CosmoLex vs Centerbase

Last Updated:

Our analysts compared CosmoLex vs Centerbase based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Legal Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

Product Basics

CosmoLex is an end-to-end practice management solution that combines CRM, case management and accounting workflows. It helps maintain complete visibility over legal matters by connecting active cases to associated calendar entries, documents, contacts and emails. Businesses can automatically track time and expenses and create digital invoices with a single click. Uncover missed payments and commissions with purpose-built reports. It can manage trust and operating accounts in compliance with state and federal regulations.

Other capabilities include task management, a legal calendar with automated notifications, and a public calendar to send out firm-wide notifications, meeting announcements and alerts.
read more...
Centerbase provides a cloud-based end-to-end legal toolkit aimed at enabling mid-sized firms to securely manage practice workflows and improve the client experience. Firms can leverage its billing and payment modules including e-billing, online portal and various payment arrangements to get paid faster. Users can maximize billable hours using remote timekeeping, accessible timesheets and reviewing workbench. It provides comprehensive matter management with configurable workflows, real-time dashboarding and relevant details. Practices can monitor goals, projects, tasks, deadlines, meetings and court dates effortlessly with color-coded calendaring, project management and activity reminders.

Administrators can utilize prebuilt and custom reporting and comprehensive controls to efficiently manage firm operations and make informed decisions. Users can streamline client intake and communication with its secure client portal. It also offers integrated legal and trust accounting modules and robust security.
read more...
$89/User, Monthly
Get a free price quote
Tailored to your specific needs
$59 Monthly
Free Trial is unavailable →
Get a free price quote
Tailored to your specific needs
Small 
i
Medium 
i
Large 
i
Small 
i
Medium 
i
Large 
i
Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile

