MatterFirst vs Smokeball

MatterFirst and Smokeball,
compared honestly.

Known for AutoTime activity tracking across Word, Outlook and Smokeball, and a large library of automated Australian legal forms.

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Encrypted in transit Documents and AI in Australia No lock-in contracts Guided setup available Your data exportable on request

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MatterFirst vs Smokeball: what is the difference?

Both platforms offer automatic time capture. MatterFirst generates reviewable suggestions from matter-linked activity; Smokeball advertises tracking across Word, Outlook and Smokeball. MatterFirst also combines configurable workflows, AI document work, Matti and signing. Compare capture methods, supplied precedents and total costs for your team.

The MatterFirst workflow builder, showing stages, steps and their conditions on a canvas
The workflow builder, which is the thing most of this page is really about. A practice manager builds and changes this directly, and every change is versioned.
MatterFirst and Smokeball, side by side
MatterFirst Smokeball
Origin Australia (NorthCape Technology, Melbourne) Australia and United States
Status Active Active
Pricing Workspace base pricing starts at A$199/month for Solo with 1 included user and A$139/month per extra seat, up to 3 users. Each plan specifies included users, extra-seat rates and a monthly AI allowance. Prices exclude GST; additional AI usage is separately payable. Smokeball Bill from A$59, Boost from A$129 and Grow from A$249 per user/month, excluding GST. Prosper+ has custom pricing. AutoTime is an add-on on Grow and included on Prosper+. Confirm contract terms and additional charges in your quote.
Data residency The application runs on Fly.io in Sydney. Database and backups are hosted on Fly.io Managed high-availability PostgreSQL clusters in Sydney. Documents are stored in Amazon Web Services S3 in Sydney. Document extraction and matter questions run on Amazon Web Services Bedrock in Australia, and reading a scanned document runs in Microsoft Azure's Australia East region. These locations describe the application, document storage, database, backups and document AI services. The trust evidence page at /trust records the scope and dated evidence for each published control. Ask the vendor to document storage, backup and inference locations for your selected service.
Client portal Included on every plan, no per-client charge Ask the vendor to demonstrate this capability on your selected plan
AI document extraction Included, with a monthly AI balance on every paid plan Ask the vendor to demonstrate this capability on your selected plan
Automatic time capture Automatic time capture generates reviewable suggestions from matter-linked meetings, sent and received emails, added documents and file notes. Meetings use calendar durations; other activities produce estimated durations for review. Time entries are created only after acceptance. AutoTime tracks Word, Outlook and Smokeball activity; add-on on Grow, included on Prosper+
Workflow configuration Configure matter workflows: describe the process, edit visually, check, simulate, review and publish. Use conditional decisions, tasks and dates, approval requirements, document preparation, prepared signing requests and waits. Publishing creates a version; drafts do not silently alter running workflows. Evaluate conditional branches, approvals, simulation and publication controls with the vendor
Workflow plan limits Solo includes 5 workflows; Practice and above include unlimited workflows. Workflows and automations are separate: automations are unlimited on these plans. AI-assisted drafting and AI steps use the plan's AI allowance, with additional usage charged separately. Confirm selected-plan limits in your quote
Supplied Australian precedents Use your own Word templates; no comprehensive supplied precedent library Confirm coverage for your practice areas
Contract term Monthly subscription with cancellation; annual plans also available Confirm the term, renewal and cancellation provisions in your quote

Compare plan inclusions, capture sources, workflow controls and supplied precedents. Each refreshed capability below carries its own source and verification date. Other competitor details retain their stated review date. MatterFirst uses a workspace base with specified included users, extra-seat charges and a monthly AI allowance.

What Smokeball is good at

  • AutoTime tracks activity across Word, Outlook and Smokeball
  • Supplied legal forms and document templates
  • Microsoft Office integration

Things to weigh

  • Compare plan inclusions and per-user costs for your team
  • AutoTime is an add-on on Grow and included on Prosper+; confirm its current add-on price in your quote

Which one should you pick

Best fit, stated plainly.

