A good Smokeball alternative depends on which part of Smokeball you use most. Smokeball's pricing page lists four plans, Bill, Boost, Grow and Prosper+, each priced by personalized quote, so there is no published per-user figure to compare against.
LawAOS publishes Solo $29, Practice $69 and Firm $119 per user per month and keeps its own general ledger, where Smokeball's trust accounting page says the general ledger is kept in QuickBooks Online. LawAOS also includes intake and AI on every plan, which Smokeball lists as add-ons on some tiers.
If your practice runs on Smokeball's TemplateLab forms library, its native desktop app or its automatic time tracking, stay: LawAOS has no court forms, no desktop app and no automatic time capture.
All four Smokeball plans are quoted by sales, so a firm must request pricing to compare costs. Several capabilities start above the entry plan: client and matter management, the client portal and document management begin at Boost, and advanced document automation at Grow.
Some items are add-ons. Smokeball's pricing page lists intake as an add-on on Boost and Grow, included in Prosper+, and the Archie AI matter assistant as an add-on on every tier. E-signature is listed through InfoTrack. Firms that want these in one published price sometimes compare alternatives.
Smokeball describes automated court deadlines through LawToolBox, updated when court rules change, and a TemplateLab library of 20,000+ forms and templates. LawAOS ships neither court rules nor forms, so litigation and forms-heavy practices should weigh this first.
Smokeball's own pages also list these strengths.
- Desktop plus browser: Grow includes a native desktop application alongside the web app.
- Large form library: 20,000+ jurisdictional court forms and document templates via TemplateLab.
- Automatic time tracking (AutoTime) included in Prosper+; launched 2013, offices in US, Australia, UK.
- List the TemplateLab forms you use each month; each would become a firm-written template in LawAOS, with no court-forms library behind it.
- If your general ledger lives in QuickBooks Online, agree with your accountant whether moving the books into LawAOS's own ledger suits them.
- Export your contacts, companies and matters and open the files before you sign anything, so you know which columns you will map.
- Run a final trust reconciliation in the old system, keep the report, and plan how each client's opening trust balance will be recorded in the new one.
- Price the whole firm, including add-ons, payment fees, storage and onboarding, not only the entry plan.
- Run one live matter through the trial end to end: intake, a conflict check, time, an invoice and a trust posting.
Other systems firms compare against Smokeball, each with one fact from its own page.
- Clio
- Included, per Clio's own page: Calendar creates events from court rules for hundreds of U.S. courts; plan tier not stated. First published plan: Starter (Clio Manage), starting at $49 USD per user per month.
- PracticePanther
- Higher plans, per PracticePanther's own page: Calendar Rules on Business and Business Pro; court rule-sets via LawToolBox sync. First published plan: Solo, $49 per user/month (billed annually).
- CosmoLex
- Higher plans, per CosmoLex's own page: General ledger and payables in Pro plan; bank feeds in Pro. First published plan: Launch, $49 per user/month (billed yearly).
| Capability | Smokeball (vendor's site) | LawAOS |
|---|---|---|
| Matter management | Higher plans: Client and matter management from Boost; advanced case management on Grow and Prosper+. | Included on every plan: matter records that hold documents, tasks, time, invoices and deadlines |
| Documents | Higher plans: Document storage and management from Boost; Grow adds native desktop app. | Included: built-in editor with .docx and .pdf import and export, version history, multi-file upload |
| Calendar and deadlines | Via integration: Automated court deadlines via LawToolBox, updated when court rules change. | Included: deadline and limitation-date calculators with reminders; no court rules ship |
| Time and billing | Included: Invoicing and time and expense tracking in every plan (Bill and up). | Included: server-clock timers, approval, pre-bill review, invoices under seven fee arrangements |
| Operating accounting | Via integration: Trust and client ledgers in Smokeball; general ledger kept in QuickBooks Online. | Included: general ledger, profit and loss, balance sheet, bank reconciliation from a statement CSV; no QuickBooks or Xero sync |
| Trust accounting and reconciliation | Included: Trust accounting in Bill and up; three-way reconciliation claimed. | Included: client ledgers, cleared-funds checks, guided three-way reconciliation; no bank feed |
| E-signature | Via integration: Electronic signatures listed as unlimited with InfoTrack, from Boost. | Included: built-in signing for documents made in the LawAOS editor |
| Client portal | Higher plans: Client portal from Boost: messages, files and invoices in one secure place. | Included: per-client switches for documents, messages, invoices and matter status |
