Best virtual receptionists and answering services for law firms
GreetKeeper ranks first of the eight legal answering services we checked in September 2026. A firm pays $49 for 200 answered calls, consultations book on every plan, and a 20-minute intake counts as one call. Most staffed vendors here price by the minute, by a quote, or both.
The staffed side of the market works differently. Ruby starts at $250 for 50 minutes. LEX Reception prints one starting figure, $425, and keeps the rest of its plan table behind a form. Answering Legal shows its plans only after you hand over your name, firm and cell number.
Intake is where legal calls get expensive. A new-client call runs long, and on a minute plan the busiest marketing month is also the most costly one. On a per-call plan, your good month costs what the calls cost.
Plan for the distressed caller. Write a transfer rule for the matter types that need an attorney at once. GreetKeeper puts that caller through, tries a second number you nominate, and sends you the transcript.
How this was put together
Disclosure: GreetKeeper is our product. We fixed the criteria and weights below before scoring, then read each vendor's own pricing or plans page in September 2026. Where a firm must fill in a form to see a price, the table says so instead of guessing.
What we compared
- Cost of a month of intake (35%): the billing unit, the entry plan and what a long new-client call costs on it.
- Rates you can see before a sales call (20%): the plan table and the rate after the allowance.
- Consultations booked during the call (20%), on the plan the firm is likely to buy.
- Intake that reaches your case system (15%): your screening questions, answered and delivered in a form Clio, MyCase or PracticePanther can take.
- Disclosure at the start of the call (10%), which Utah's AI Policy Act asks of licensed occupations, law included.
The shortlist at a glance
Billing unit first, because it decides more of the final bill than the headline price does.
| Charges by | Entry plan | After the allowance | |
|---|---|---|---|
| GreetKeeper | per answered call | $49/mo for 200 answered calls | $0.45 a call on Starter, published |
| Smith.ai | per call | Free tier at $0 for 25 calls, then $3.00 a call | Published, and the per-call rate falls as the tier rises |
| Ruby | per minute | $250/mo for 50 minutes | Not published on their pricing page |
| Answering Legal | by minutes used, quoted after a form | Does not publish pricing | Does not publish pricing |
| LEX Reception | plan shown after a form | From $425, per its free-trial page; the full plan table sits behind a form | Not published |
| AnswerConnect | per minute | Does not publish pricing | Does not publish pricing |
| Abby Connect | per minute (half-rate AI) | Starter $165/mo for 50 Abby Minutes | Not published; one Abby Minute buys two minutes of AI handling |
| Rosie | per minute | Professional $49/mo for 250 minutes | Not published |
Read from each vendor's own pricing page in September 2026.
GreetKeeper
Per-call intake with consultations booked on every plan, from $49 a month.
Worth it for: A firm that wants every call answered, intake questions asked, and the consultation booked into Google Calendar or Outlook with the time read back. The disclosure setting announces the assistant as an AI at the start of each call.
Charges per answered call. Entry plan $49/mo for 200 answered calls. After the allowance: $0.45 a call on Starter, published.
Smith.ai
Per-call AI and human answering with a long list of legal integrations.
Worth it for: You run Clio or MyCase and want a trained person on hand for the call an assistant shouldn't take.
Not for: A solo attorney on a tight budget. After 25 free calls each call is $3.00, and Pro is $150 a month.
Charges per call. Entry plan Free tier at $0 for 25 calls, then $3.00 a call. After the allowance: Published, and the per-call rate falls as the tier rises.
Ruby
A person answers every call, priced by the minute.
Worth it for: You take few calls at high matter values, and the first voice a client hears is part of your pitch.
Not for: A firm with heavy intake. The entry plan holds 50 minutes for $250, and Ruby doesn't print its overage rate.
Charges per minute. Entry plan $250/mo for 50 minutes. After the allowance: Not published on their pricing page.
Answering Legal
Receptionists who answer only for lawyers, quoted by minutes used.
Worth it for: You want a legal-only human team and don't mind pricing it through a sales follow-up.
Not for: You want to price a busy month first. The plans appear only after a form asks for your name, firm, email and cell phone.
Answering Legal does not publish its rates, so the cost is whatever the sales call produces.
