Smith.ai vs LEX Reception for legal intake

LEX Reception sells human legal receptionists and starts at $425 a month, per its free-trial page. Smith.ai sells an AI receptionist billed per call, with a free tier of 25 calls and a Pro plan at $150 a month for 75 to 300 calls.

The two trials tell you most of what you need. LEX gives you 30 days or 150 minutes, whichever runs out first, and then the paid plan starts on its own. Smith.ai lets you start on the free tier and pay $3.00 a call past the first 25.

LEX fits a firm that wants a person on every intake and is ready to budget from $425. Smith.ai fits a firm that wants to see the whole price list first and pay by the call. Both 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	LEX Reception
Billing unit	Per call	Plan shown after a form
Entry plan	Free tier at $0 for 25 calls, then $3.00 a call	From $425, per its free-trial page; the full plan table sits behind a form
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; lexreception.com/plans asks for name, company, email and phone first
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)	LEX Reception
Who answers	An AI receptionist you train and test	Human receptionists for law firms ("Keep law human")
Lowest price shown	$0 free tier for 25 calls; Pro $150 a month	"Starting at $425", on the free-trial page
Full plan table	Printed on the pricing page	Shown after a name, company, email and phone form
Trial	Free tier: 25 calls at $0, then $3.00 a call	30 days or 150 minutes, whichever comes first
When the trial ends	Not a trial: the free tier is a plan	The paid service starts automatically

Smith.ai: smith.ai pricing page. LEX Reception: lexreception.com/plans (redirects to a form) and lexreception.com/plans/free-trial. Both read September 2026.

Read LEX Reception's trial terms before you start it

The LEX free trial runs for 30 days or 150 minutes. Whichever limit you reach first ends it, and the page says the paid service then begins automatically. That's the detail to put in your calendar.

A busy firm can spend 150 minutes quickly. At eight minutes a call, it's under 20 intake conversations, which might be a week in a good month. If you're testing, count your calls daily so the switch to paid doesn't surprise you.

The plan list itself sits behind a form at lexreception.com/plans. You'll give your name, company, email and phone before you see it, and the only figure outside the form is the $425 starting price.

Smith.ai's price list is on one page

Smith.ai prints its AI receptionist plans in full. Free 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 for 300 to more than 1,000 calls, at $1.60 to $1.67.

Because the unit is a call, an eight-minute consult and a 40-second hours check cost the same. For a firm with long intake calls, that keeps the bill tied to how many people rang you.

A solo family-law practice, priced both ways

Say you're a solo family-law attorney with 60 calls a month. Twenty are quick scheduling calls from existing clients. Forty are new callers who need ten minutes to explain a custody problem.

On Smith.ai that's 60 calls. Pro's range starts at 75, so you'd weigh Pro at $150 against the free tier's 25 calls plus $3.00 for each of the other 35. The length of each call never enters the sum.

On LEX, the 40 long calls alone are about 400 minutes before the short ones are added. Ask LEX which plan above $425 covers that, and what a minute past it costs, because neither is on the public page.

Questions for each vendor

For LEX Reception: which plan fits your minute count, what the rate is past it, and whether the 150 trial minutes include after-call work. For Smith.ai: whether a hang-up or a wrong number counts as a call, and how the AI hands a caller to an attorney.

Get both answers in writing, and keep them with your intake script so next year's renewal starts from facts.

How GreetKeeper prices the same practice

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

The 60-call family-law month fits inside Starter, whether callers talk for one minute or twelve. GreetKeeper asks your intake questions, books the consultation into Google Calendar or Outlook, and the caller gets one text with the booking confirmation.

The trial is plain: 14 days, every feature on, no card, and no setup fee afterwards. A disclosure setting tells callers at the start that they're speaking with an AI assistant, and you can set closure dates for court days and holidays.

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 LEX Reception cost?

LEX Reception's free-trial page says plans start at $425 a month. The full plan table sits behind a form asking for your name, company, email and phone, so the higher tiers and the overage rate aren't public (read September 2026).

What happens when the LEX Reception free trial ends?

The paid service starts automatically. The trial covers 30 days or 150 minutes, whichever you reach first, per lexreception.com/plans/free-trial in September 2026. Track your minutes during the trial if you plan to compare vendors.

Is Smith.ai's free tier enough for a small law firm?

Only for a very quiet phone. Smith.ai's free tier covers 25 calls, then $3.00 a call. Pro at $150 a month covers 75 to 300 calls at $2.00 to $2.17 each, read September 2026.

Does LEX Reception use AI or people?

People. LEX Reception's site leads with "Keep law human" and sells human receptionists for law firms. Smith.ai's per-call plans on this page are for its AI receptionist.

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