An AI receptionist for a law firm typically costs between nothing and about $500 a month for a small or mid-sized practice. Free plans cover roughly 25 to 30 calls a month, and paid AI plans run from $150 to about $500 a month for 75 to 300 calls, or about $1.60 to $3 per included call. Human virtual receptionists cost more because people are billed by their time: published per-minute plans start at $250 a month for 50 minutes, per-minute rates run from about $1.50 to $5.00, and per-call human plans start at $300 for 30 calls. High-volume legal call centers quote individually, and one cites a typical range of roughly $900 to $5,700 or more a month for 24/7 coverage. Below is where those numbers come from, what each model adds on top, and what a firm taking 60 or 250 calls a month would actually pay.
How we sourced these prices
Every competitor figure here comes from the pricing comparison pages on reflektlegal.ai, which link each vendor's own pricing page. Most were verified on September 3, 2026; LEX Reception was re-checked on October 26, 2026. Two vendors, LEX Reception and LawyerLine, do not publish prices, so their figures come from legal-tech directories and reviews. We mark those as reported every time they appear. Two more, Alert Communications and Answering Legal, quote each firm individually, so there is no list price to compare. Prices change, so confirm with any vendor before you sign.
Reflekt Legal's own prices come from our pricing page as published on November 9, 2026.
The five ways law firm answering is priced
Per minute
The classic answering-service model. You buy a bundle of minutes, or pay as you go, and every second a receptionist spends on your call counts. Ruby publishes plans from $250 a month for 50 minutes up to $1,725 for 500 minutes, an effective $3.45 to $5.00 a minute, and quotes larger volumes individually. LEX Reception's plans are reported at about $375 a month for 150 minutes to $675 for 500, with overage near $1.50 to $1.75 a minute. LawyerLine is reported at a pure pay-as-you-go $2.00, $2.50 or $3.00 a minute, with no bundle and no minimum.
Per-minute pricing is efficient when calls are short. It gets expensive when calls are long, and legal intake calls are long. LawyerLine's own figures put a routine call at about two minutes and a new-client intake at fifteen to twenty.
Per call
Smith.ai bills per call on both of its product lines, so a two-minute call and a twenty-minute call cost the same. Its human receptionist plans run from $300 a month for 30 calls to $2,100 for 300, with overage from $8.50 to $11.50 a call. Per-call pricing removes the penalty on long intakes, but the per-call rate is only part of the bill, as the add-ons section below shows.
Monthly plans with call caps
Most AI receptionists sell a monthly plan that includes a set number of calls and charges for calls beyond it. Smith.ai's AI receptionist is free for 25 calls, then $3.00 a call, with Pro plans at $150, $270 and $501 a month for 75, 150 and 300 calls, and Enterprise at $500 for 300 and $800 for 500. Reflekt Legal works the same way: Free Solo covers up to 30 calls, Starter is $300 a month for 100 calls, Base is $500 a month for 250 calls, and Enterprise is quoted. Calls beyond a Reflekt plan are $2 each.
Add-ons for intake, booking, bilingual and after-hours
This is where two plans with the same headline price stop being the same. Smith.ai's per-call rate includes five short intake questions; extended intake is $1.50 a call, custom questions $0.25 each, appointment booking $1.50 a call, and each CRM integration after the first $0.50 a call. Smith.ai puts a typical legal stack at roughly $3.75 per call on top of the plan.
Other vendors bundle these. Ruby includes 24/7 answering, bilingual handling, scheduling and intake on every tier. Answering Legal does not bill for intake, transfers, nuisance calls or bilingual handling. Reflekt Legal includes 24/7 call handling, call transferring, appointment scheduling and multilingual intake on every plan, Free Solo included.
Custom quotes
High-volume legal call centers price each engagement. Alert Communications quotes call answering, intake, and contract and retainer signing as separate service lines, generally billed per minute. Answering Legal quotes only after a 10-day free trial, once it has measured your real call volume, then bills per minute at a customized flat monthly rate. Both models fit a firm that wants a managed service sized to its own numbers, and neither gives you a figure to compare before a sales conversation.
AI receptionist and answering service pricing compared
| Vendor | Pricing model | Published entry price | What costs extra | Source, as of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reflekt Legal | Flat monthly AI plans | Free for 30 calls; $300/mo for 100 calls | $2 per call beyond the plan; no setup fee | Published, Nov 9, 2026 |
| Smith.ai AI receptionist | Per call, monthly plans | Free for 25 calls, then $3.00/call | Extended intake, booking, extra CRM syncs per call | Published, Sep 3, 2026 |
| Smith.ai human receptionists | Per call, monthly plans | $300/mo for 30 calls | $8.50 to $11.50 per call over; same add-ons | Published, Sep 3, 2026 |
| Ruby | Per minute, 60-second rounding | $250/mo for 50 minutes | Volumes above 500 minutes are quoted | Published, Sep 3, 2026 |
| LEX Reception | Per minute | About $375/mo for 150 minutes | About $1.50 to $1.75 per minute over; some sources cite a $75 setup fee | Reported, Oct 26, 2026 |
| LawyerLine | Pay as you go, per minute | About $2.00 to $3.00 per minute | No bundle, minimum or transfer fee | Reported, Sep 3, 2026 |
| Alert Communications | Custom quote, generally per minute | Not published | Service lines quoted separately | Sep 3, 2026 |
| Answering Legal | Quoted after a 10-day trial, per minute | Not published | Does not bill intake, transfers or bilingual | Sep 3, 2026 |
What it costs at 60 and 250 calls a month
The same two firm profiles our buyer's guide to AI intake for law firms uses:
- Solo or small firm: 60 calls a month at a 4-minute average, which is 240 billable minutes.