We sell one of these, so weigh this accordingly. It is still the honest read, and if your situation is in the right-hand column we would rather you knew.

Choose MatterFirst when

  • You want automatic time suggestions from matter-linked activity, reviewed before creating entries
  • You want to describe, visually edit, check and simulate workflows before versioned publishing
  • You want reviewed document extraction, Matti, signing and AI cost visibility in a connected workspace

Choose Smokeball when

  • You require activity tracking across Word and Outlook as well as the practice platform
  • A supplied Australian precedent and forms library is essential
  • Your team wants Smokeball's Microsoft Office integration

Inspect MatterFirst’s capabilities

Configurable workflows Automatic time capture AI document work Product walkthroughs and scorecard

Verified

Confirmed from Smokeball's own documentation.

Each of these is linked to its source so you can check it rather than take our word for it. If you spot something here that is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.

Australian questions worth settling before you choose
MatterFirst What to ask Smokeball
Trust accounting Built for Australian practice: per-matter ledgers, receipting, reconciliation, and a compliance review workflow covering New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia. Your external sign-off is recorded against the jurisdiction, and obtaining it remains your firm's responsibility. Ask which Australian jurisdictions the trust module was built for, and whether it is local or adapted from another country's rules.
Trust ledger history on migration The importer handles trust transactions, so your ledger history comes across with the rest of the migration. Ask what format Smokeball exports trust history in. You need it for the seven-year retention period under s147 of the Legal Profession Uniform Law regardless of where you move.
PEXA PEXA is available through coordinated manual setup with MatterFirst and the provider. Not published. Ask whether PEXA is native, provided through a partner, or absent.
Xero Invoices go out to Xero and payments come back, so the ledger and the matter agree without rekeying. Not published. Ask whether the accounting integration writes back or only exports.
GST Line amounts are GST-exclusive and GST is calculated on the taxable subtotal at your organisation's rate, which is standard Australian practice. Not published. Ask to see a sample invoice with mixed taxable and non-taxable disbursements.
Data and AI location The application runs on Fly.io in Sydney. Database and backups are hosted on Fly.io Managed high-availability PostgreSQL clusters in Sydney. Documents are stored in Amazon Web Services S3 in Sydney. Document extraction and matter questions run on Amazon Web Services Bedrock in Australia, and reading a scanned document runs in Microsoft Azure's Australia East region. These locations describe the application, document storage, database, backups and document AI services. The trust evidence page at /trust records the scope and dated evidence for each published control. Not published. Ask where inference runs, not only where files are stored. The two answers are frequently different regions.
Support Australian support is based in Victoria. Agree your implementation contact and escalation path during evaluation. Ask which timezone support runs in, and what the escalation path is outside those hours.

The right-hand column is questions rather than answers on purpose. We have not verified how Smokeball handles Australian trust rules, PEXA or GST, and inventing an answer for them is the mistake that put false claims on this page before. Ask all three of your shortlisted vendors and compare what comes back.

If you decide to move

What actually transfers out of Smokeball.

Contacts, matters, documents, time entries, invoices, billing codes and leads import from a CSV export. Templates, court forms, email and calendar history do not. Historical trust transactions can be imported within the agreed migration scope, with a reconciliation report. Reconcile opening balances and records before go-live.

The full version, including who does which part, what governs the timeframe and what to ask Smokeball to send you, is on its own page.

Read the switching guide

MatterFirst is an AI-native legal practice management platform for Australian law firms, built for small and boutique practices by NorthCape Technology.

MatterFirst suits small Australian firms of up to about 20 users wanting configurable workflows, automatic time capture for review and AI document work in one platform. If a supplied Australian precedent library or a particular external integration is mandatory, verify that requirement directly during evaluation. MatterFirst supports your own templates; it does not supply a comprehensive Australian precedent library.

Evaluation checklist

Take this to every vendor, including us

The questions worth asking any Australian practice management vendor, including the ones we answer badly. No form, no email required: read it here or download the markdown and put it in front of every platform on your shortlist.

