Legal intake software costs $49 to $149 per user per month when the vendor publishes a price, or $150 to $2,100 per month when it is priced per call. Clio Manage runs $49 to $149 per user per month on annual terms, and Clio Grow adds $59 per user per month. Smith.ai starts at $300 per month for 30 calls. Four of the six vendors below publish no price at all.
Last updated July 2026. Vendor pricing verified from each vendor's own pricing page on July 14, 2026.
That is the honest state of the market. Most legal intake vendors treat price as something you have to earn a demo to hear, which makes budgeting for intake harder than it should be. Below is every number we could verify from a vendor's own live page on July 14, 2026, plus a clear label on everything that is quote-only. Where a vendor does not publish, we say so instead of guessing.
How much does legal intake software cost? The real numbers
Legal intake software falls into three price bands. Practice management suites with an intake module charge per user per month ($49 to $149 for Clio, plus $59 per user for Clio Grow). Answering and receptionist services charge per call ($150 to $2,100 per month at Smith.ai, depending on volume and whether the calls are handled by a human or by AI). Purpose-built legal intake platforms (Lawmatics base plans, Intaker, Captorra, Lead Docket) do not publish pricing at all and route you to a demo. Here is the full picture as of July 2026.
| Vendor | What it is | Pricing model | Verified price (July 14, 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clio Manage | Practice management | Per user, per month (annual) | EasyStart $49, Essentials $89, Advanced $119, Expand $149 |
| Clio Grow | Legal CRM and intake | Per user, per month add-on | $59 per user on top of Essentials or Advanced. Included in Expand ($149) |
| Lawmatics | Legal CRM, intake, marketing automation | Subscription tiers, 3 user minimum | Not publicly listed (Essential / Premium / Enterprise, quote only) |
| Lawmatics QualifyAI | AI lead scoring add-on | Metered credits (1 per lead evaluated) | 50 credits $150, 100 $250, 200 $400, 350 $600, 500 $750 per month |
| Smith.ai (human receptionists) | Live virtual receptionist and intake | Per call, month to month | 30 calls $300, 90 calls $810, 300 calls $2,100 per month |
| Smith.ai (AI Receptionist) | AI call answering | Per call, month to month | 25 calls free, 75 calls $150, 150 calls $270, 300 calls $500, 500 calls $800 |
| Intaker | Website chat and intake | Demo gated | Not publicly listed |
| Captorra | High volume intake (mass tort, PI) | Quote only, two editions | Not publicly listed |
| Lead Docket (Filevine) | Legal lead management | "Get a custom quote" form | Not publicly listed |
How does per user, per month pricing work?
Per user, per month pricing charges by lawyer, not by lead. Clio is the clearest example. On annual commitment terms verified in July 2026, Clio Manage is $49 per user per month for EasyStart, $89 for Essentials, $119 for Advanced and $149 for Expand. Clio Grow, the intake and legal CRM product, is a $59 per user per month add-on available only on Essentials or Advanced. The Expand plan at $149 includes Clio Grow in the price. Month to month rates are higher and Clio does not publish them, so treat the annual figures as the floor.
Run the arithmetic for a real firm. Essentials at $89 plus Grow at $59 is $148 per user per month. For a four-attorney firm, that is $592 per month, or $7,104 a year, before you add a paralegal or an intake coordinator as seats. The structural point is that this cost scales with headcount, not with inquiries. A firm that hires two associates pays more for intake even if lead volume never moves, and a firm that doubles its marketing spend pays nothing extra. Whether that helps or hurts depends on which direction your firm is growing.
How does per call pricing work?
Per call pricing charges for each conversation, and the published base price is only a floor. Smith.ai is the most transparent vendor in the category, which is exactly why it is the best illustration of how the real bill forms. Its human receptionist plans, month to month with no setup fee and no contract, are Starter at $300 per month for 30 calls, Basic at $810 for 90 calls, and Pro at $2,100 for 300 calls. Overage runs $11.50, $10.50 and $8.50 per call respectively, so the per call rate falls as volume rises.
The catch is what a "call" includes. Intake on the base plan is capped at five short-answer questions. Anything a law firm actually needs is billed on top, per call.
| Smith.ai per call add-on | Price per call (July 2026) |
|---|---|
| Book an appointment | +$1.50 |
| Conflict check | +$0.50 |
| Extended intake (6 additional questions) | +$1.50, then +$0.25 per further question |
| Accept payment | +$1.00 |
| SMS notification | +$0.50 |
| Call recording and transcription | +$0.25 |
Stack those the way a real intake needs them (book the consult, run a conflict check, ask more than five questions, take a payment) and you are adding roughly $4.50 to $5.00 per call to the base rate. On the 90 call Basic plan at $810, that is another $405 or so per month. Smith.ai also sells an AI Receptionist at lower prices: 25 calls free, then $150 for 75 calls, $270 for 150, $500 for 300 and $800 for 500, which is a genuinely different cost curve if your calls do not need a human. Compare that against how an always-on AI receptionist handles the same work before you assume a human is required.
Why do four of six vendors refuse to publish a price?
Four of the six legal intake vendors we checked in July 2026 publish no price at all: Lawmatics base plans, Intaker, Captorra and Lead Docket. That is not an oversight. Quote-only pricing lets a vendor price against your firm's size, practice area and perceived budget rather than against a public list, and it forces a sales conversation before you can compare anything.
