MyCase vs Smokeball Compared for Law Firms in 2026

What a small firm is actually choosing

Practice management software is the system a small law firm uses to keep matters, time, bills, trust balances, and client documents in one place.

Someone who searched mycase vs smokeball is past the browsing stage. The useful answer is which product fits how the firm bills, drafts, and exits a contract.

TL;DR: use MyCase when the firm needs printed per-user rates and a month-to-month option, and get a Smokeball quote when Word-based document work and top-tier automatic time are the real gap, then read the term before anyone signs.

MyCase was rebranded, and it is still for sale. The product continues under the name 8am MyCase after the owner, AffiniPay, became 8am, with the same login, and the announcement reports Combined customers: over 267,000 according to MyCase (2025), along with more than 75,000 firms across legal, accounting, and associations. That pair of counts is for the whole 8am group, not a MyCase-only user total. The product was not discontinued and was not folded into Smokeball.

Smokeball still uses the Smokeball name. Typical firm size: 2-30 people according to Nasdaq (2026), in a March 25, 2026 partnership note that also says the company was founded in 2012 and keeps offices in Chicago, Sydney, and London. That note describes a partnership with Thomson Reuters, not an acquisition and not a rename. The terms identify the vendor as Smokeball Incorporated, with a Chicago address. Nothing on the pages opened for this guide says either product was shut down.

This guide separates what those pages print from a buyer's reading of them. It does not rank the products from a private lab, and it does not invent customers, quotes, or savings.

Key Takeaways

• MyCase still sells three public plans with printed per-user rates and a month-to-month option beside a prepaid year.

• Smokeball still sells four plans, and the US pricing page asks the firm to request a price rather than printing one.

• Both entry plans list trust accounting and billing. Deeper document tools and texting sit on higher MyCase plans.

• Automatic time capture is included on Smokeball's top plan and sold as an add-on on the plan beneath it. Lower Smokeball plans list manual time.

• The order form, not the feature grid, decides whether a Smokeball firm can shrink seats or switch tiers before renewal.

• An outside connector belongs between two systems, with a person approving bills and client messages. It is not a reason to crown a winner.

Who this is for

This comparison is for a solo lawyer or a small firm that already holds client funds, sends invoices, and stores matter documents, and that has narrowed the shortlist to these two names.

It is also for the office manager or managing partner who has to explain the first-year cost, who will enter time, and what happens if the firm wants to leave in month six.

Red flags: you need a printed Smokeball seat price before any sales conversation, because the US pricing page does not show one; you need an open API on the cheapest MyCase plan, because that access is listed on the Advanced plan; you expect automatic time capture on every Smokeball plan, because that tool is included on the top plan and offered as an add-on on the plan below it.

If Clio is still on the shortlist, read the Clio and MyCase comparison and the Clio and Smokeball comparison before you drop a third name for a two-name reason.

How we evaluated these two products

The weights below are a buyer's split for a small firm that is close to signing. They are not scores published by either vendor, and they are not the result of a timed test. A heavier weight means getting that item wrong is more expensive to unwind than getting a lighter item wrong.

Published price sits at the top because one vendor prints rates and the other sends the firm to a quote. Trust and billing sit next because client funds and invoices are the work a regulator can ask to see. Documents, time capture, and the contract share the middle. Communication and implementation sit lower because a firm can often patch them after go-live, while a locked term is harder to patch.

Factual cells in the later tables come from the vendor pricing pages, the Smokeball terms updated July 9, 2026, the March 25, 2026 partnership note, the October 12, 2026 trade report, and the Software Advice review summary opened for this guide. The "who should pick" lines are analysis. They are labeled that way so a feature claim is not disguised as a verdict.

Side-by-side on the decisions that change the bill

Read each row as a purchase question. A check on a marketing page is weaker than a line on the plan card or in the terms.

The MyCase column follows the plan cards on the pricing page. Basic lists case and contact management, time entry, invoicing, trust accounting, online payments with next-day deposits, customizable reporting, unlimited document storage, and a limited client portal. The Pro plan adds unlimited eSignature, document generation, automated workflows, intake forms, a legal CRM, two-way texting, chat, a call log, premium billing, the writing and document assistants, and 70+ integrations. The Advanced plan adds the case assistant, the discovery assistant, advanced document automation, desktop drive for PC and Mac, conflict-check tracking, split billing, and the open API.

