Smith.ai Pricing in 2026: What Law Firms Actually Pay (and the AI Alternative)

By Michael Brunman, Co-Founder & CEO of Clerx, Former Litigator

This article is published by Clerx. Smith.ai prices below come from its public pricing pages, reviewed November 6, 2026. Plans and add-ons change, so confirm on smith.ai before you buy.

The short answer

• Smith.ai sells two front-desk models for law firms: human receptionists billed per call, and an AI receptionist with a free tier plus paid plans.
• Human plans start at $300/month for 30 calls ($10/call before overage), then $810 for 90 and $2,100 for 300, with overages from $8.50–$11.50/call.
• AI receptionist starts at $0 for 25 calls/month, then $150/month (Pro, about $2.00/call at the base tier) and $500/month (Enterprise, about $1.67/call at the base tier).
• Add-ons on the human plans (booking, Spanish line, payments, extended intake) are billed per call and can move the monthly total more than the plan headline.
• Choose Smith.ai when you want provider-supplied North America–based human receptionists, or Smith.ai’s own AI with optional live-agent escalation. Choose Clerx when you want AI intake that writes into your legal software. Clerx lets prospective clients schedule and pay for their consultation in one booking flow.

What Smith.ai sells

Smith.ai markets a virtual front desk with three modes on its pricing pages: AI-first, Hybrid, and Human-first. For buyers researching smith.ai pricing, the practical split is:

• Human receptionist plans — live agents answer, screen, and intake. See Smith.ai receptionist pricing.
• AI receptionist plans — AI answers first, with optional escalation to Smith.ai’s live agent network. See Smith.ai AI receptionist pricing.

That split matters because the dollar figures differ by several times at similar call counts. For a broader cost landscape across vendors, see our guide to legal answering service cost in 2026 and our head-to-head Clerx vs Smith.ai comparison.

Smith.ai human receptionist pricing (reviewed Nov 2026)

Published human plans on smith.ai/pricing/receptionists:

• Starter: $300/month for 30 calls · 1 free transfer destination · overage $11.50/call
• Basic: $810/month for 90 calls · 2 free transfer destinations · overage $10.50/call
• Pro: $2,100/month for 300 calls · 10 free transfer destinations · overage $8.50/call
• Enterprise: custom pricing and transfer destinations

Smith.ai states that these plans include lead screening, qualification and intake, 24/7 live staffing with North America–based agents, no setup fees, no charge for spam (when Caller ID passes), and a 30-day money-back guarantee (overages excluded; refund capped as described on its FAQ). Service is month-to-month. A 10% discount is listed for a 12-month subscription.

Human-plan add-ons that change the bill

Included on the human plans (per Smith.ai’s public list): first CRM integration free (additional CRMs $0.50/call), lead qualification, new client intake with 5 short-answer questions, and a dedicated phone number.

Common per-call add-ons listed on the same page:

• Book appointments: $1.50
• SMS/Slack or Microsoft Teams transfer notifications: $0.50 (+$0.25 per extra ping)
• Text and email follow-up: $0.50
• Conflict checks: $0.50
• Call recording and transcription: $0.25
• Dedicated Spanish line: $1.00
• Accept collect calls: $0.50
• Accept payments: $1.00
• Third-party intake / complex routing / custom calendaring / extended intake: $1.00–$1.50 (with per-question custom extended intake at $0.25)

Monthly add-ons include business caller ID ($10), extra transfer destinations ($15), and inbound tracking numbers ($5 each).

Takeaway for law firms: a Starter plan that books consultations, notifies counsel, and uses a Spanish line can land well above $300/month even before overages. Model your real mix of transfers, booking, and bilingual calls — not just the base package.