| Conflict checks | Included: Help center: save Advanced Search results as a conflict check report to a matter or lead. | Included: fuzzy name and alias matching, waivers with a written justification |
| Permissions and ethical walls | Not confirmed on vendor's site | Included: server-checked roles; walls enforced in the database, applied by an authorized administrator |
| Intake and CRM | Paid add-on: Intake is an add-on on Boost and Grow; included in Prosper+ with lead management. | Included: public forms shared by link, pipeline stages, lead to matter conversion |
| Online payments | Included: Online payments on all plans; fees apply. | Card payments through Stripe Connect once the firm connects its own Stripe account; LawAOS is not the processor |
| AI assistant | Paid add-on: Archie AI matter assistant is an add-on on every tier; Smokeball AI powers Communicate. | Included on every plan with a metered allowance; the firm may bring its own provider key |
| Document automation | Higher plans: TemplateLab with 20,000+ forms and templates; advanced automation from Grow. | Document templates with {{variable}} fields filled in a form; no questionnaires, conditional logic or court forms |
| Integrations | Via integration: Integrations marketplace; Microsoft 365 Outlook and Word integration from Boost. | Short list: Stripe Connect, firm SMTP, Microsoft 365 Mail (read-only), signed webhooks; no Zapier, Slack or QuickBooks |
| AML/KYC screening | Not confirmed on vendor's site | Included: KYC checklist, manual risk rating, OFAC SDN list screening; no identity verification service |
| Payroll | Not confirmed on vendor's site | Included: pay runs posted to the ledger, CSV payslips; no tax calculation |
| Published pricing | Bill: Contact sales (Get pricing / personalized quote); Boost: Contact sales (Get pricing / personalized quote); Grow: Contact sales (Get pricing / personalized quote); Prosper+: Contact sales (Get pricing / personalized quote) | Solo $29, Practice $69 and Firm $119 per user per month; Enterprise custom; every module on every plan |
Vendor facts read on the vendor's own pages in September 2026; see sources below. LawAOS facts describe shipped modules.
Every third-party fact on this page was read on the vendor's own site on the date shown. Plans change; check the page before you buy, and tell us if something is out of date.
- Smokeball: pricing (www.smokeball.com/pricing) (read September 2026)
- Smokeball: calendaring (www.smokeball.com/features/manage/calendaring) (read September 2026)
- Smokeball: trust accounting (www.smokeball.com/features/bill/trust-accounting) (read September 2026)
- Smokeball: Save a Conflict Check Report (support.smokeball.com/hc/en-us/articles/6112123480983-Save-a-Conflict-Check-Report) (read September 2026)
- Smokeball: templatelab (www.smokeball.com/features/do/templatelab) (read September 2026)
- Smokeball: about (www.smokeball.com/about) (read September 2026)
Export from Smokeball
Take the contact and matter exports Smokeball gives you as CSV, XLSX or a ZIP of those files. The LawAOS Switch importer reads generic files and asks you to map each column.
See the moduleMap, check duplicates and review
Confirm the column mapping, choose how duplicates are handled, then read the review screen. Nothing is written until you commit the import.
See the moduleOpen matters and upload documents
Imported matters open with their clients linked. Upload each matter's documents in bulk; the editor opens .docx and .pdf files and keeps version history.
See the moduleSet up trust from your last reconciliation
Create each trust account, flag it IOLTA or not, and record each client's starting balance as a posting from the final report of the old system. Then run the guided three-way reconciliation to confirm book, client ledgers and bank agree.
See the moduleStart recording time and billing
Set each matter's fee arrangement, run timers on the server clock, approve entries and raise invoices. Connect your own Stripe account if you want clients to pay by card.
See the module
Stated plainly, so you can decide before you sign up rather than after.
- Document templates are {{variable}} fill-ins the firm writes itself: none ship pre-built, there are no questionnaires or conditional logic, and there is no court-forms library.
- There is no automatic time capture from email or documents; suggested entries come from calendar events and a person accepts each one.
- There are no native iOS or Android apps; LawAOS is a responsive web app that can be installed as a PWA.
- No court rules ship with the docket: deadlines are calculated from a trigger only where the firm's own rules exist, and there is no screen to add deadline rules or court holidays.
- Moving from Smokeball: a general firm-data importer is not yet shipped. The LawAOS Switch importer at Settings > Data imports brings in contacts, companies and matters from Clio, MyCase or PracticePanther exports, or from a CSV, XLSX or ZIP file, with column mapping, duplicate handling and a review step before anything is committed. Documents are uploaded, and time entries, invoices and trust balances are not imported.
Anything the list leaves open, our team answers directly.