Clio Manage AI suits a small firm whose repeat work is deadlines, billing and client updates: it turns court documents into calendar events and time entries into draft invoices. Smokeball's Archie suits a document-heavy firm, because it summarises, drafts and compares documents in matters, Word and Outlook. Run the same eight tasks on both before paying.
Feature tables on comparison sites make the two look interchangeable. They overlap on only four jobs: catching up on a matter, drafting a client message, answering a question from a document and comparing versions. Each also claims work the other doesn't mention. Neither vendor publishes a price for its AI (Clio's comes inside Core and above; Archie is an add-on with no price shown), and every capability below is a vendor claim until your own matters confirm it.
What each vendor says its assistant does
This table comes from the vendors' own pages: Clio's AI features page, pricing page and help centre, and Smokeball's pricing page, Archie page and support hub. Where a page is silent, the cell says so rather than guessing.
| Question | Clio Manage AI (formerly Clio Duo) | Smokeball Archie |
|---|---|---|
| Where it lives | Inside Clio Manage: an AI launchpad behind a diamond icon, a personal dashboard, AI Actions cards and a Catch up widget on matters | An Archie tab in a matter or lead (desktop and web app), plus Archie inside Word and Outlook |
| Jobs the vendor names | Deadlines from court documents into events and tasks, with the source shown beside them; draft invoices and bill routing; client updates from matter activity; new-matter set-up suggestions; questions about matters and firm operations | Matter and document summaries with source links; draft replies and documents; answers with the file behind them; document comparison; Playbooks that check documents against firm rules; Archie Apps such as chronologies and bank statement analysis |
| Plans | Core, Signature and Elite; not Starter | An add-on on Boost, Grow and Prosper+; not mentioned on Bill |
| Price | Inside the plan price; only Starter's entry price of $49 per user per month is shown | No price shown; Archie Apps "may incur an additional charge" |
| Model choice | Not mentioned in the pages I read | A settings drop-down lets users pick a model; Smokeball says every listed model passed its privacy and security review |
| Data statement | Firm data never used for AI training | Firm data never shared with third parties for viewing, training or AI modelling; works only within the matter you are in |
| Oversight | You approve before anything reaches a client or court; an AI event log covers 90 days | Findings cite sources and ambiguous points are flagged; legal guidance carries an option to have a lawyer verify the answer |
Read the jobs row slowly. Clio's list is mostly about actions that end in a record inside the system: an event, a task, an invoice. Smokeball's is mostly about understanding and drafting from the documents in a matter. That is a difference of emphasis in the vendors' own wording, not a test result. For each product's own cost and plan detail, see Clio Manage AI pricing and how to switch it on and what Archie does and which Smokeball plans add it.
Eight tasks, same inputs, run the same way on both
Build one input pack before you open either trial: a dormant matter with 40 or more documents and emails, a 30-page agreement, two versions of another agreement, five court orders you have already diarised by hand, and last month's time entries for three matters. Use closed matters or redacted copies, and check your supervision rules and client terms before any client file goes into a trial.
Four tasks both vendors claim
1. Catch up on a dormant matter. Ask each tool for a catch-up on the matter nobody has touched for six weeks. Good looks like the latest client instruction, the next deadline and what is outstanding, each tied to a source. The red flag is a smooth summary that skips the most recent message or invents a next step.
2. Draft a client update. Give both the same week of activity. Good is factual, free of strategy and free of promises. The red flags are internal notes leaking into the text and a wrong date. Smokeball's pages mention adjusting tone, length and style before an email goes out, and Clio's describe drafts built from matter activity, so compare how much editing each draft needs.
3. Answer a question from one document. Take a 30-page agreement and ask a question whose answer you know. This sample uses invented output.
Question
What notice does either party need to give to end the agreement early?
Illustrative AI answer
Either party may end the agreement on 60 days' written notice (clause 14.1).
What the document says
14.1: 60 days' notice for convenience.
