Smith.ai vs Answering Legal for law firms

Smith.ai and Answering Legal both answer intake calls for law firms, and they sell that work in different units. Smith.ai's AI receptionist bills per call and prints its plans: a free tier of 25 calls, then Pro at $150 a month for 75 to 300 calls. Answering Legal staffs receptionists who answer only for lawyers, bills on the minutes you use, and shows its plans after you fill in a form.

So the choice starts with the person on the line. If your firm wants a trained human taking every new-matter call, Answering Legal is built around that. If you want a price you can read tonight and a meter that ignores call length, Smith.ai's page gives you both.

A firm with long intake calls feels the unit most. A 12-minute personal-injury call is one call on Smith.ai's meter and 12 minutes on a minutes plan. Both vendors' pages were read in September 2026.

Published pricing, side by side

What each vendor prints on its own site. The billing unit decides more of the final bill than the headline price does.

	Smith.ai	Answering Legal
Billing unit	Per call	By minutes used, quoted after a form
Entry plan	Free tier at $0 for 25 calls, then $3.00 a call	Not published on its website
Higher tiers	Pro $150/mo covers 75 to 300 calls at $2.00–$2.17 each; Enterprise $500/mo covers 300 to 1,000+ at $1.60–$1.67	Not published on its website
Overage rate	Published, and the per-call rate falls as the tier rises	Not published

Read on each vendor's own website in September 2026. Prices move, so check before you buy.

What decides it

The dimensions that change the bill or the service, each as a fact read on the vendor's own site.

	Smith.ai (AI receptionist)	Answering Legal
Who answers	An AI receptionist you train and test	Receptionists who answer only for law firms
Billing unit	Per call	Minutes used, per its pricing page
Prices on the website	Yes: free tier, Pro $150, Enterprise $500	No: plans appear after a name, firm, email and phone form
Rate past the plan	Printed: $2.00–$2.17 a call on Pro	Not printed
How you start	Free tier covering 25 calls	400 free minutes, per its homepage

Smith.ai: smith.ai pricing page. Answering Legal: answeringlegal.com homepage and answering-service-pricing-plans. Both read September 2026.

Legal intake calls are long, and that changes the math

A new client calling a law firm rarely keeps it short. They explain the accident, the date, the other driver and whether they've spoken to an insurer. Your receptionist then runs a conflict check and asks about deadlines. Ten minutes is ordinary for a first call.

Picture a two-attorney firm taking 80 intake calls a month at nine minutes each. That's 720 minutes of talk. On a per-call meter it's 80 calls, which sits inside Smith.ai's Pro range of 75 to 300 at $2.00 to $2.17 a call.

On a minutes plan, you'd need a bundle that covers 720 minutes plus whatever the quick calls add. Answering Legal quotes that bundle after its form, so bring your own minute count to the conversation.

What Answering Legal puts on its site

Answering Legal describes itself as receptionists who answer exclusively for lawyers, based in the US. That focus is the pitch: staff who know what a conflict check is and why a statute of limitations question matters.

Its pricing page asks for your name, firm, email and cell phone before it shows a plan. The page's own summary says cost is based on minutes used. The homepage offers 400 free minutes to start, which is a fair way to test a firm's real call mix.

Before you sign, get three numbers in writing: the plan price, the rate for a minute past the plan and how a call is rounded. None of them is printed on the public pages we read.

What Smith.ai puts on its site

Smith.ai prints three AI receptionist levels. The free tier covers 25 calls, then $3.00 a call. Pro is $150 a month for 75 to 300 calls at $2.00 to $2.17 each. Enterprise is $500 a month for 300 to more than 1,000 calls, at $1.60 to $1.67.

You train and test the AI yourself, which suits a firm that wants to write its own intake questions. Smith.ai lists Clio and MyCase among its practice-management connections, so check yours is there before you plan the workflow.

How to test both before you commit

Write one realistic intake script: a car accident, a caller who's upset, and a question about fees that nobody should answer on the phone. Call each service with it.

Then read what reaches you. You want the caller's name, number, matter type and urgency in one message, fast enough to call back before the prospect rings the next firm. Ask Answering Legal how the 400 free minutes are counted, and ask Smith.ai whether a hang-up counts as a call.

Where GreetKeeper fits for a law firm

Disclosure: GreetKeeper is our product, and this is its only mention on the page. It answers with an AI and bills per answered call. Starter is $49 a month for 200 calls, then $0.45 a call. Professional is $149 for 750 at $0.35, and Scale is $349 for 2,000 at $0.25.

The 80-call firm above fits inside Starter at any call length. GreetKeeper asks the intake questions you set, reads the caller's name, number and time back, and books the consultation into Google Calendar or Outlook. A disclosure setting opens every call by saying it's an AI assistant, which Utah asks of regulated occupations such as legal services.

When a caller asks for an attorney, GreetKeeper transfers the call, and tries a second number you nominate if the first doesn't pick up. Every call arrives as a transcript and a short summary, and a signed webhook can pass the intake answers to your case system. Each plan starts with a 14-day free trial with every feature on and no card.

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

Questions people ask about this comparison

How much does Answering Legal cost?

Answering Legal doesn't print a price. Its pricing page shows plans after you give your name, firm, email and cell phone, and says cost is based on minutes used. The homepage offers 400 free minutes to start (read September 2026).

Is Smith.ai or Answering Legal better for a small law firm?

Answering Legal fits a firm that wants a person on every call: it staffs receptionists who answer only for lawyers, billed by minutes. Smith.ai fits a firm that wants a printed price, with an AI receptionist billed per call from $150 a month for 75 to 300 calls. Long intake calls favor a per-call meter.

Does Smith.ai charge by the minute or by the call?

Smith.ai's AI receptionist charges by the call. The free tier covers 25 calls, then $3.00 each. Pro is $150 a month for 75 to 300 calls, and Enterprise is $500 for 300 to more than 1,000, read September 2026.

Do I have to tell callers they're speaking to an AI?

In some states, yes. Utah asks regulated occupations, legal services included, to disclose clearly at the start of the call. Maine's §1500-DD covers AI in trade and commerce that could mislead a consumer. A human service such as Answering Legal raises no such question.

Run your intake script on it

Call GreetKeeper with a real new-matter scenario. It books the consult and counts one call.

See it answer a call See pricing