The Smokeball column follows the four plan cards. The Bill plan lists invoicing, time and expense tracking, online payments, trust accounting and reporting, and accounting integrations. The Boost plan adds browser-based matter management, tasks and calendar, Microsoft 365 Outlook, calendar, and Word, a client portal, letterhead, eSignature, eFiling, and the Communicate assistant. The Grow plan adds practice-area templates and calculators, advanced document automation, automated forms, and email management, and the page describes it for firms with 3 or more staff. The Prosper+ plan adds firm insights, lead and intake tools, custom workflows, staff and profitability reporting, and it includes AutoTime, Intake, and Workflows. Archie, FamilyPro, and several of those items are add-ons on the lower plans. Confirm on the quote whether Archie is included, because the plan cards still list it as an add-on.

Court-rules calendaring on the MyCase page is marked as requiring a separate subscription. The Smokeball grid notes that eFiling and online payments carry fees. Those extras belong in the first-year budget even when the seat line looks complete.

Published prices and the quote you still have to request

Pricing checked October 12, 2026.

The Annual Basic rate: $50 per user according to MyCase (2026) sits with monthly Basic at $60, annual Pro at $100, monthly Pro at $120, annual Advanced at $130, and monthly Advanced at $150. That page also says annual billing saves up to 16%, offers a 10-day evaluation with no card required, lists 70+ integrations on the Pro plan, and sets the Discovery Assistant at 5,000 pages per user each month, shared across the firm. Monthly billing is described as month-to-month with no commitment. The yearly option is a prepay for the year. Guided implementation and training sessions are listed among features at no additional cost. A separate accounting add-on on that page is the line that mentions three-way trust reconciliation, so read it before you treat the Basic trust tools as a full accounting system. The payments line lists no monthly fee and says processing rates are separate. This guide does not repeat add-on dollar amounts that sit outside the six seat rates.

The US pricing page is Listed reach: 34,000+ professionals according to Smokeball (2026). It prints no dollar amount, so the price is Quote-based. The same page says the price depends on user count, plan, contract term, and optional products, describes the Grow plan for firms with 3 or more staff, states there is no limit on the number of firm users, and says AutoTime is included on the Prosper+ plan while the Grow plan can add AutoTime. Training is described as included in a form that matches the plan, through live sessions, guides, and the Smokeball Academy. Migration options exist, and the page says migration cost is confirmed in the quote.

The fee is fixed for the whole term and is not refundable, the default tier is Prosper+ unless the order form says otherwise, the user count and the tier cannot be lowered until renewal, a fee increase requires 60 days of notice, and Auto-renewal term: 12 months according to Smokeball (2026) applies if the firm does not give 30 days of notice. Data retrieval stays open for 30 days after the term. Onboarding fees, if any, are defined as charges on the order form that sit apart from the monthly subscription fee. If a financing application is denied, or is not finished within 14 days of the start date, the terms say the initial term defaults to 12 months and the monthly fee may be higher than the figure on the order form.

A total-cost comparison is unfinished while Smokeball is Quote-based. Ask the quote to split the per-user fee, the number of months on the term, onboarding, and each add-on the firm actually needs, including AutoTime, Intake, Workflows, and Archie. On the MyCase side, multiply the published per-user rate by the number of users, then ask what payment processing adds, because that rate is not the seat price. The table below does that seat math only. Rows 1 through 4 use the Basic pair, row 5 uses the Pro pair, and row 6 uses the Advanced pair.

A four-user sketch with the hours that never get billed

Four users at the annual rate of $50 come to $200 a month and $2,400 a year, while four users at the monthly rate of $60 come to $240 a month and $2,880 a year, which is $480 more across the year. Separately, if each of the four people misses 2 hours of time in a week, that is 8 hours a week and 32 hours in a 4-week month that never reach a bill. On the Smokeball side of a stack, a proposed review listens for invoice.finalized, reads the matter id in the payload, and stops until a lawyer posts or writes off those 32 hours. The seat math uses the published Basic rates cited above. The hours are an illustration of leaked time, not a measured result from a firm. The event name is from Smokeball's public webhook list, including the documented invoice.finalized event, and it should not be hung on the other product.

