Bufete vs Clio: honest comparison for small firms

Prices checked on 2 November 2026, on the public pages of Clio. Vendor prices change, so check the current ones before you decide. Bufete prices are in US dollars.

Clio and Bufete side by side

The table covers only what each product publishes. Where a Clio page says nothing, the cell says so.

Clio and Bufete by OnePDA: comparison
Aspect	Clio	Bufete by OnePDA
Price per user	Starter: "starting at $49/user". The page does not say whether that is monthly or annual billing. Core, Signature and Elite: not published.	$39 per lawyer per month. Staff seats $15 per user per month. One plan.
Trial	7 days, no credit card.	Invite-only today: you request access.
Minimum term	Cancel any time; cancellation takes effect at the end of the current term, monthly or annual. A minimum term is not stated.	No minimum term and no set-up fee.
Court-rules calendaring	Not in Starter. Core covers 3 jurisdictions per firm, Signature and Elite 10. Extra ones cost $10 each per firm per month.	Costa Rican procedural deadlines, each with the article cited. No US court rules yet.
Document encryption, as each vendor words it	"Your data is encrypted in transit and at rest." Also SOC 2 Type II and multi-factor authentication.	Documents are encrypted end to end, so we cannot read them. MFA on every account.
Payments and accounting	Built-in payments: eCheck/ACH 1%, cards 2.95% (Amex 3.75%), Affirm 4.95%. Trust accounting in every plan.	Not yet.
Languages	English. No Spanish interface or support is mentioned on the pages we read.	Spanish and English.
Support	Phone, email or live chat, 24/5.	Spanish and English, Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 18:00 Spain/Costa Rica time.

What Clio does better

For a US firm, Clio's pages show a lot that Bufete does not have.

Scale and proof: Clio says 400,000+ legal professionals use it and shows a 4.7 out of 5 rating across 13,000+ reviews. It is recognised by all 50 US state bars.
US court rules across many jurisdictions, plus docket tracking and pay-per-filing e-filing in a few states. Bufete has no US court rules.
Integrations: 300+ apps, a QuickBooks and Xero link, Gmail and Outlook email, two-way calendar sync, and iOS and Android apps.
Payments and accounting: built-in payments, trust accounting and reconciliation in every plan, UTBMS/LEDES billing, and a client portal from Core. Bufete has no payments or accounting yet.
AI: legal research across federal law and all 50 states, drafting, and scheduling automation that pulls dates out of documents.
Support and onboarding: live phone, chat and email 24/5, guided data migration and live onboarding on higher plans.
A detailed criminal-defense page covering custody status, discovery by issue and flat fees held in trust.

What Bufete does differently

Documents are encrypted end to end and we cannot read them. Clio's pricing page says "encrypted in transit and at rest". It does not say end to end or who holds the keys. That is silence on the page, not proof that Clio lacks anything, and we have not tested Clio.

Bufete has a deadline engine for Costa Rican procedural deadlines that cites the article behind each date. Clio's court rules are US jurisdictions, and its pages do not mention Costa Rica.

Bufete has a court-email inbox for the Poder Judicial's notifications. Forward the court's email and the deadline is computed with the article. It does not replace the official notification channel. Clio also reads dates from documents and scheduling orders, so the idea is not new. The difference is the Costa Rican procedure behind it.

Bufete is Spanish first, with support in Spanish and English. The price is $39 per lawyer per month with no set-up and no minimum term, below Clio's published $49 entry plan. That entry plan has no court rules and no AI, so the two prices do not buy the same thing.

Who should pick which

A US firm that needs US court rules today should pick Clio, along with payments and accounting in the same tool.

A Costa Rican firm, or a Spanish-speaking small firm, that wants encrypted documents and the Costa Rican deadline engine should request access to Bufete. Bufete is invite-only today. Payments, accounting, legal research, document automation and US court rules are not there yet.

If you are weighing MyCase too, read Bufete vs MyCase. For firms that mainly need a website and local search, see OnePDA for law firms.

Questions

How much does Clio cost?

Clio's pricing page says "starting at $49/user" for the Starter plan and does not say whether that is monthly or annual billing. It does not publish prices for Core, Signature or Elite. Prices checked on 2 November 2026.

Is Bufete cheaper than Clio?

Bufete is $39 per lawyer per month, against Clio's published starting price of $49 per user. Clio's Starter plan has no court-rules calendaring, and Bufete has no US court rules, so check which deadlines you need before you compare prices.

Does Clio encrypt documents end to end?

Clio's pricing page says data is "encrypted in transit and at rest". The page does not use the words end to end and does not say who holds the keys. We have not tested Clio and make no claim beyond what the page says.

Can Bufete calculate US court deadlines?

No. Bufete's deadline engine covers Costa Rican procedural deadlines and cites the article. US court rules are not available yet.

Does Clio work in Spanish, and is Bufete available now?

No Spanish interface or support is mentioned on the Clio pages we read. Bufete works in Spanish and English, with support Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 18:00 Spain/Costa Rica time. Access is by invitation today: you can request it.

Sources

Prices checked on 2 November 2026. Every figure about Clio comes from its own public pages:

If a figure has changed, write to [email protected] and we will correct it.

Bufete vs Clio: an honest comparison for small firms.