- Smith.ai has two receptionist products with very different prices. AI Receptionist starts at $0 for 25 calls. Human Virtual Receptionists start at $300 for 30 calls.
- Both products bill by call, not by minute. That can work well for longer legal intake calls, but overages can make the wrong tier expensive in a busy month.
- Human reception gets more expensive once you add legal workflow actions. Appointment booking, conflict checks, extended intake, payments, recording, complex routing, and extra transfer destinations can all add to the base price.
- The published plan with the lowest monthly fee is not always the cheapest plan for your actual volume. On the human service, Basic becomes cheaper than Starter at roughly 75 calls, while Pro becomes cheaper than Basic at roughly 213 calls.
- Smith.ai outbound campaigns are a separate product. Warm engagement starts at $600 per month plus a setup fee; cold prospecting starts at $10,000 per month. Do not mix those prices into receptionist comparisons.
- For PI firms, calculate the cost of the workflow after the receptionist hangs up. A low per-call fee matters less if case managers still have to chase providers, update the case file, and make the next call.
Smith.ai pricing has one annoying quirk: there is no single Smith.ai price.
There are two receptionist products under the same brand. AI Receptionist starts free for 25 calls a month. Human Virtual Receptionists start at $300 for 30 calls. Both charge by the call, but the included features, overages, setup model, and human involvement are different.
That is why search results can tell you Smith.ai costs $0, $150, or $300 a month and all be technically correct.
This guide breaks down the current Smith.ai pricing, the add-ons that change the bill, and the call volumes that were moving up a tier actually became cheaper.
Smith.ai Pricing At A Glance
The quickest way to understand the price list is to split AI-first and human-first reception before comparing anything else. Smith.ai also sells a separate outbound campaign product, which belongs in a different budget line.
| Product | Starting Price | Billing Unit | Best Fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI Receptionist Free | $0 for 25 calls | Calls | Testing AI on real inbound traffic |
| AI Receptionist Pro | $150 for 75 calls | Calls | Routine answering, qualification, routing, and scheduling |
| AI Receptionist Enterprise | $500 for 300 calls | Calls | Custom prompting, integrations, workflows, and multi-location setups |
| Human Virtual Receptionists | $300 for 30 calls | Calls | Firms that want a person answering first |
| Warm Engagement Campaigns | $600 per month | Contacts | Structured outbound follow-up and reactivation |
| Cold Prospecting Campaigns | $10,000 per month | Contacts | High-volume outbound prospecting |
The key comparison is AI versus humans. The $150 AI plan and the $300 human plan buy different operating models, so their starting prices should not be compared as equivalent service.
Smith.ai AI Receptionist Pricing Is Straightforward Until You Hit the Tier Breakpoints
Smith.ai's AI Receptionist is the lower-cost option because AI handles the call first. The current plans are:
| AI Plan | Included Calls | Monthly Price | Included Rate | Extra Call Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | 25 | $0 | Included | $3.00 |
| Pro 75 | 75 | $150 | $2.00 per call | $2.50 |
| Pro 150 | 150 | $270 | $1.80 per call | $2.30 |
| Pro 300 | 300 | $500 | $1.67 per call | $2.17 |
| Enterprise 300 | 300 | $500 | $1.67 per call | $2.17 |
| Enterprise 500 | 500 | $800 | $1.60 per call | $2.10 |
| Enterprise 1,000+ | 1,000+ | Custom | Custom | Custom |
All tiers include 24/7 AI answering, recording, transcription, summaries, lead qualification, routing, scheduling support, integrations, analytics, and call history. Pro adds dedicated onboarding and live support. Enterprise adds full-service setup, custom prompting, custom integrations and workflows, multi-location support, and a dedicated success manager.
The Free plan is more useful than a normal free trial
The Free tier includes 25 real calls every month, not only test calls. If you allow overages, extra real calls cost $3 each.
That creates an interesting price point. At 50 calls a month, staying on Free and paying for 25 overages costs $75. The Pro 75 plan costs $150. If price is the only consideration, Free with overages is cheaper at that volume.
