Clio vs. CosmoLex®
A 3-way comparison of select features of Clio vs. CosmoLex vs. Zola Suite. Clio, based in Canada is a cloud-based application that significantly relies on external integrations for much of its advanced functionality, such as email and accounting. Cosmolex, like Zola Suite does have a built-in accounting system, but it lacks a built-in email client. While evaluating Clio vs. CosmoLex, also consider Zola Suite’s next generation practice management application that puts greater emphasis on built-in features as opposed to reliance on integrations with third-party applications.
| Overview | |||
| Overview | Clio | CosmoLex |  |
| Cloud-based | |||
| iPhone and Android apps | |||
| Create one or more configurable matter views | |||
| Onsite training | |||
| Personalized remote training | |||
| Matter budgeting | (coming Q2 2022) | ||
| SOC 2 compliant | |||
| Two-factor authentication | |||
| Billing & Accounting | |||
| Billing & Accounting | Clio | CosmoLex | |
| Trust accounting | |||
| Trust checks | |||
| 3-way reconciliation of trust accounts | |||
| Accounts payable management | |||
| Cash and accrual business accounting | |||
| Chart of Accounts, General Ledger, Profit & Loss report, Balance Sheet & more | |||
| Split Originating/ Responsible report | Originating only (no split responsible) | ||
| Rate cards | |||
| Download bank and credit card activity from major financial institutions to reconcile and convert to billable expense | (1 account included with subscription) | ||
| Apply trust funds in bulk | |||
| LEDES billing | |||
| Advanced productivity reports | |||
| Bulk email invoices | |||
| WIP-Trust-AR report | |||
| Referral Tracking report | |||
| Complete business accounting | |||
| Location accounting | |||
| Departmental accounting | |||
| Split billing | |||
| Firm budgeting | |||
| Consolidated billing | |||
| Timekeeper Goals report | (Billable hours only) | ||
| Customizable billing increments | |||
| LEDES budgeting | |||
| Settlement Management tools | |||
| Clio | CosmoLex | | |
| Method | Uses special forwarding address for each matter. Have to manually forward or BCC each email. | Add a setting to automatically forward emails to CosmoLex mailbox. | Outlook plugin and native email client directly connects to your existing account. |
| Built-in email client | |||
| Smart Suggest™ compose feature shows matter-related contacts | *Patented | ||
| Convert email to task/event | |||
| Auto create time entry when drafting email messages | Mark as “billable” and record time. | ||
| Microsoft Outlook® plugin | |||
| Sent messages uses your actual account and show in your sent items | |||
| Tasks | |||
| Tasks | Clio | CosmoLex | |
| Assign to more than one recipient | |||
| Ability to tag tasks | |||
| QuickTask “mind-dump” | |||
| SMS reminders | |||
| Alerts for assignor when deadline missed | |||
| Due time | |||
| Recurrence | |||
| Task templates | |||
| Rich text descriptions | |||
| Smart filters including view of overdue tasks you’ve delegated | |||
| Attach documents | |||
| Calendar | |||
| Calendar | Clio | CosmoLex | |
| Custom event categories | |||
| Ability to send real invites that can be “accepted” | |||
| Invites sent using users’ actual email account | |||
| SMS reminders | |||
| Clio vs. CosmoLex® Comparison | |||
| Support for recurring events | |||
| True 2-way sync with Google and Office 365/Microsoft 365 calendars | Does not sync invitee data | No Invitee details, no ability to send invites from CosmoLex | |
| Subscribe to other users' calendars | |||
| Location suggestion | |||
| Date calculator | |||
| Notes | |||
| Notes | Clio | CosmoLex | |
| Foldering | |||
| Drag and drop | |||
| Rich text editing with ability to add images | |||
| Auto save | |||
| Note fields | Create Date and Subject only | Create Date and Subject only | Create Date, Subject, Created By, Last Edited By, Last Edited Date |
| Mobile Apps | |||
| Mobile Apps | Clio | CosmoLex | |
| Built-in multi-page PDF scanner | |||
| Business card scanner with OCR | |||
| Send and receive email using your actual account | |||
| Built-in email client with auto-timer and ability to save to matter | |||
| Apple Watch application | |||
| Document Management & Assembly | |||
| Document Management & Assembly | Clio | CosmoLex | |
| Drag & drop into folders | |||
| Open/save documents directly to Microsoft Word® for Windows | |||
| Document assembly | |||
| Native in-browser DOCX editor | |||
| Clio vs. CosmoLex® Comparison | |||
| Clio vs. CosmoLex® Comparison | |||
| Document versioning, tagging, commenting | (versioning and tagging only) | ||
| In-document searching | (text search only) | (coming soon) | |
| Open, edit and automatically save documents back to the respective matter; no uploading required | |||
| Portal | |||
| Portal | Clio | CosmoLex | |
| Client Portal | |||
| Native, branded portal for your firm | (available) | ||
| Native, branded portal mobile apps for your firm | (available) | ||
| Two-factor authentication on initial invite | |||
| Process credit card payments | |||
| Portal invites and messaging from users’ account | |||
| CRM | |||
| CRM | Clio | CosmoLex | |
| Manage prospects and automate intake | (additional purchase required) | ||
| Pricing | |||
| Pricing | Clio | CosmoLex | |
| Monthly per-user fee (based on annual prepayment) | $39-$99 | $79 | $59-$99 |
*Certain features are available only on Enterprise and EnterprisePlus plans.
Zola Suite offers efficient and affordable data migration for both Clio and CosmoLex users. Contact us for more information.
Comparison last updated 1/6/2021. Clio is a trademark of Themis Solutions Inc. CosmoLex is a registered mark of CosmoLex Cloud, LLC.