Smokeball vs Actionstep Legal Accounting Comparison: Everything You Need to Know Before Choosing

Actionstep Legal Accounting, formerly known as Soluno, is a legal accounting, billing and time tracking platform designed to help law firms streamline back-office operations. Soluno was developed in the United States specifically for legal finance teams and was brought into the Actionstep portfolio following an acquisition, complementing Actionstep's practice management software. The product addresses the reality that general-purpose accounting systems do not handle the specific requirements of law firms well, including matter-level financial tracking, trust accounting rules, complex billing arrangements and the need for audit-ready records, which often forces firms to rely on spreadsheets or outdated desktop software. The platform combines a legal-specific general ledger with accounts payable, accounts receivable, bank reconciliation and financial reporting, so firms can manage their books without a separate accounting package. Trust accounting features maintain client ledgers, enforce controls to prevent overdrafts and produce three-way reconciliation reports to support compliance with bar association requirements. Time tracking tools let lawyers record billable hours through timers and entry screens, while billing functions support hourly, flat fee, contingency and split billing arrangements, pre-bill review, electronic invoicing and online payments. Matter and client financial views show work in progress, realisation, collections and profitability. Disbursement tracking, cost recovery and vendor management are included for operational control. Being cloud-based, the system enables remote access and automatic updates, with security controls such as role-based permissions and audit trails. Integration with Actionstep's practice management platform and with other legal technology tools allows data to move between case work and finance, reducing duplicate entry. Migration assistance and onboarding support are provided to help firms move from legacy systems. The product is aimed at small and mid-sized law firms in the United States, especially those with dedicated finance staff or complex trust accounting needs that want a modern, cloud-based legal accounting system. Pricing starts from around USD 89 per user per month; there is no free trial and no permanently free version.