The short answer
Published AI answering plans cost between $0 and $500 a month, depending on how many calls you send them.[1] One product charges $25 only when a lead converts.[7] The plan price is rarely the whole cost, because someone still has to connect it to your CRM and call people back.
This guide is for owners and managing attorneys who want a number before they book a demo. It lists published prices, works out the cost per call, and names the costs a price list leaves out. For what these tools should and shouldn't do, see our guide to the AI receptionist for law firms.
What does AI intake cost a law firm?
Published plans run from a free tier to $500 a month.[3] Each vendor charges in a different unit. Some count calls, some count minutes, and one counts people. The table lists each price as the vendor's own page showed it on October 20, 2026.
| Product | How it charges | Published price |
|---|---|---|
| Smith.ai, AI receptionist | Monthly plan, then a charge per call | |
| Upfirst, AI receptionist | Monthly plan with a call allowance, then a fee for each extra call | |
| Goodcall, AI phone agent | Monthly plan sized by unique customers, not calls | |
| My AI Front Desk, AI receptionist | Monthly plan with voice minutes | $99 a month[6] with 200 minutes a month.[6] |
| Clio Grow AI, intake agents inside Clio Grow | Per converted lead | LawSites reported: "The cost is $25 for each converted lead. If the lead does not convert, or if Grow AI is not used in the conversion, there is no charge."[7] |
| Ruby, live human receptionists (for comparison) | Monthly plan sized by receptionist minutes | $250 a month for 50 minutes.[8] $1,725 a month for 500 minutes.[8] |
These are vendor prices read from each company's own page on October 20, 2026. Plans change, and this isn't a ranking. Smith.ai adds live agents as a per-call extra with no price listed.[9]
Clio's price is the odd one out. LawSites reported that current Grow customers get their first three conversions at no cost.[10] After that, Grow AI adds nothing in a bad month and $25 for each lead that signs in a good one. It only works if you already use Clio Grow.
Per-converted-lead pricing in California
A per-converted-lead software price raises one question for a California firm. Rule 7.2(b) says a lawyer shall not give anything of value to a person "for the purpose of recommending or securing the services of the lawyer".[11] A fee charged only when a client signs can raise that question, so ask your ethics counsel to read any per-conversion contract before you sign it.
What does an answered call cost?
On the published plans, an answered call costs from about 10 cents on a full Goodcall plan to $3 on Smith.ai's free plan.[1][4][5] The plan size against your call volume decides most of it. Where the call count fits a plan well, it falls to the low end. Where you send a handful of calls to a big plan, it goes up fast.
The table below is arithmetic from the Upfirst prices above, not a quote from Upfirst.
| Calls a month | Cheapest Upfirst plan | Monthly total | Cost per call |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 calls a month | Starter, 20 extra calls | $54.95 | $1.10 |
| 150 calls a month | Premium, 60 extra calls | $119.95 | $0.80 |
| 400 calls a month | Pro, 100 extra calls | $234.95 | $0.59 |
Two more worked examples. On Smith.ai's free plan, 50 calls a month is 25 free calls plus 25 at $3.00, which is $75. On My AI Front Desk, $99 for 200 minutes is about 50 cents a minute, so a four-minute call is about $2 if you stay inside the plan.
Look at what counts as a call. Goodcall counts unique customers, so one person who calls three times counts once.[5] My AI Front Desk counts minutes, so a long conversation costs more than a short one. Ask each vendor how a missed call, a transfer and a spam call are counted.
What do the price lists leave out?
Four things sit outside the plan price: the CRM connection, a person to call back, the recording and AI notice wording, and the time spent testing the script. None of them has a published price, so we don't put a number on them. Ask each vendor, or your builder, to quote them in writing.
| Cost | What it is | What to ask |
|---|---|---|
| CRM connection | Getting the call summary into a record in your CRM, with the source and time saved | Is it a built-in link, a Zapier-style tool or custom work, and who maintains it? |
| A person to call back | AI books and takes details. Someone at the firm still screens the case and calls the person back | Who owns the callback, and how fast, nights and weekends included? |
| Recording and AI notice | The wording at the start of a call, and a yes from the caller before recording (in California, Penal Code 632) | Who writes it, and does your ethics counsel sign it off? |
| Script and testing | Your screening questions, your hours, your case criteria, tested on real calls | How many test calls before go-live, and who changes the script later? |
The rules on recording and telling callers it's an AI are in our AI receptionist guide, with the primary sources. They cost time rather than money, but they decide whether you can switch it on. If you are weighing a person against an AI, legal answering services compared sets them side by side.
Legal chatbot for intake: what does a chat agent do for a law firm?
It greets a visitor on the firm's own site, asks the firm's screening questions and passes the details to the firm. This section is about a legal chatbot that a firm puts on its own site for intake. It is not a tool that gives the public legal advice.
The agents we build are set up this way.
What the chat agent does:
- Says it is an AI at the start of every chat and call.
- Asks the firm's own screening questions.