14.3: 30 days' notice if the other party is in material breach.The answer is correct but incomplete, and the missing route is the one a client in a dispute would use. What you would fix is the question: ask for every termination route in the agreement and the clause for each. Smokeball's settings include an option to confirm which file you mean when a prompt refers to a document without naming it, and another to switch off advanced text extraction on PDFs, which its help page says can take a considerable time. Test one scanned PDF with the default settings before you draw conclusions.
4. Compare two versions. Use two versions of an agreement with six planted changes, one of them tiny, such as a payment term moving from 30 to 45 days. Good finds all six and ignores formatting noise. The red flag is a confident list that misses the small numeric change. Score changes found out of six, not how tidy the table looks.
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5. Court order to calendar. Run the five orders you diarised by hand. Clio says the AI extracts deadlines, creates events and tasks, and shows the source beside each, so score right date, right trigger and right owner for every line. The red flag is a count that starts from the wrong date.
6. Time entries to draft invoices. Take last month's entries for three matters and compare the AI's draft totals with your own pre-bills. Clio says you set billing parameters once and approve at checkpoints. Every difference should trace to a documented rule. The red flag is a total that is wrong for a reason nobody can explain, such as a write-off that only a partner knew about.
Two jobs Smokeball claims
7. Playbook review. Smokeball describes Playbooks that check documents against firm-defined rules and suggest fixes. Write three rules, such as payment terms no longer than 30 days, no unlimited indemnity, and a termination-for-breach clause present. Then run an agreement with two breaches planted. Good finds both and proposes wording you would accept. The red flags are a flagged non-breach and a fix that contradicts your house style.
8. Chronology. Smokeball lists a chronology builder among its Archie Apps. Give it 25 documents from a dispute and check every date against its source. The red flags are an invented event and two events in the wrong order. Smokeball's support page says Archie Apps may incur an additional charge and that users are notified when they use one, so run this task last and ask what it cost.
Each tool claims only its own jobs, so run tasks 5 and 6 on Clio and tasks 7 and 8 on Smokeball. The question there is whether the claim holds on your files, not which tool wins.
Running the test so the result means something
- Freeze the input pack. Both tools see identical files, in identical order, with identical wording in the request. Changing the prompt for one tool invalidates the comparison.
- Use two scorers. A lawyer and a paralegal score every output independently, then compare. Disagreements are where your real standards hide.
- Time the human. Record minutes from request to a result you would be willing to send, including your checking. Tool speed matters far less than how long you spend verifying.
- Classify every error. Harmless (formatting), fixable (tone, length) or dangerous (wrong date, wrong clause, invented fact). One dangerous error on a task sets that task to zero until you understand the cause.
- Record the settings. In Archie that means the selected model and whether follow-up questions, file confirmation and advanced thinking were on; in Clio, the plan tier the trial was on.
- Sort out access first. Clio's pricing page shows a Try for free button on Starter, Core and Signature, but Starter has none of the AI rows, so ask whether a Core trial includes them. Smokeball's pricing page mentions no free trial, so ask for a demo with Archie switched on and a test matter you control.
A scorecard, filled in once as a sample
The figures below are invented to show the arithmetic. For each task, record how often it happens in a month at your firm, how long it takes by hand, and how long it takes with each tool, your checking included. Where a tool doesn't claim a task, it stays at the manual time. The first tool claims tasks 5 and 6 and the second claims tasks 7 and 8.
| Task | Per month | By hand (min) | Tool A (min) | Tool B (min) | Saved with A (min) | Saved with B (min) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Catch-up on a dormant matter | 12 | 20 | 8 | 9 | 144 | 132 |
| 2 Client update | 30 | 12 | 5 | 6 | 210 | 180 |
| 3 Question from one document | 25 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 125 | 175 |
| 4 Compare two versions | 8 | 25 | 14 | 9 | 88 | 128 |
| 5 Court order to calendar | 20 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 80 | 0 |
| 6 Time entries to invoice | 6 | 45 | 20 | 45 | 150 | 0 |
| 7 Playbook review | 5 | 40 | 40 | 22 | 0 | 90 |
| 8 Chronology | 3 | 90 | 90 | 50 | 0 | 120 |
| Total | 797 | 825 |
On these invented figures the tools differ by 28 minutes a month, which at a blended $45 an hour is about $21. That gap is smaller than the rounding in any quote, so time saved cannot decide the choice. Two other things can: errors and price.
