What a legal answering service costs
How much does a legal answering service cost?
Of the 18 services in the table below, the published monthly prices run from $0 for Smith.ai’s free plan (25 calls) to $6,899 for PATLive’s 5,000 minutes, and thirteen, Answering Legal, LEX Reception, Alert Communications, Posh, AnswerConnect, Solvea, Dapta, Upfirst, Dialzara, Lexidesk, Gabbyville, Quo (Sona) and Trillet, publish no price. Intake Gateway is $149 a month, flat, every answered call included.
$149 a month, flat. First month free. Every answered call included. Cancel any time. About 8 hours of a receptionist’s pay (US median, BLS May 2025).
Call the number we give you from your own phone and hear the agent take an intake — up to 15 minutes of test calls, before you add a card. First month free: a 30-day free trial, every answered call included, one trial per firm. Card on file, nothing charged before day 31. No setup fee. Month to month.
Updated
What each one charges
Each competitor cell links to the vendor page it was read on, with the date.
| Service | Published price | Per-call or per-minute charges | Contract |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smith.ai (AI Receptionist) | Free: $0 a month for 25 calls. Pro: $150 a month for 75 calls ($2.00 a call). Source, read Oct 2, 2026 | Per call: $3.00 a call past the free plan's 25; on paid plans, overage is charged per real call. Source, read Oct 2, 2026 | Month to month, no contract; cancelling needs 30 days' notice. Source, read Oct 2, 2026 |
| Ruby | $250 a month for 50 minutes, $395 for 100, $720 for 200. Source, read Oct 2, 2026 | Per receptionist minute; minutes past the plan are billed at an overage rate these pages do not publish. Source, read Oct 2, 2026 | No long-term contract; cancel by phone or email. Source, read Oct 2, 2026 |
| Answering Legal | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 2, 2026 | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 2, 2026 | Trial: “no commitments” and “No credit card required”; contract length not stated. Source, read Oct 2, 2026 |
| LEX Reception | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 7, 2026 | Per minute, rounded up to the next minute; minutes past the plan are charged per minute, at a rate this page does not publish. Source, read Oct 2, 2026 | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 2, 2026 |
| PATLive | $49 a month with no included minutes (pay as you go); $99 a month for 50 minutes, up to $6,899 for 5,000. Plus taxes and fees. Source, read Oct 7, 2026 | Per receptionist minute: $2.99 a minute on pay as you go; past a plan's minutes, $2.29 down to $1.49 a minute. No charge for after-call notes or wrap-up. Source, read Oct 7, 2026 | No contracts; cancel anytime, by phone or online. Source, read Oct 7, 2026 |
| Alert Communications | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 7, 2026 | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 7, 2026 | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 7, 2026 |
| Abby Connect | $165 a month for 50 Abby Minutes, $329 for 100, $599 for 200, $1,380 for 500; Enterprise plans are custom. Source, read Oct 7, 2026 | Per Abby Minute: a human minute is 1 Abby Minute, an AI minute half of one; minutes past the plan are billed at the plan’s Abby Minute rate, which this page does not publish in dollars. Source, read Oct 7, 2026 | Month to month; “No long-term commitment required”. Source, read Oct 7, 2026 |
| Posh | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 9, 2026 | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 9, 2026 | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 9, 2026 |
| AnswerConnect | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 9, 2026 | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 9, 2026 | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 9, 2026 |
| Solvea | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 9, 2026 | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 9, 2026 | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 9, 2026 |
| Dapta | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 9, 2026 | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 9, 2026 | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 9, 2026 |
| Upfirst | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 9, 2026 | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 9, 2026 | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 9, 2026 |
| Dialzara | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 9, 2026 | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 9, 2026 | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 9, 2026 |
| Lexidesk | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 10, 2026 | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 10, 2026 | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 10, 2026 |
| Gabbyville | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 10, 2026 | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 10, 2026 | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 10, 2026 |
| Quo (Sona) | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 10, 2026 | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 10, 2026 | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 10, 2026 |
| Trillet | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 10, 2026 | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 10, 2026 | Not published on the page linked Source, read Oct 10, 2026 |
| NextPhone | $199 a month, flat, with unlimited calls. Source, read Oct 2, 2026 | None: no per-minute charges and no per-call fees. Source, read Oct 2, 2026 | “Cancel anytime”. Source, read Oct 2, 2026 |
| Intake Gateway | $149 a month. Our pricing | None: every answered call is included, and fair use is a guide of up to 100 answered calls a month for one firm’s own line, not a cap. Our pricing | Month to month, no setup fee; cancel any time. Our pricing |
Intake Gateway: one plan, $149 a month, every answered call included. Fair use is a guide of up to 100 answered calls a month for one firm’s own line, not a cap: nothing meters your calls or cuts them off at that number. If you are consistently and substantially above it, we may get in touch to agree terms that fit that volume, and if we cannot agree any, the Terms of Service let either side end the plan.
Prices in US dollars a month, as each vendor publishes them, read on the vendor’s own page linked beside each fact on the date shown. “Not published on the page linked” means that page did not state it; the vendor may state it elsewhere. “Not confirmed” means the fact is past its monthly re-read. We re-read every source monthly and correct or remove a fact we can no longer confirm. A vendor who finds a fact out of date can write to contact@intakegateway.com.
Names are their owners’ trademarks; no affiliation.
What do missed calls cost your firm?
Put in your own numbers. The total is arithmetic on the three boxes, worked out on this page.
Starts at 5, an example: count yours from your phone’s missed-call log. For scale, 35% of calls to law firms go unanswered, in business hours.1
Starts at 7%, the share of personal injury leads that reach a scheduled consultation.2 Not every consultation signs, so put your own rate.
Starts at $5,000, an example, not a statistic: put your firm’s own average fee.
$91,000
in fees a year from those missed calls: calls a week × 52 × the share × the fee
$149
a month for Intake Gateway ($1,788 a year), every answered call included
Questions
What firms ask about the cost.
Is there a call limit?
No. Every answered call is included and nothing is billed per call. Fair use is a guide of up to 100 answered calls a month for one firm’s own line, not a cap: nothing meters your calls or cuts them off at that number. If you are consistently and substantially above it, we may get in touch to agree terms that fit that volume, and if we cannot agree any, the Terms of Service let either side end the plan.
Is there a contract, or a setup fee?
Neither. Plans are month to month. You cancel from the billing page in your account; if you cannot reach it, one email to the address in the footer does the same thing, and nobody has to approve it. Either way it takes effect at the end of the period you have paid for, and the agent keeps answering until then, so there is never a gap in coverage you did not ask for.
Is there a free trial?
First month free: a 30-day free trial, every answered call included, one trial per firm. Card on file, nothing charged before day 31.
Does any of these cost less than Intake Gateway?
Price is not the reason to pick us. Smith.ai’s free plan costs less than our $149 a month for a firm with few calls; NextPhone, at $199 a month, costs more.
Which firms does Intake Gateway fit?
A solo or small personal-injury, workers’ comp, criminal defense or family law firm that cannot afford to miss a call. It is an AI intake agent for personal injury, workers’ comp, criminal defense and family law firms, so it does not fit a firm that wants a person on the phone or intake for other practice areas.
First month free, then $149 a month
- Confirm your email: we send a link that signs you in, no password.
- Set up your agent: tell us about your firm, then call your number and hear it.
- Forward your calls to your number and add a card at checkout; the first month is free.
Try it on your own line
One plan, $149 a month, every answered call included. First month free: a 30-day free trial, every answered call included, one trial per firm. Card on file, nothing charged before day 31.