Smith.ai has been doing this for a decade, with its own live receptionists backing up the AI and direct CRM integrations. FirstReply charges one flat monthly rate instead of a per call fee and shows you the real cost of every call in your own portal. Below is a sourced, side by side comparison, including where Smith.ai is ahead of us, so you can pick the one that actually fits.
Smith.ai's pricing and program details below were checked directly against smith.ai on August 5, 2026. FirstReply's numbers are our own published pricing.
| FirstReply | Smith.ai | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Flat $549/mo, up to 500 minutes included | Per-call plans, $300 to $2,100/mo plus overage |
| Cost at 300 calls/mo | $549 flat | $2,100 (Pro plan) |
| Setup fee | $500 one-time, refunded within 30 days if it doesn't work out | None |
| Appointment booking | Included | +$1.50 per booking |
| SMS / chat alert | Included (Telegram or email lead card) | +$0.50 per SMS or Slack alert |
| Call recording | Never recorded, by design (CA Penal Code 632) | Optional recording + transcript, +$0.25 per call |
| Answers from your documents | Included, trained on your own files | Not part of Smith.ai's published add-on pricing |
| Live human backup | Warm transfer to your own staff | Smith.ai's own receptionists, roughly 25% of calls |
| Conflict check | Not offered | Included |
| CRM integrations | Not built yet | Clio, Filevine, Lawmatics, MyCase, 7,000+ via Zapier |
| Free trial / refund | 14 days free (up to 100 min), 30-day setup refund | 30-day money-back guarantee, no contract |
Answered directly first, then explained.
FirstReply is a flat-rate alternative to Smith.ai: $549 a month for up to 500 minutes, with no per-call or per-booking fees, versus Smith.ai's per-call plans that run from $300 for 30 calls up to $2,100 for 300 calls, plus add-on charges.
That gap gets wider the more your phone rings, since Smith.ai's price scales with call volume and FirstReply's does not. The trade-off is real: Smith.ai backs its AI with its own live receptionists and a built-in conflict check, and FirstReply does not offer either. If your call volume is low and steady, a per-call plan can end up cheaper than a flat fee, so it is worth counting your actual monthly calls before switching either way.
Smith.ai bills in tiers: Starter is $300 for 30 calls with $11.50 per call after that, Basic is $810 for 90 calls at $10.50 overage, and Pro is $2,100 for 300 calls at $8.50 overage. Add-ons like appointment booking and SMS cost extra on top.
Those add-ons add up: $1.50 for an appointment booking, $0.50 for an SMS or Slack alert, $0.25 for a recording with transcript, $1.00 for a Spanish-language line, $1.00 for taking a payment, and $1.50 for complex routing, plus $10 a month for caller ID and $15 a month per extra transfer point. Smith.ai does not charge a setup fee, offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, and does not lock you into a contract, all of which is worth crediting them for.
Both. By Smith.ai's own numbers, its AI resolves about 75% of calls on its own, and the remaining 25% get handed to one of Smith.ai's live receptionists. FirstReply's assistant is AI only and warm-transfers directly to your own staff, not to a third-party receptionist team.
That live-receptionist layer is a genuine advantage for calls that need a human touch immediately, an angry caller or an emotionally difficult intake, rather than waiting on your own team to pick up. FirstReply's warm transfer calls your staff, says out loud who is on the line and why, and connects once someone answers, but if nobody picks up the call goes back to the assistant rather than to a person standing by.
Smith.ai, clearly. It connects directly to Clio, Filevine, Lawmatics and MyCase, plus more than 7,000 other apps through Zapier, and includes a built-in conflict check. FirstReply does not have CRM integrations today; leads arrive as a structured card in your Telegram or email instead.
If your practice already runs its intake through one of those platforms, that integration alone can be worth the higher per-call cost. What FirstReply does instead is show the real Telnyx cost of every call in your own portal next to your revenue and margin, so you can see exactly what the phone is costing you, even without a CRM connection.
For a firm that already runs on Clio or Filevine and wants a conflict check on every call, Smith.ai fits the existing workflow better. For a firm that wants flat, predictable pricing and a guarantee of 2 signed cases in 60 days, FirstReply's $749-a-month legal plan is built specifically for that outcome.
Both approaches are reasonable; they optimize for different things. Smith.ai optimizes for fitting into an established legal tech stack. FirstReply optimizes for a fixed monthly number and a specific, guaranteed result, with the setup fee refunded if the guarantee is not met within 60 days.
Said plainly, because the comparison only means something if it's honest.
About a quarter of Smith.ai's calls escalate to Smith.ai's own live receptionists, something FirstReply does not offer. We warm-transfer to your team; we don't have a bench of our own receptionists standing by behind the AI.
25M+ calls handled over 10 years, 5,000+ businesses, and reviews at Clutch 4.8, G2 4.9 and Capterra 4.8, plus direct integrations with Clio, Filevine, Lawmatics, MyCase and Zapier, and a built-in conflict check. FirstReply is newer and doesn't have CRM integrations or conflict checking today.
Not every business should pick us, and we'd rather say so here than have you find out after signing up.
You need a conflict check on every call, you already run on Clio, Filevine, Lawmatics or MyCase and want a direct integration, you want live human receptionists backing up the AI, or your call volume is low enough that per-call pricing beats a flat fee.
You want one flat monthly price with no per-booking or per-SMS surprise charges, you want the assistant answering questions from your own documents, you're a California business that would rather calls were never recorded at all, or you want to see the real per-call cost in your own portal.
Full FirstReply pricing and what's included on the main FirstReply page.
It depends what matters more to you. If flat, predictable pricing and appointment booking without per item fees is the priority, FirstReply is a strong alternative. If you need a conflict check on every call or deep CRM integration with Clio or Filevine, Smith.ai is built for that and FirstReply is not.
At 300 calls a month, Smith.ai's Pro plan costs $2,100. FirstReply is $549 a month flat for up to 500 minutes, with no per call, per booking or per SMS fees. The gap narrows at low call volume, where Smith.ai's Starter plan begins at $300 for 30 calls.
Yes. You keep your existing number and forward it to us, or we provision a new local number and you update your listings on your own schedule. There is a 14 day free trial and the setup fee is refunded within 30 days if it does not work out.
No. FirstReply is AI only, with a warm transfer straight to your own staff when a caller asks for a person or the assistant flags something urgent. Smith.ai backs its AI with its own live receptionists for roughly a quarter of calls, which FirstReply does not offer.
Smith.ai states plainly that it is not HIPAA compliant and cannot take calls containing protected health information. FirstReply is not positioned as HIPAA compliant either. If your practice needs a HIPAA compliant intake line, neither product is built for that today.
Call the number below and talk to the actual assistant. Then compare it against Smith.ai's own demo line at (380) 333-6907 and pick whichever one fits your business.