Draftiro vs Smokeball — overview
Smokeball is loved by personal-injury and family-law firms for one standout feature: automatic time tracking at the operating-system level, which captures billable activity without anyone remembering to start a timer. Pair that with strong document automation and a PI/family-law focus and it is a credible practice-management choice. Two caveats matter for this comparison: its pricing is not published openly, and its AI features are limited.
Pricing, plainly
Smokeball does not list pricing publicly; as of our June 2026 review it was typically quoted around $100+ per user per month through a sales conversation. Draftiro publishes its pricing — free with no card, paid from $29/mo — and you can sign up without a call. If transparent, self-serve pricing matters to you, that is a real difference.
A note on time tracking
Smokeball's auto-time-tracking captures activity at the OS level across applications. Draftiro's time tracking is narrower and AI-specific: for case-scoped AI work, it can create a draft entry tagged "AI-assisted" for attorney review, editing, or deletion before billing. It makes no compliance determination. They solve different slices of the timekeeping problem — OS-wide capture versus an AI-work review trail.
Who should switch — and who shouldn't
Switch to Draftiro if AI drafting and research are the capability you actually want, with case-citation checks and transparent pricing. Stay with Smokeball if firm-wide automatic time capture across every application is the feature you can't live without.
Where Smokeball wins
- Auto-time tracking at the OS level
- Strong document automation
- PI / family-law verticalization
Where Draftiro wins
- Transparent pricing
- Modern AI drafting + research
- Case-citation checks against CourtListener when available
- Lower starting price
Side by side
| Feature | Draftiro | Smokeball |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing transparency | Public, self-serve | Contact sales |
| 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 | Not included |
| Free plan | Included | Not included |
Common questions
Does Draftiro auto-track time like Smokeball?
Differently. Smokeball captures billable activity automatically at the OS level across applications. For case-scoped AI work, Draftiro can create a draft, "AI-assisted"-tagged time entry for attorney review, editing, or deletion before billing. It does not make a compliance determination or provide firm-wide OS capture.
What does Smokeball cost compared to Draftiro?
Smokeball does not publish pricing; it is typically quoted around $100+ per user per month through sales. Draftiro publishes its pricing — free with no card, paid from $29/mo — and is self-serve, no call required.
Does Smokeball validate case citations?
No. Smokeball is practice management with document automation; case-citation validation is not part of it. When a case citation is detected, Draftiro can check it against the public CourtListener corpus.
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.