Docketwise lists Basic at $80, Pro at $100 and Advanced at $120 per user a month on yearly billing, or $90, $120 and $140 billed monthly. The AI Writing Assistant is not in Basic and is included at no extra charge in Pro and Advanced, so the cheapest way to get it is Pro, $20 more per user than Basic on yearly billing.
The AI is not priced as a separate item, so judging it means judging the upgrade. Pro also adds e-filing, e-signatures, CRM and lead management, text messaging, bulk messaging and a QuickBooks integration, and the Writing Assistant is one line in that list. Prices below were read from Docketwise's pricing page in early November 2026; check the page itself, because per-user prices change.
Docketwise prices per user, yearly against monthly
The pricing page has a toggle between yearly and monthly billing, and it advertises unlimited cases with per-user pricing. Yearly billing is shown by default. The table converts each price into a per-user annual cost, which is what you actually commit to.
| Plan | Yearly billing, per user a month | Per user a year | Monthly billing, per user a month | Per user a year | Yearly billing saves, per user a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $80 | $960 | $90 | $1,080 | $120 |
| Pro | $100 | $1,200 | $120 | $1,440 | $240 |
| Advanced | $120 | $1,440 | $140 | $1,680 | $240 |
The steps between plans are the numbers to hold on to. Basic to Pro is $20 per user a month on yearly billing, a 25% rise, and $30 on monthly billing, a 33% rise. Pro to Advanced is $20 on either, which is 20% on yearly billing and 17% on monthly. Choosing yearly billing saves $120 per user on Basic and $240 on Pro or Advanced, so for a stable practice it is worth more than any single feature difference.
Because prices are per user, the firm total depends on headcount. This table uses yearly billing.
| Users | Basic a month (a year) | Pro a month (a year) | Advanced a month (a year) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1, a solo practice | $80 ($960) | $100 ($1,200) | $120 ($1,440) |
| 3, one lawyer and two staff | $240 ($2,880) | $300 ($3,600) | $360 ($4,320) |
| 6, two lawyers and four staff | $480 ($5,760) | $600 ($7,200) | $720 ($8,640) |
Cases are unlimited, so software cost per case falls as you grow. A three-user firm on Pro yearly pays $300 a month, which is $12 for each new case if it opens 25 a month and $6 if it opens 50. It is a cost per case you can compare against the paperwork-and-chasing time the tool is meant to save. Whether a firm can mix plans across users is not stated on the page, so ask that in a demo.
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Buy nowWhich plan has the AI: what each Docketwise page says
Four sources agree, and it is worth seeing all four because the AI has more than one name. The pricing page lists "DocketWise IQ - Legal AI" with the line "AI writing assistance and document assistance" on the Pro card, under "Everything included in Basic, plus", and Advanced is "Everything included in Pro, plus". Its comparison table has a DocketWise IQ section with two rows, Writing Assistant and Document Assistant, and the labels on those icons say not available for Basic and available for Pro and Advanced. The help centre says the writing feature is only available on Pro and Advanced subscriptions. The Writing Assistant feature page says it is included with Pro at no additional cost.
On naming: the pricing page and help centre say Docketwise IQ, while the home page calls the same thing 8am IQ, after the 8am brand that appears in the page header alongside MyCase, LawPay and CasePeer. Search for either name when you read reviews. Here is the plan-by-plan picture, drawn from the cards and comparison table.
| Feature | Basic | Pro | Advanced |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI Writing Assistant | No | Yes | Yes |
| Document Assistant (data capture) | No | Listed | Listed |
| e-Filing and e-signatures | No | Yes | Yes |
| CRM and lead management | No | Yes | Yes |
| Text and bulk messaging | No | Yes | Yes |
| QuickBooks integration | No | Yes | Yes |
| Smart Forms, case management, client portal, calendaring | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Multiple branches, permission groups, several admins | No | No | Yes |
| Priority support, tailored setup, 5GB file limit | No | No | Yes |
The Document Assistant row needs a caution. The pricing table puts it in Pro and Advanced, but a help-centre article on IQ Data Capture describes the tool as being in closed beta and available only to select accounts, and says that joining the waitlist does not guarantee access. The two pages may not have been updated at the same time. Ask for a live demonstration on a real client document before you count the Document Assistant as part of what Pro gives you.
