Compare
Most firms are not weighing Basalix against other software. They are weighing it against the answering service, the receptionist or the voicemail that picks up today. So here is that comparison, row by row, with nothing left out of the other columns.
14-day free trial with a free number and 100 minutes. No credit card.
The same call
What the firm has on Monday morning depends entirely on what picked up.
With an answering service
Two days, three calls, and the matter was never yours.
With Basalix
Eight minutes. One lead in your CRM, with the recording one click away.
Row by row
The other two columns are the typical arrangement, not a particular company. Every Basalix cell links to the page that backs it, further down.
| Answering service | In-house receptionist | Basalix | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coverage | |||
| Hours | Business hours, or 24/7 at a premium | Office hours, and off on leave | 24/7 on the phone line and the website chat, on every plan |
| Calls at once | Shared operators; busy at peak | One | 2 on Solo Intake, 5 on Firm Intake, no busy tone |
| Spanish | Often an add-on | Only if you hire for it | Included, on the same number and widget |
| The call | |||
| What comes back | A name and a number | A note, or a transferred call | The screening answers, a booking and an AI case summary |
| Screening | None | Whatever the receptionist remembers to ask | Your questions for each practice area, plus state, representation and deadlines |
| Conflict check | None | Later, if at all | Before every booking, against your client and adverse-party list |
| Booking | Rarely | Yes, in office hours | A real open slot on the attorney’s calendar, with confirmation and reminders |
| Caller asks for a person | Takes a message | Is the person | Put through in office hours; call-back booked if nobody answers |
| Afterwards | |||
| Record of the call | A short note | What was written down | Recording, transcript and summary on every plan |
| Where the lead lands | An email or a portal | Typed into the CRM later | Clio Grow or Manage, any CRM by webhook, or a Google Sheet, with no duplicates |
| Disclosure | A person | A person | Says it is an AI before anything else; cannot be switched off |
| Cost and setup | |||
| Cost model | Per call or per minute | A salary and cover for absences | Flat monthly fee; $0.75 a minute beyond the included pool, capped by you |
| Setup | Scripts and an onboarding call | Hiring and training | One sitting, no IT; 14-day free trial with a free number |
The Basalix column, in detail: after-hours answering, concurrent calls, Spanish, screening, conflict checks, booking, recordings, CRM delivery, disclosure and pricing.
To be fair
An answering service does one thing Basalix does not: it puts a human voice on every call, including after hours. If your practice is one where the first conversation has to be with a person, or your callers expect it, keep the service and know what it costs you in what comes back.
Two things worth knowing before you decide:
What Basalix is not is a message pad with a longer greeting. A new caller is never sent to voicemail and never reduced to a name and a number, at any hour.
Cost
An answering service bills per call or per minute, so the bill rises with the firm's own success and falls on the months you least want it to. A receptionist is a salary, plus cover for lunch, leave and sick days, and the phone still goes to voicemail after five.
Basalix is a flat monthly fee. Solo Intake is $349 a month and Firm Intake $699, each with phone numbers, web chat, conflict check, booking, Spanish, recordings and CRM delivery included. The plans differ on capacity, not features. Voice beyond the included minutes is $0.75 a minute from a prepaid wallet with a cap you set, so there is never a surprise. The pricing page has the plan comparison.
Before you switch
For new inquiries, yes: it answers, screens the matter on your criteria, checks for conflicts and books the consultation, which is the work a service hands back to you as a note. Current clients who ask for a person are put through in office hours, and a message is taken only when nobody picks up.
Yes. Many firms keep their current arrangement for office hours and forward the line to Basalix for nights, weekends and overflow, or the other way round. Forwarding is conditional, so you decide which calls reach it. Nothing about the plan changes either way.
In office hours the call is put through to your team. If nobody answers, Basalix comes back on the line and books a call-back or takes a message. Outside office hours a new caller goes through intake and is booked into the next open slot, and the firm sees it first thing.
No. Both plans answer 24/7. Forward your line to Basalix after hours only, and it runs the same screening and booking your daytime staff would. The after-hours answering page shows how the 9 p.m. caller gets the 9 a.m. intake.
One sitting. Paste your website and Basalix drafts the agent, set your screening rules, connect each attorney’s calendar, forward your number or take a new local one, test a call, then publish. The 14-day free trial includes a free phone number and 100 minutes, with no credit card, so you can run it beside your current service before cancelling anything.
A free number and 100 minutes, no credit card. Forward after-hours calls and compare what comes back on Monday.
