The Best Software for UK Solicitors in 2026: One Vendor Publishes Its Whole Contract

Last Updated on September 17, 2026

Law firms charge by the hour and put their rates in client care letters because the SRA expects costs information up front. The software those firms run on is priced almost entirely behind demo calls and quote forms.

The mistake is accepting terms from suppliers that you could not offer clients. One vendor in this market publishes its price, its contract term and its annual escalator in full, which means every other vendor could too.

The two that publish

Osprey goes further than any vendor Whito has checked in any sector this year: it publishes the standard agreement term, 36 months, and the escalator, licence prices rise 5% on each anniversary of the go-live date. At those published terms, three Advanced licences start at £330 a month and reach about £364 a month by the third year. You can dislike the escalator and still respect that it is the only one in the market you can read before signing.

The eight that do not

How to buy, in order

Start: cost your current stack per fee earner per month, including support and any escalators buried in the agreement you signed.

Build: use the published pair as the benchmark. £79 to £140 per user a month is what transparent looks like in this market, and Osprey’s published escalator is the question to put to every other vendor: what does year three cost?

Scale: get every unpriced quote in writing with term, implementation fee and annual uplift, before the demo. A profession that itemises its own bills can require the same of its suppliers.

The takeaway: in legal software the honest number is the monthly price with the term and the escalator attached, and exactly one vendor publishes all three.

Common questions

Which UK legal software vendors publish prices?

Of ten checked at source in September 2026, two publish a pound figure a firm can read before a sales call: Clio, from £79 per user a month on its Core plan, and Osprey Approach, at £110 or £140 per licence a month with a minimum of three licences. LEAP, Actionstep, PracticeEvolve and Perfect Portal publish none.

What does Osprey Approach actually cost over the contract?

Osprey publishes the terms most vendors hide: a standard 36 month agreement, minimum three licences, and licence prices that rise 5% on each anniversary of go-live. Three Advanced licences start at £330 a month and, at the published escalator, reach about £364 a month by year three. That is the full cost of ownership, in public.

Is Clio’s price the whole price?

£79 per user a month is the published starting price for the Core plan, with no VAT statement on the page. The Signature and Elite plans are quote only, so treat £79 as the floor, not the estimate.

How should a small firm handle the unpriced vendors?

The same way you bill: in writing. Ask for the per-user price, implementation fee, contract term and any annual escalator before the demo. Osprey proves this information can be published, so a vendor declining to put it in an email is making a choice.

Whito

Whito is an independent UK research bureau. We ask the AI engines what they recommend, then check the businesses they name against Companies House and the sector registers. Figures we publish carry the date they were checked. Companies cannot pay to appear or to rank.

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