Cloud Based Legal Practice Management Software: What Accounting Each Suite Includes

Cloud based legal practice management software keeps a firm’s matters, calendar, documents, time, billing and client trust ledgers in one system that runs in the browser. The lowest published cost is $2,940 a year for 5 users on CosmoLex Launch [1, 2]; PracticePanther Solo and Clio Manage Starter start at the same figure, but of those three only Clio’s entry plan includes a general ledger.

The suites differ most in where they keep the firm’s books: in a general ledger on every plan, on the top plan only, in a paid add-on, or in QuickBooks Online.

Practice management software: cost a year for 5 users

Practice management software: cost a year for 5 users

Vendor	Cost a year, 5 users	Label	Plan and price	General ledger	Best for
CosmoLex	$2,940 [1, 2]	Published	CosmoLex Launch $49 per user per month, billed annually; or $59 billed monthly	Via QuickBooks Online	Firms that want trust accounting and their own books (general ledger, payables, financial statements) in the same system as billing, without a separate QuickBooks file. This needs the Pro plan. [1, 3]
PracticePanther	$2,940 [4–6]	Published	PracticePanther Solo $49 per user per month, billed annually; or $59 billed monthly	Via QuickBooks Online	Small firms that want practice management, time tracking, billing and a trust ledger in one subscription with a published per-user price on every plan; full operating accounting (general ledger, bank feeds, bill payment) needs Business Pro, and lower plans rely on the QuickBooks Online sync for the firm's books. [4, 7]
Clio	from $2,940 [8, 9] a	Published	Clio Manage Starter from $49 per user per month, billing term not stated	Built in	Firms that want practice management, billing, trust accounting and bookkeeping in one subscription instead of pairing a billing tool with QuickBooks or Xero. [8, 10]
MyCase	$3,000 [11–13]	Published	MyCase Basic $50 per user per month, billed annually; or $60 billed monthly	None	Solo, small and mid-sized US firms that want case management, billing, trust ledgers and card or eCheck payments in one subscription, with published per-user prices [11, 14]
Smokeball		Not published	Smokeball Boost [15, 16]	Via QuickBooks Online	Small firms that want billing and trust accounting with three-way reconciliation and keep their general ledger in QuickBooks Online. [17, 18]

Cloud based legal practice management software: the five suites

CosmoLex

Each CosmoLex plan adds accounting [1]. Launch keeps trust ledgers but has no bank or three-way reconciliation, and Core adds the three-way reconciliation report. Only Pro, at $129 per user per month, billed annually [1, 2], adds the general ledger, payables, bank feeds and financial statements [2]. CosmoLex can send its books one way to QuickBooks Online Essentials, Plus or Advanced, for US firms only [19], and turning the sync on switches off CosmoLex’s own business accounting [3]. See CosmoLex pricing and plans.

PracticePanther

Every PracticePanther plan has a trust ledger and trust reconciliation [4]. The general ledger, bank feeds, bill payment and a guided three-way reconciliation come only with PantherAccounting Plus on Business Pro, at $114 per user per month, billed annually [4, 7, 20, 21] [20]. On the lower plans, invoices, payments and trust balances sync one way to QuickBooks Online Simple Start, Essentials or Plus, and there is no Xero integration [22] [23]. See PracticePanther pricing.

Clio

Clio is the only suite here with a general ledger on its entry plan. Clio Accounting, with a chart of accounts, journal entries and three-way trust reconciliation, is included on Starter, Core, Signature and Elite [8] [24] [10]. Only Starter has a published price. The QuickBooks Online and Xero integrations start on Core, so a firm that wants its books outside Clio moves up to a plan priced through sales [8]. See the Clio pricing breakdown.

MyCase

All three MyCase plans keep trust ledgers and a trust reconciliation [11]. The general ledger, bank feeds, bank reconciliation and three-way trust reconciliation are MyCase Accounting, an add-on priced from $39 per user per month, for each user given an accounting license, billing term not stated [11, 25–29], sold with Pro and Advanced [11]. Basic has neither the add-on nor any integrations, QuickBooks Online included [13]. Pro and Advanced can sync instead to any QuickBooks Online plan from Simple Start up [30]. See MyCase pricing and the Clio and MyCase comparison.