That gap of $480 is only the seat difference between paying monthly and paying annually at the Basic rates. It says nothing about Smokeball until a quote arrives, and it says nothing about processing fees, add-ons, or the 32 hours. A firm that bills those hours will care more about the time-capture row than about the seat gap. A firm that never misses time will care more about the contract and the document tools.

MyCase, and who should pick it

Best fit: a small firm that wants to see the seat price before a call, wants trust accounting and invoicing on the entry plan, and wants a monthly exit. It also fits a firm that will pay for the Pro plan because it needs unlimited eSignature, intake forms, two-way texting, and workflows, or for the Advanced plan because it needs the desktop drive, split billing, conflict-check tracking, or the open API.

Limitations: the limited client portal is what the Basic card lists, so a firm that wants richer client sharing should confirm what the higher plans add before it assumes the portal grows on its own. The open API is on the Advanced card, which means a Basic or Pro firm should not plan an API integration until it moves up or uses a named integration such as Zapier or QuickBooks. The discovery page cap is a shared pool, so a document-heavy month can exhaust it for the whole firm. Court-rules calendaring needs a separate subscription. The accounting add-on is a different line from the trust tools on Basic.

Implementation: the pricing page lists guided implementation, training, and support, and it says data migration may include contacts, matters, notes, tasks, documents, and invoices, subject to 8am's determination of scope. Plan a human pass over trust balances and open invoices after any import. Month-to-month billing lets the firm start without a multi-year form. The prepaid year is a real commitment of a year's seats, even though the monthly option is open. Payments on the pricing page are tied to LawPay, with no monthly fee listed and processing rates left separate. Firms sorting the payment tool from the practice system can use the LawPay and MyCase comparison. Firms that already keep books in QuickBooks can use the MyCase to QuickBooks connection as a map of that handoff. Firms that already sign in DocuSign, rather than in the native eSignature on the Pro plan, can use the MyCase to DocuSign connection.

On October 12, 2026, a trade report said the Fall 2026 release adds an MCP connector so a user can reach cases, clients, documents, and intake while staying inside existing permissions, according to Missouri Lawyers Media (2026). Treat that connector as a new door onto the same permission model, not as a second system of record. A person should still approve anything that would change a bill, a trust balance, or a client-facing document.

Primary evidence for this profile is the pricing page and the rebrand note cited above. The trade report is the independent item. This profile does not assign a star rating, because a MyCase review page was not available to read in full during this session.

Smokeball, and who should pick it

Best fit: a small firm, in the 2-30 person band the partnership note describes, that lives in Microsoft Word and Outlook, wants practice-area document automation, and is willing to wait for a quote. The Grow plan is the first card that lists advanced document automation, and the page aims it at firms with 3 or more staff. The Prosper+ plan is the one that includes AutoTime, Intake, and Workflows without listing them as add-ons. A firm whose lost revenue is unrecorded time should price that top plan, or price the AutoTime add-on on the Grow plan, before it compares seat stickers it cannot see.

Limitations: there is no public US seat price, so any directory dollar figure is the wrong input for this decision. The Bill plan is a billing and trust toolkit, not the full matter suite. The Boost plan adds the browser matter tools, the portal, Word, and eSignature, and it still lists manual time. Workflows and Intake cost extra until the Prosper+ plan. The comparison grid's "unlimited with InfoTrack" wording means the buyer should ask whether InfoTrack sits inside the quote. eFiling is marked as carrying fees. The default tier in the terms is Prosper+ unless the order form says otherwise, so a firm that thinks it bought a lower plan should read the form line by line. Users cannot be removed mid-term, and the tier cannot be lowered mid-term. An upgrade applies to every user, not to a subset of the staff.

Implementation: expect the term, the user count, the tier, and any onboarding fee to arrive on the client order form. The fee for that term is not refundable, including for a change of mind. Give notice at least 30 days before the end date if the firm does not want the 12-month renewal. Ask for the fee-increase notice 60 days before a later term. After the term, the retrieval window is 30 days, and the backup the terms define is documents plus basic matter and contact card data, not a promise of every file the firm uploaded. Migration scope and cost depend on the source system and are confirmed in the quote. Build a check of trust balances into the first month, the same way you would on any import.

