# Centerbase review (2026): is it worth it? > Practice management, billing and firm accounting for midsize firms Checked Oct 24, 2026 ยท graded Oct 24, 2026 by ToolGPA. Centerbase is practice management software for midsize law firms that keeps matters, documents, timekeeping, billing, and trust and firm accounting in one platform, without a separate bookkeeping system. It works inside Outlook and Word, and Centerbase IQ answers plain-English questions about firm performance. Every subscription is quoted and comes with a structured onboarding. - **Category:** Law Practice Software - **Made by:** Centerbase, Inc. - **Website:** https://www.centerbase.com - **Runs on:** Web, iOS, Android - **Who should skip it:** Watch out: there's no published price or trial, and licences, onboarding and add-ons come in a quote after a demo. - **Facts last checked:** Oct 24, 2026 ## Pricing Centerbase's current pricing could not be confirmed from its own site. ## Key features - **Matters inside Microsoft 365:** Matter, document, task and calendar management. Outlook emails and attachments file to the right matter, calendars sync both ways, and SharePoint can hold the documents. - **Billing and ePre-bills:** Bills go through electronic pre-bill review before they are sent, and a client portal and client intake are included with the plan. - **Trust and firm accounting:** Trust and firm accounting with online banking and automatic trust reconciliation, so the books close in the same system as billing. - **Three levels of timekeeping:** Built-in timers and timesheets, Automated Time Capture that logs client calls, texts and emails from the mobile app, and Billables AI as a partner option. - **Centerbase IQ:** Ask questions about profitability, work in progress or AR aging in plain English and get charts and tables with links back to the records behind each number. - **Centerbase Payments:** Card, debit and ACH payments and automatic trust replenishment, powered by Stripe, with no platform fee; a standard transaction fee applies to each payment. ## Good for - Midsize firms that have outgrown small-firm practice management - Managing partners and administrators who need profitability and WIP reporting - Firms whose lawyers live in Outlook and Word ## Worth knowing - Centerbase publishes no prices: licensing, onboarding and add-ons are all set out in a quote after a demo. - Onboarding is included but typically takes 12 to 14 weeks, with implementation packages scoped and priced to the firm. - SecureChat, for calling and texting clients from the mobile app, is described as a premium feature. - Centerbase Payments' transaction fee is not published; firms may keep their existing payment processor instead. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 2.0 out of 4**, graded Oct 24, 2026. Centerbase keeps matters, billing, timekeeping and trust and firm accounting in one system that works inside Outlook and Word, for midsize firms. But there's no published price or trial, onboarding typically takes 12 to 14 weeks with implementation priced to your firm, and the payments fee isn't published. - **Value for money: C.** No price is published. Centerbase gives a price only on a sales call: licences, onboarding and add-ons are set out in a quote after a demo. - **Free plan and trial: F.** Nothing free on record: no free plan and no trial, only a demo. - **Features: B.** Matters, documents in SharePoint, tasks, two-way calendar sync, ePre-bills, a client portal, intake, trust and firm accounting, three kinds of timekeeping and Centerbase IQ reporting. The listing shows no gap in the core job. - **Ease of use: C.** We have no store rating on file for it. Onboarding is included but typically takes 12 to 14 weeks, with implementation packages scoped and priced to the firm. - **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web, iPhone and Android, with Outlook, Word, SharePoint, Stripe, Billables.ai and AvidXchange. No desktop app of its own on record. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Centerbase's own pages on 24 October 2026. Centerbase's site would not load for our reader on 24 October 2026, so its facts are as the listing has them. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among law practice software - Centerbase's GPA of 2.0 is higher than 2 of the 9 other law practice software we grade, and level with 3. - It stands best on features (B, above 7 of 9) and worst on free plan and trial (F, above 0). ## Keep it, or make your own? **Keep it.** To replace Centerbase you would be making client trust accounts kept the way bar rules require. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 4 of the 9 other law practice software grade higher. - You could make: Case management, time tracking, invoicing and reports: an app builder makes these well. - You could not: Client trust accounts kept the way bar rules require. - You could not: Live feeds from your bank, which take an agreement with each bank or a service that has them. - You could not: A real app for iOS and Android. Something home-made would be a web page. - You could not: It plugs into other products, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Word and SharePoint among them. - You could not: AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself. - You could not: The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. ## Works with Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Word, SharePoint, Stripe, Billables.ai, AvidXchange **Tags:** Case management, Trust accounting, Bookkeeping, Time tracking, Invoicing, Reports, AI features ## Alternatives - [Actionstep](https://toolgpa.com/tools/actionstep): Practice management and legal accounting for midsize law firms. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/actionstep-vs-centerbase) - [Clio](https://toolgpa.com/tools/clio): Practice management, legal accounting and legal AI for law firms. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/centerbase-vs-clio) - [Filevine](https://toolgpa.com/tools/filevine): Case management and the LOIS legal AI system, sold by quote. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/centerbase-vs-filevine) - [CosmoLex](https://toolgpa.com/tools/cosmolex): Law practice management with trust and business accounting built in. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/centerbase-vs-cosmolex) - [Smokeball](https://toolgpa.com/tools/smokeball): Practice management with automatic time capture and court forms. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/centerbase-vs-smokeball) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 24, 2026: - https://www.centerbase.com/ - https://www.centerbase.com/pricing - https://www.centerbase.com/our-story - https://www.centerbase.com/solutions/iq - https://www.centerbase.com/solutions/mobile-app - https://www.centerbase.com/solutions/payments - https://www.centerbase.com/solutions/timekeeping - https://www.centerbase.com/marketplace/integrations/microsoft-365 - https://www.centerbase.com/marketplace - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/centerbase/id1483482137 - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.centerbase.centerbase&gl=US Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/centerbase Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).