Here is what each one does publish. Lawmatics states a three user minimum, 500 contacts on Essential and 10,000 on Premium, and a first month free, but no dollar figure for any tier. Its QualifyAI add-on is the exception: lead scoring is metered in credits at one credit per lead evaluated, priced at $150 for 50 credits per month, $250 for 100, $400 for 200, $600 for 350 and $750 for 500. Credits do not roll over, and overage on the smallest tier is $4.00 per credit, falling to $1.50 per credit at the 500 credit tier. Intaker is demo gated; an $80 starter plan appeared in Intaker's own blog post in January 2023, but it is on no live pricing page today, so treat it as stale and unverified rather than current. Captorra, owned by Martindale-Avvo, sells two editions (Captorra Ready, capped at five users, and Captorra Enterprise, unlimited users with real-time intake dialog scripting) and lists no price for either. Lead Docket's pricing page is a "Get a Custom Quote" form; its real strength is marketing ROI attribution and native Filevine sync.
If you are shortlisting any of those four, ask for the fully loaded monthly cost at your actual lead volume, in writing.
What drives the price up?
The sticker price of legal intake software is rarely the price you pay. Five things move it, and all five are predictable.
- Headcount. On per user pricing, every seat you add costs the full rate. Clio Essentials plus Grow at $148 per user per month is $1,776 a year for one person and $8,880 for five.
- Call volume. On per call pricing, growth is a tax. Smith.ai overage on the Starter plan is $11.50 per call, so 20 unexpected calls in a busy month adds $230.
- Depth of the intake. Five short-answer questions is not intake, it is a message pad. Real screening (facts of the matter, dates, opposing party, damages, prior counsel) is where the extended intake fees bite at $1.50 plus $0.25 per additional question.
- Conflict checks and payments. Both are separately billed at Smith.ai ($0.50 and $1.00 per call) even though most firms consider both non-optional.
- Annual versus monthly terms. Clio's published rates are annual-commitment rates. Month to month costs more and the vendor does not publish how much more.
What should a small firm expect to pay?
A solo or three-attorney firm should budget $150 to $600 per month for legal intake in 2026, and a firm with real inbound call volume should budget more. Three concrete scenarios, using only verified July 2026 prices:
Solo, low volume, already on Clio. Clio Essentials at $89 plus Clio Grow at $59 is $148 per user per month, or $1,776 a year. Intake is handled inside the tool you already run.
Three attorneys, roughly 90 inbound calls a month, wants a human answering. Smith.ai Basic is $810 per month for 90 calls. Add booking ($1.50), a conflict check ($0.50) and extended intake ($1.50) on each and the real number is closer to $1,125 per month, or $13,500 a year.
Same firm, AI answering instead. Smith.ai's AI Receptionist at 150 calls is $270 per month. The tradeoff is judgment on the call, not coverage.
One structural observation worth sitting with. Nobody in this category prices on the thing a law firm actually wants, which is a qualified, booked, briefed consultation. Clio prices per lawyer. Smith.ai prices per ring. Lawmatics prices per lead evaluated by its scoring model. Four vendors price per negotiation. If your firm is weighing what to spend here, start from what a signed matter is worth to you and work backwards, rather than starting from a seat count. The legal intake software page sets out how Consultations approaches the same problem, and if the real cash squeeze at your firm is receivables rather than intake, it is usually cheaper to automate the follow-up on overdue invoices than to buy another seat of anything.
Frequently asked questions
How much does legal intake software cost?
Legal intake software costs $49 to $149 per user per month at Clio (annual terms, verified July 2026), plus $59 per user per month for Clio Grow unless you are on the $149 Expand plan. Per call intake through Smith.ai runs $300 to $2,100 per month for human receptionists and $150 to $800 for its AI receptionist. Lawmatics, Intaker, Captorra and Lead Docket do not publish base prices.
Is there free legal intake software?
There is one verified free tier in this group: Smith.ai's AI Receptionist handles 25 calls a month at no cost, then charges $3.00 per additional call. Lawmatics offers a first month free but has never published what month two costs. No practice management suite in this comparison has a free plan.
How much does Clio Grow cost?
Clio Grow is $59 per user per month as an add-on, and it can only be added to Clio Essentials ($89) or Clio Advanced ($119). It is included at no extra charge in the Expand plan at $149 per user per month. All figures are annual-commitment rates from Clio's own pricing page, checked July 14, 2026.
How much does Lawmatics cost?
Lawmatics does not publish base subscription pricing. Its site lists Essential, Premium and Enterprise tiers with no dollar figures, a three user minimum, 500 contacts on Essential and 10,000 on Premium, and a first month free. The only published Lawmatics price is the QualifyAI lead scoring add-on, which starts at $150 per month for 50 lead evaluations and reaches $750 per month for 500.
How much does Smith.ai cost per month?
Smith.ai's human receptionist plans are $300 per month for 30 calls, $810 for 90 calls and $2,100 for 300 calls, month to month with no setup fee and no contract. Extra calls are $11.50, $10.50 and $8.50 respectively. Per call add-ons (booking, conflict checks, extended intake, payments) are billed on top and typically add $3 to $5 per call for a law firm.
Is legal intake software worth it for a solo practice?
For a solo practice, the math turns on one number: what a signed matter is worth. If your average matter is $3,000, a $148 per month intake setup pays for itself if it converts one extra client every 20 months. The harder question is not cost but coverage, because a solo who is in court cannot answer the phone, and the inquiries that go unanswered are the ones that cost real money. Start with what client intake actually involves before you shop for tools.
See how Consultations runs intake for your field on the use cases page.