Apply the dangerous-error gate first. Suppose Tool A's calendar extraction counted one of the 20 monthly deadlines from the wrong date during the trial. Task 5's 80 saved minutes drop to zero until the cause is fixed, Tool A falls to 717 minutes, and the gap widens to 108 minutes in Tool B's favour. One wrong deadline outweighs a month of small time savings, which is why the scoring rule in the last section is worth writing down before you start.
Plan tiers: what sits underneath each assistant
Neither AI is sold on its own. Each rides on a plan, and the plan decides what else you get.
| Layer | Clio | Smokeball |
|---|---|---|
| Entry plan | Starter, from $49 per user per month; none of the AI rows, no conflict check | Bill: billing, time and expense tracking, online payments, trust accounting; Archie isn't mentioned |
| Practice management | Core (quote): the AI rows, conflict check, client portal | Boost: browser-based client and matter management, calendar tools, Microsoft 365 integration, client portal, e-signature, e-filing; Archie and Intake as add-ons |
| More automation | Signature: adds performance reports, unlimited custom roles, matter stages and workflows | Grow: adds practice-area templates and calculators, advanced document automation, email management; add-ons include Archie, AutoTime, FamilyPro, Intake and Workflows |
| Top plan | Elite: adds Clio Grow and Grow AI for intake | Prosper+: adds firm insights, lead management, advanced intake, custom workflows and profitability reporting; AutoTime, Intake and Workflows included; Archie still an add-on |
Archie's eligibility is worded differently across Smokeball's own pages. The pricing page lists it as an add-on on Boost, Grow and Prosper+, while an earlier product announcement named only Grow and Prosper+. Neither gives a price. The pricing page also marks "Communicate powered by Smokeball AI" as part of Boost, Grow and Prosper+, and "Intake powered by Smokeball AI" as part of Prosper+, so some Smokeball AI arrives in the plan price and Archie is the separately sold piece. For the Smokeball side in full, see what Bill, Boost, Grow and Prosper+ include.
Cost caveats that change the comparison
Clio's AI is bundled; Smokeball's is layered. On Clio, the AI cost is the step from Starter to Core, because Clio's comparison table gives Starter none of the AI rows. On Smokeball, it is the Archie add-on plus any Archie Apps charges. Compare those uplifts on their own line before you look at plan totals, because the platforms bundle different non-AI features and a total hides that.
| Cost line | Clio | Smokeball | What to ask |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base plan per user | Core, Signature or Elite (quote) | Boost, Grow or Prosper+ (quote) | The price at your exact user count |
| AI uplift | Included from Core upwards | Archie add-on, no price shown | Per user or per firm; any minimum seats |
| Pay-per-use extras | Grow AI per matter hired, if you add Grow | Archie Apps may incur a charge | A rate card and a monthly cap |
| Onboarding and migration | Complimentary migration for common systems, per Clio's Manage page; guided on Core and above | Migration costs "confirmed in your quote" | What is in scope and who maps the data |
| Term and exit | Cancel any time, effective at the end of the term | Price depends on users, plan, term and optional products | Notice period and the renewal price |
The comparison reduces to one formula: annual AI uplift equals 12 times users times the monthly uplift per user. With invented placeholders, a Clio uplift of $40 (Core minus Starter) and an Archie add-on of $35, five users cost $2,400 a year on one side and $2,100 on the other before any Apps charges. Neither vendor publishes those numbers, so they are placeholders, not quotes. A $300 gap is the same kind of noise as the 28 minutes in the scorecard.
If you aren't already on either platform, migration dwarfs both uplifts. Clio's comparison table lists guided data migration on Core and above and self-serve on Starter. Smokeball's pricing page says migration help depends on the source platform and the complexity of the data, with costs confirmed in the quote. Neither figure is an AI cost, but together they are the reason AI should break a tie rather than lead the decision.
