Clio vs MyCase vs PracticePanther vs a Custom Intake Workflow: What a 20-User Law Firm Pays in 2026
Clio, MyCase and PracticePanther prices read 20 October 2026, the yearly bill for 20 users, and the one intake rule that justifies a custom build.
Nov 3, 2026
A 20-user law firm pays about $11,760 a year on the cheapest tier of Clio (starting at $49 per user, read 20 October 2026) or PracticePanther Solo (annual billing), $12,000 on MyCase Basic, and $21,360 to $24,000 on the tiers that add intake forms, e-signature and workflows: PracticePanther Business at $89 per user and MyCase Pro at $100 per user, both annual billing. Nobody should build a practice management system to save on those subscriptions. The custom question is narrower: one intake-to-matter workflow with your own conflict, approval and signature steps, built for $15,000 to $50,000, against the $9,600 to $12,000 a year you would otherwise pay to move all 20 users up a tier.
Key facts (prices read 20 October 2026)
- Clio Starter starts at $49 per user; Core, Signature and Elite show "Get pricing" and no figure, and the page does not say whether $49 is a monthly or yearly rate, so treat it as a floor
- MyCase Basic $50, Pro $100 and Advanced $130 per user per month on annual billing; $60, $120 and $150 on monthly billing; Pro is the first tier with automated workflows, client intake forms and unlimited e-signature
- PracticePanther Solo $49, Essential $69, Business $89 and Business Pro $114 per user per month on annual billing; $59, $79, $99 and $124 monthly; intake forms and native e-signature start on Business
- A custom intake layer: $15,000 to $50,000 for one workflow; $50,000 to $100,000 with a client portal and several systems; ongoing engineering $5,000 to $10,000 per month if you have no engineers
Who this comparison is for
A law firm or professional-services practice with 10 to 100 staff and no in-house engineers, already paying for practice management software, where the friction sits at the front door: an enquiry is screened, checked for conflicts, sent an engagement letter, signed and opened as a matter, each step in a different place.
What the platforms cost at 20 users
| Route | Per user per month | Yearly for 20 users | What the tier adds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clio Starter | from $49 (billing basis not stated) | from $11,760 | Practice management, trust accounts, 3 e-signatures, self-serve data migration |
| Clio Core, Signature, Elite | not published | not published | Core adds a client portal, conflict check and AI automation; Elite adds Clio Grow intake |
| MyCase Basic | $50 annual, $60 monthly | $12,000 to $14,400 | Cases, contacts, time and billing, trust accounting, limited client portal |
| MyCase Pro | $100 annual, $120 monthly | $24,000 to $28,800 | Unlimited e-signature, automated workflows, intake forms and legal CRM, two-way texting |
| MyCase Advanced | $130 annual, $150 monthly | $31,200 to $36,000 | Conflict check tracking, advanced document automation, open API |
| PracticePanther Solo | $49 annual, $59 monthly | $11,760 to $14,160 | Matter management, billing, client portal, document templates, task workflows |
| PracticePanther Business | $89 annual, $99 monthly | $21,360 to $23,760 | Intake forms, native e-signature, two-way texting |
| PracticePanther Business Pro | $114 annual, $124 monthly | $27,360 to $29,760 | Trust and operating accounting |
| Custom intake layer | one-off | $15,000 to $50,000 | Your own screening, conflict, approval and signature steps, writing into your matter system |
Want the number for your own scope? Send a short brief: what takes your team the most manual time, which systems are involved, roughly how many people touch it. A senior engineer replies within two working days with a band and the questions we would ask on a call. No call needed. Or get a range in a minute from the AI development cost calculator.
How to read these numbers. Subscription prices are the vendors' published list prices on the date shown, before taxes, overages, add-ons and seat growth. The custom-build figures are KUMO's published bands for the build only: hosting, model usage, third-party fees and ongoing engineering ($5,000 to $10,000 per month if you have no engineers) sit on top, and we say so wherever a total is compared. A standard tool is the right answer when your workflow fits it; configuration is enough when the gap is small; a custom build is justified only by a specific complexity named on this page, not by preference.
MyCase and PracticePanther publish both billing bases; Clio does not label its $49. The MyCase Accounting add-on ($39 per user per month) is not in the totals. Card processing is extra.
What moves the number
Seat count first: every route except the custom build charges per user, so 10 more staff adds $6,000 to $12,000 a year. Then billing basis: monthly billing on MyCase Pro costs $4,800 a year more than annual at 20 users. Then tier: MyCase Basic to Pro is $12,000 a year, PracticePanther Solo to Business $9,600 at annual rates. Then add-ons such as MyCase Accounting at $39 per user. The last two are the number of systems the intake touches and whether the rules are yours or chosen from a menu.
