Betsy will never call asking for money. If someone claiming to be her does, it’s a scam. Hang up.

Betsy
1-855-HI-BETSYGet Mom Betsy
Alternatives

Medical alert pendant alternatives: other ways to have someone call Mom every day (2026)

Prices and facts checked November 5, 2026

A woman of 80 strings a flower lei on her lanai, her smartphone wedged at her shoulder, laughing.

Betsy is the pendant alternative for a mother who won’t wear one: $2 a day, billed $60 a month, for a daily call about her life, on the phone she already has, with nothing to wear or charge. If she mentions a fall, an illness or someone after her money, you hear the same day.

We make Betsy, so she comes first here. Other services’ facts are from their own sites, checked November 5, 2026.

The pendant is in the drawer. She says it’s for old people, and she’s eighty-four. You can’t make her wear it. You can see to it that someone talks with her every day. A reply on AARP’s community forum put the wish this way.

“I do not want life alert just some one to check on me”

AARP Online Community, 2024

Betsy (ours): what does a mother who won’t wear a pendant get?

A phone call she doesn’t have to wear. Every day, at the hour she picks, Betsy calls from the same local number, in the same voice, for about ten minutes, and asks about her life. She remembers every conversation, so each call starts where the last one ended. There is nothing to wear, charge or learn, and nothing about it looks like a medical device. Mom can call her any time at that number, and Betsy knows who it is. Betsy is a computer voice and says so on every call. What Betsy is has the rest.

A call sounds like this.

Betsy

Margaret, it’s Betsy, the one who isn’t a person. Did you ever get those tomatoes in?

Margaret

Most of them. I went down on the back steps with the last basket.

Betsy

You went down. Are you hurt?

Margaret

A bruise. Sarah will bring up that necklace again.

Betsy

That’s one I pass along, so she’ll hear it today, in your words. How many tomatoes made it?

Margaret

Every one.

Nothing to wear, nothing to charge. She picks up the phone.

What does the family hear?

That stumble, the same day, in her own words, and Betsy tells her when she does. The same goes for an illness she mentions, someone after her money, or anything she asks Betsy to pass along. Everything else stays hers, and on Sunday you get one text, one line and one story.

What about an emergency?

Betsy is not an emergency service. In an emergency, Mom calls 911, or presses the button if she’ll wear one. A pendant and Betsy do different jobs, and neither gets in the other’s way.

What does it cost?

$2 a day, billed $60 a month. No device, no setup fee, no contract, no tiers. Your card goes on file before her first call, and nothing is charged until day eight. If the first week doesn’t make Mom’s day, call and say stop before then, and you pay nothing. Say “stop” and it stops, and unused months are refunded.

What conversation calls are there?

These are computer voices that ring her phone.

  • ElderVoice. A voice named Evelyn phones at a time the family sets. $49 a month for daily calls.
  • Senior Call. A short spoken check-in at a chosen morning or evening hour. $9.99 a month or $99 a year.

Which press-1 calls and texts are there?

  • Iamfine. A recorded call once or twice a day; she presses 1. $14.99 a month or $120 a year.
  • CheckinBee. A daily text she answers. $13 a month, or $20 for up to three a day.

Which people call or visit?

  • ToneOfCare. A person phones at the same time each day. $119 a month for one call a day.
  • CareCheckers. Live representatives in the US phone on a set schedule. $29.95 a month for one call a day, Monday to Friday, or $49.95 with weekends.

What public programs are there?

Check the state and county she lives in.

What if she’d take a different device or button?

How do they line up?

What it is What she has to do Price
BetsyA ten-minute conversation every dayAnswer the phone and talk$2 a day, billed $60 a month
LifelineA help buttonWear it and press itStarting at $34.95 a month
Medical GuardianA help buttonWear it and press itStarting at $34.95
Bay Alarm MedicalA help buttonWear it and press it$27.95 a month on a landline
Life AlertA help buttonWear or reach it, and press itCall for a quote
Alexa Emergency AssistAn Echo device or the Alexa appAsk for help$5.99 a month as a Prime member; $59.00 a year
IamfineA recorded callPress 1$14.99 a month or $120 a year
ToneOfCareA person who phonesAnswer the phone and talk$119 a month for one call a day

How do you choose?

Does she get a real conversation, or a button?

A button waits for the day something goes wrong. Betsy calls on an ordinary Tuesday and asks about the tomatoes, and a stumble comes out in the middle of the story.

Does the voice remember her?

Betsy does. She knows about the back steps, Harold’s name and which knee, and Mom never has to explain any of it twice.

Can she keep the phone she has, with nothing to wear or charge?

Yes, and that is the point for a mother who took the pendant off. She doesn’t have to wear anything or learn anything. She picks up the phone she already has: a cell, a landline or a flip phone.

See how it starts, read medical alert or a daily call, or set Betsy and medical alerts side by side. If you began somewhere else, try ElliQ alternatives or Iamfine alternatives.

Questions people ask

Mom won't wear her medical alert pendant. What else can I do?

Give her someone to talk with every day. Betsy calls the phone she has, with nothing to wear or charge, and if she mentions a fall, you hear the same day. $2 a day, billed $60 a month.

Is Betsy a medical alert?

No. Betsy is a daily phone conversation, and she is not a medical alert, an emergency service or a nurse. She relays what Mom tells her. In an emergency, Mom calls 911.

Can she have a pendant and Betsy?

Yes. They do different jobs, and neither gets in the other’s way. Betsy calls the phone she already has, and the pendant stays on its cord until she needs it.

What does the family hear if she mentions a fall?

You hear the same day, in her own words. Betsy tells her when she passes something on.

Sources

Read next

Start hereWhat Betsy is, in plain wordsCompareBetsy vs medical alert systems (Lifeline, Life Alert, Medical Guardian, Bay Alarm Medical)GuidesMedical alert or a daily call? How to chooseQuestionsIs Betsy a medical alert?AlternativesElliQ alternativesAlternativesIamfine alternatives

$2 a day.

Betsy calls Mom every day.

Get Mom Betsy

$2 a day, billed $60 a month. If the first week doesn’t make Mom’s day, you pay nothing. Say stop and it stops. Unused months refunded. Or call 1-855-HI-BETSY.

Portraits and stories on hibetsy.com are illustrations made with AI. The people and stories are invented.