Which firm should test which assistant first
A four-lawyer litigation firm with a steady stream of orders and notices should start with tasks 5, 6 and 1. Its pain is deadlines and billing, which is Clio's claimed ground, and a missed deadline is the costliest error it can make. Archie's tasks come later, and only if the firm is already on Smokeball.
A three-lawyer wills and property practice that drafts in Word all day should start with tasks 3, 4 and 7. It lives in documents rather than court calendars, which is where Archie's Word and Outlook sidebars and Playbooks are aimed. The same firm will want to read how small law firms use AI to draft letters and routine documents and what AI contract review catches and misses before it trusts either tool on a client's agreement.
A five-person family firm already on one platform should test the AI inside the platform it pays for, using tasks 1 to 4. Only if that AI fails those four is it worth a week testing the other platform's, and then only if a move is already on the table for other reasons.
Three rules to write down before the first trial day
- A dangerous error zeroes the task. A wrong deadline, a wrong clause or an invented fact on any run sets that task to zero until the vendor explains the cause and you retest.
- Count only minutes you would really recover. Time saved counts when it becomes billable work or an earlier finish. Minutes that vanish into a quieter afternoon don't go in the sum.
- Fix the price ceiling before you see a quote. Decide the most you would pay per user per month for the AI uplift, using the premium-divided-by-hourly-cost-times-60 shortcut from the Clio cost tutorial linked earlier, then hold both vendors to it.
If neither tool clears all three rules, the answer is neither, yet. Both vendors ship changes often, so keep the input pack and rerun it in six months rather than arguing about last quarter's version.
Clio versus Smokeball: questions before a trial
Is Archie included in every Smokeball plan?
No. Smokeball's pricing page lists Archie as an add-on on Boost, Grow and Prosper+ and doesn't mention it on Bill, with no price shown. An earlier Smokeball announcement named only Grow and Prosper+, so the eligibility wording has differed between Smokeball's own pages. Ask which plan you would be on and get Archie's price and terms in writing.
Can I try Archie before I move to Smokeball?
Smokeball's pricing page doesn't mention a free trial, so ask your sales contact for a demo with Archie switched on and a test matter you control. Agree in writing what you may upload, because even trial uploads are client-confidentiality decisions, and ask what, if anything, Archie Apps will charge during the demo.
Does either assistant train on my firm's data?
Smokeball says firm data is never shared with third parties for viewing, training or AI modelling. Clio's pricing FAQ says your firm's data is never used for AI training or any other external purpose. Both are vendor statements. If a client's terms require it, ask for the wording in your contract rather than relying on a web page.
Should I switch platforms for the AI alone?
Rarely. AI features change every few months, and moving a firm's matters, billing history and trust records costs far more than an add-on. If you already run Clio on Core or above, Manage AI is in your plan. If you run Smokeball, test Archie there. Treat AI as a tiebreaker when you are already choosing a platform.
Further reads
- Best AI Platform for Law Firms: Clio, Smokeball and Lawmatics Compared — Clio, Smokeball and Lawmatics compared on practice-management basics.
- AI App for Lawyers: Score Accuracy, Privacy and Cost in a Short Trial — A two-week trial scorecard for accuracy, privacy and cost.
- AI Paralegal Software: What a Small Firm Should Test Before Paying — What to test before paying for AI paralegal software.
- AI Software for Solicitors: Data, Supervision and Supplier Checks — Data, supervision and supplier checks before signing.
- Best AI Agents for Law Firms: What Clio and Spellbook Mean by Agent — Clio Work, Spellbook Associate and Smokeball Archie compared by what they actually do, how agentic each is, and the review points that stay with the lawyer.
- AI Tools and AI Development: The Complete 2026 Guide — the AI hub, including every tutorial in the AI-for-business series.
Sources: Smokeball pricing page, Archie AI page and support-hub articles on Archie settings and Archie Apps; Clio pricing page (copy dated 20 October 2026), Clio's AI features page and help centre article on AI features in Clio Manage.