Smith.ai AI receptionist pricing (reviewed Nov 2026)

Published AI plans on smith.ai/pricing/ai-receptionist:

• Free: $0/month · 25 live calls/month · $3.00 per call after that · Quality Studio for testing · credit card required at signup, with overages off by default until you authorize them
• Pro: $150/month · base rate about $2.00/call (~2–3 calls/day at the marketing example) · volume tiers listed for 75 / 150 / 300 calls with lower per-call rates · dedicated onboarding and live support
• Enterprise: $500/month · base rate about $1.67/call (~10 calls/day at the marketing example) · higher volume tiers · custom prompting, integrations, multi-location support, dedicated success manager

Smith.ai also markets a 6-month enterprise-style option for rollover calls and a lower per-call rate (talk to sales). AI plans are month-to-month; cancellation requires 30 days’ notice per its FAQ.

Features Smith.ai lists across AI plans include 24/7 answering, spam screening, recording and transcription, lead qualification, warm transfers, English and Spanish fluency, scheduling integrations, and native connections such as Clio via its integration stack.

Live agent involvement is described as a per-call add-on when you choose human verification or scheduling escalation. Smith.ai states that AI-initiated escalations do not carry an extra fee in the FAQ on that page — confirm current terms when you buy.

How to read the bill: worked examples

These examples use only published list prices. They are not quotes.

Example A — Solo firm, ~40 human-answered calls/month, half need booking

• Starter base: $300 for 30 calls
• 10 overage calls × $11.50 = $115
• 20 bookings × $1.50 = $30
• Rough total: about $445/month before other add-ons

Example B — Growing firm, ~80 AI calls/month on Pro

• Pro base: $150/month
• At the published ~$2.00/call marketing rate for the entry Pro tier, 80 calls imply call charges in the same ballpark as the plan’s included volume story — confirm the exact included-call tier (75 / 150 / 300) on the live page before modeling
• Add live-agent escalations only if you enable that add-on

Example C — High emotion practice that wants humans on every call

• Basic at $810 for 90 calls, or Pro at $2,100 for 300 calls, plus transfer notifications and Spanish line where needed

If you are comparing AI-first vendors rather than human answering, also read Clerx vs Posh and Clerx vs Nexa. For human receptionist alternatives, see Clerx vs Ruby and Clerx vs Abby Connect.

How Clerx pricing works instead

Clerx is an AI receptionist and intake platform for law firms (Donna for calls, chat, and SMS). Clerx offers call packages based on expected volume, channels, and workflow - not a public per-call menu like Smith.ai's human plans.

What the package is meant to cover:

• Practice-specific qualification using your intake questions
• Clerx lets prospective clients schedule and pay for their consultation in one booking flow, through Clerx Scheduling & Payments (LawPay or Clio Payments where connected) - see paid consultations setup
• Writes into legal software such as Clio and MyCase; browse the full integrations directory
• 50+ languages configured for the languages your firm actually serves
• Multichannel intake across phone, website chat, and text when those channels are in your package

Clerx does not supply human receptionists. When a caller needs a person, Clerx follows the retry and fallback sequence configured for your firm, then takes a message if nobody answers. Onboarding is white-glove and CTO-led: we design the flow with you, connect calendars and software, and test before launch. For a practical ROI framing, see AI receptionist ROI for solo firms. For software cost context, see law firm intake software cost.

When Smith.ai may be the better fit

• You specifically want provider-supplied live receptionists on every call (Human-first plans).
• You want Smith.ai's AI plus optional live-agent network under one vendor, including Quality Studio for pre-launch testing.
• Your team already runs on Smith.ai's CRM and calendar stack and prefers its native tooling.
• Per-call human pricing is clearer for your finance process than a custom AI intake package.
• You need human add-ons Smith.ai lists out of the box (collect calls, dedicated Spanish human line, conflict checks by a receptionist).

When Clerx may be the better fit

• You want callers qualified with your practice questions, then booked - and, when you charge for consults, paid - without staff chasing forms.
• Intake must land in Clio, MyCase, DocketWise, or another connected system without retyping (DocketWise integration).
• You serve clients in multiple languages and need that configured as part of intake, not only as a per-call Spanish add-on.
• Inquiries arrive by phone, chat, and SMS, and you want one intake workflow.
• You prefer a provider that designs, tests, and revises the workflow with your firm rather than a self-serve minute or call pool.
• You are ready to switch from a virtual receptionist to AI intake without keeping a third-party human bench.