The rule that decides it: whose rules run the intake
A practice management tier gives you a form, a signature and a workflow template. It does not know that your firm screens a personal-injury enquiry differently from an employment one, that a second partner must approve any matter above a fee threshold, or that the engagement letter changes by jurisdiction. Firms cover that gap with staff time: re-keying the form, chasing the signature, checking conflicts by hand. A custom intake layer runs those rules in order: your intake form, screening logic, a conflict lookup, an approval step, the engagement letter sent for signature, and the matter opened in the platform you already pay for.
Break-even on the tier, not on the staff time
Build cost divided by the yearly tier uplift gives the payback. A $15,000 build against the $12,000 a year of moving 20 MyCase users from Basic to Pro pays back in about 15 months; against PracticePanther's $9,600 uplift, about 19 months. A $50,000 build against $12,000 a year takes about 50 months, so the larger build only makes sense when it also removes staff hours. An illustration with assumed numbers, to be replaced with yours: 40 new enquiries a month, 45 minutes of re-keying, chasing and checking each at a $35 loaded hourly rate, is 30 hours and $1,050 a month, or $12,600 a year. Count your own enquiries and minutes for a month first.
Three routes, one honest recommendation
Configuration is enough. One practice area, a handful of matter types and a simple engagement letter: the Basic or Solo tier plus a template handles it for about $12,000 a year at 20 users. Stop there.
Configure plus connect. If the gap is a hand-off, for example a signed engagement letter that should open a matter and a billing profile, an automation tool on the platform's integrations closes it for a few hundred dollars a month. The n8n vs Make vs Zapier comparison prices that route.
Custom intake layer. Justified by a specific complexity: practice-area-specific screening, multi-partner approvals, conflict rules that span entities, or an intake that has to write into more than one system. KUMO builds that as a small application: the intake form, the rules engine, the approval and signature steps, and write-back to Clio, MyCase or PracticePanther through their integrations. $15,000 to $50,000 for one intake workflow; $50,000 to $100,000 when it includes a client portal and several systems. The Softr vs Bubble client portal comparison covers the portal half.
Costs after launch
Hosting is typically a few hundred dollars a month, and the platform subscription carries on underneath. Ongoing engineering is $5,000 to $10,000 per month if you have no engineers, or a smaller retainer for fixes only. Run your own numbers in the AI development cost calculator.
Three quotes for the same brief
Send one page to three builders: the intake steps in order, the systems each touches, monthly volume and approval rules. Compare what is included (tests against a month of real enquiries, handover), not just the total.
How to get a real number this week
Write down the last 20 enquiries and the steps each one went through, with the minutes spent. That one page is the brief. Book a 30-minute call with it, or send a short brief and get a scoped estimate in two working days; see AI workflow automation for how KUMO scopes a workflow layer.
Proof, labelled
KUMO has not published a law-firm case study, so the proof here is adjacent. FLIN is a production customer-facing onboarding build from scoped brief to launch, with identity checks in the flow. Equipp is a rental operations platform with auditable ledgers. KUMO's founders built Volopay's first production version as its founding engineers, a finance product where every approval and payment had to be traceable, which is the discipline an intake with sign-offs needs. KUMO is a software engineering studio that builds custom AI agents, workflow apps and portals for 10 to 100 person companies, and a Registered Partner in the OpenAI Partner Network.
Questions law firms ask
Is Clio, MyCase or PracticePanther cheapest for a 20-person law firm? On published rates the entry tiers are close: PracticePanther Solo and Clio Starter from $49 per user, MyCase Basic $50 (annual).
How much does MyCase cost for 20 users? $12,000 a year on Basic and $24,000 on Pro with annual billing; $14,400 and $28,800 billed monthly (read 20 October 2026).
Does Clio publish pricing for Core, Signature and Elite? Not on its page as read on 20 October 2026; it shows "Get pricing" for those tiers.
What does PracticePanther cost per user with intake forms? Intake forms and native e-signature start on Business at $89 per user per month on annual billing, or $99 monthly.
When does a custom intake workflow cost less than upgrading tiers? A $15,000 build pays back against a $12,000 a year tier uplift in about 15 months at 20 users; it takes longer for larger builds unless it also removes staff hours.
How long does a custom intake layer take? 8 to 12 weeks for one workflow with one platform integration.
The numbers in one file. The Build vs Buy Price Book, October 2026 has the published prices of 40 business tools read in October 2026, what they cost a 40-person company, and the four tests that say whether a custom build is worth it. Download the PDF (8 pages, free, no form).
