For law firms weighing PATLive
PATLive alternative for law firms: what PATLive publishes, beside Intake Gateway
PATLive puts live people on your calls and charges per receptionist minute: $49 a month with no included minutes and $2.99 a minute, or $99 a month for 50 minutes. Intake Gateway is an AI at one flat monthly price with every answered call included, so a firm with few call minutes a month pays less at PATLive.
$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 PATLive publishes, beside Intake Gateway
Each of its facts links to the vendor page it was read on, with the date.
| Service | Published price | Per-call or per-minute charges | Contract | AI or human | Setup call |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | Live people; it says it “does not use AI to answer calls”. Source, read Oct 7, 2026 | Self-serve: “Start free trial” on each plan, free for 14 days; “Speak with Sales” is also offered. Source, read Oct 7, 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 | AI. Our pricing | No: self-serve. There is no sales or setup call. 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.
Who each one fits
- PATLive: A firm that wants live people on its calls and pays by the minute: it says it does not use AI to answer calls, and its $49 a month plan has no included minutes, so a firm with few call minutes a month pays less than at Intake Gateway.
- Intake Gateway: 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.
Questions
What firms ask when they weigh PATLive against Intake Gateway.
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.
Does it replace my receptionist?
Only if you want it to. It answers whenever you route calls to it: only after hours, only when you don’t answer, or all the time. Forwarding only after hours means you keep answering in the day and your agent takes nights and weekends.
Do callers know it is an AI?
Every call opens with a fixed disclosure, sent as the agent’s opening line rather than composed on the call: the caller is speaking with an AI assistant and not an attorney, the call is recorded and transcribed, staying on the line is consent, and anyone who would rather not be recorded can hang up.
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.
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.