Product Assistance

Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support

Product Insights

  • Flexible Contracts: Avoid long-term contracts and cancel subscriptions without any hassle. 
  • In-House Accounting: Offers robust accounting capabilities, and subscribers don’t need to integrate additional services. 
  • Seamless Accessibility: Access the cloud-based platform from any device with an internet connection. 
  • Prompt Customer Support: Get almost instantaneous live chat responses during support hours. 
  • Data Security: Safeguard the firm from potential malpractice suits with a secure and centralized data repository. 
read more...
  • Stay Connected: Access important case-related information and management tools from any device with an internet connection. 
  • Accessible KPIs: Improve business decisions with the most current information from firm-wide calendar entries and custom reports. 
  • Faster Billing: Increase cash flow with a billing module designed to reduce clicks, deduplicate entries and accelerate invoicing. 
  • Customizability: Use in-house customization tools to appropriately scale the platform according to the firm’s size and maintain relevance in a changing legal landscape. 
  • Flexible Subscription Charges: The role-based pricing structure provides multiple options for interested parties. Add or subtract any applicable licenses and pay only for the integrations and tools required. 
read more...
  • Time and Expense Capture: Add timecards to relevant activities and automatically scan case records of unbilled events. Use a single timesheet to track daily billable tasks and activities. Instantly log direct and indirect expenses in compliance with regulations. 
  • Legal Billing: Create and mail bulk invoices. Customize built-in invoice templates with relevant information, including last payment, billing cycle, legal services, the total balance due, firm’s logo and additional financial information. Supports UTBMS codes and actions. 
  • Payments: The CosmoLexPay portal facilitates credit card processing for online invoice and trust retainer payments. Send automated reminders when the retainer balance falls below the minimum amount and add replenishment amount to invoices. 
  • Law Office Accounting: General ledger accounting supports direct and indirect matter expenses. Automatically assign invoice payments to related general ledger accounts and create custom charts of receivables. Import bank statements and track accounts payable and write-offs. Generate preconfigured management and financial reports. 
  • Credit Card Processing: Process payments for a flat fee. Offers bookkeeping services associated with credit card transactions. Allow clients to pay via credit card for trust retainers, fee prepayments and ongoing invoice payments. 
  • Bank Reconciliations: Get real-time access to bank feeds and automatically match new transactions with book transactions. Automatically import and log credit card statements. Leverage adaptive mapping rules to correct payee names and post matter-cost related transactions. 
  • Accounts Payable: A central dashboard tracks all payees, including office bills and vendor credits. Set up recurring payments for rents and utilities and differentiate client-related expenses from firm bills. Link vendor bills to associated client matters. 
  • Fee Collection and Revenue Distribution: Specify the distribution percentage to automate payments to billers, matter owners, working attorneys and originating attorneys. Run finance productivity reports based on billing and collection data. 
  • Calendar and Task Management: Create custom workflows with specific due dates and assign them to new or existing legal matters. Delegate tasks to team members and connect calendar entries to associated cases. 
  • Email Management: Automatically file emails in respective client-matter folders. Set up permission-based access to safeguard sensitive information. Group billable emails into relevant categories to declutter the inbox. 
  • Document Management: Securely store case-related documents in compliance with data protection laws. Assign role-based permissions at the matter level to protect confidential documents. Create folders with custom labels to aid document searching capabilities. 
  • Integrations: Featured integrations include OneDrive, Google Drive, Box, NetDocuments and Dropbox. 
  • Client Portal: Provide clients with a secure two-way communication channel. Request specific documents and get automated notifications when a document is uploaded. Send digital invoices and accept credit card payments. Add, edit and revoke viewing permissions based on requirements. 
  • Trust Accounting: Use the built-in trust accounting feature to manage individual client ledgers and bulk invoice payments. Automatically import bank statements and perform three-way reconciliations. Run in-depth accounting reports and track third-party payments. Transfer funds from trust to general accounts and print disbursement checks. 
  • Audit-Ready Reconciliations: Run monthly reconciliations. Maintain complete oversight over bank statements and transactions. 
  • Trust Reports: Access numerous trust reports, including trust ledger balance, trust activity, trust client balance and more. 
  • Security: Employs bank-grade 256-bit SSL encryption for data during transit and at rest. Secures user accounts with username and password and two-factor authentication. Assign security levels and roles at the user level. 
    • Data Backups: Backs up firm data every few hours. Encrypts and stores information in multiple physical locations. 
read more...
  • Billing Management: Digitize the firm’s entire billing cycle. Prepare and approve a single bill with a log of all inline markups. 
    • Client Service: Allow clients to pay bills, view invoices and track payment history via the billing portal. Create an audit trail with .txt eBilling files email multiple invoices at once. 
    • Simple Payments: Provide clients with a single, integrated payment method to settle current charges and/or fill the retainer at the same time. Control payment options and payment methods on a matter-to-matter basis. 
    • Billing Support: Access support for hourly billing, flat fee billing, expense-only billing, project billing, consolidated billing and more. Prepare electronic invoices with the help of UTBMS codes. 
  • Legal Accounting: Set up all firm accounts under a single infrastructure and organize them based on location, matter or practice area. Link checks directly to expense accounts and provide free platform access to the firm CPA. 
    • Vendor Management: Set up automated vendor bills for recurring payments. Enter vendor checks and invoices into the system database and automatically track due dates. 
    • Online Payment: Accept credit card payments securely with the accounting module. Link payments directly to transactions and track client expenses. Eliminate manual data entry and human error. 
    • Trust Accounting: Create and operate multiple trust and IOLTA accounts. Automatically approve payments from invoices and log all trust fund expenses. 
    • Trust Reporting: Run reports to trace the flow of money going in and out of trust and IOLTA accounts. Keep a detailed record of all transactions, receivables and matter expenses. 
  • Time and Expense Tracking: Never miss out on a single minute of billable time with round-the-clock time tracking. Automatically log time spent on client calls and messages as billable hours. 
    • Simple Time Tracking: Track time directly from in-platform applications or external integrations like Microsoft Word or Microsoft Outlook. Enter time while on the move from mobile devices. 
    • Time Entries: Update, edit and sanction time entries at the end of the month. Hold or approve billing based on the case status and merge multiple associated time entries into a single entry. 
    • Rate Tables: Prepare tailored rate tables with built-in date ranges effective all year round. Exempt specific matters and clients from the rate table under special circumstances. 
    • Budgets: Create and track timekeeper budgets for client work. Benchmark staff productivity against firm averages. 
  • Firm Reporting: Generate reports in real time with accounting, billing, productivity, budgeting and compensation data. Group associated reports together and safeguard sensitive information with permission-based access. 
    • Insights: Get detailed insights into aging receivables, profitable clients, staff compensation and productivity, annual budgets, valuable practice areas and more. 
    • Custom Reporting: Run custom reports to highlight specific firm strengths and requirements. Increase stakeholder engagement with detailed spreadsheets and data visualization. 
  • Matter Management: Organize and manage all legal matters from a single dashboard. Track contacts, client information, documents, meetings, deadlines, notes and tasks associated with relevant matters. 
    • Matter Dashboard: Access the matter dashboard for a quick overview of trust balances, WIP, client payment history, ledger, credits, outstanding receivables and more. Prepare matter budgets for individual clients and run reports on fees, expenses and staff productivity. 
    • Matter Layouts: Create matter layouts with customized data fields. Organize matters on the basis of relevant case information. 
    • Matter Automation: Design and integrate matter-specific workflows directly into the platform. Automatically assign tasks and execute the next step in the workflow. Update the firm database, team members and clients with new information. 
  • Calendar Management: Create and track calendar entries in real time with a legal calendar. Toggle between firm-wide and personal views, color code entries and print calendar reports as physical reminders. 
    • Calendar Sync: Design automated calendar entries for recurring meetings and notifications for upcoming events. Connect to the Outlook 365 application for real-time synchronization of calendar entries. 
    • Deadline Management: Steer clear of malpractice claims with the LawToolBox portal. Automatically add jurisdiction-based deadlines and time-based triggers to legal matters. 
  • Client Services: Improve the overall client experience with an efficient intake process, communications module and client portal. 
    • Client Portal: Share messages, calendar entries, documentation and invoices with clients securely via the client portal. 
    • Direct Communication: Communicate with clients via dedicated private lines. Control client access to sensitive information and keep track of their communications with the firm. 
    • Client Intake: Streamline the firm’s client intake process with self-populating contact forms, automated emails and documentation. Schedule tasks and perform conflict checks against client databases. 
    • Reporting: Run reports to track marketing ROI, profitable practice areas and referrals. 
  • Document Management: Manage documents directly from associated matters or from integrated web browsers or applications like Microsoft Word. Access and share legal documentation securely from any device with an internet connection. 
    • Email Management: Store emails to associated matter files in its native .MSG format. Search for specific emails based on subject, content and date sent/received. Integrate with Microsoft Outlook and automatically log any time spent reviewing, sending or editing emails. 
    • Document Tracking: Search for individual documents using multiple data fields. Track changes made across different versions of the same file. 
    • Integrations: Open, edit and save documents with the built-in Centerbase Drive inclusion. Integrate with NetDocuments to seamlessly consolidate documents into workspaces. 
read more...

