FRONT OFFICE AI FOR LEGAL — THE COMPARISON

Compare us to anything a firm is offered.

Firms are sold one of two models: client-relationship and business-development software your intake desk and marketing staff operate, or AI agents you assemble and configure per channel, with an integrator. No logos needed, because the same packaging habits dominate the market. Front Office was built on three different principles — and every answer to a caller comes from your approved information, never from the AI’s own view of the law.

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Try it free 7 days on your own business · no credit card · per company, never per seat

REAL AI - the whole Front Office is AI, not old software with an AI button. Give it your website: it learns your company, works from your approved knowledge and gets better with every answer you approve.

Live on this site right now — the assistant in the corner is the product · Award-winning AI — CES · ISE · TMCnet

Zanus Front Office dashboard — the AI at work

One dashboard doing the jobs the others only track.

Three habits of the market — three different principles here

1 · Pricing scales per seat

Across most of the market, every hire raises the software bill — the price follows your headcount, not the work getting done.

2 · The AI is often metered on top

Credits, "AI actions", per-conversation fees, usage tiers. On many platforms the AI arrives as a second bill on top of the seats.

3 · Most AI was built to assist teams

Enrich, draft, score, summarize, coach — designed to make YOUR people faster. Newer autonomous agents go further, but are typically configured per channel and priced per usage.

Front Office was designed from the start on three different principles: one integrated product, priced by plan — not by seat-math · the AI performs complete front-office workflows, not only assists them · every answer grounded in your approved knowledge, with Protection capping the spend.

The scoreboard: how each model delivers the job

Fourteen firm jobs, three delivery models. The difference isn’t whether a capability exists somewhere — it’s what you must assemble, license and operate to get it. Descriptions reflect typical published product models, Aug 2026.

The job	Traditional CRM model	Agent & copilot platforms	Zanus Front Office
Answer the intake line 24/7	Your receptionist answers, with a client-relationship suite and a phone system	Configure a voice agent, channels and usage separately	✓ Built in — your practice areas, consultation policy and offices, 40 languages, nights and weekends included
Answer “do you handle this kind of matter?”	Whoever picks up improvises; the attorney calls back	An agent you train and maintain per channel	✓ Grounded in your approved practice-area list and fee policy; no source, no claim
Run the limited intake	The receptionist types while the caller tells the whole story	A form or agent you script; where it stops is on you	✓ Your questions only: matter type, parties, county, stated deadline — then a caution to stop
Book the consultation	Email tag between the receptionist and the attorney’s assistant	Agent invokes calendar actions you connect	✓ Booked inside the call with the attorney who takes that practice area; court blocks respected, calendars synced
Work the bar or attorney referral	Routed to an intake coordinator’s queue	Scored and handed to a person	✓ Answered in minutes: intake asked, consultation booked, referring attorney thanked
Send the fee estimate	A document module your staff operate	Agent invokes processes you configure	✓ Native: from your fee schedule, attorney authorizes with one click, client signs with one
Chase documents and unsigned retainers	A sticky note on the paralegal’s monitor	AI drafts; sending policies vary	✓ Sequences you approve, running until the upload arrives and stopping when a person should call
Answer “when is my hearing?”	A paralegal interrupted, five times a day	Depends on which system the agent can read	✓ Read from the calendar you publish — never computed, never inferred; the matter itself goes to the attorney
Handle client requests	Usually a separate product and seats	Support agents configured separately	✓ Filed complete — copies, records, billing questions — routed to the paralegal or administrator, nights too
Brief the managing partner	Dashboards you open and read	A to-do list for staff	✓ A did-it-for-you list: overnight intake handled, consultations booked, the three callers needing an attorney
Train the new receptionist	Shadowing for weeks	Not the product’s job	✓ Role-play on your own intake script and what never to say, productive in days
Keep legal questions with attorneys	Depends on the person answering	Best effort, disclaimers apply	✓ Your rules: anything about the matter, anything privileged, anything urgent is routed to a person, every time
Call your clients before they call you	Reminder calls made by staff when there is time; otherwise a text	Build an outbound flow, connect telephony, meter the minutes	✓ Auto-Call: an event, a funnel or a list triggers the call; the AI announces or converses, on your rules — Hi Daniel, this is Whitfield & Cole: the documents for your review are in your secure client portal — your signature is needed by Friday.
The bill	Per seat; grows with every hire	Per seat and/or per usage: credits, actions, conversations	✓ One plan, chosen by outcome — your clients are never counted or charged

Already running a big CRM suite? Read the story: the old way vs the AI way — keep the CRM, add the AI Front Office → And the chat below will compare us to any product you name, from its published pages.

Comparing something specific? Ask the Zanus AI below — it compares us to any vendor you name, point by point, from their published pages. Our plans are public: see pricing → Then do your own math →

The one question that cuts through every comparison: after you pay, who answers the intake call and books the consultation? With Front Office the answer is: the AI does — from your approved information — and your attorneys and paralegals take the handshake, the conflicts check and every legal question.

Questions, answered

Why don’t you name the other products?

Because the comparison is about the model, not the logo. Software your staff operate plus metered AI is the norm across the legal market too; naming brands adds nothing. If you are evaluating a specific product, ask the chat — it compares us to any vendor you name, point by point, from their published pages.

Is this comparison fair to legal-software vendors?

Every description of other models comes from typical published product pages, read August 2026, and describes what a firm must assemble, license and operate to get the job done. Where a vendor differs, the chat will show you.

Do we have to replace our case-management or conflicts system?

No. Your case-management system stays the record and your conflicts database stays the judge of conflicts; the Front Office is the system of work in front of them. Calendars sync natively; connectors, webhooks and a read-only API write contacts, consultations and requests back.

Try it free on your own firm. 7 days. No credit card.

Give it your website. It learns your company. Then call it, chat with it, e-mail it — and decide. Nothing to install, nothing to cancel.

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