What the Writing Assistant does inside the product
It works on text you have already typed. You click a sparkle icon in a text field and pick one of four options: Improve Writing, Change Tone, Translate or Summarise. The result appears for you to insert, discard, copy or regenerate. The help article describes it working on text you have already typed rather than as a chat window, so in practice it replaces the habit of pasting a message into a separate AI tool and pasting it back. The same article lists where it works.
| Where you can use it | Available |
|---|---|
| Email messages | Yes |
| Bulk messaging, email and text | Yes |
| Notes | Yes |
| Sharing Smart Form questionnaires | Yes |
| Sharing invoices | Yes |
| Smart Form comments | Yes |
| Text message conversations | Listed as coming soon |
| Tasks | Listed as coming soon |
Translation is limited to English to Spanish and Spanish to English, per the help article. The first time a user clicks the feature they must opt in by confirming a notice, and an admin can switch the feature off for the whole firm under Settings and User Access by unchecking the option that allows all firm users to access it. Both controls are useful for the rule you will write further down.
Here is the sort of before and after to look for when you test it. The second version below was written by hand to show the standard to hold the tool to; it is not captured from Docketwise.
BEFORE (typed in a hurry)
hi [first name] we still need the passport copy and the employment letter
before we can fill out the forms, pls send asap thx
AFTER (the standard to test against)
Hello [first name], to complete your forms we still need two documents:
a copy of your passport and your employment letter. Could you upload
them to your client portal by Friday? Tell me if anything is unclear.
Check the improvement for what it changes, not how it sounds. A good result keeps every fact (two documents, the portal, the deadline), fixes the tone, and adds nothing that was not in the original. A bad result invents a deadline, drops the list of documents or promises something on the firm's behalf. Change Tone is the option to test for reminders: a warm first nudge and a firm third one should both come from the same facts. For routine letters beyond this, evidence letters and redaction with ChatGPT covers the heavier drafting side.
Data handling: what the help centre says and what to keep out
The Docketwise IQ FAQ says the feature currently uses a large language model provided by OpenAI, accessed through OpenAI's API platform. It says that under Docketwise's terms with OpenAI your data will not be used to train OpenAI models, and contrasts that with the free consumer version of ChatGPT, which may use inputs to train. It also says your data is not sent to the model unless you agree to try the feature.
One sentence in that FAQ matters more to an immigration practice than the rest. OpenAI's terms prohibit sending sensitive health information and personal data about children under 13, and the FAQ advises you not to send that type of data to Docketwise IQ. Family-based cases and medical-exam paperwork can involve exactly those details. A firm rule is the practical answer, and it can be short.
AI WRITING ASSISTANT: FIRM RULE
May go in
- Generic request and reminder wording
- Tone changes on emails that carry no health details or children's data
- Summaries of our own notes that name no one
Must not go in
- Medical or health information
- Anything about a child under 13
- Passport, identity or case numbers
- Anything a client has asked us not to share with AI tools
Always
- A person reads the output and a person sends it
- A colleague who speaks the language checks any translation before it goes
- [Name] reviews this rule every six months
That rule is a starting point, not legal advice. Check your own professional body's guidance on confidentiality and AI, and see scoring accuracy, privacy and cost in a short trial for how to turn the rule into a pass or fail criterion in a trial.
Does Pro's extra $20 pay back?
Do not credit the AI with the whole step. Pro costs $20 more per user on yearly billing, and that buys the Writing Assistant, the Document Assistant, e-filing, e-signatures, CRM and lead management, text messaging, bulk messaging, custom attributes, a human resources portal and the QuickBooks integration. The right question is which of those you would use in the next twelve months. Mark each as needed now, useful later or not for us, and price the AI only if it is one of the reasons you are upgrading.
