call may be recorded, and asks one question at a time. It texts and calls up to five on-call people in turn, then leaves a draft first call sheet with the summary, recording and transcript. A person reviews and confirms it. The assistant never creates a case, and it never states a price, a cause of death or a pickup time. It does not suit a firm that wants a person on every call. FuneralHQ comes in three packages, Platform, Growth, and Growth Managed. See pricing.

How do you compare answering services fairly?

Run the same six tests on every option, ASD included, and use a trial wherever one is offered.

How to get more from ASD before you leave

Start with the settings. ASD says most of the complaints it hears can be fixed in the account. One caution from ASD: only the account owner can update the contacting criteria, so staff who are unhappy with the rules need to bring the request to the owner.

ASD’s older advice on cost applies to any service. In a 2014 post it suggested collecting routine messages by text, email or app, setting phones to ring a set number of times before they forward, auditing the bill, asking for solicitors to be blocked, and avoiding term contracts. Before you change dispatch rules, agree them with the people who carry the phone. The on-call schedule guide has a table for deciding what wakes a director.

When to stay with ASD

Stay if your families are well served, your directors are dispatched the way they want, and the bill is reasonable for your volume. Stay, too, if the calls you worry about most are the hard ones. In April 2026 ASD listed six kinds of call it says AI would mishandle: distraught callers, callers who have not decided on a firm, suicidal callers, urgent situations that need a director at once, unusual requests, and hearing impaired callers using a relay service. If those calls are common at your firm, a live service is the better choice. If your only complaint is retyping, ask ASD and your software vendor about FuneralSync first. The guide to connecting an answering service to your software sets out the options.

How to switch answering services without missing a call

The risk in switching is the gap between the old service and the new one. In ASD’s 2017 survey of 1,791 funeral professionals, 13 percent had experienced call forwarding issues in the past 12 months, and 6 percent had issues with missing urgent calls. An overlap period closes the gap.

1. Keep the current service active. Do not cancel until the new one has taken real calls.
2. Write down today’s setup: which numbers forward, at what hours, after how many rings, who is on call, and any standing instructions.
3. Give the new service the same instructions, including the facilities you serve and who takes trade calls.
4. Place test calls before any family reaches it: a death call, a price question, a request for a person, and a call in Spanish. Call at night as well as by day.
5. Move one line or one time window first, such as daytime overflow. Leave the rest with the old service.
6. Change the forwarding, then call your published number from an outside phone. Confirm who answers and whose phone rings.
7. Tell staff the date, show them what a message from the new service looks like, and confirm how the on-call person acknowledges it.
8. After the overlap, cancel the old service in writing and check the final invoice.

Questions to ask any ASD alternative

1. Who, or what, answers the call, and how are they trained on death calls?
2. How is my on-call director reached, and what happens if they do not answer?
3. Is every call recorded, and can I play it back?
4. Do you bill by the call, the minute, or the caller, and is the cycle monthly or 28 days?
5. Does a long call count as more than one?
6. Is there a free trial, and is there a term contract?
7. Where does the first call go afterward, and does anyone retype it?
8. What will you never say to a caller on my behalf?

Common questions about ASD alternatives

How much does ASD cost?

ASD shows no rates on its website, so you will need a quote. It states that it bills per call rather than per minute, and that a call longer than three minutes is billed as two calls. In 2014 it wrote that the average independent funeral home paid close to $165 a month for an answering service. That figure is more than a decade old. Ask for a current quote and use the free 30-day trial.

Is there a cheaper alternative to ASD?

On published prices, yes. General AI receptionist plans run from $24.95 to $349 a month. They are sold to every kind of small business, so the funeral setup is yours to do. Among the live services, Director On Call publishes a rate card and says its average client pays $6,000 a year. Compare how each option handles a death call first, then compare the invoice.

Where can I find reviews of ASD’s answering service?

This article does not rate ASD, and it does not repeat reviews we cannot verify. The most useful material we found is ASD’s own. Its 2025 post lists the complaints it hears and answers each one. Its 2017 survey found that 88 percent of respondents using an answering service were satisfied with their provider. The best review is your own: run the 30-day trial and listen to the recordings.

Can we keep ASD and use FuneralHQ?

Yes. FuneralHQ handles the case, documents, payments and QuickBooks Online sync whichever way your phone is answered. The FuneralHQ team can set up an intake address, so a first call that ASD emails to you arrives as a draft first call sheet beside the original message. FuneralHQ is not an ASD FuneralSync partner. A direct feed from an answering service is in development. See the comparison with a live answering service.

Does ASD use AI to answer calls?

ASD’s service is built on live call specialists. In an April 2026 post it said it uses AI for improvements such as call transcriptions and quality assurance tools, and it argued that AI would mishandle six kinds of funeral home call. The post is worth reading alongside any AI vendor’s claims, including ours.

Does ASD integrate with funeral home software?

Yes, through FuneralSync. ASD says it pulls first call information and recordings into the management program and sends service information from your website to ASD. The listed partners include Passare, SRS Computing, Halcyon, Osiris Software, Tukios and Batesville. FuneralHQ is not on the list. If your software is, ask both vendors to set up the link before you look elsewhere.

Does ASD have Spanish-speaking operators?

ASD says a bilingual team is available at all hours for Spanish-speaking callers. Directors’ Choice also lists bilingual agents. FuneralHQ’s assistant can be set to English, Spanish, or both. In the bilingual setting it greets in English, offers Spanish, and switches when the caller speaks it. Whichever you choose, test it with a Spanish speaker. There is more in serving Spanish-speaking families by phone.

Will our phone number change if we switch answering services?

It should not. Your published number stays with your firm, and an answering service takes the calls you forward to it. In ASD’s 2017 survey, 66 percent of respondents said they forward calls to an answering service. Switching means pointing the forward at the new service. Confirm the details with both services and your phone provider before the change.

Can an AI assistant handle a caller in crisis?

Ask every vendor, and test it. ASD says its suicide call patch system lets a call specialist connect a suicide hotline operator, and it names suicidal callers among the calls it says AI would mishandle. FuneralHQ’s assistant offers to pass a caller who asks for a person to the funeral director, and live transfer goes only to people on your on-call list. If crisis calls are your main concern, a live service is the safer choice.