The trade-off is support and setup. Pro adds dedicated onboarding and live phone, email, and chat support. A law firm deciding whether to run production intake on a self-serve free tier should price the operational risk along with the call rate.
For a PI-specific view of where a generic receptionist workflow can break, see why a generic AI receptionist can struggle with personal injury calls.
The AI plan breakpoints are worth knowing
The plan page makes larger bundles look cheaper per call, which they are. The more useful question is when the larger bundle becomes cheaper than staying on the smaller plan and paying overages.
- Free vs Pro 75: At 75 total calls, Free plus 50 overages also costs $150. Pro makes more sense at that point because it adds onboarding and support for the same base cost.
- Pro 75 vs Pro 150: Pro 75 plus overages stays cheaper through roughly 123 calls. At about 124 calls, Pro 150 becomes cheaper.
- Pro 150 vs Pro 300: Pro 150 plus overages stay cheaper through 250 calls. Above that, Pro 300 becomes cheaper.
- Pro 300 vs Enterprise 300: Both currently display $500 for 300 calls. The service level differs, so this is a feature and implementation decision rather than a price decision.
These are arithmetic breakpoints based on published rates. Custom terms can change them.
Human Virtual Receptionists Cost More, and Legal Add-Ons Matter
Smith.ai's human Virtual Receptionists start at $300 per month. North America-based receptionists answer 24/7, and the standard plans include lead screening, qualification, five short-answer intake questions, a dedicated phone number, and the first CRM integration.
| Human Plan | Included Calls | Monthly Price | Included Rate | Overage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | 30 | $300 | $10.00 per call | $11.50 per call |
| Basic | 90 | $810 | $9.00 per call | $10.50 per call |
| Pro | 300 | $2,100 | $7.00 per call | $8.50 per call |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom | Custom |
The simple version: If your requirement is that every caller begins with a person, these are the Smith.ai prices that matter. Comparing them with the AI plans will understate your budget.
The add-on menu is where legal intake gets expensive
Smith.ai supports a fairly deep set of front-office actions, but many sit outside the human plan's base rate.
| Human Receptionist Add-On | Current Price |
|---|---|
| Appointment booking | $1.50 per call |
| SMS or Slack notification | $0.50 per call |
| Microsoft Teams notification | $0.50 per call |
| Text or email follow-up | $0.50 per call |
| Conflict check | $0.50 per call |
| Call recording and transcription | $0.25 per call |
| Dedicated Spanish line | $1.00 per call |
| Accept collect calls | $0.50 per call |
| Accept payments | $1.00 per call |
| Third-party intake | $1.00 per call |
| Complex call routing | $1.50 per call |
| Custom calendaring | $1.00 per call |
| Extended intake | $1.50 per call |
| Additional custom intake question | $0.25 per question |
There are also monthly charges: $10 for business caller ID on outbound calls, $15 for each additional transfer destination, and $5 for each inbound call-tracking number.
A legal pricing article that stops at $300, $810, and $2,100 misses the part that determines the final invoice.
Take a 90-call Basic plan. If 40 calls require appointment booking, 20 need conflict checks, and all 90 need recording and transcription, the add-ons are:
- Appointment booking: 40 x $1.50 = $60
- Conflict checks: 20 x $0.50 = $10
- Recording and transcription: 90 x $0.25 = $22.50
- Estimated month: $902.50 before any other add-ons
That is still predictable once the workflow is mapped. The mistake is budgeting from the base card before deciding what the receptionist should actually do.
