A Clio alternative for solo and small firms

Most lawyers who search for a Clio alternative already like having practice management software. What brings them here is usually the bill: a per-user price multiplied by every lawyer and assistant, plus the higher tier that carries the one feature they need. Some want fewer screens. Some want to know exactly what leaves with them if they go. This page puts Clio’s published plans next to Coil, including the parts of Coil that are not finished.

Clio at a glance

Everything in this section comes from Clio’s own pricing page, as listed on October 28, 2026.

• Plans. Clio Manage comes in four plans: Starter, Core, Signature and Elite. Elite also includes Clio Grow, Clio’s client intake and marketing product.
• Price. The page shows “Starting at $49/user” on Starter, and its FAQ says plans start at $49 USD per user per month. It does not say whether that figure is billed monthly or annually. Core, Signature and Elite show a “Get pricing” button instead of a price, so see their pricing page for a quote.
• Trial. Seven days free, no credit card.
• On every plan. Matter and contact management, calendaring, tasks, unlimited document storage, trust account management, Clio’s built-in accounting (bank sync, trust and operating reconciliation, check printing, financial reports), invoicing, payment plans, and the iOS and Android app.
• From Core up. Custom fields, conflict checks, document and matter templates, the Clio for Clients portal, the QuickBooks and Xero integrations, and AI features such as drafted client updates and dates pulled from documents.
• E-signature. Pooled across the firm: 3 on Starter, 15 on Core, unlimited on Signature and Elite.
• Court rules. None on Starter, 3 jurisdictions per firm on Core, 10 on Signature and Elite. More jurisdictions are $10 each per firm per month.
• From Signature up. Matter stages, custom reporting, split billing and multi-currency billing.
• Add-ons. Clio Grow is an add-on for Core and Signature. Clio Work (AI research and drafting) and Clio for Personal Injury are add-ons. The page lists no price for any of them.
• Payments. Cards at 2.95% per transaction (3.75% for Amex), eCheck and ACH at 1%.
• E-filing. File and serve court forms in Texas and Georgia, paid per filing.
• Leaving. The FAQ says your contacts, matters and financial records can be exported in open formats while the account is active or within 90 days of cancelling.

Coil at a glance

Coil is hosted practice management for solo and small US firms, and it is in beta.

• Price. Free during the beta, with no card and no trial clock. Beta firms keep founding pricing when paid plans start. No paid price has been set. Coil’s stated rule is one price for every tool, with no seats, tiers or add-ons.
• Available now. Trust accounting with client and matter ledgers and three-way reconciliation. Intake and leads, with a conversion that cannot skip the conflict check. E-signature with a certificate of who signed, when and what. A client portal with magic-link login. Time and expenses with a timer and UTBMS codes. Documents, calendar, deadline chains, tasks and reports. Exports in QuickBooks layouts and LEDES 1998B. Personal injury and criminal defense modules. An API and an MCP connection for the AI assistant you choose.
• Next phase, not available yet. Invoicing, online payments and payment plans, multi-currency matters, and Coil’s own AI assistant.
• Not built yet. Mobile apps, live QuickBooks sync, court e-filing and real jurisdiction court rules. Today’s rule sets are generic starters and say so.

Clio and Coil side by side

Clio facts as listed on Clio’s pricing page on October 28, 2026. Coil facts from the Coil features page.

Where Clio may suit you better

If you need to send invoices and take card payments from your practice software today, Clio does that on every plan and Coil does not yet. The same goes for a native phone app, e-filing in Texas or Georgia, and court rules for real jurisdictions. Clio also includes operating accounting on every plan, so a firm that wants its books in the same product will find that there and not in Coil, which hands you QuickBooks-ready exports instead. And if you want an AI research tool over a large legal library, that is what Clio Work is sold for; Coil’s research tool searches CourtListener’s free public case law.

Where Coil may suit you better

The plainest difference is the price during the beta. At Clio’s starting price, three users on Starter come to $147 a month before any add-on, and Starter does not include the client portal, custom fields or conflict checks. Coil costs nothing while it is in beta, and the tools are not split by tier: intake, e-signature, the portal, conflict checks and the personal injury module are all in the same product.

Coil’s trust ledger refuses any disbursement that would take a client below zero, whether it is entered on the trust screen, applied to an invoice or sent through the API, and AI connections cannot reach trust at all. If you want to point your own AI assistant at your matters, Coil lets you scope each connection and hide client names.

Leaving is also written into how Coil runs. The full firm export is the database file, CSVs, your original documents and every PDF Coil made, and it opens without Coil. Before Coil charges any firm, its source code goes into escrow with an independent agent.

Switching from Clio

Coil’s importer was built for Clio exports. It brings in contacts, matters, time and expenses, bills with their balances, the trust ledger in date order, tasks, calendar entries and documents from a ZIP. Each file gets a preview and a column mapper before you commit it. A trust row that would overdraw a client is refused and listed, and running the import again updates records instead of duplicating them.

Because invoicing is still in testing, a sensible plan is to bring your matters and trust records into Coil during the free beta and keep billing where it is until Coil’s invoicing is available.

Coil is free while it is in beta. Try it with your own matters and decide from there.

Last checked October 28, 2026. Product names belong to their owners. Clio is not affiliated with Coil. Details about it come from its public pages on the date above and may have changed since.