Product Ranking

#16

among all
Legal Software

#60

among all
Legal Software

Find out who the leaders are

Analyst Rating Summary

83
we're gathering data
100
we're gathering data
80
we're gathering data
75
we're gathering data
Show More Show More

Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

CosmoLex
Centerbase
+ Add Product + Add Product
Billing And Payments Calendaring And Legal Docketing Client And Contact Management Dashboard And Reporting Document Management Matter/Case Management Mobile Capabilities Task Management Time And Expense Management 100 80 75 54 69 89 82 100 0 25 50 75 100
100%
0%
0%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
100%
0%
0%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
75%
0%
25%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
60%
0%
40%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
54%
0%
46%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
67%
0%
33%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
89%
0%
11%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
83%
0%
17%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
100%
0%
0%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A

Analyst Ratings for Technical Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

71%
0%
29%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
92%
0%
8%
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A
we're gathering data
N/A

User Sentiment Summary

Excellent User Sentiment 620 reviews
Excellent User Sentiment 60 reviews
94%
of users recommend this product

CosmoLex has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 94% when considering 620 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

92%
of users recommend this product

Centerbase has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 92% when considering 60 user reviews from 3 recognized software review sites.

4.2 (7)
n/a
n/a
3.8 (2)
4.71 (305)
4.61 (31)
4.7 (293)
n/a
3.8 (15)
4.7 (27)

Awards

SelectHub research analysts have evaluated CosmoLex and concluded it earns best-in-class honors for Billing and Payments and Platform, Security, and Compliances. CosmoLex stands above the rest by achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating as a User Favorite.

User Favorite Award
Billing and Payments Award
Platform, Security, and Compliances Award

Centerbase stands above the rest by achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating as a User Favorite.