- Growing firm: 250 calls a month at a 4.5-minute average, which is about 1,125 billable minutes.
Each figure is the lowest-cost published plan that covers the volume, plus published overage where needed. Per-minute vendors are priced on billable minutes; per-call and flat plans on calls.
| Vendor | 60 calls a month | 250 calls a month |
|---|---|---|
| Reflekt Legal | $300 (Starter, 100 calls included) | $500 (Base, 250 calls included) |
| Smith.ai AI receptionist | $150 (Pro, 75 calls) | About $500 (Enterprise, 300 calls) |
| Smith.ai human receptionists | About $645 (Starter plus 30 calls at $11.50) | $2,100 (Pro, 300 calls) |
| Ruby | About $865 (200-minute plan plus 40 minutes) | About $3,880 (blended at $3.45/min) |
| LEX Reception (reported) | About $395 (300-minute plan) | About $1,613 ($675 plus 625 minutes at $1.50) |
| LawyerLine (reported) | About $600 (Silver, $2.50/min) | About $2,813 (Silver, $2.50/min) |
| Alert Communications | Quote | Quote |
| Answering Legal | Quote after trial | Quote after trial |
A few notes on reading it:
- Smith.ai AI at 60 calls: Staying on the free plan and paying $3.00 for each of the 35 calls past 25 would come to $105. Smith.ai's live-agent escalation on the AI line is billed separately.
- Smith.ai human with intake add-ons: At about $3.75 a call for a typical legal stack, the human line comes to about $870 at 60 calls and about $3,040 at 250.
- Ruby above 200 minutes: Ruby does not publish an overage rate, so the 60-call figure prices the extra 40 minutes at the 200-minute plan's effective $3.60. At 1,125 minutes the firm is past Ruby's largest published plan, and the figure blends the 500-minute plan's $3.45 a minute.
- LawyerLine's tiers: Across its reported Bronze, Silver and Gold rates, the 60-call firm would pay $480 to $720, and the 250-call firm $2,250 to $3,375.
- Reflekt per call: Starter at 60 calls works out to $5.00 a call; Base at 250 calls to $2.00 a call. A yearly commitment takes 10% off, which makes Starter $270 and Base $450 a month.
Hidden costs to check before you sign
Billing increments: Ruby bills in 60-second increments, rounded up, and counts the receptionist's after-call notes. A call lasting 1 minute 12 seconds bills as two minutes, and a 4 minute 10 second call bills as five. LEX is reported to round up to the next full minute too, with an allowance for very short calls. On a per-minute plan, ask how rounding and wrap-up time are counted.
Call length: On per-minute pricing, a 20-minute intake costs about $69 to $100 at Ruby's published effective rates, about $30 to $35 at LEX's reported overage, and $40 to $60 at LawyerLine's reported rates. You pay that whether or not the caller has a case. On per-call and flat plans, call length does not change the price.
Overage: Know what happens at call 31 or minute 201. Smith.ai's human overage is $8.50 to $11.50 a call; Reflekt's is $2 a call; Ruby quotes volumes past its plans.
Intake, booking and CRM add-ons: On a per-call plan, add the per-call add-ons to the headline rate before comparing. A five-question script may be all you need; a personal injury or family law intake usually is not.
Bilingual and after-hours: Several vendors include bilingual answering and 24/7 coverage; confirm it for the plan you are quoted, not just the top tier. Reflekt answers in English and Spanish on every plan, around the clock, with dedicated pages for Spanish and for Mandarin, Cantonese, Arabic, Farsi, Hindi and Punjabi callers.
Setup fees and contracts: Smith.ai and Ruby both state no setup fee. Some sources report a $75 setup fee at LEX. Reflekt has no setup fees on any plan and runs month-to-month.
Human virtual receptionist vs AI receptionist for a small firm
A human virtual receptionist gives every caller a person. For some firms that is the whole point, and the services above do it well. Ruby has a long track record with small businesses, Smith.ai offers a human line beside its AI line, and LEX and LawyerLine are legal specialists. If your calls are short and routine, per-minute human answering can be very reasonably priced.
