Clio vs MyCase: pick by how your intake and billing run
2026-09-30 · 7 min read
It's Tuesday morning at a three-lawyer firm. A potential client left a voicemail at 7:40 asking about a consult. A web form came in overnight with half the fields blank. The paralegal is re-entering last week's intake notes into the case file, and the managing partner is going through the aging report trying to work out who still owes on a retainer. Someone mentions that the practice management renewal is due next month and asks, again, whether the firm should be on Clio or MyCase.
Most Clio vs MyCase comparisons go through features one at a time. Both products handle cases, contacts, calendars, documents, time, invoices and trust accounting. Your firm probably doesn't need more features. It needs the piece where work stalls today, which for most small firms is intake, billing, or both. This post gives you a way to pick by that.
What I could verify, and when
I checked both vendors' pricing pages on September 30, 2026.
MyCase's pricing page loaded and lists three plans with published prices. Those figures are in the table below.
Clio's site (clio.com/pricing) blocked my automated check that day, on the pricing page and on its help center. I'm not going to repeat Clio prices from review sites, because those pages disagree with each other and some still use plan names Clio has since changed. Open Clio's page yourself and fill in its column. The questions in the second table tell you what to look for.
Clio vs MyCase: MyCase plans as published
| MyCase plan | Billed monthly | Billed annually | What the plan adds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $60 per user per month | $50 per user per month | Case and contact management, time entry, invoicing and trust accounting, online payments with next-day deposits, unlimited document storage, a limited client portal |
| Pro | $120 per user per month | $100 per user per month | Everything in Basic, plus client intake forms and legal CRM, automated workflows, unlimited eSignature and document generation, two-way texting, chat and call log |
| Advanced | $150 per user per month | $130 per user per month | Everything in Pro, plus conflict check tracking, advanced document automation, split billing and an open API |
MyCase offers a 10-day trial with no credit card required, per the same page. MyCase is operated by 8am, LLC, according to its homepage.
The most useful detail in that table is where intake sits. On MyCase, intake forms, the legal CRM and two-way texting start at Pro, not Basic. A firm that picks Basic to save money gets billing and payments but keeps running intake by hand.
The questions that decide it
Price the two products against the same questions. The MyCase column comes from its page. The Clio column is yours to fill in from Clio's page and a sales call.
| Question | MyCase (checked Sept 30, 2026) | Clio (check clio.com/pricing) |
|---|---|---|
| Which tier first includes intake forms and a lead pipeline? | Pro | Is intake in the tier you're pricing, or a separate product or add-on? |
| Can clients pay online on the cheapest tier? | Yes, Basic includes online payments | Which tier, and what processing fees apply? |
| Is texting with clients included? | Two-way texting starts at Pro | Included, add-on, or not offered? |
| Is eSignature included, and is it capped? | Unlimited from Pro | Included, capped, or per-signature? |
| Can you split a bill between payers? | Advanced | Which tier? |
| Is there an open API to connect other tools? | Advanced | Which tier? |
| Monthly versus annual price per user | Published, above | Published, or "get pricing"? |
| Free trial | 10 days, no card | Length and terms? |
With both columns filled in, compare the tiers that cover what you need, not the entry prices. A low starting price doesn't help much if intake lives two tiers up.
If intake is where you lose clients
Here's what intake trouble looks like. Calls come in while everyone is in court or on another call. Web forms land in a shared inbox. Nobody owns the follow-up, so a prospect who called Monday gets a callback Thursday, after they've already hired someone else. I wrote about that pattern in more detail in law firm intake in Geneva.
If that's your firm, weigh the intake side of each product first:
- Does the intake form create the contact and the potential matter by itself, or does someone retype it?
- Can the form ask different questions by practice area, so a family law inquiry and an estate planning inquiry don't get the same blank form?
- Does a new lead show up in a pipeline with an owner and a next step, or just as a notification?
- Can the prospect book a consult time from the same flow?
- Does a text go out to the person who called while you were unavailable?
If intake is your leak, I'd take the product with the better intake flow and live with a plainer billing screen. Whichever you pick, set up intake in the first week instead of leaving it for "after we migrate everything."
If billing is where the money sits
Billing trouble looks different. Time gets entered on Friday from memory. Invoices go out late because someone has to review them all at once. Retainers run dry and nobody notices until the work is done. Payment reminders depend on whoever feels like sending them. I covered the billing side in law firm billing in St. Charles.
For a billing-heavy firm, look at:
- Whether clients can pay by card or eCheck straight from the invoice. MyCase lists debit, credit, eCheck and client fee financing through Affirm on its homepage, plus payment plans and scheduled and recurring payments.
- Whether trust accounting is on the tier you're buying (MyCase lists it on Basic).
- Whether the product can remind clients about unpaid invoices on a schedule without someone starting it.
- Whether low retainer balances raise an alert before the work outruns the money.
What neither one does for you
Both products are systems of record. They hold the data and give you tools. They don't decide your intake questions, write your follow-up messages, or notice that a lead from Tuesday has had no reply by Thursday unless someone builds that rule. They also don't reach the tools outside them: the phone system, the website form, the scheduling link in your email signature.
That gap is where I work. I don't sell either product. I build the connecting layer around the one you choose: the missed-call text back, the web form that asks the right questions and creates the record, the follow-up that stops the moment the prospect replies, the Friday summary the managing partner actually reads. For a freight forwarder, I set up intake for quote, import, export and general inquiries so each request arrives sorted instead of landing in one inbox. A law firm's intake has more rules, but it's the same kind of problem. Builds start at $500 one-time, then a flat monthly from $99 after an included run-in period, cancellable. More on what that looks like for firms is on the law firm automation page.
What stays with a person
Some of this should never be automated. Conflict checks need a lawyer's judgment, even when software does the lookup. Deciding whether to take a matter is a conversation. Fee agreements get explained by a person before anyone signs. A client who calls upset about a bill should reach a human, not a menu. Keep client details out of any tool you haven't vetted, and check your state bar's guidance on trust accounting and client communication before you change how either one runs. What I automate is the handoffs and the reminders, so the people in the office spend their time on the conversations above.
Get a second opinion before you renew
If you're deciding between Clio and MyCase, or you already use one and intake or billing still leaks, book a free 20 minute process audit. We'll look at where matters and money stall in your week and whether the fix is a plan change, a setup change, or a small build around what you already have. Book it here.