For the AI alone, the maths is a division. Divide the step by the cost of a minute of staff time.
| Loaded staff cost per hour | Minutes a month to cover $20 (yearly step) | Minutes a month to cover $30 (monthly step) |
|---|---|---|
| $40 | 30 | 45 |
| $60 | 20 | 30 |
| $100 | 12 | 18 |
| $150 | 8 | 12 |
Take a three-user firm on yearly billing. Basic costs $240 a month and Pro $300, so the step is $60 a month, or $720 a year. At a loaded cost of $60 an hour, the firm needs to save 60 minutes a month across all three users to cover it from the AI alone, which is 20 minutes each. If the firm also uses e-filing and e-signatures it would otherwise do elsewhere, the other Pro features lower the bar further, since a separate e-signature tool is a cost you would be able to drop. If the firm files in another way and never texts clients, the bundle has less for it, and Basic may be the right plan even without the AI.
Advanced is a separate question, and it is not an AI decision, because the Writing Assistant is the same on Pro and Advanced. The extra $20 buys multiple branches, user permission groups, several account admins, priority support, tailored account setup, a 5GB file limit and, on the annual plan, free data migration. A single-office firm with one admin has little use for most of that. A firm moving from another system may value the free migration enough to pay for Advanced for the first year, then review.
For a wider look at what else is on offer before you commit, an immigration case software buyer's checklist lists the automation features to compare, and Docketwise or ChatGPT for forms weighs the built-in assistant against a general chatbot. Pricing context for other legal tools is in per-seat or pay-as-you-go legal AI pricing for small firms.
How many messages a user must write to cover the step
The break-even also works per user. That helps if you can choose who gets Pro, and it helps even if you cannot, because it shows who benefits and who is being subsidised. At a loaded cost of $60 an hour, one minute saved is worth $1, so the messages a user must write each month are simply the step divided by the minutes saved per message.
| Minutes saved per message | Messages a month to cover $20 (yearly step) | Messages a month to cover $30 (monthly step) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20 | 30 |
| 2 | 10 | 15 |
| 3.6 | About 6 | About 8 |
| 5 | 4 | 6 |
A case manager who sends 80 messages a month clears the bar even at one minute saved a message. A receptionist who sends ten needs to save two minutes on each one. The pattern is that the people who write the most gain the most, and a firm that cannot mix plans pays for every seat at the rate set by its heaviest writers. List each user, count their messages in a typical month, and compare the totals with the step. If the picture is lopsided, ask Docketwise whether seats can sit on different plans.
Yearly billing: when the commitment pays off
Monthly billing costs 12.5% more than yearly on Basic, 20% more on Pro and about 17% more on Advanced. Turned the other way round, a yearly seat pays for itself against monthly billing once you would have kept it for roughly eleven months on Basic and ten on Pro or Advanced.
| Plan | Yearly cost per user | Monthly-billing price | Months of monthly billing that equal the yearly cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $960 | $90 | 10.7 |
| Pro | $1,200 | $120 | 10.0 |
| Advanced | $1,440 | $140 | 10.3 |
That reading assumes yearly billing is a firm 12-month commitment with no refund for leaving early, which is the cautious assumption. The page does not say, so ask. The comparison table also lists free data migration and escalated feature requests as annual-plan items, which is a second reason for a firm moving from another system to take yearly billing. If you are unsure you will stay, ask whether a firm can start on monthly billing and switch to yearly later at the yearly price, and make that switch once the test results are in.
A two-week test of the Writing Assistant before you upgrade
Ask Docketwise whether a trial or demo on Pro or Advanced is possible. The pricing page puts its Try for Free button on the Advanced card and offers demos on the other two, so confirm the trial includes the IQ features before relying on it. Then pick five message types your team writes every week and time them the way you do now, then again with the assistant.
| Message type (invented results) | Minutes without | Minutes with | Edits needed | Keep using it? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Document request email | 6 | 3 | 1 | Yes |
| Case status update | 9 | 5 | 2 | Yes |
| Fee estimate cover note | 12 | 9 | 3 | Maybe |
| Smart Form invitation message | 4 | 3 | 0 | Yes, small gain |
| Spanish version of a status update, with a colleague's check | 15 | 8 | 2 | Yes |
| Total | 46 | 28 | 8 |
On those invented numbers the assistant saves 18 minutes over five messages, an average of 3.6 minutes a message. A user who writes 40 messages like these a month saves 144 minutes, which is 2.4 hours, or $144 at $60 an hour. That would cover the $20 step seven times over, before counting anything else in Pro. Your numbers might be a tenth of that, which is the reason to run the test rather than trust a brochure.