The Cheapest Human Plan Changes as Call Volume Grows
Smith.ai bills human reception by call, so plan sizing is mostly a volume problem. The overage rates make the breakpoints easy to calculate.
| Monthly Human Calls | Lowest Published Standard Option | Approx. Cost Before Add-Ons |
|---|---|---|
| 30 | Starter | $300 |
| 50 | Starter + 20 overages | $530 |
| 75 | Basic | $810 |
| 100 | Basic + 10 overages | $915 |
| 200 | Basic + 110 overages | $1,965 |
| 213 | Pro becomes cheaper than Basic + overages | About $2,100 |
| 300 | Pro | $2,100 |
Two breakpoints are especially useful:
Around 75 calls: Starter plus overages reaches roughly the Basic plan price. If your normal month is near that level, buying Starter because it has the lower headline price can cost more.
Around 213 calls: Basic plus overages catches the $2,100 Pro price. Firms consistently above roughly 212 calls should compare Pro rather than running a large Basic overage bill.
These examples exclude add-ons. If your call mix uses a lot of paid workflow actions, the best plan can shift earlier.
Smith.ai Contracts Are Flexible, With a Few Details to Check
The standard receptionist products are relatively easy to leave compared with long enterprise software contracts.
AI Receptionist is month-to-month and requires 30 days' cancellation notice. Smith.ai also advertises a six-month option with rollover calls and a lower per-call rate.
Human Virtual Receptionists are month-to-month. Smith.ai states that customers can receive a 10% discount for subscribing for 12 months.
The human service also advertises a 30-day money-back guarantee capped at $1,000, excluding overages. The same FAQ contains wording about deciding within the first two weeks and later says to email within 30 days. Because those statements do not read identically, confirm the current guarantee terms before relying on them in a purchasing decision.
This is a small detail. It is also exactly the kind of small detail pricing roundups tend to skip.
Outbound Campaign Pricing Is a Different Product
Smith.ai's human receptionists can make defined outbound calls, but the company also sells full Outreach Campaigns. Those campaign prices should stay separate from receptionist pricing.
| Outreach Product | Starting Price | Per-Contact Rate | Minimum | Setup Fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warm Engagement | $600 per month | $12 | 50 contacts | $750 |
| Cold Prospecting | $10,000 per month | $10 | 1,000 contacts | $750 |
Warm engagement is positioned around speed-to-lead, reactivation, and current-client engagement. Cold prospecting is a much larger outbound sales program.
One contract detail deserves verification during sales: The campaign page says there are no annual contracts, while its FAQ states a six-month minimum commitment paid upfront before moving to monthly billing. Those statements can coexist, but they do not mean "no commitment." Budget from the six-month minimum unless Smith.ai confirms different terms for your proposal.
For a PI Firm, the Receptionist Bill Is Only Half the Cost Question
Smith.ai's pricing is attractive when the job is clearly front desk work: Answer the call, screen the lead, schedule the consultation, take a payment, route the caller, or send a follow-up.
The economics change when the expensive work begins after that handoff.
A personal injury case can generate provider follow-up, medical-record chasing, treatment check-ins, insurer calls, existing-client updates, repeated attempts, and documentation inside the case file. A receptionist can handle some of those calls, but the buying question becomes workflow ownership rather than call answering.
HelloCounsel's product model is scoped differently. It is built for plaintiff-firm call operations, including reception plus supported records, treatment, and case-development workflows. Pricing is custom-scoped to expected usage and volume and fixed monthly within the approved tolerance rather than published as a simple call bundle.
The commercial models are therefore difficult to compare with one unit-cost table:
| Pricing Dimension | Smith.ai AI | Smith.ai Human | HelloCounsel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public entry price | $0, paid plans from $150 | $300 | No public unit rate |
| Billing unit | Calls | Calls | Custom-scoped workflow volume |
| Monthly structure | Tier + overages | Tier + overages + add-ons | Fixed monthly within agreed tolerance |
| Primary scope | AI-first reception and intake | Human-first reception and intake | Plaintiff reception + supported call operations |
| Best cost question | Cost per handled call | Cost per handled call + action | Cost per completed supported workflow |
For plaintiff firms, include the work after the call in the model. If a provider call ends with a note that somebody still has to copy into the case file, part of the cost is sitting in payroll rather than the vendor invoice.