Read the checklist Download it

Reviewed by Liam Killingback

Co-founder and Technical Director, NorthCape Technology

Full-stack engineer with deep experience in Elixir, private AI systems and secure infrastructure. Builds the MatterFirst platform and reviews the comparison and migration pages on this site. Engineer rather than lawyer, which is why the pages he reviews cite sources instead of asserting legal positions.

Last reviewed

How we check this

  • Every claim about another platform comes from that platform's own public documentation or pricing page, linked from the page it appears on.
  • Where a vendor does not publish something, the page says 'not published' rather than estimating it. A guess that reads as a fact is the failure mode this rule exists to prevent.
  • Every page carries the date its competitor facts were last checked, so you can see how fresh they are rather than assuming.
  • We sell one of the products being compared. Every page says so, and every page states the cases where the competitor is the better choice.
  • If you find something here that is wrong or out of date, tell us and we will correct it and re-date the page.

FAQ

Questions firms ask

How does MatterFirst pricing compare to Smokeball?
Workspace base pricing starts at A$199/month for Solo with 1 included user and A$139/month per extra seat, up to 3 users. Each plan specifies included users, extra-seat rates and a monthly AI allowance. Prices exclude GST; additional AI usage is separately payable. Smokeball Bill from A$59, Boost from A$129 and Grow from A$249 per user/month, excluding GST. Prosper+ has custom pricing. AutoTime is an add-on on Grow and included on Prosper+. Confirm contract terms and additional charges in your quote.
Can MatterFirst import my data from Smokeball?
Yes. Migration is included within your agreed implementation scope for firms moving matters, contacts, documents and templates into MatterFirst, scoped per firm. We agree the supported export, mapping and acceptance checks before signing.
How should we evaluate time capture and workflows in both platforms?
Automatic time capture generates reviewable suggestions from matter-linked meetings, sent and received emails, added documents and file notes. Meetings use calendar durations; other activities produce estimated durations for review. Time entries are created only after acceptance. Configure matter workflows: describe the process, edit visually, check, simulate, review and publish. Use conditional decisions, tasks and dates, approval requirements, document preparation, prepared signing requests and waits. Publishing creates a version; drafts do not silently alter running workflows. Compare the same matter-linked activity, branching process and approval requirements in both platforms, and separately assess supplied precedents and required integrations.
Where is my data stored?
The application runs on Fly.io in Sydney. Database and backups are hosted on Fly.io Managed high-availability PostgreSQL clusters in Sydney. Documents are stored in Amazon Web Services S3 in Sydney. Document extraction and matter questions run on Amazon Web Services Bedrock in Australia, and reading a scanned document runs in Microsoft Azure's Australia East region. These locations describe the application, document storage, database, backups and document AI services. The trust evidence page at /trust records the scope and dated evidence for each published control.
How much does MatterFirst cost?
Pricing is per workspace rather than per seat, starting at $199 per month for Solo. Each plan includes a set number of users, a monthly AI balance in Australian dollars, the client portal and automations. Extra users are billed only past the included seats. Full plan inclusions are on the pricing page.
Can I get my data out if I leave?
Yes. Your matters, contacts, documents and time records are exportable on request, and there is no lock-in contract. We would rather you were able to leave and chose not to.
Is there a free trial?
Yes, a 14 day guided trial on Solo, Practice or Firm. It is guided rather than self-serve because a practice management system tells you very little until it has your real matters in it, and we would rather help you load them than leave you looking at an empty workspace.
Who builds MatterFirst?
NorthCape Technology, a Melbourne-based software company. MatterFirst is built in Australia for Australian legal practice, with trust accounting and Xero as first-class capabilities. Available through coordinated setup: PEXA, InfoTrack. Coordinated manual setup is arranged with MatterFirst and the provider.
Is MatterFirst suitable for a firm of my size?
It is designed for solo practitioners up to firms of roughly twenty seats. Below that, Solo carries the full platform for one user. Above it, the platform works but you should expect to talk to us about migration and rollout rather than signing up online.

Weighing MatterFirst against Smokeball?

14 day guided trial with your own matters, and a migration conversation if you need one.

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