Practice management
Advottic vs Clio
Last reviewed May 11, 2026
Clio is the legacy name in legal practice management. We respect what they built. Advottic Counsel started where Clio is now and rebuilt with three things baked in from day one: a competent AI agent (Bella), a two-sided client marketplace, and bundled pricing that does not multiply when you add features.
This is the honest comparison. If you are early in your evaluation, read both sides; if you are deep in a Clio renewal, the math at the bottom of this page is the part that matters.
Side-by-side feature comparison
| Feature | Advottic | Clio |
|---|---|---|
| Case / matter management | Included | Included |
| Time tracking | Included, AI-suggested entries | Included |
| IOLTA trust accounting | Included, 3-way reconciliation | Included |
| AI assistant | Bella included at every tier | Clio Duo $30-50/user/mo add-on |
| AI takes action (drafts, files, runs conflict checks) | Yes | No - research / Q&A only |
| Contract review AI | Included | Not included |
| E-signature | 5-100 requests/mo included | eSignature add-on, per-envelope |
| Client marketplace (inbound leads) | Included from Small Firm | Not offered |
| Co-counsel referral with fee-split tracking | Included | Not offered |
| Court-form auto-fill (CA / NY / TX / FL / Federal) | Included | Not offered |
| Mobile apps | iOS + Android | iOS + Android |
| SOC 2 Type II | In progress | Yes |
| HIPAA BAA | On request | Available |
Pricing snapshot
- Advottic
- $59 (Solo) / $99 (Small Firm) / $149 (Growing) per user / month
- Clio
- $89 (EasyStart) / $129 (Essentials) / $159 (Advanced) / $179 (Complete) per user / month
When Advottic is the better fit
You want one tool, not three
Clio sells the core, then you pay extra for Duo (AI), DocuSign integration (e-sign at cost), Spellbook (contract AI), and a CRM. Advottic Counsel bundles all four. A 5-attorney firm running the Clio stack typically pays $1,000-1,500 per month. Advottic Small Firm at $99/user/mo is $495/mo for the same five seats - plus the AI and the marketplace are included.
You want AI that takes action
Clio Duo is a research and Q&A copilot. Bella is an agent: she drafts engagement letters, starts time entries when she sees you working on a matter, runs conflict checks across the firm, and pulls in CourtListener case law when the legal basis benefits from precedent. The difference between "AI that answers" and "AI that does" is the difference between a glossary and a clerk.
You want new clients, not just a tool to serve them
Advottic ships with a two-sided client marketplace. Personal-tier consumers ask for help via Find Counsel, the brief lands in matching firms' inboxes, the firm accepts or declines, the relationship starts. Clio has a directory; it does not route warm leads.
When Clio is the better fit
We name the cases where the competitor is the right call. Honest comparison builds trust and helps you make a decision you won’t regret.
You need 13 years of feature depth
Clio has 10+ years of edge cases nailed. Their conflict-check rules, custom-field schemas, jurisdiction-specific docketing, and immigration-practice templates are deep. If your firm depends on a specific niche workflow that took years to refine, Clio probably has it and we probably do not.
You have an existing Clio investment
Migration is real work. If you have 500+ matters and 5 years of time entries in Clio, the right call is sometimes 'stay'. We migrate on request - Counsel Small Firm and above include a white-glove migration - but the rational decision depends on switching cost vs. ongoing savings.
You need SOC 2 Type II in hand today
Clio has Type II in hand. We are mid-audit; we expect issuance in 2026. If your firm's information security policy requires an active SOC 2 attestation report, that is a real constraint and we will not pretend otherwise.
Frequently asked
How hard is it to migrate from Clio to Advottic?
We have a one-click importer for Clio Manage that pulls matters, contacts, custom fields, and time entries. Documents migrate via Clio API. Small Firm and above include a white-glove migration call. A typical 5-attorney firm completes the move in 2-3 hours of operator time.Will Advottic match Clio Duo on AI features?
Bella covers a wider feature set than Clio Duo today: she drafts documents, starts time entries on her own, runs conflict checks, and pulls in case law. Clio Duo is more polished as a research copilot. Pick by which mode of AI your firm actually uses: doing or asking.Does Advottic integrate with QuickBooks?
Yes via the QuickBooks Online API for invoicing and trust-account reconciliation. Direct connection on Small Firm and above; CSV export on Solo.Is Advottic safe for client confidentiality?
Bella runs on Anthropic Claude with zero-retention configured, which means Anthropic does not retain or train on your firm's inputs. Postgres row-level security isolates every firm; encrypted at rest with AES-256; TLS 1.3 in transit. Every Bella action is timestamped in the audit log for Model Rule 1.6 compliance.