Comparison
Hilda AI vs. Kea AI
Kea AI answers restaurant phones at a flat $450 a month with no per-order fees, and offers self-serve signup and public documentation. Since we last checked, Kea also launched Text AI (SMS ordering with an instant checkout link, Kea Pay, included in the same flat price) and a loyalty integration with Thanx that recognizes repeat callers and accrues loyalty points on phone orders (for restaurants running both platforms). The flat-rate positioning is genuinely good and the self-serve onboarding is ahead of ours. Here is where each of us fits.
| Hilda AI | Kea AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Restaurants | Yes | Yes (the entire focus) |
| Hotels | Yes | Not a stated focus |
| Published price | $199 / month | $450 / month |
| Pricing model | Included minutes, then per minute | Flat, no usage component |
| POS integrations | Toast, Clover | Toast, Square, Clover, Olo |
| Text/SMS ordering channel | No (phone only) | Yes (Text AI + Kea Pay checkout links, included in the flat price) |
| Loyalty-program recognition | No (phone-number/order-history matching only) | Yes, via a Thanx integration (2026-06-15), for restaurants running both Kea and Thanx |
| Self-serve signup | Demo-led onboarding | Yes |
| Public product documentation | Not yet | Yes |
| Unlimited concurrent calls | Yes | Yes |
Compared against Kea AI's published pricing and product pages, originally verified July 2026. Updated 2026-08-14: kea.ai was unreachable directly from this environment (network egress blocked). The Thanx loyalty integration (announced 2026-06-15) is corroborated by Fast Casual, Morningstar/BusinessWire and independent syndication; it requires the restaurant to run both Kea and Thanx, not a standalone Kea feature. Text AI/Kea Pay is corroborated by Kea's own blog title, Fast Casual, and Kea's published pricing pages listing it as included in the $450/month plan. Confirm current terms at kea.ai before deciding.
Choose Kea AI if…
- You want to sign up and configure it yourself without talking to anyone
- You want texting as an ordering channel alongside the phone, or already run Thanx for loyalty
- You need Square or Olo
Choose Hilda if…
- You run hotels as well as restaurants
- Your volume fits inside an included-minutes plan at well under half the price
- You would rather we set it up with you than work through docs yourself