Law firms · After-hours
Legal answering service cost, live and AI
Most law firm answering services publish a price, and most of them meter it by the minute or the call. This puts the published plans side by side, read on the same day, with the arithmetic for a busy month.
WritingBy Landon LittleOctober 9, 20268 min read
The short answer
A law firm can have its phones answered three ways: a live answering service billed by the minute or the call, an AI receptionist billed by the call or the minute, or a flat monthly AI receptionist. All three cover nights and weekends. What differs is how the bill moves when the phone gets busy.
Live answering services, from their own pricing pages
| Service | Entry plan | Larger plans | Billing | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LexHelper | $42 a month plus $3.59 a call, or $49 a month plus $2.64 a minute | Per call: $96 for 25 calls up to $2,232 for 800. Per minute: $99 for 25 minutes, $258 for 100, $438 for 200, up to $1,584 for 800 | Per call or per minute, your choice | Legal only. States no after-hours premium. $49 one-time setup on the per-minute plans |
| Alert Communications | $240 a month for 100 minutes | $590 for 250 minutes with intake; 250 minutes with intake and retainers at $575 a month plus $75 a retainer (the same page also shows $550); pay as you go at $2.50 a minute | Per minute | Legal only |
| Back Office Betties | $333 a month billed yearly, $369 monthly, for 100 minutes | $618 to $686 for 200 minutes, $1,158 to $1,286 for 400, $1,338 to $1,486 for 500 | Per minute | Legal only. $399 one-time onboarding |
| PATLive | $49 a month plus $2.99 a minute | $99 for 50 minutes, $189 for 100, $349 for 200, up to $5,599 for 4,000 | Per minute | General answering service |
| Posh | $65 a month plus $2.30 a minute | $130 for 50 minutes, $215 for 100, $420 for 200, up to $1,900 for 1,000 | Per minute | General answering service |
| Abby | $165 a month for 50 minutes | $329 for 100, $599 for 200, $1,380 for 500 | Per minute | Human or AI; minutes double when you choose AI |
| Ruby | $250 a month for 50 minutes | $395 for 100, $720 for 200, $1,725 for 500 | Per minute | Human receptionists |
| Smith.ai (human receptionists) | $300 a month for 30 calls | $810 for 90 calls, $2,100 for 300 | Per call, $11.50 a call over the entry plan | Also sells an AI receptionist, below |
| Answering Legal, LEX Reception, Nexa | Not published | Not published | Price on request | Answering Legal shows pricing after a form; LEX Reception explains per-call and per-minute models on its blog |
AI receptionists, from their own pricing pages
| Service | Entry plan | Larger plans | What it counts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smith.ai AI receptionist | $0 for 25 calls, then $3.00 a call | $150 for 75 calls; $500 for 300 calls | Calls; live-agent transfer is a per-call add-on |
| KaiCalls | $79 a month, about 170 answered calls | Other sizes on its plans page | Calls |
| atty.ai | $299 a month for 400 voice minutes, then $0.65 a minute | $499 for 850 minutes; $999 for 1,800 | Minutes; 7-day free trial, $0 standard onboarding |
| Brilo | Free plan with 10 minutes; $149 a month for 600 minutes | $499 for 2,500 minutes | Minutes, 14 to 16 cents a minute over |
| Lexidesk, CaseGen | Not published | Not published | Lexidesk books a fit assessment; CaseGen gives an estimate through its own AI agent |
| Nova Solutions AI receptionist | $199 a month flat | No minute or call cap | Answers by voice at any hour, asks your intake questions, books into Clio, MyCase, Lawmatics, Smokeball or Google Calendar, and texts back a missed call within 60 seconds. No conflict checks |
After hours is where the price shows
None of the plans above charges extra at night, and LexHelper says so outright. The cost of after-hours coverage is the volume: a firm that runs intake ads or handles urgent matters gets its calls when nobody is in the office, and every one of them uses the same minutes as a daytime call.
A worked example, our arithmetic from the published rates. At 150 receptionist minutes a month, PATLive's 100-minute plan is $189 plus 50 minutes at $2.09, or $293.50. Posh's 100-minute plan is $215 plus 50 minutes at $2.15, or $322.50. Ruby's next plan up is $720 for 200 minutes. At 300 minutes the same firm is on PATLive's $479 plan or Posh's next tier. A flat plan does not move.
