Best legal answering service: 9 compared, with real prices
The best legal answering service is the one that runs your intake questions, books consultations into your calendar, and costs least for your month of calls. For about 40 calls a month, published prices run from $189 at PATLive to $415 at Smith.ai. Answering Legal, LEX Reception and Alert Communications do not publish prices. Below: nine legal answering services, priced from each one's own page, what each says it does for law firms, the questions to ask, and how to test them before you sign.
The short version
- Lowest published prices for about 40 calls: PATLive $189, Veza Reception $200, Posh $215.
- Built only for law firms: Veza Reception, Answering Legal, LEX Reception and Alert Communications.
- No public price: Answering Legal, LEX Reception and Alert Communications quote you after a call or form.
- Extras that matter to lawyers: Smith.ai lists conflict checks at $0.50 a call; PATLive says bilingual receptionists cost nothing extra from 8 am to 10 pm ET.
- Test before you sign: most offer a free trial. Call it at 9 pm as a new client and see what happens.
What is the best legal answering service?
There is no single best one; there is a best one for your firm's calls. We priced the same month at each service: about 40 calls of 2.5 minutes, or 100 minutes, on its cheapest published plan that covers it. Answering Legal says its "average call time is less than 3 minutes," so 100 minutes is a fair small-firm month. Prices were read on each vendor's own page on October 2, 2026, before taxes and add-ons. We have not used these services; the right-hand column is what each says about its own legal work.
| Service | About 40 calls a month | How it prices | What its pages say for law firms |
|---|---|---|---|
| PATLive | $189 (100 minutes) | Per minute; $2.09 per extra minute on that plan | "Lead capture, scheduling, client intake, and more"; bilingual receptionists "between 8am and 10pm ET at no extra charge" |
| Veza Reception | $200 (100 minutes) | Per minute; $2.00 per extra minute | Services "designed specifically for law firms and solo attorneys"; 14-day free trial |
| Posh | $215 (100 minutes) | Per minute; $2.15 per extra minute | Markets "a 24/7 legal answering service" for lawyers; free trial offered |
| Abby Connect | $329 (100 minutes, human) | Per "Abby Minute"; AI answering uses half a minute | Intake and consultation scheduling; integrations with "Clio, Clio Grow, Lawmatics" |
| Ruby | $395 (100 minutes) | Per minute plans | "Trained support for legal intake, scheduling, and client questions" |
| Smith.ai Virtual Front Desk | $415 (40 calls) | Per call: $300 for 30 calls, $11.50 per extra call | Conflict checks $0.50 a call, dedicated Spanish line $1.00 a call, collect calls accepted for $0.50 |
| Answering Legal | Not published | "Answering Legal bills by the minute" | Receptionists "train for months in empathy, legal intake, and legal jargon"; free trial set up after a form |
| LEX Reception | Not published | Plans shown after a form or a call | "We pledge to use real people in customer facing interactions" |
| Alert Communications | Not published | Contact for a plan | "Intended for law firms only"; intake, plus contract and retainer services |
Our reading of the table: if price matters most and a person must answer, PATLive, Veza and Posh are the cheapest published options for a small firm. If you want conflict checks done on the call, Smith.ai is the one that prices them openly. If you want a service that only works with law firms, Veza publishes its prices; Answering Legal, LEX and Alert want a conversation first.
How much does a legal answering service cost?
About $189 to $415 a month for 40 calls on the published live plans above, and more as calls get longer, because almost every plan is priced by the minute or by the call. A 24 hour legal answering service usually costs the same as a daytime one: the plans above include nights and weekends rather than charging extra for them. The real differences are in what is added per call: Smith.ai charges $1.50 to book an appointment on your calendar and $0.50 for a conflict check, so a busy intake month can cost noticeably more than its base plan.
For a firm that does not need a person on every call, AI answering costs less: about $45 to $109 for the same 40 calls on the AI plans we priced, broken down in how much an AI receptionist costs. For every answering service, not just legal ones, see answering service cost.
What should a legal answering service do for a law firm?
Answer every new-client call in your firm's name, run your intake questions, book the consultation, and send you the details, without ever giving legal advice. For most firms the money is in new-client calls, so judge each service on four things: whether it runs your intake script rather than taking a message, whether it books into your calendar or case management software, whether it can collect the other parties' names for your conflict check, and whether it handles Spanish-speaking callers at the hours they call. Every service above says it does intake; ask each one to show you a sample intake summary before you sign.
How do you test a legal answering service before you sign?
Use the free trial and call it yourself, at the hours your clients call. Five calls tell you most of what you need:
| Test call | What a good answer sounds like |
|---|---|
| A new client at 9 pm on a Saturday | Your firm's name, your intake questions in order, a consultation offered |
| A caller who asks "Do I have a case?" | No opinion on the case; the question passed to an attorney |
| A caller who names the other party | The name written down for your conflict check |
| A caller who only speaks Spanish | The whole intake held in Spanish, not a callback promise |
| An existing client who is upset | A calm message to the right attorney, marked urgent if your rule says so |
LeadSixty, listed last because it is ours. We build and run an AI legal answering service that answers in your firm's name day and night in English or Spanish, runs your intake and conflict-check questions, books consultations and sends you a summary. First 30 days free, then $297 a month. The cons: it is AI, not a person, so a firm whose clients expect a human on every call should pick one of the live services above; and it never gives legal advice or screens case merit, by design.
Not sure live or AI fits your firm? On a free 30-minute Where AI Fits call we look at when your calls come in and what your intake needs, and tell you honestly which option costs least. If a live service fits better, we will say so.
Book a Where AI Fits callQuestions lawyers ask about answering services
What is the cheapest legal answering service?+
How much does LEX Reception cost?+
How much does Alert Communications cost?+
How much does Answering Legal cost?+
Can a legal answering service run conflict checks?+
Is there a bilingual legal answering service?+
- Pricing pages, read October 2, 2026: PATLive, Veza Reception, Posh, Abby Connect, Ruby, Smith.ai, Answering Legal, LEX Reception, Alert Communications.
- Legal pages, read the same day: PATLive legal, Posh attorney answering service, Abby Connect legal, Ruby legal.
- AI plan prices: how much does an AI receptionist cost.
Published October 2, 2026. Every price and quotation was read on the vendor's own page and checked again before publishing; monthly totals are our arithmetic. Prices change, so confirm before you sign. See how we research and write. Found an error? Email hello@leadsixty.com.
Every new-client call answered. Every legal question left to you.
Book a free 30-minute Where AI Fits call. We look at when your calls come in and what your intake asks, and tell you which answering option costs your firm least, ours or someone else's.
Book a Where AI Fits callOr see the legal answering service.