When firm owners compare an AI receptionist with a person, they usually put a salary next to a monthly subscription and stop there. That's not a fair comparison in either direction.
A person costs more than their paycheck, and they do more than answer phones. An AI agent costs less, but it doesn't greet walk-ins or file anything. Here's how we'd lay out the real numbers, with examples you can swap for your own.
What a human receptionist really costs
Start with salary, then add everything that comes with it. The numbers below are examples only. Use what you pay, or what your accountant tells you it would cost in your market.
| Cost item | Example | | --- | --- | | Base salary | $40,000 | | Payroll taxes, benefits and insurance (example: 25% on top) | $10,000 | | Yearly cost before anything else | $50,000 |
Then there are costs that don't show up on payroll:
- Recruiting. Job posts, interviews, the attorney time spent on both.
- Training. Weeks before a new hire runs intake the way you want.
- Turnover. Front desk roles turn over, and every time they do, you pay to recruit and train again.
- Equipment and space. A desk, phone, computer and software seat.
We won't guess at those numbers for you. Just know they're real, and they tend to land on the busiest weeks.
The coverage gap
This is the part most comparisons skip.
A full-time person works about 40 hours a week. A week has 168 hours. So even with perfect attendance, a single receptionist covers about 24% of the hours in a week.
Now take out time off. Say your receptionist gets 15 days a year between vacation, holidays and sick days. That's 120 hours.
| Coverage math (example) | Hours | | --- | --- | | Hours in a year | 8,760 | | Scheduled hours (40 × 52) | 2,080 | | Time off to subtract (15 days × 8 hours) | 120 | | Hours someone is at the desk | 1,960 | | Share of the year covered | about 22% |
And inside those hours, they're not always free. They're on another call, at lunch, helping a client at the front desk or running something to the courthouse. Every one of those moments is a call that rolls to voicemail.
Using the example above, $50,000 divided by 1,960 hours is about $25.50 for each hour the desk is actually staffed. The other 6,800 hours a year aren't covered at all.
What an AI receptionist costs
Here's how IntakeGenius pricing works, since that's what we know. Other vendors price differently, so ask them directly.
AI Voice Agent
| Plan | Monthly | Calls included | Overage per call | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Starter | $299 | 300 | $2.00 | | Growth | $799 | 750 | $1.75 | | Scale | $1,699 | 1,500 | $1.50 |
Full Intake Stack (voice agent plus IntakeCRM and messaging): Starter $499, Growth $1,099, Scale $2,199 a month. Growth is the right fit for most small firms. No setup fees on any plan. Full details are on our pricing page.
In a year, the Growth voice agent is $9,588. The Growth Full Intake Stack is $13,188, and that includes the CRM, SMS, consult reminders and retainer follow-up.
If you go over your included calls, you pay per call. For example, a Growth firm that takes 850 calls in a month pays $799 plus 100 × $1.75, which is $974 that month.
Side by side
Using the example numbers above:
| | Human receptionist (example) | AI voice agent, Growth | | --- | --- | --- | | Yearly cost | $50,000 plus hiring and turnover | $9,588 plus any overage | | Hours covered | About 22% of the year | 24/7 | | Calls during lunch or another call | Often voicemail | Answered | | Consults booked on the call | Yes, when available | Yes | | Walk-ins, mail, filing, errands | Yes | No | | Reading a room, building rapport over months | Yes | Limited | | Sick days, vacation, turnover | Yes | No |
Where the comparison isn't fair to AI, or to people
We want to be straight about both sides.
A good receptionist is worth a lot more than phone coverage. They know your clients by name, catch things that don't fit a script, calm people down at the front desk and keep the office running. If you have someone great, an AI agent shouldn't replace them.
On the other side, an AI agent isn't a cheaper person. It's coverage. It answers the 2 a.m. call, the lunch-hour call and the call that comes in while your receptionist is busy with someone else. It asks the same intake questions every time and books the consult before the caller moves on.
For most small firms, the real question isn't "AI or a person." It's "who answers when our person can't?" We get into that more in hybrid AI and human intake for law firms.
How to decide
A few honest rules of thumb:
- If you're missing calls today, the cost of those calls probably matters more than either salary or subscription. Run the numbers in what a missed call costs a law firm.
- If you need someone in the office, keep or hire the person and add AI for after-hours and overflow.
- If phones are the main job, an AI agent may cover more hours for less, with a person handling follow-up and sensitive calls.
- If you want a person but can't hire one, look at a trained intake specialist as an add-on, not a full-time hire you have to recruit yourself.
Where IntakeGenius fits
Our AI voice agent answers every call, runs your practice-area intake and books the consult. If you also want a person, we offer an optional full-time intake specialist trained by IntakeGenius, priced on a call with us. Either way, we set it up and you don't pay setup fees.
Want to plug your own numbers in with us? Book a 15-minute call. No slides.