An AI receptionist changes the cost math in three ways. It is priced by the call or the plan, not by a receptionist's minutes, so a long intake costs the same as a short one. It answers every call at once, so a Monday morning rush or a burst of calls after an ad does not queue behind staffing. And it can do the work an operator usually hands back to you: run the full intake, book the consultation and write the summary into your case management system.
For a firm taking 60 calls a month, the published numbers above put AI plans at $150 to $300 a month and human receptionists at roughly $395 to $865. At 250 calls, AI plans sit around $500 and human services at roughly $1,600 to $3,900.
Reflekt is AI-only by design: it transfers calls to your own team during the hours you choose. If you want a person from an outside service on every call, a human service is the right fit, and it is worth budgeting for the staffing.
How to choose an AI receptionist plan
- Count calls, not attorneys: Pull last month's inbound call count from your phone system. Reflekt's published plans are sized by monthly calls, not by headcount, and so are most per-call plans.
- Time your intake: If your average new-client call runs past a few minutes, per-minute pricing will track it. Price your own average, not the vendor's example.
- List what has to happen on the call: Intake questions, conflict-check screening, booking, transfers, CRM sync, Spanish. Then check which of those are included and which are per-call add-ons.
- Price your volume at both ends: Price your quiet month and your busiest month, including overage.
- Check setup and terms: Setup fees, minimum terms and how fast you can go live.
What Reflekt Legal includes at every price
Reflekt Legal is an AI legal receptionist for intake and reception. On every plan it answers 24/7, runs your intake, screens for conflicts, books consultations, and routes and transfers calls to your team. Each call ends with a summary synced to your case management system, including Filevine, Lead Docket, Clio and Lawmatics, with the full list on our integrations page. Pricing is flat by plan: Free Solo for up to 30 calls, Starter at $300 a month for 100 calls, Base at $500 a month for 250 calls, and Enterprise quoted for high volume. There is no setup fee, and you go live 1 day after we train it on your CMS setup.
The fastest way to see whether it fits your call mix is to hear it take one of your calls. Book an intake demo and bring your hardest intake script.
Frequently asked questions
How much does an AI receptionist cost for a law firm?
Most small and mid-sized firms pay between $0 and $500 a month. Free plans cover about 25 to 30 calls a month, and paid AI plans run from $150 to about $500 a month for 75 to 300 calls. Reflekt Legal is free for up to 30 calls, $300 a month for 100 calls and $500 a month for 250 calls, with no setup fee. Per-call add-ons for intake, booking or CRM syncs can raise the total on some plans, so compare the full bill.
What is Smith.ai's AI receptionist pricing in 2026?
As published and verified on September 3, 2026, Smith.ai's AI receptionist is free for 25 calls, then $3.00 a call. Pro plans are $150, $270 and $501 a month for 75, 150 and 300 calls, and Enterprise is $500 for 300 calls and $800 for 500, with custom pricing above that. Plans are month-to-month with no setup fee.
How much does Smith.ai's AI receptionist cost per call?
On its published 2026 plans, Smith.ai's AI receptionist works out to $1.60 to $2.00 a call on paid plans and $3.00 a call after the 25 free calls. Legal add-ons are billed per call on top: extended intake $1.50, appointment booking $1.50, custom questions $0.25 each and each extra CRM integration $0.50. Smith.ai puts a typical legal stack at roughly $3.75 a call.
How much does LEX Reception cost?
LEX Reception does not publish pricing. Legal-tech directories report plans at about $375 a month for 150 minutes, $395 for 300 minutes and $675 for 500 minutes, with overage of about $1.50 to $1.75 a minute, as of October 26, 2026. Some sources report a higher entry tier and a $75 setup fee. Confirm with LEX directly.
How much does Alert Communications cost?
Alert Communications does not publish a price list. It quotes each engagement on call volume, service line and integration needs, generally billed per minute, and cites a category range of roughly $900 to $5,700 or more a month for 24/7 coverage. It is built for high-volume campaigns such as mass torts and TV advertising response.
What is the cheapest secure AI receptionist plan for a 10-person law firm?
Headcount matters less than call volume. Reflekt Legal's plans are sized by monthly calls: a 10-person firm taking about 100 calls a month fits Starter at $300, and one taking about 250 fits Base at $500, with no per-seat charge. For security, ask any vendor how call data is encrypted and who at the vendor can access it, and get the answer in writing.
Virtual receptionist or AI intake service: which is better for a small law firm?
A human virtual receptionist puts a person on every call and suits firms with short, routine calls. An AI intake and reception service suits firms whose calls are longer or arrive in bursts, because it answers every call at once, runs the full intake and costs the same however long the call runs. At 60 calls a month, published AI plans run $150 to $300 against roughly $395 to $865 for human receptionists.
Does Reflekt Legal charge setup fees?
No. Reflekt Legal has no setup fees on any plan, every plan is available month-to-month, and a yearly commitment takes 10% off Starter and Base. You go live 1 day after Reflekt is trained on your CMS setup.