Public reviews are a satisfaction signal, not a feature matrix. Reviewer score: 4.8 out of 5 according to Software Advice (2026) rests on 360 reviews, with ease of use at 4.7 and value for money at 4.5. The same page's con list says the product does not automatically re-bill a balance when the billing cycle has no new work. Confirm that behavior on the plan you are buying before you assume balances chase themselves. Reviewers on that page also describe strong document automation and uneven spots in automatic time. Those comments support a pilot of the firm's own forms and of AutoTime. They do not replace the plan card.

Primary evidence is the pricing page, the terms, the webhook documentation that lists invoice.finalized, the partnership note, and the Software Advice summary. Use those, rather than a reprinted price from a comparison blog, when the quote conflicts with an older article.

Mistakes that make this comparison useless

The first mistake is pairing a fresh MyCase rate with an old Smokeball dollar amount from a review directory. The US pricing page opened for this guide does not print those dollars. Until the quote arrives, Smokeball is Quote-based, and a "cheaper" label is a guess.

The second mistake is assuming AutoTime is part of every Smokeball plan. The pricing page puts it on the Prosper+ plan and sells it as an add-on on the Grow plan. The Bill and Boost cards describe time and expense tracking, and the comparison grid marks time as manual on the lower tiers.

The third mistake is planning an API project on the Basic or Pro plan. The open API is listed on the Advanced plan. A firm that needs Zapier or QuickBooks should confirm that the integration it wants is inside the 70+ on the Pro plan, then test the fields it will actually send.

The fourth mistake is ignoring the order form. A Smokeball firm that adds two staff in month three keeps those seats until renewal. A firm that signed the default tier may be on Prosper+ even if the conversation was about a lower plan. MyCase's monthly option is the contrasting exit, and the prepaid year is still a year of seats paid up front.

The fifth mistake is treating a star rating as a decision. A 4.8 from 360 reviews says many reviewers are glad they bought. It does not say which plan they bought, what they pay at renewal, or whether trust reconciliation matches the firm's bank.

Connecting the matter file to the books

The painful hour in a small firm is the one between a finished matter task and a correct invoice. The practice system can hold the time entry, and the books still miss it, or an invoice goes out while draft time sits behind it.

A proposed, configurable workflow from US Tech Automations starts when Smokeball posts an invoice.finalized notice from its public webhook list. The action reads the matter id in the payload, compares it with time still in draft, and builds a short exception list. The output is a billing review item, not a payment and not a trust transfer. Prerequisites are a webhook subscription on that firm's account, credentials the firm is allowed to issue, a check of the signature header, and storage of the event id so a repeated notice does not create a second list. The vendor also documents that events can arrive out of order and that a change the integration itself made can echo back, so the design should send a request id and ignore its own echo. A lawyer accepts or rejects the list before anyone updates the books. This is a design a firm could configure. It is not a deployment running today, and it states no measured savings.

Where the pain is a new matter that never reaches the bookkeeper, a second proposed design from US Tech Automations can run on a schedule. The trigger is a file export of matters opened that day, or a Zapier step when the firm is on a plan that includes that connection, because the open API is listed on the Advanced plan and not on the cheaper plans. The action creates a task with the matter name, the responsible lawyer, and a blank trust flag. The output is a queue a person clears before any client message or invoice goes out. If the export is missing a required field, the item stays in the queue. This is a configuration sketch with a human review point, not a claim that a named firm uses it.

Zapier, Make, and n8n can each keep a run history, retry a failed step, branch on an error, and store an audit trail when someone sets those controls up. The firm then owns observability, idempotency, escalation, access control, and the upkeep when a vendor changes a field. A proposed US Tech Automations design can place the review gate, the duplicate check, and the escalation path in the configuration, after the firm provides API or export access and names the person who may approve a bill. The buyer still has to supply that access and that person. The design does not erase the need for them.

When NOT to use US Tech Automations: stay with the product you already have if the firm lives inside one system, uses that system's own workflows, and has no second system to update. Stay with a single Zapier, Make, or n8n step if the only job is passing a form into the matter file and a staff member already watches failures. Stay manual if the firm will not turn on API or export access, because there is then nothing reliable to trigger and a checklist is the honest tool.

