Smith.ai
The established hybrid: AI receptionist plans plus North America-based human receptionists, strongest in legal and professional services.
Smith.ai is one of the most established answering services in the market, combining an AI receptionist product with human virtual receptionists based in North America. It handles 24/7 call answering, lead qualification and intake, appointment booking, payment collection, and outbound callbacks, with deep roots in legal intake (Clio, Lawmatics) and 100+ integrations.
Its differentiator is the hybrid model: AI-first plans with optional live-agent handoff, and full human-receptionist plans for businesses that want people on the line. That breadth comes at a higher price point than AI-only competitors.
Pricing
From $0/mo — AI Receptionist: Free $0/mo (25 calls/mo, $3.00/call overage), Pro $150/mo (75–300 calls/mo tiered, ~$1.67–$2.00/call, $2.17–$2.50/call overage), Enterprise $500/mo (300–1,000+ calls/mo tiered, $2.10–$2.17/call overage). Month-to-month, no long-term contract, 30 days' notice to cancel. A 6-month plan with rollover calls and a lower per-call rate is offered, but no price is listed, and no annual price or discount is published. Human/live receptionist plans are priced and billed separately (from $300/mo, 30 calls, $11.50/call overage) on a different pricing page.
Yearly plan: Not published
Verified 2026-10-26 against the vendor's pricing page. Pricing changes — always confirm with the vendor before buying.
Pros & cons
Pros
- Human + AI hybrid — real receptionists are available as an escalation path, which pure-AI vendors can't offer
- Long track record and the deepest legal-intake expertise in this list
- 100+ integrations including practice-management suites
- Per-call billing is predictable per interaction (no per-minute meter)
- A free tier exists (25 calls/mo) to try the AI receptionist before paying anything
Cons
- Materially more expensive than AI-only competitors once you're past the free tier — Pro is $150/mo and Enterprise is $500/mo before per-call rates
- Overage fees ($2.10–$3.00/call depending on tier) can stack quickly during call spikes
- No formal money-back guarantee published on the AI-receptionist pricing page; 30 days' notice required to cancel
- Human-receptionist tier pricing isn't easily readable from the public site
Feature checklist
| Feature | Smith.ai |
|---|---|
| Price (month-to-month) | From $0/mo |
| Yearly plan (average per month) | Not published |
| 24/7 call answering | ✓ |
| Appointment scheduling | ✓ |
| SMS follow-up / texting callers | PartialCall summaries and notifications; text answering on some plans |
| Email follow-up | PartialCall summaries by email |
| CRM / back-office integrations | ✓100+ integrations incl. Clio, Lawmatics, HubSpot |
| Live transfer to a human | ✓Live-agent handoff available on AI plans (per-call fee not listed on the current AI pricing page); full human plans available separately |
| Spanish / bilingual support | ✓Bilingual human agents |
| Custom call scripts & flows | ✓ |
| Outbound calling | ✓Callbacks and outreach campaigns |
| Call analytics dashboard | ✓Summaries, transcripts, and dashboard |
| Industry-specific packaging | ✓Strongest in legal intake |
| Self-serve signup | ✓Month-to-month AI plans |