Draftiro vs Clio — overview
Clio Manage is the market-share leader in legal practice management, and for a firm whose center of gravity is billing, trust accounting, and a deep integration stack, it is hard to beat. Its AI layer, Clio Duo, is a more recent addition bolted onto a fifteen-year-old core. The honest question for a solo or small firm is not "is Clio good?" — it is "am I paying for a full practice-management ledger to get an AI assistant I could get cheaper elsewhere?"
Pricing, plainly
As of our June 2026 review, Clio Manage ran roughly $49–$149 per user per month depending on tier, with Clio Duo's AI bundled into the higher tiers; check Clio's current pricing before you decide. Draftiro starts with a free plan (no card) and paid tiers from $29/mo (Starter) and $89/mo (Solo). If you already need Clio's billing and trust-accounting depth, the price buys real things; if drafting and research are your bottleneck, you are paying for a platform to reach the assistant.
Who should switch
Switch to Draftiro if your day is drafting motions, demand letters, and discovery — not reconciling a trust ledger — and you want case-citation checks against CourtListener when available, conflict checks with an audit trail, and court-day math in the writing flow. Stay on Clio if trust accounting, LawPay, and a mature integration ecosystem are load-bearing for your practice.
Migration
Draftiro does not import Clio data automatically yet. You create your active matters in Draftiro and upload the documents you need, using a Clio export as your checklist; ask us about moving your matters over. You can keep Clio for billing during the transition if you want to move incrementally.
Where Clio wins
- Maturity — 250+ third-party integrations
- Strong billing and trust-accounting workflows
- Brand recognition with bar associations
Where Draftiro wins
- AI-native experience instead of an AI bolt-on
- Case-citation checks against CourtListener when available (Clio Manage does not offer them)
- Lower entry price for solos who don't need Clio's full ledger
- Conflict checking with audit trail baked into the writing flow
Side by side
| Feature | Draftiro | Clio |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing transparency | Public, self-serve | Public |
| Case-citation checks (CourtListener when available, or equivalent) | Included | Not included |
| Conflict checking with audit trail | Included | Included |
| Court-day math (federal + state holidays) | Included | Not included |
| AI-assisted time entries (for attorney review) | Included | Not included |
| Outlook calendar sync | Included | Included |
| Self-serve signup (no sales call) | Included | Included |
| Free plan | Included | Not included |
Common questions
Can I keep Clio for billing and use Draftiro just for drafting?
Yes. You can run Draftiro for AI drafting, research, conflicts, and deadlines while keeping Clio for trust accounting and LawPay. There is no automated Clio import yet, so you set up the matters you are actively working on in Draftiro and upload their documents.
Does Clio validate citations the way Draftiro does?
Clio Manage does not validate case citations against a public case-law corpus. When a case citation is detected, Draftiro can check it against CourtListener when available and flags statutes and rules as "unchecked" so you confirm them in primary authority.
Is Draftiro cheaper than Clio for a solo?
Yes. Draftiro has a free plan with no card and paid tiers from $29/mo; Clio Manage runs roughly $49–$149 per user per month with Clio Duo AI bundled at the higher tiers.
Will my data train AI models?
No. Draftiro does not use your matter content to train AI models, and the Google Gemini paid-service terms we use bar Google from using it to improve its products. See our Privacy Policy for what providers may retain.