LEX Reception
Staffed legal reception with a trial of 150 minutes over 30 days.
Worth it for: You want people on the phone and plan to test them against a month of real calls.
Not for: A solo attorney watching cost. The one printed figure is a starting price of $425, and the paid plan begins on its own when the trial ends.
Charges plan shown after a form. Entry plan From $425, per its free-trial page; the full plan table sits behind a form. After the allowance: Not published.
AnswerConnect
Human answering around the clock, with pricing behind a quote form.
Worth it for: A firm that wants 24/7 staffed cover from a long-running operator.
Not for: A firm comparing published numbers, since AnswerConnect sends every price through a form.
AnswerConnect does not publish its rates, so the cost is whatever the sales call produces.
Abby Connect
One plan currency covering people and AI.
Worth it for: You're moving intake from people to software in stages and want one plan throughout.
Not for: A tight budget. Entry is $165 for 50 Abby Minutes, and the overage rate isn't published.
Charges per minute (half-rate AI). Entry plan Starter $165/mo for 50 Abby Minutes. After the allowance: Not published; one Abby Minute buys two minutes of AI handling.
Rosie
A $49 AI plan, counted in minutes, with booking on a higher tier.
Worth it for: You want after-hours enquiries captured and will call each one back yourself.
Not for: A firm that wants consultations booked or a distressed caller transferred on the entry plan, since both start at $149.
Charges per minute. Entry plan Professional $49/mo for 250 minutes. After the allowance: Not published.
How a law firm should choose
Price the intake, not the headline. A personal-injury intake can run 20 minutes. On Ruby, LEX Reception or Answering Legal, that is 20 minutes of a plan. On GreetKeeper it is one call from the 200 in the $49 plan, or the 750 in the $149 plan.
Then decide who answers when. Many firms keep staff on the main line in office hours and forward busy and no-answer calls to GreetKeeper. Evenings and weekends forward in full, so the 9pm caller books a consultation instead of reaching voicemail.
Last, follow the intake to your case system. GreetKeeper sends the answers to your screening questions as question-and-answer pairs in a signed webhook. Clio, MyCase and PracticePanther take them through Webhooks by Zapier, which needs a paid Zapier plan.
Our own pricing, in full
Including the rate after the allowance, which is the number most of this list leaves off.
| Plan | Monthly | Calls included | After that |
|---|---|---|---|
| StarterFor a single location taking calls one line at a time. | $49 | 200 | $0.45 per call |
| ProfessionalBooking, routing and transfers included, not an add-on. | $149 | 750 | $0.35 per call |
| ScaleFor busy phones and longer opening hours. | $349 | 2,000 | $0.25 per call |
The short version
- Booking is included on every tier. Rosie keeps booking and live transfer behind its $149 plan.
- The overage rate is on the pricing page. Rosie, Ruby, Slang and AnswerConnect do not publish theirs.
- Calls are counted, not minutes, so a long useful conversation costs the same as a short one.
Questions people ask about this list
What is the best virtual receptionist for a law firm?
On our published method, GreetKeeper ranks first: $49 for 200 answered calls, consultations booked on every plan, and the overage printed at $0.45 a call. Ruby, LEX Reception and Answering Legal charge by the minute or quote after a form. Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial, no card needed.
Can the assistant run a conflict check?
It asks the questions a check needs and puts the answers in the summary. Your firm runs the check itself in its case system. The assistant sticks to the screening questions you write.
Does Utah's AI rule apply to lawyers?
Yes. Utah's AI Policy Act requires regulated occupations, law among them, to disclose AI use prominently and verbally at the start. GreetKeeper's disclosure setting announces the assistant as an AI in the opening line of every call.
Why don't Answering Legal and LEX Reception show full prices here?
Both put their plan tables behind a form. Answering Legal asks for your name, firm, email and cell phone, and LEX Reception prints only a $425 starting price. We report that as the fact rather than repeat a figure from a third-party site.
Why is GreetKeeper first on a list it wrote?
The weights came first, and a legal buyer's biggest cost is long intake calls. GreetKeeper counts each call once, books the consultation during it, and prints every rate. You can check each of those facts on our pricing page.
Hear one of these handle your own call
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