- Books a call and writes the details to your CRM.
What it never does:
- Passes itself off as a person at the firm.
- Calls or texts anyone who has not contacted the firm first.
- Replaces the person at the firm who follows up.
What if the AI gets a detail wrong, and who sees the caller's information?
An AI can mishear a name, a date or a phone number, so someone at the firm should check the summary against the call before relying on it. Ask each vendor how you can listen to the call or read the transcript.
Callers tell an intake line private things. Ask where recordings and transcripts are stored, how long they are kept, who at the vendor can open them, and whether your calls are used to train the vendor's AI. Put the answers in writing before you switch it on.
These are questions about your duty to protect client information, so have your ethics counsel read the vendor's terms. They also change the real cost if you need a higher plan to get the controls.
How do you tell if it pays for itself?
Count the inquiries you lose today, then price what they were worth. You need three numbers from your own records. None of them comes from a vendor, and we haven't made up any for you.
- Calls and forms nobody answered in a month. Look in your phone system's call log, plus form entries with no reply logged.
- The share of inquiries that sign. Divide signed cases by inquiries, from your CRM, for the last six months.
- What a signed case is worth to you. Use your own average fee. Our cost per signed case guide shows how to count it.
Multiply the three, and compare the result with the monthly cost plus the callback time. If the lost value is smaller than the cost, skip it for now.
Who should not buy AI intake yet?
Skip it if your front desk already answers every call and form within minutes, nights and weekends included. Skip it too if you get only a few calls a month, because the cost per call will be high. And skip it if your CRM isn't set up, because the AI will write details into a mess. Our guide to choosing legal intake software covers what the CRM should do first.
If calls go unanswered because nobody is free, a person may fit better than software. Our offshore staffing page explains how remote intake staff work with your team.
How does Naelar price AI intake?
We don't publish a price. Cost depends on the channels you want covered and the hours of call cover. We never charge per signed case or take a share of your fees.
We build the agent in n8n, with a voice or chat platform chosen with the firm. The agent says it's an AI at the start of every call and chat. It asks your screening questions, books a call and writes the details to your CRM, and a person at your firm follows up. Our AI answering and intake agents page covers what we set up.
It never calls or texts anyone who hasn't contacted the firm first. Your CRM and tracking are set up in your firm's name, and your firm owns them.
Questions people ask
Is AI intake cheaper than a legal answering service?
On published prices, usually yes per call, but the two do different jobs. Ruby's human receptionist plans start at $250 a month for 50 minutes.[8] The AI plans above start at $0 to $99 a month. A person handles upset callers better, so compare what each does, not only the price.
Is a per-converted-lead price allowed for a law firm?
It can raise the Rule 7.2(b) question, because the fee is paid only when a client signs.[11] Ask your ethics counsel before signing.
Does Naelar publish a price for AI intake?
No. Cost depends on the channels and the hours of call cover you want. We never charge per signed case or take a share of your fees.
Try this tonight: count your unanswered calls
Pull the last 30 days of your call log and count the calls that nobody answered. It takes about 15 minutes and needs no tool.
- Export the call log from your phone system for the last 30 days.
- Mark every call that came in outside office hours or went to voicemail.
- Next to each, note whether anyone called back, and how long it took.
- Check your CRM for how many of those callers ever became a record.
That count is the number you test every price in this guide against.
Sources
- Smith.ai (AI receptionist vendor), "AI Receptionist" page, Free plan. smith.ai/ai-receptionist. Vendor price. Checked October 20, 2026.
- Smith.ai, same page, Pro plan. smith.ai/ai-receptionist. Vendor price. Checked October 20, 2026.
- Smith.ai, same page, Enterprise plan. smith.ai/ai-receptionist. Vendor price. Checked October 20, 2026.
- Upfirst (AI receptionist vendor), pricing page, all four plans, monthly billing, prices in USD. upfirst.ai/pricing. Vendor price. Checked November 3, 2026.
- Goodcall (AI phone agent vendor), pricing page. goodcall.com/pricing. Vendor price. Checked October 20, 2026.
- My AI Front Desk (AI receptionist vendor), pricing page, Business-in-a-Box plan, monthly billing. myaifrontdesk.com/pricing. Vendor price. Checked October 20, 2026.
- Bob Ambrogi, LawSites (LawNext), "Clio Grows Clio Grow With Launch of Grow AI", August 20, 2026. lawnext.com. Press report of Clio's pricing. Checked October 20, 2026.
- Ruby (live receptionist vendor), plans and pricing page. ruby.com/plans-and-pricing. Vendor price. Checked October 20, 2026.
- Smith.ai, same page as source 1, note on live agent involvement. smith.ai/ai-receptionist. Vendor claim. Checked October 20, 2026.
- LawSites, same article as source 7, on Grow customers' first three conversions. lawnext.com. Checked October 20, 2026.
- State Bar of California, Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 7.2(b), Chapter 7. calbar.ca.gov, chapter 7. Checked October 20, 2026.