Pricing analysis · April 2026
Billable-hour capture without a PMS subscription: the pricing math
Four firm sizes, six vendors, five years of projected cost. The honest side-by-side comparison the PMS sales pages don't want you to run.
TL;DR
For a US solo billing at $250/hr, the right billable-capture tool pays for itself in under 15 minutes of recovered time per month. The question isn't whether to buy capture — it's whether to pay $29–$99/mo for a standalone tool (ClaimHour) or $89–$159/mo for capture bundled into a PMS (Clio, Smokeball, MyCase) that you didn't want. For a 1-lawyer solo, the standalone route saves $360–$1,200 a year. For a 3-lawyer firm, it's still cheaper to buy three standalone seats than one full PMS.
The headline pricing, unbundled
Every vendor in the billable-capture category is on this list. Prices are per user per month as advertised on the vendor's public site in April 2026, annual billing where that's cheaper.
| Tool | Capture features | Starting price | Requires PMS? |
|---|---|---|---|
| ClaimHour Starter | Passive, 100 events/mo | $29/mo | No |
| ClaimHour Pro | Passive, unlimited | $59/mo | No |
| Toggl Track Starter | Manual timer only | $10/mo | No |
| MyCase Basic | Manual timer in PMS | $49/user/mo | Yes (bundled) |
| Smokeball AutoTime | Passive, desktop-doc-focused | $39/user/mo + setup | Yes (bundled) |
| Clio Duo (on Complete) | Passive, Clio-integrations-only | $89/user/mo | Yes (bundled) |
| Clio Duo (on Elite) | + e-billing, automation | $159/user/mo | Yes (bundled) |
Scenario A: 1-lawyer solo, no PMS today
Typical profile: US-licensed solo, 3 years out, bills hourly from QuickBooks. Has been getting by on a paper timesheet reconstructed from memory. Losing ~6 billable hours a week (industry average is 5–10).
| Stack | Monthly | Annual | 5-year |
|---|---|---|---|
| ClaimHour Pro + QuickBooks Self-Employed | $80 | $960 | $4,800 |
| Clio Complete (includes Duo, LawPay, e-billing) | $89 | $1,068 | $5,340 |
| Smokeball + AutoTime (annual contract) | $59 (after $299 setup) | $1,007 | $3,835 |
| Status quo (paper timesheet + QuickBooks) | $15 | $180 | $900 |
If you assume a realistic recovery of 4 billable hours/week at $250/hr, every option except the status quo is a giant net-positive investment. The question becomes which tool, not whether. ClaimHour + QuickBooks is the cheapest stack that actually captures the 4 hours; Clio Complete is 11% more for feature bloat you won't log into.
Scenario B: 2-lawyer solo firm, sharing an assistant
| Stack | Monthly | Annual | 5-year |
|---|---|---|---|
| ClaimHour Scale (2 seats) + FreshBooks Lite | $120 | $1,440 | $7,200 |
| Clio Complete × 2 users | $178 | $2,136 | $10,680 |
| MyCase Pro × 2 users | $118 | $1,416 | $7,080 |
ClaimHour Scale is priced flat for 2 seats (not per seat), which makes it competitive at this size. MyCase Pro is a reasonable answer if you also want a PMS at a lower price tier — just know the capture is timer-based, not passive. Clio Complete × 2 is the most expensive option and the feature bloat scales with seats.
Scenario C: 3-lawyer firm, shared matters
| Stack | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|
| ClaimHour Scale × 2 (covers 3 seats via the 2-seat tier per firm half)* | $198 | $2,376 |
| Clio Complete × 3 users | $267 | $3,204 |
| Smokeball × 3 users | $177 | $2,424 |
* ClaimHour Scale accommodates 2 seats; a 3rd seat is priced as an add-on ($40/mo per additional seat on Scale, so actual math is $99 + $40 + $40 = $179/mo for a 3-seat firm).
At 3 seats and above, a PMS starts to earn its keep because shared matters, shared calendar, and shared document library become real workflow needs. If you want all of that and will actually use it, Smokeball or Clio are the right call. If you only need capture and will keep matters in shared folders, ClaimHour still wins on price.
The break-even math on recovery
The question that actually matters: how much recovered billable time does a capture tool need to generate to pay for itself? Short answer — a tiny amount.
- ClaimHour Pro at $59/mo, billing $250/hr: break-even is 14 minutes/month of recovered time. Roughly one missed 15-minute phone call.
- Clio Complete at $89/mo: break-even is 21 minutes/month. Still trivial — but you're paying 50% more for the same recovery.
- Smokeball at $39/mo (after first-year setup amortization): break-even is 9 minutes/month. Best ratio in the market IF you're Windows-first and doc-heavy; marginal if you're not.
Even the most expensive option on the list breaks even well inside 30 minutes of recovered billable time per month. For most solos, the question stops being "can I afford a capture tool" and starts being "which one fits my actual workflow."
The non-cash costs people forget
The dollar math favors the standalone stack. The non-dollar math is more subtle.
- Switching cost. If you ever adopt a PMS later, migrating 2–3 years of matter data into it is a weekend of manual work. Starting fresh in a PMS from Day 1 avoids this.
- Single-pane-of-glass value. Some lawyers love one login for everything. Others find bundled products actively worse at each individual job. Personal taste.
- Vendor risk. A PMS locks 5+ data types into one vendor. A standalone capture tool locks one. Think about what happens the day that vendor raises prices, gets acquired, or sunsets a feature.
- Learning curve. Clio's full onboarding is a 20–30 hour investment. ClaimHour is a Mac menubar install plus matter-list import. Both have value; they're different sizes.
How to decide for your firm
- Add up what you pay today (billing, scheduling, matter notes, document storage). Most solos land in the $40–$80/mo range already.
- Multiply your billable rate × 0.5 hours/week × 48 weeks. That's your annual recovery target. For a $250/hr solo, it's $6,000. Any capture tool under $500/yr that hits that target is a 12× ROI.
- Decide if you want one system or a few best-of-breed tools. If one system, Clio or MyCase. If best-of-breed, ClaimHour + your billing tool of choice + Calendly.
- Buy the smallest thing that solves it. You can always add on later. Replacing a PMS you've lived in for 3 years is much harder than adding a tool to a stack.
How ClaimHour fits
ClaimHour is the billable-capture tool priced to the job — not to the bundle. $29–$99/mo flat, exports to the billing tool you already use, captures the moments that PMS-integrated tools miss (personal-cell calls, email outside the PMS plugin, weekend drafts). If you've been putting off this decision because everything in legal tech looked overpriced for what you needed, join the waitlist. First 100 signups get 50% off Pro for life.
Related questions
Can I try ClaimHour before paying?
Early access launches with a 14-day free trial of Pro (no credit card required). Waitlist members go first, and the first 100 signups lock in 50% off Pro monthly pricing for as long as they keep the subscription.
What if I hate it?
Cancel any time, export your historical time entries to CSV, keep using the billing tool you already had. Nothing migrates except your own data.
Does ClaimHour pay referral commissions to accountants or bar associations?
Not yet. We'll announce a partner program if and when it's set up; until then, price is straight-up.