Billing, trust and general ledger accounting for small and mid-sized US law firms
From $69/mo11 researched notes
Clio
Cloud practice management software for law firms
As of 29 August 2026, Clio's pricing is not published; the vendor quotes on request. The most widely adopted cloud practice management platform for small and mid-sized law firms. Softwr lists it under Legal. Clio is available on Web, iOS, Android.
Overview
What Clio does
Clio is a cloud-based legal practice management platform covering the operational side of running a law firm: matter management, time tracking, billing, trust accounting, client intake and document storage. It is the most widely adopted product in its category among small and mid-sized firms, and its integration directory is the largest in legal software, which matters because firms typically run it alongside existing document and accounting tools rather than replacing them. Trust accounting handled correctly is a significant part of the value, since compliance rules around client funds are strict and getting them wrong is a regulatory problem rather than an accounting one.
What people use it for
- Small and mid-sized firms replacing spreadsheets and paper matter files
- Firms needing compliant trust accounting without a separate system
- Practices billing hourly that lose revenue to uncaptured time
Related searches
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about Clio.
- Priced per user per month, so cost scales directly with headcount and adds up for growing firms
- Advanced features including some automation and reporting sit in higher tiers rather than the entry plan
- Aimed at small and mid-sized firms; large firms with complex matter structures often need heavier systems
- Strongest in North America, with less depth in other jurisdictions’ compliance requirements
Capabilities
Features
Matter management
Cases, deadlines, documents and contacts organised per matter
Time and billing
Time capture, invoicing and payment collection
Trust accounting
Client fund accounting built to the compliance rules governing it
Client intake
Intake forms and pipeline tracking for prospective clients
Document management
Storage, templates and version tracking per matter
Integration directory
The largest third-party integration set in legal practice software
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
What does Clio cost?
Clio sells per-user subscriptions across several tiers. Rates change and vary by region, so check the vendor’s current pricing page rather than relying on a third-party figure.
Does Clio handle trust accounting?
Yes, and it is one of the main reasons firms adopt it, because client fund rules are strict and mishandling them is a regulatory matter.
Is Clio suitable for a large firm?
It is aimed at small and mid-sized practices. Large firms with complex matter and billing structures usually evaluate heavier enterprise systems.
Does Clio integrate with existing tools?
Yes. Its integration directory is the largest in legal practice software, covering Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, QuickBooks and many others.
Keep looking
Where to go from Clio
- Clio alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- Clio pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- Clio badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Legal softwareThe full category
- Best Legal softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Legal software for
Compare Clio with
- Tabs3
- Smokeball
- Aderant
- iManage
- CosmoLex
- NetDocuments
- CASEpeer
- Rocket Matter
- Spellbook
- Filevine
- Docketwise
- Lawmatics
- Westlaw
- Cookiebot
- Harvey
- CASEpeer
- Docketwise
- Lawmatics
Other Legal software
Practice management for small law firms with automatic time capture
Pricing on request7 researched notesDocument and email management for law firms and professional services
Pricing on request11 researched notesPractice management with a full legal general ledger and trust accounting built in
From $89/mo11 researched notesCase management built specifically for plaintiff personal injury firms
From $79/mo11 researched notesLegal practice management with billing and time tracking, tiered from matter basics to full legal accounting
11 researched notesContract drafting and review assistant inside Microsoft Word
Pricing on request11 researched notesConfigurable case management for plaintiff litigation, intake and mass tort firms
Pricing on request11 researched notesImmigration case management with automated USCIS and DOL form population from a single client intake questionnaire
11 researched notesLegal CRM, client intake and marketing automation platform with a 3-user minimum that sets an effective entry floor of roughly $447 a month
11 researched notesThomson Reuters legal research platform, priced per seat with tiers from Edge to Advantage and negotiated enterprise contracts above 10 attorneys
Pricing on request11 researched notesAutomated cookie scanning and consent banner for websites, owned by Usercentrics
Free, then €7/mo13 researched notesAI research and drafting platform for large law firms, sold on enterprise-only seat pricing with no self-service tier and reported contracts from roughly $50,000 to $360,000 a year
Pricing on request11 researched notesCase management built specifically for plaintiff personal injury firms
From $79/mo11 researched notesImmigration case management with automated USCIS and DOL form population from a single client intake questionnaire
11 researched notesLegal CRM, client intake and marketing automation platform with a 3-user minimum that sets an effective entry floor of roughly $447 a month
11 researched notes
Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for Clio, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on Clio
Clio alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
Clio pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Compare Clio
Put it head to head with anything we hold
Clio badge
Its rating, and an embed for your own site
Best Legal software alternatives
Legal research database sold per seat per practice area, with contract value set by firm size and content modules rather than a list price
quoteLegal CRM, client intake and marketing automation platform with a 3-user minimum that sets an effective entry floor of roughly $447 a month
Per user per month, with a 3-user minimum on the entry plan
Document lifecycle and contract intelligence platform for law firms, built through a decade of acquisitions including Kira Systems, Workshare and Doxly
quoteThomson Reuters legal research platform, priced per seat with tiers from Edge to Advantage and negotiated enterprise contracts above 10 attorneys
quoteImmigration case management with automated USCIS and DOL form population from a single client intake questionnaire
Per user per monthLegal practice management with billing and time tracking, tiered from matter basics to full legal accounting
Per user per monthAI research and drafting platform for large law firms, sold on enterprise-only seat pricing with no self-service tier and reported contracts from roughly $50,000 to $360,000 a year
quote
Configurable legal practice and accounting management platform sold as two separate products, priced per user with no published rate
Per user per month