Smokeball

Smokeball publishes no subscription price; all four plans say “Get pricing” [15]. Case management starts on Boost, because Bill covers billing and trust accounting only [15]. Every plan has trust accounting with three-way reconciliation [17], but there is no general ledger: transactions go one way to QuickBooks Online, and on Bill that sync leaves out the trust accounts [18]. See Smokeball pricing.

Built in, add-on or QuickBooks Online

With a built-in ledger, billing, trust and the firm’s own books sit in one system, and the bookkeeper works there too. CosmoLex gives one outside bookkeeper or accountant a free user [31] [32], and MyCase Accounting includes a free license for an outside accountant [27].

With QuickBooks Online, the suite keeps time, invoices and client trust ledgers and sends the entries across. The bookkeeper works in QuickBooks Online, which the firm pays for separately. CosmoLex, PracticePanther and Smokeball send data one way only.

Plans also differ on three-way reconciliation, which some states require. Illinois requires three-way reconciliation reports for each trust account at least quarterly Ill. RPC 1.15A(b)(7) [33]. Florida requires a monthly comparison of the reconciled trust bank balance with the total of the client ledgers R. Regulating Fla. Bar 5-1.2(d)(1)(B) [34]. Rules differ by state.

Legal practice management software features compared

Practice management software: what each product includes

Practice management software: what each product includes

Feature	CosmoLex	PracticePanther	Clio	MyCase	Smokeball
Practice management	Yes [1]	Yes [4]	Yes [35]	Yes [11]	Yes: Boost, Grow, Prosper+ [15]
Time tracking	Yes [1]	Yes [4]	Yes [8, 35]	Yes [11]	Yes [15]
Billing	Yes [1]	Yes [4]	Yes [8]	Yes [11]	Yes [15, 36]
LEDES billing	Yes: Core, Pro [1]	Yes: Business, Business Pro [4]	Yes [8, 35]	Yes: MyCase Pro, MyCase Advanced [11]	Yes [36]
Trust accounting	Yes [1, 2]	Yes [4, 37]	Yes [8, 38]	Yes [11]	Yes [15, 39]
Three-way reconciliation	Yes: Core, Pro [2, 40]	Yes [4, 41, 42]	Yes [8, 10, 43]	Extra cost [11, 25]	Yes [17, 44]
General ledger	Yes: Pro [1, 2, 45]	Yes: Business Pro [4, 20]	Yes [8, 24]	Extra cost [25, 46]	No [17, 18]
Built-in payment processing	Yes [2, 47]	Yes [4, 48, 49]	Yes [50]	Yes [11]	Yes [51, 52]
QuickBooks Online integration	Yes [1–3, 19, 53]	Yes [4, 22, 54]	Yes: Core, Signature, Elite [8, 55, 56]	Yes: MyCase Pro, MyCase Advanced [11, 30]	Yes [15, 18]
Client portal	Yes [1]	Yes [4]	Yes: Core, Signature, Elite [8, 57]	Yes [11]	Yes: Boost, Grow, Prosper+ [15]
Mobile app	Yes: Core, Pro [2]	Yes [4]	Yes [8, 58]	Yes: MyCase Pro, MyCase Advanced [11, 13]	Yes: Boost, Grow, Prosper+ [15]
Free trial	Yes [1, 59]	Yes [4, 60]	Yes [8, 61]	Yes [11]	Yes: Bill, Boost [62–64]

What drives the cost of practice management software

Headcount. The four suites with published prices charge per user per month, and Smokeball’s quoted price also depends on the number of users [15]. So the bill grows with each person who logs in. MyCase puts every user in a firm on the same plan [65].

The plan that holds the books. A built-in ledger needs a higher plan at PracticePanther and CosmoLex and an add-on at MyCase. Only Clio includes one on its entry plan.

Features kept for higher plans. Entry plans leave out features a firm may need, which moves it up a plan. At Clio and MyCase, the QuickBooks Online integration is one of them.

Prices given only by sales. Clio’s plans above Starter and every Smokeball plan are quoted. So are add-ons such as Clio Grow, CosmoLex CRM and Smokeball’s intake and automatic time tracking [8] [1] [15].

How the suites were chosen

A suite qualifies if its own documentation shows full practice management: matters, contacts, calendar and documents, not only billing. LeanLaw and TimeSolv are built around time, billing and accounting rather than full practice management [66], so they are compared with other law firm accounting software instead.