User Favorite Award

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Billing & Invoicing: CosmoLex streamlines the billing process, allowing users to easily generate invoices, track payments, and manage trust accounts. It also offers integrations with popular payment processors, making it easy for clients to pay their bills online.
Client Management: CosmoLex provides a centralized location for managing client information, including contact details, case files, and billing records. This can help law firms stay organized and efficient.
Time Tracking & Expense Management: CosmoLex makes it easy for lawyers to track their time and expenses, ensuring that they are accurately billing clients for their services. The software also offers features for managing reimbursements and generating reports.
Reporting & Analytics: CosmoLex provides a variety of reports that can help law firms track their performance and identify areas for improvement. These reports can be customized to meet the specific needs of each firm.
Business Accounting: CosmoLex includes features for managing a law firm's finances, such as accounts payable, accounts receivable, and general ledger. This can help firms save time and money by eliminating the need for separate accounting software.
Show more
Robust Billing: Centerbase offers advanced billing and accounting features that streamline the process of generating invoices, tracking payments, and managing client accounts.
Streamlined Matter Management: Centerbase provides robust matter management capabilities, allowing law firms to effectively organize case files, track deadlines, and manage client information.
Customizable Workflows: Centerbase allows firms to create customized workflows to automate repetitive tasks, ensuring consistency and efficiency in handling routine processes.
Document Management: Centerbase offers integrated document management features, enabling firms to securely store, organize, and retrieve case-related documents within a centralized system.
Show more
Billing Issues: Some users report problems with generating bills, particularly with LEDES billing, which can cause delays and frustration.
Customer Support Concerns: There are reports of slow response times from customer support, leaving users feeling stuck with unresolved issues.
Learning Curve: The software's interface and features can be complex, requiring a significant investment of time and effort to learn effectively.
Limited Integrations: CosmoLex may not integrate seamlessly with all the tools and services a law firm uses, potentially leading to workflow disruptions.
Show more
Complex Setup: Centerbase requires significant setup and configuration, demanding more time and resources compared to other cloud-based legal software options.
Limited Client Intake: Users have reported that Centerbase's client intake features are not as robust as desired, potentially slowing down the onboarding process for new clients.
Expensive Support: While Centerbase offers support, it comes at a significant cost of $200 per hour, which can be a deterrent for firms operating on tighter budgets.
Reporting Limitations: Some users have expressed frustration with limitations in Centerbase's reporting capabilities, particularly the inability to customize column headings within specific data sets.
Customer Service Concerns: Several reviews have highlighted concerns about Centerbase's customer service, citing issues such as slow response times, difficulty reaching support staff, and unresolved technical problems.
Show more

Is your law firm stuck in a legal black hole, struggling to keep up with the demands of modern practice? CosmoLex might just be the legal tech savior you've been searching for. CosmoLex has garnered a reputation as a comprehensive, cloud-based legal practice management solution that streamlines operations for law firms of all sizes. Users frequently praise its robust features, including time tracking, billing, accounting, calendaring, task management, and document management, all seamlessly integrated into one platform. This eliminates the need for multiple, disparate systems, saving time and reducing errors. However, some users find the extensive functionality overwhelming, especially during the initial setup and learning curve. The interface, while generally considered user-friendly, can feel cluttered at times due to the sheer number of features. Additionally, several users have expressed a desire for more customization options to tailor the software to their specific workflows. CosmoLex stands out from its competitors by offering built-in accounting features, a rarity in the legal practice management software market. This integration simplifies financial management for law firms, eliminating the need for separate accounting software and ensuring compliance with trust accounting regulations. CosmoLex is best suited for small to mid-sized law firms seeking an all-in-one solution to manage their practice efficiently. Its comprehensive features, ease of use, and competitive pricing make it an attractive option for firms looking to streamline operations and improve productivity.

Show more

Is Centerbase the center of attention when it comes to legal software, or does it strike out? User reviews from the past year reveal a mixed bag. While many users praise Centerbase for its robust customization options, powerful features like automated time capture, and seamless accounting integration, some express concerns about customer service and initial setup complexity. For instance, one user raved about how Centerbase's customizability allowed them to tailor workflows and improve efficiency in identifying and managing projects. Conversely, another user found the customer service, which relies on third-party partners charging $200/hour, to be a significant drawback. What truly sets Centerbase apart is its comprehensive approach to law firm management, encompassing everything from matter management and billing to document automation and workflow customization. This makes it a one-stop shop for firms looking to streamline operations and boost productivity. However, this strength can also be a weakness, as the sheer breadth of features can be overwhelming for smaller firms or solo practitioners who may not need such an extensive suite of tools. In a nutshell, Centerbase is like a Swiss Army knife for law firms – incredibly versatile and powerful, but potentially daunting to use effectively without proper guidance. It's best suited for mid-to-large-sized firms with 5 or more lawyers who can fully utilize its extensive feature set and afford the potentially high support costs. Smaller firms or those seeking a simpler solution might find Centerbase to be overkill.

Show more

Screenshots

Top Alternatives in Legal Software


AbacusLaw

Amicus Attorney

Bill4Time

CARET Legal

CaseFleet

CASEpeer

Clio

Filevine

Law Ruler

Lawcus

MyCase

PracticePanther

Rocket Matter

Smokeball

Tabs3

Related Categories

Show more

Head-to-Head Comparison

WE DISTILL IT INTO REAL REQUIREMENTS, COMPARISON REPORTS, PRICE GUIDES and more...

Compare products
Comparison Report
Just drag this link to the bookmark bar.
?
Table settings