A Smokeball alternative for small law firms

Smokeball is known for automatic time capture and for working closely with Microsoft Word and Outlook. Firms that look for an alternative are usually trying to work out what they would pay, since the price is quoted rather than listed, or which add-ons they would need on top of a plan. This page sets out what Smokeball’s own pricing page says, then puts Coil next to it, including what Coil cannot do yet.

Smokeball at a glance

From Smokeball’s pricing page, as listed on October 28, 2026.

• Price. No prices are shown. Each plan has a “Get pricing” button. The FAQ says pricing depends on the number of users, the plan, the contract term and any optional products or services, and that firms can request a quote. See their pricing page.
• Trial. The pricing page does not mention a free trial.
• Bill. Invoicing, time and expense tracking, online payments, trust accounting and reporting, and accounting integrations.
• Boost. Everything in Bill, plus fully browser-based client and matter management, tasks and calendar, Microsoft 365 Outlook, calendar and Word integration, a client portal, e-signature (listed as unlimited with InfoTrack), eFiling with fees, the mobile app, and Communicate powered by Smokeball AI. Intake and the Archie AI assistant are add-ons.
• Grow. Everything in Boost, plus practice area templates and calculators, advanced document automation, email management and Smokeball’s desktop application, which the FAQ describes as designed for firms with three or more staff. Add-ons are Archie AI, AutoTime, FamilyPro, Intake and Workflows.
• Prosper+. Everything in Grow, plus firm insights, staff activity and profitability reporting, lead management, inquiry and matter intake, custom workflows, split billing and branch offices. AutoTime, Intake and Workflows are included. Archie AI and FamilyPro are add-ons.
• Time tracking. Listed as manual on Bill, Boost and Grow and automatic on Prosper+.
• Payments. Online payments are listed on every plan with fees applying.
• Migration. The FAQ says migration options and any related costs are confirmed in your quote.

Coil at a glance

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

• Price. Free during the beta, no card required. 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 three-way reconciliation and a ledger that refuses to overdraw a client. Intake and leads, with scoring, follow-up sequences and a conflict check that conversion cannot skip. E-signature. A client portal in English and Spanish. Time and expenses, with a browser extension that suggests time from the tabs you had open. Documents with versions and text extraction. Calendar, deadline chains, tasks and reports. Exports in QuickBooks layouts and LEDES 1998B. Personal injury and criminal defense modules. An API and MCP connection for your own AI assistant.
• Next phase, not available yet. Invoicing, online payments and payment plans, automatic time capture in Word and Outlook, and Coil’s built-in AI assistant.
• Not built yet. Mobile apps, live QuickBooks sync, e-filing, and court rules for real jurisdictions.

Smokeball and Coil side by side

Smokeball facts as listed on its pricing page on October 28, 2026. Coil facts from the Coil features page.

Where Smokeball may suit you better

If your day runs in Word and Outlook and you want time recorded from that work without thinking about it, Smokeball’s AutoTime does what Coil’s browser extension does not yet. A firm on Prosper+ gets it included. Smokeball also lists e-filing, a mobile app, practice area templates and calculators, advanced document automation, and a desktop application for larger teams. And if you need to invoice and take payments from your practice software today, Smokeball does that on every plan, while Coil’s invoicing and payments are still in testing.

Where Coil may suit you better

Coil has a published price today, which is nothing during the beta, and the tools are not split into plans or add-ons. Intake, e-signature, the client portal and trust accounting are all in the same product. Beta firms keep founding pricing when paid plans begin, and Coil has said it will charge one price for every tool.

Coil’s intake will not convert a lead into a client until the conflict check has run. Its trust ledger refuses a disbursement that would take any client below zero, and no AI connection can reach trust. If you use an AI assistant of your own, you can connect it to Coil by MCP with scopes you set and a mode that hides client names.

Coil is hosted and runs in the browser, so there is no server to run and no update to install. Each firm gets its own instance and database, with nightly backups. The full firm export, which opens without Coil, is available at any time.

Switching from Smokeball

Coil’s importer was built around Clio and MyCase exports and includes a manual column mapper for any CSV. If you can export your contacts, matters, time and trust records from Smokeball as CSV files, you can map the columns by hand, preview the import and commit it. Trust rows that would overdraw a client are refused and listed, and failed rows download with a reason for each.

Keep billing where it is until Coil’s invoicing is out of testing, and use the free beta to see whether the rest of Coil fits your practice.

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