Certum Draft vs LEAP vs Clio
Certum Draft vs LEAP vs Clio
Section titled “Certum Draft vs LEAP vs Clio”Small firms usually end up comparing three kinds of tools: an all-in-one platform (LEAP), a cloud practice-management system (Clio), and a focused instrument (Certum Draft). They’re not really three answers to the same question — this table is about which question each one answers.
| Certum Draft | LEAP | Clio | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Document generation + matter workflow for NSW conveyancing & estates | All-in-one practice platform | Cloud practice management (money, clients, compliance) |
| Platform | Native Mac app (Apple silicon) | Cloud-connected desktop app | Browser / cloud |
| Works offline | Yes — fully. Matters are folders in your own Dropbox | Degraded | No |
| Documents & precedents | Your own templates (Jinja2/Word/Excel), fully programmable, no precedent subscription | 6,000+ maintained forms; best content via By Lawyers add-on | Basic document automation |
| Conveyancing depth | Purpose-built: settlement adjustments with line-by-line workings, NSW business-day dates, institution letter lifecycles, estate distribution, AML/CTF blocks | Strong, general | General |
| Trust accounting | None — by design (we use Clio for that) | Yes | Yes |
| Time recording & full billing | Invoices only | Full | Full |
| AI | On-device document reading — nothing leaves the Mac | Cloud features | Clio Duo (cloud) |
| Data ownership | Your Dropbox + your Notion — ordinary files you can open | LEAP’s cloud | Clio’s cloud |
| Cost | No subscription | ≈ $239+/user/month + precedent content | ≈ $49–89+/user/month |
| Support | Small team, same-day fixes | Vendor support | Vendor support |
| Best for | Small firms that live in documents, dates and matter admin — and want speed and ownership | Firms that want one vendor for everything | Firms that want an accounting-led cloud PMS |
Prices are indicative, current at writing (July 2026) — check each vendor’s current pricing.
How Certum Draft and Clio fit together
Section titled “How Certum Draft and Clio fit together”This isn’t theory — it’s how we run our own practice:
- Certum Draft is where the day’s work happens: matters are created once, details are filled in once, and letters, contracts, statements and bills are generated from your own precedents. It’s the fast layer — native, offline, always open.
- Clio is where the money lives: trust accounting, billing, compliance records. Nothing in Certum Draft tries to duplicate that, by design.
The integration goal is simple: enter everything once. Certum Draft already creates the matter folder, the Notion client and matter records, and the documents. Clio integration extends that same moment to Clio — client and matter created for you, and generated documents pushed to the Clio matter, so the compliance record stays complete without a second (or third) round of typing.
Where Certum Draft is honestly weaker
Section titled “Where Certum Draft is honestly weaker”- No trust accounting, no PEXA, no time recording, no payroll-adjacent anything. If you need those in the same product, that’s exactly what LEAP and Clio charge for.
- No vendor content team. LEAP updates thousands of forms when legislation changes; Certum Draft’s precedents are yours to maintain (or commission).
- A much smaller support surface. Fixes are fast, but there’s no 1300-number.
If your day is mostly documents, dates and matter admin — and you’d rather own your tools than rent a platform — that’s the trade Certum Draft is built on.