Missed-call recovery still matters either way - see missed call text-back for law firms and why firms replace virtual receptionists with AI.

How to test fairly

1. Pull 30 days of inbound call counts and average talk time from your phone system.
2. Price Smith.ai human and AI plans at that volume, including the add-ons you would actually enable.
3. Ask Clerx for a package quote at the same volume and channel mix.
4. Run the same five mystery-shopper scripts on both sides (new lead, existing client, wrong number, Spanish inquiry, "I need a human now").
5. Score what lands in your CRM or case system after each call - not only whether someone answered.
6. Review security and data handling with the same checklist: AI receptionist security checklist.
7. Use a structured go-live test plan: how to test an AI receptionist before go-live.

For overflow and simultaneous-call design while you evaluate, see law firm call overflow.

FAQ

How much does Smith.ai cost per month?

Human receptionist plans start at $300/month for 30 calls. AI receptionist starts at $0 for 25 calls/month, then $150/month (Pro) and $500/month (Enterprise) on published tiers reviewed November 6, 2026.

Is Smith.ai priced per minute or per call?

Per call on both the human and AI receptionist pages reviewed here. Smith.ai's FAQ argues per-call billing avoids "mystery accounting" compared with per-minute services.

Does the free AI plan really stay free?

Smith.ai advertises 25 live calls/month free forever until you need more. A card is required at signup; overages are off until you authorize them, per its public FAQ.

What are typical Smith.ai overage rates?

Human plans list $11.50, $10.50, and $8.50 per call over the Starter, Basic, and Pro quotas. AI Free lists $3.00 per extra call; paid AI tiers list lower extra-call rates that vary by volume tier.

Does Smith.ai charge for spam?

On human plans, Smith.ai says spam is not charged when Caller ID passes. On AI plans, every answered call counts by default, with an allowance described as up to 10% removable for selected spam, plus automatic blocking of known spam numbers.

Can Smith.ai book consultations and take payments?

Yes on the human plans via per-call add-ons (booking $1.50; accept payments $1.00). AI plans list AI scheduling integrations; confirm payment collection on the live AI pricing page for your workflow.

Does Clerx publish a price list like Smith.ai?

Clerx prices packages to your call volume, channels, and workflow after a short scoping conversation, rather than a public Starter/Basic/Pro call grid.

Is Clerx a Smith.ai alternative for law firms?

Yes, for firms that want AI-native legal intake with software writeback. Clerx lets prospective clients schedule and pay for their consultation in one booking flow. It is not a like-for-like replacement if you require provider-supplied human receptionists on every call.

Which option is better for bilingual Spanish intake?

Smith.ai lists bilingual AI fluency on AI plans and a $1.00/call dedicated Spanish human line on human plans. Clerx configures the languages your firm serves (50+ available) as part of intake setup. Test both with real Spanish scripts.

Where should I start if I am still comparing vendors?

Read legal answering services in 2026, the Clerx vs Smith.ai comparison, and virtual receptionist for law firms, then mystery-shop the finalists.

The verdict

Smith.ai's public pricing is unusually clear for this category: human plans from $300/month, AI from $0 then $150/$500, all billed per call, with add-ons that can dominate the human-plan bill. That transparency helps solos and small firms model cost - as long as you price the add-ons you will actually use.

Choose Smith.ai when you want its human agents or its AI-plus-live-agent stack under one roof. Choose Clerx when the job is legal intake end-to-end: qualify with your questions and land the record in your practice tools without retyping. Clerx lets prospective clients schedule and pay for their consultation in one booking flow.

Book a demo with Clerx today

About the author

Michael Brunman is Co-Founder & CEO of Clerx, helping law firms improve client intake and communication. A former litigator, software engineer, and McKinsey consultant with an MBA from Harvard Business School, he brings legal, technical, and business experience to the challenges of running a law firm.