For more on that distinction, see how CMS write-back changes the economics of call automation and why outbound call volume deserves its own audit.
Which Smith.ai Plan Makes Sense for a Law Firm?
The answer is simpler once you stop treating every phone call as the same job.
| If your firm... | Start With... | Watch For... |
|---|---|---|
| Wants to test AI on a small number of real calls | AI Free | Self-serve setup and limited live support |
| Gets 75 to 120 predictable inbound calls | AI Pro 75 | Overage costs once volume moves past roughly 123 calls |
| Gets 125 to 250 AI-suitable calls | AI Pro 150 | Whether 300-call pricing becomes cheaper near 251 calls |
| Needs custom prompting, custom integrations, or multiple locations | AI Enterprise | Sales-led implementation terms |
| Wants every caller to start with a person | Human Virtual Receptionists | Add-ons, overages, and routing destinations |
| Needs deeper human legal intake | Human Basic or Pro | Extended intake, conflict checks, booking, payments, and recording charges |
| Runs structured lead reactivation or outbound sales campaigns | Outreach Campaigns | Setup fee and six-month minimum language |
| Has case managers buried in post-intake PI calls | Broaden the comparison beyond reception | Provider follow-up, retries, case context, and write-back |
A good Smith.ai pilot should answer one question: What percentage of your current phone workflow disappears after implementation?
Track the call, the vendor action, and the employee work that remains. That gives you a useful cost per completed workflow instead of a cheaper-looking cost per answered call.
For more plaintiff-firm context, the HelloCounsel blog covers reception, outbound calls, and case-file workflows in more depth.
Smith.ai Pricing Is Transparent, but the Base Rate Is Only the Start
Smith.ai deserves credit for publishing more pricing detail than many reception vendors. You can see the standard AI tiers, human tiers, overages, and most human add-ons before speaking to sales.
The part that requires work is sizing the right model. AI plans can be inexpensive for predictable inbound calls. Human plans cost more but give every caller a person first. Legal intake actions can add $0.25 to $1.50 per affected call, and the wrong tier can create avoidable overages.
For a law firm, build the budget from three numbers: monthly call count, workflow actions per call, and staff work that remains afterward. Those three tell you far more than the advertised starting price.
For a PI firm whose biggest cost sits after intake, broaden the evaluation to the full call operation. You can map one recurring workflow with HelloCounsel and compare the completed workflow against the receptionist handoff you use today.
Frequently Asked Questions
These are the pricing questions law firms are most likely to need answered before choosing a tier.
How much does Smith.ai cost in 2026?
Smith.ai AI Receptionist starts free for 25 calls. Paid AI plans start at $150 for 75 calls. Human Virtual Receptionists start at $300 for 30 calls, with higher tiers at $810 and $2,100.
Does Smith.ai charge per minute?
No. Smith.ai prices both AI Receptionist and human Virtual Receptionists by call. Human plans can also add per-call charges for actions such as scheduling, conflict checks, payments, recording, and extended intake.
What are Smith.ai Virtual Receptionist overage rates?
Current overages are $11.50 per call on Starter, $10.50 on Basic, and $8.50 on Pro.
Is Smith.ai AI Receptionist really free?
Yes. The Free plan includes 25 real calls per month. If overages are enabled, additional calls cost $3 each. Pro plans add onboarding and live support.
Does Smith.ai require a contract?
Standard AI and human receptionist plans are month-to-month. AI Receptionist requires 30 days' cancellation notice. Smith.ai also offers longer-term discount options on some products.
Does Smith.ai charge extra for legal intake?
Five short-answer intake questions are included on human plans. Extended intake costs $1.50 per call, with additional custom questions priced at $0.25 each. Conflict checks and several other legal workflow actions also carry per-call fees.
How does HelloCounsel pricing compare with Smith.ai?
Smith.ai publishes call-based AI and human receptionist tiers. HelloCounsel uses custom-scoped fixed monthly pricing for supported plaintiff-firm call workflows. The models should be compared on completed work, not a single per-call rate.
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