Does a solo lawyer really need time tracking software?

If you bill hourly, yes. Solos who reconstruct time from memory typically under-record by 5–10 billable hours a week — that's roughly $65k–$130k of unbilled revenue a year at $250/hr. The question is whether the software requires a full practice management subscription or stands alone.

What's the cheapest option that still auto-captures billable moments?

ClaimHour at $29/mo Starter is the cheapest tool that captures call, email, and document metadata automatically without requiring a practice management system. Smokeball AutoTime and Clio Duo are bundled into PMS subscriptions that start at $39/mo and $89/mo respectively, so the effective floor there is higher.

Can I use these tools without changing my billing software?

Only if the tool ships a stand-alone export to QuickBooks, LawPay, FreshBooks, or CSV. Most PMS-bundled tools assume you'll bill inside the PMS. ClaimHour exports to all four formats so you keep billing out of whatever you use today.

Are these tools HIPAA-covered? Do they read my emails?

It varies. ClaimHour is metadata-only — no email bodies, no call audio, no document contents stored — so it is not a HIPAA-covered tool and handles privilege the same way a paper timesheet does. Billables.ai and Clio Duo both ingest message content; if you handle health-related family-law or criminal-defense work, read their data agreements before adopting.

Buyer's guide · Updated April 2026

Solo lawyer time tracking software: 5 honest picks for 2026

A short, vendor-honest comparison of the tools US solo attorneys actually use — ranked by price, privilege safety, and whether they force you into a practice management system.

TL;DR

If you already pay for Clio or Smokeball, their in-product auto-timers are the path of least resistance. If you don't and you bill out of QuickBooks + Word like ~30% of US solos, ClaimHour is the only tool priced for you ($29–$59/mo) that passively captures calls, emails, and document time without uploading your content to the cloud. Toggl works, but it is manual. Everything else is PMS-bundled.

Who this page is for

You are a US-licensed attorney — solo practice or small two-lawyer firm — billing clients hourly in 0.1-hour increments. You looked at a demo of Clio or MyCase, decided $89/user/month plus an onboarding call was too much for a tool you only need for one piece of your day, and bounced. Or you already own a PMS and you know the built-in timer doesn't catch half of what you do outside the desktop. Either way, the question is the same: which standalone time-capture tool respects privilege, exports to your billing stack, and costs less than one recovered billable hour a month.

The shortlist (at a glance)

Tool	Starting price	Auto-capture?	Requires PMS?	Best for
ClaimHour	$29/mo	Yes (metadata only)	No	Solos without a PMS; privilege-first
Clio Manage (with Duo)	$89/user/mo	Yes	Yes (it is the PMS)	Firms already committed to Clio
Smokeball + AutoTime	$39/user/mo	Yes (desktop only)	Yes	Windows-first small firms, transactional work
MyCase	$49/user/mo	Timer-based	Yes	All-in-one at a lower PMS tier
Toggl Track	Free / $10/mo	No (manual)	No	Attorneys who'll commit to starting a timer

Prices are per user per month, billed annually, as advertised on each vendor's public pricing page in April 2026. Actual price-per-seat after add-ons (e-billing, trust accounting, document automation) is typically 1.3–1.8× the headline number.

1. ClaimHour — for solos without a practice management system

ClaimHour is a Mac menubar app plus iOS companion that watches call metadata, email activity, and document edit sessions — nothing more. It ignores audio, email bodies, and file contents. At 5pm it shows you a two-minute digest of billable-looking moments from the day; you approve, edit, or reject each one. Approved entries export straight to QuickBooks (IIF), LawPay, FreshBooks, or a plain CSV.

Where it wins: ClaimHour is the only tool on this list that doesn't require you to move your billing, calendar, or client intake into its ecosystem. Pricing is $29 for Starter (1 matter, weekly digest, CSV), $59 for Pro (unlimited captures, 10 matters, QuickBooks + LawPay export, 0.1-hour rounding), and $99 for Scale (two seats, API). Where it doesn't: no Windows desktop build yet, and the iOS companion is capture-only — you can't approve entries on the phone, only on the Mac.

See ClaimHour pricing · How ClaimHour works · Privacy approach

2. Clio Manage (with Duo AI) — for firms already on Clio

Clio Duo is Clio's in-product AI layer that drafts time entries from your activity inside Clio — emails sent through Clio's integration, calendar events, document opens. If you already have Clio, Duo is probably the right answer: it costs nothing extra on Complete and Elite tiers and removes friction from entries you were already capturing manually. If you don't have Clio, the math is harder: $89/user/month gets you a full PMS whether or not you wanted one, and Duo only auto-captures activity that actually happens through Clio's integrations. Activity that happens in Apple Mail with Clio's plugin off, or in calls made from your personal cell, is invisible to it.

3. Smokeball AutoTime — for Windows-first, document-heavy practices

Smokeball's AutoTime is the most aggressive passive tracker in the legal-tech market — it watches every document you open inside the Smokeball desktop app and writes real-time entries against the matter. Transactional practices (real estate, wills, small-firm litigation) love it because the core work product is Word documents and those are exactly what AutoTime sees. Weaknesses: it's Windows-only on the desktop side; it does not see activity outside the Smokeball shell (so a call taken on your cell without opening the app is still lost); and it ships only as part of a $39/user/month PMS with a real onboarding process. Worth it if you need the PMS. Overkill if you don't.

4. MyCase — for solos who want an all-in-one at a lower price point

MyCase is the mid-market PMS alternative to Clio. Pricing starts lower ($49/user/month for Basic), billing and trust accounting are included, and there's a built-in timer with enough polish that solos can live with it. What it is not: a true passive capture tool. You still have to remember to start the timer or log the entry manually; there is no ambient listener on calls or documents. If your discipline is good and you just need a solid timer plus invoicing in one place, it's a reasonable pick.

5. Toggl Track — for solos who'll commit to clicking a timer

Toggl is the generalist favorite. It's $10/user/month for the Starter tier that supports the billable/non-billable split, it exports to CSV cleanly, and the browser extension is excellent. It has zero knowledge of legal matters or bar-standard rounding, and it does not passively capture anything — if you don't click start, nothing gets recorded. Works great for lawyers who have the discipline to treat it like a stopwatch. Fails the same way a paper timesheet fails for lawyers who don't.

How to decide in 60 seconds

Do you already pay for a PMS? If yes, turn on its built-in AutoTime/Duo feature first before buying anything else. You're already paying for it.
Is most of your billable work calls and email, or document drafting? If calls and email dominate, ClaimHour or a PMS-with-email-integration beats a timer tool. If it's drafting, Smokeball AutoTime is the most aggressive capture in the category.
Do you handle privilege-sensitive matter types (criminal, immigration, family with medical records)? If yes, prefer a metadata-only tool — we explain our approach in our privacy policy and the launch essay.
Does your billing software already work? If QuickBooks or LawPay works, keep it. Pick a capture tool that exports to it. Do not buy a PMS just to get the timer.

How ClaimHour fits

ClaimHour exists for exactly one audience: the US solo lawyer who refuses to pay for a $39–$159/mo PMS just to get a working auto-timer. We capture call, email, and document metadata (never content), we export to the billing tool you already use, and we rely on a two-minute evening review so you stay in control of what gets invoiced. If you fit that profile, join the waitlist — we'll email you when early access opens this summer.

Get early access