For law firms weighing Smith.ai
Smith.ai alternative for law firms: what Smith.ai publishes, beside Intake Gateway
Smith.ai publishes an AI-first receptionist charged per call: a free plan for 25 calls a month, then $3.00 a call, or $150 a month for 75 calls. Intake Gateway is an AI at one flat monthly price with every answered call included, so a firm with few calls pays less at Smith.ai.
$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 Smith.ai 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | AI first, with human-first and hybrid options. Source, read Oct 2, 2026 | Self-serve sign-up on the Free and Pro plans; Enterprise is “Talk to us”. 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 | 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
- Smith.ai (AI Receptionist): A firm that gets few calls a month. Its free plan covers 25 calls a month, then $3.00 a call, so at low volume it costs less than Intake Gateway. It also offers human-first and hybrid answering.
- 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 Smith.ai 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.
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.
How is it different from a generic AI receptionist?
A generic AI receptionist takes a message. This one runs a personal-injury intake: what happened and when, the injuries and treatment, who is responsible, whether an adjuster has already called, and the questions that only matter for that kind of case. Urgent cases are offered a live transfer to you, in the hours you allow transfers. Connect Clio and it checks conflicts while the caller is on the line; connect a Cal.com calendar and an ordinary case’s consultation is booked, or requested where your calendar asks you to confirm, instead of promised a callback.
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.
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.