Prices and features checked October 27, 2026 on Smith.ai's AI Receptionist pricing page and NextPhone's pricing page. Vendors change pricing without notice. Nothing here is legal or ethics advice.
The short answer
- Fewer than about 95 calls a month: Smith.ai costs less. Its free plan covers 25 calls, and Pro is $150 for 75.
- More than about 95 calls a month: NextPhone Pro ($199, unlimited inbound calls) costs less, and the gap widens as you grow.
- You want a person available when the AI can't cope: Smith.ai. It's the only one of the two that can transfer to a live receptionist.
- You want the vendor to build the intake flow: NextPhone Growth ($299), which its FAQ says law firms usually pick, or Smith.ai Enterprise ($500), which adds full-service setup and custom prompting.
These picks come from each vendor's published plans. We haven't run hands-on test calls with either service.
How the billing works
Smith.ai bills per call. The Free plan includes 25 calls a month, then $3.00 a call. Pro is $150 for 75 calls, with 150- and 300-call tiers; extra calls cost $2.50, $2.30 or $2.17 depending on the tier. Smith.ai says calls from known spam numbers are filtered out before they're answered, and you can remove up to 10% of calls from each bill as spam. Long intake calls don't cost more.
NextPhone is flat-rate: unlimited inbound calls with no per-minute charges or overage on Pro ($199), Growth ($299) and Scale ($599). Growth adds a team that builds, tests and tunes the agent for you. Annual billing is $1,990, $2,990 or $5,990 a year.
What a month costs
Our math at list price, using each service's cheapest plan for the volume. Both bill independently of call length, so long intake calls don't change these numbers.
| Calls / month | Smith.ai AI Receptionist | NextPhone |
|---|---|---|
| 25 | $0 (Free) | $199 (Pro) |
| 60 | $105.00 (Free + 35 calls at $3.00) | $199 (Pro) |
| 100 | $212.50 (Pro 75 + 25 calls at $2.50) | $199 (Pro) |
| 200 | $385.00 (Pro 150 + 50 calls at $2.30) | $199 (Pro) |
| 300 | $500.00 (300 calls) | $199 (Pro) |
Smith.ai's 150-call price ($270) is derived from the $1.80 per-call rate it shows. If you'd use NextPhone Growth instead of Pro, the crossover moves up: Smith.ai stays under $299 up to about 160 calls a month.
Human backup vs your own team
This is the real difference for a firm. Smith.ai says every call goes to AI first, and complex calls can be transferred to a live North America-based receptionist, day or night. Its AI pricing page doesn't say whether that live time is billed separately, so ask before you rely on it.
NextPhone transfers callers who want a human to you or your team, or takes a message if nobody is available. That's a handoff to your own people, not an outside receptionist. It lists warm and announced transfers, and routing by VIP caller, staff, role or schedule.
Intake and practice management
- Smith.ai lists lead qualification and call routing, AI scheduling (Calendly and others), and native integrations including Clio and Zapier on every plan, including Free. Quality Studio lets you test the receptionist before it goes live.
- NextPhone lists custom intake questions, lead qualification and a memory for repeat callers. Its integrations list includes Clio Manage, Clio Grow, MyCase, HubSpot and GoHighLevel, plus Zapier and Make.
Neither AI pricing page lists automated conflict checks. Capture the names of other parties in your intake script and run the check yourself.
Trials and contracts
Smith.ai offers a permanent free plan (25 calls a month) instead of a timed trial. It's month-to-month but asks for 30 days' notice to cancel. NextPhone has a 7-day free trial and is month-to-month with no cancellation fees.
Bottom line
- Pick Smith.ai if you get modest call volume, want live receptionists behind the AI for distressed or complicated callers, or want to test on real calls for free.
- Pick NextPhone if you get more than about 95 calls a month, want a fixed bill, or use MyCase or HubSpot alongside Clio.
Before either goes live, write a clear no-legal-advice rule, cover recording consent in the greeting, and ask where recordings and transcripts are stored. More on that in our law firm guide.