Set pass criteria before you start so that enthusiasm does not set them for you: an average saving of at least three minutes a message, no more than two edits a message, no changed facts anywhere, and no more than one translation error per message found by your bilingual colleague. Keep the log, because it is also the evidence for a conversation with the other partners about whether to upgrade everyone.
Questions to ask in a Docketwise demo
- Does the free trial include the IQ features, and is it on Pro or Advanced?
- Can the firm mix plans, for example Pro for fee earners and Basic for support staff?
- Is the Document Assistant generally available on my account, or still in beta?
- Which forms can be e-filed from Docketwise, and are there extra charges for text messaging or e-signatures?
- If the AI provider changes, will the firm be told, and can we switch the AI off for everyone at once?
- Do the listed prices include every feature in the plan, or are there usage-based charges anywhere?
- What does migration from our current system involve, and is the free migration only on the annual Advanced plan?
Write the answers down with the date. Per-user prices, plan contents and AI features have all been moving, and the answer you got in a demo is worth more than the page you remember.
Questions immigration practices ask about the AI
Is the Docketwise AI Writing Assistant an extra charge?
No separate charge is listed. Docketwise's feature page says the writing assistant is included with Pro at no additional cost, and a help-centre article says it is only available on Pro and Advanced subscriptions. Basic does not include it, so the practical cost of the AI is the step up from Basic to Pro, which is $20 per user a month on yearly billing.
Which AI provider does Docketwise IQ use, and is client data used for training?
The help-centre FAQ says Docketwise IQ currently uses a large language model provided by OpenAI and that, under Docketwise's terms with OpenAI, your data will not be used to train OpenAI models. It also says data is not sent to the model unless you agree to try the feature, and that sensitive health information and personal data about children under 13 should not be sent.
Can I switch the AI off for the whole firm?
Yes. The help centre says an admin can turn it off under Settings and User Access by unchecking the option that allows all firm users to access the AI feature. Each user also has to opt in the first time they click it, by confirming a notice. Decide your firm rule first, then tell staff before the setting goes live.
Does the Writing Assistant translate into other languages?
Only a narrow pair for now. The help-centre article says translation is limited to English to Spanish and Spanish to English. Anything else needs another route, and any client-facing translation should still be read by a colleague who speaks the language before it is sent, because the assistant produces text and does not check it.
Further reads
- Best AI for Immigration Lawyers: Intake to Filing, Stage by Stage — Where AI helps at each stage from intake to filing.
- Immigration Agent AI: Client Document Checklists and Case Updates — Document checklists and case-update messages, the writing-heavy work.
- Clio Manage AI Pricing: What It Costs and How to Switch It On — What AI costs inside another practice platform.
- How Small Law Firms Use AI to Draft Letters and Routine Documents — Drafting routine letters with AI under review.
- Can Solicitors Use ChatGPT Without Breaching Confidentiality? — Confidentiality questions before any client text goes into AI.
- Can AI Help Immigration Law Firms Answer an RFE? What to Check — How an immigration firm can use AI on a request for evidence: issue list, evidence matrix, draft response and the checks a lawyer must still make.
- AI Tools and AI Development: The Complete 2026 Guide — the AI hub, including every tutorial in the AI-for-business series.
Sources: Docketwise pricing page, home page and AI Writing Assistant feature page; Docketwise help-centre articles on the Writing Assistant, Docketwise IQ FAQs and IQ Data Capture. Prices are USD list prices read in early November 2026.