Glossary

• Matter: the case or file the firm opens for a client, and the record both products hang time, documents, and bills on.

• Trust account: the bank account that holds client funds. Both entry plans list trust accounting. Three-way reconciliation is called out on MyCase's separate accounting add-on.

• Time entry: a recorded block of work. Manual entry means a person starts or types it. AutoTime is Smokeball's automatic capture, included on the Prosper+ plan.

• eSignature: a signature collected inside the product. On MyCase it is unlimited from the Pro plan up. On Smokeball it is listed from the Boost plan up, with the grid pointing at InfoTrack.

• Client portal: the client's window into the file. The Basic plan on MyCase calls its portal limited. The Boost plan on Smokeball lists a client portal.

• Open API: a supported way for another system to read and write records. On MyCase it is listed on the Advanced plan. Smokeball publishes webhooks such as invoice.finalized and matter.updated.

• Order-form term: the number of months on the Smokeball client order form. The fee for that stretch is not refundable, and seats cannot drop until renewal.

• Quote-based: the vendor does not print a public dollar price. Smokeball's US pricing page is in this category as of the check date above.

A short decision checklist

Use this after the quote arrives, or after you have circled a MyCase plan. Stop on the first item you cannot answer.

1. Write the per-user rate, the user count, and the number of months you are actually buying. For MyCase, use the printed rate. For Smokeball, use the order form only.

2. Mark whether trust accounting on that plan is enough, or whether you also need the accounting add-on and its three-way reconciliation.

3. Name the document job you do every week. If it is a Word template with practice-area fields, compare the Grow plan and above with the Pro and Advanced document tools.

4. Name who enters time. If lawyers will not start a timer, price AutoTime before you compare anything else.

5. Read the exit. Monthly MyCase billing can stop at the end of a month. A Smokeball term needs 30 days' notice or it renews for 12 months, and the seat count is sticky until then.

6. List every second system, such as QuickBooks, DocuSign, or a payment tool. If a person must approve what crosses that boundary, decide whether the product's own workflow is enough or whether a reviewed connector belongs in the design.

7. Put migration in writing. Which objects move, who checks trust balances, and what the retrieval looks like if you leave.

Questions firms ask before they sign

Is MyCase cheaper than Smokeball?

MyCase is the one with printed per-user rates, and Smokeball's US page is Quote-based, so the lower bill is unknowable until that quote is in hand. Compare the quote with the six published rates, then add add-ons and processing, before you call either side cheaper.

Did either product get renamed or discontinued?

MyCase continues as 8am MyCase after the AffiniPay rebrand to 8am, and Smokeball is still named Smokeball. Neither product was discontinued on the pages reviewed here, and the 2026 Thomson Reuters announcement is a partnership, not a merger of these two products.

Which entry plan includes trust accounting?

Both entry plans list it. The Basic plan on MyCase includes time entry, invoicing, and trust accounting. The Bill plan on Smokeball includes invoicing, time and expenses, online payments, and trust accounting and reporting. Confirm whether you also need three-way reconciliation or a separate accounting product.

Where is automatic time capture included?

AutoTime is included on the Prosper+ plan, and the Grow plan lists it as an add-on. The Bill and Boost plans are in the manual time row of the vendor's own comparison grid. MyCase plan cards list time entry. They do not label an equivalent automatic-capture product on those cards.

Can the firm leave on a month's notice?

MyCase's monthly billing is month-to-month with no commitment, while a prepaid year is a year paid up front. Smokeball's fee stays in force for the term on the order form, the seat count cannot fall until renewal, and missing the 30-day notice renews the subscription for 12 months.

When does an outside connector help, and when is it wasted?

It helps when a second system must stay in step and a person has to approve the handoff before money or a client message moves. It is wasted when one product already covers the workflow and someone on staff watches that product's own alerts. API or export access is a prerequisite either way.

The choice is a match between printed rates or a real quote, trust tools, documents, time capture, and the term you can live with. Once that match is clear, see how US Tech Automations configures this for the reviewed handoff between the matter file and the books.