What does verbal time entry cost?

Legalsense doesn't charge for verbal time entry. It uses your AI provider to turn a short recording into draft time entries, and your provider bills you for that directly. Expect less than $1 per timekeeper per month in most cases. Even a timekeeper who records after every phone call costs less than $2.50 per month with the economical setup, and around $10 at most with the most accurate one. For most firms, a single billable minute that would otherwise have gone unrecorded covers a timekeeper's recordings for the whole month.

Treat the figures below as rough guidelines. Real costs can't be generalized. Our estimates come close, but your actual costs can differ by up to $1.50 per timekeeper per month, depending on your firm's data. Timekeepers who record more often than in our examples cost more: each extra recording per day adds about $0.10–$0.50 per month, depending on the models you use.

Estimated costs

The estimates below assume 21 working days per month and two recording styles. A timekeeper who summarizes their work records one or two times a day, with four to six time entries per recording. A timekeeper who records after each task does so four to six times a day, with one or two time entries per recording.

Economical setup

With GPT-4o Mini Transcribe as the transcription model, GPT-5.6 Luna as the structured-output model, and recordings of typical length:

Most accurate setup

With GPT-4o Transcribe as the transcription model, GPT-5.6 Terra as the structured-output model, and every recording using the full minute:

Heavy use

A timekeeper who records after every phone call, 10 to 15 times a day, costs $0.85–$1.45 per month with the economical setup. With the most accurate setup, the cost is $3.75–$6.25 per month for short recordings of 10 to 20 seconds, and up to $7.15 if every recording uses the full minute.

Estimate for your firm

Multiply the monthly cost per timekeeper by the number of timekeepers who use verbal time entry. Most firms have a mix of recording styles, so add up each group separately.

For example, a firm has 20 timekeepers. Twelve summarize their work and eight record after each task. With the economical setup, that comes to about $4–$8 per month for the whole firm. With the most accurate setup, it comes to about $21–$36 per month.

What affects your costs

Each recording goes through two AI models: one transcribes the audio, the other turns the transcript into time entries. With every recording, Legalsense also sends a list of relevant clients, matters, timekeepers and activities, so the AI recognizes the names you mention. This list makes up most of the cost of a recording.

That's why how often a timekeeper records matters more than how many time entries they dictate. Verbal time entry works well with either style. Summarizing once or twice a day costs less. Recording a quick note between tasks costs a bit more, but timekeepers tend to remember more of what they did.

The models also make a difference. By default, verbal time entry uses GPT-4o Transcribe for transcription and GPT-4.1 for structured output. An administrator can change them under Settings → Integrations → AI provider, in the Transcription model and Structured-output model fields. Internal tests have shown that the cheaper models GPT-4o-mini-transcribe and GPT-5.6-Luna work very well in most cases.

Legalsense Support can also adjust the list of names sent with each recording. A shorter list lowers the cost, and a longer one can improve recognition. Contact Support if you want to change the balance between the two or request a different OpenAI model.

Note: These estimates are based on our own tests and OpenAI's list prices in October 2026, in US dollars. If you use Azure AI Foundry, use them as a starting point and check Azure's pricing for your actual rates. The estimates don't include surcharges your provider may charge for zero data retention or for processing your data in the EU.