Confidentiality and your bar
An AI receptionist hears what a prospective client says about their matter. The ABA's Formal Opinion 512 (July 2024) says lawyers using generative AI must consider their ethical duties, including protecting client information, and several state bars have issued their own guidance. Read yours before any service, live or AI, takes client calls. Ask any vendor where call recordings and transcripts are kept and who can see them. Nova's receptionist does not run conflict checks: it captures the caller's details and books the consultation, and conflicts stay with the firm. This is general information, not legal advice.
Where Nova fits
Nova's AI receptionist is $199 a month flat, with no setup fee and no minute cap. It answers by voice at any hour, asks the intake questions you give it, books the consultation into Clio, MyCase, Lawmatics, Smokeball or Google Calendar, and texts back a missed call within 60 seconds. It is also available with a law firm website; what websites cost is in How much does a law firm website cost?. The general vendor table, beyond law firms, is on what an AI receptionist costs.
Sources
- Pricing pages, each read on October 9, 2026: LexHelper, Alert Communications, Back Office Betties, PATLive, Posh, Abby, Ruby, Smith.ai receptionists, Smith.ai AI receptionist, KaiCalls, atty.ai, Brilo, Lexidesk and CaseGen.
- Answering Legal's average call length: Answering Legal, answering service cost, read October 9, 2026.
- ABA news release on Formal Opinion 512, July 2024, read October 9, 2026.
- Prices change, so check each vendor's page before you buy. Worked examples are our arithmetic from the published rates.
Questions this post answers
- How much does a legal answering service cost?
- Entry plans on the pricing pages we read on October 9, 2026 run from $42 a month plus $3.59 a call (LexHelper) to $240 for 100 minutes (Alert Communications) and $250 for 50 minutes (Ruby). At 200 minutes a month: LexHelper $438, Abby $599, Back Office Betties $618 to $686, Ruby $720. AI receptionists start lower, and Nova's is $199 a month flat with no minute cap.
- How much does an after-hours answering service for a law firm cost?
- Usually the same as daytime: the plans we read bill the same minute or call rate at 2 am, and LexHelper states it has no after-hours premium. The cheapest pay-as-you-go entries were LexHelper at $42 a month plus $3.59 a call and PATLive at $49 a month plus $2.99 a minute. Nova's AI receptionist covers nights and weekends inside its $199 flat monthly.
- What is the best AI receptionist for law firms?
- There is no honest single answer, and the lists that name one are written by vendors. Check four things: whether it books into your practice software, how it bills a busy month, what it does when a current client or opposing counsel calls, and whether it can transfer a live call. Nova's books into Clio, MyCase, Lawmatics or Smokeball for $199 a month flat.
- Per call or per minute: which is cheaper for a law firm?
- It depends on call length. Answering Legal says its average call is under three minutes, and atty.ai prices on a 2.8-minute average. At about three minutes a call, LexHelper's per-minute pay-as-you-go rate of $2.64 works out near $7.92 a call against its per-call rate of $3.59. Short calls favor per-minute plans; long intake calls favor per-call or flat plans. That arithmetic is ours, from their published rates.
- Does an AI receptionist work with Clio?
- Some do. Nova's AI receptionist books consultations into Clio, MyCase, Lawmatics or Smokeball, or Google Calendar. Lexidesk's pricing page lists Clio and Lawmatics among its integrations. Check any vendor's own integrations page before you buy.
- Is an AI receptionist confidential enough for a law firm?
- That is a question for your ethics rules, not a vendor. The ABA's Formal Opinion 512 (July 2024) says lawyers using generative AI must consider their duties, including protecting client information, and your state bar may have its own guidance. Nova's receptionist does not run conflict checks, and caller details go to your practice software and inbox. This is general information, not legal advice.
Want this for your firm?
A law firm site with intake and booking automation and missed-call text-back, live in about seven days, from $600 setup. The AI receptionist is $199 a month flat and books consults into Clio, MyCase, Lawmatics or Smokeball.