Compare the approaches, not the brochures.
Firms rarely choose between two products. They choose between four ways of running a practice — and each one is genuinely the right answer for somebody. This section says which is which, including when the right answer is not us.
Shared-tenant cloud suites
One database, many firms, rows separated by permission rules. The default answer in legal software, and adequate for most purposes — the question is what happens when a client, an insurer or a regulator asks you to explain the separation.
Read the comparison →Against · 02On-premise & desktop software
Your own server, your own data, your own patching, your own 06:00 phone call. It gives real separation and real control, and charges for both in hours nobody bills.
Read the comparison →Against · 03Spreadsheets, email & messaging
Where most firms actually start, and stay, until the week it stops working. Free, familiar, and quietly expensive in unbilled time and missed dates.
Read the comparison →OpenLPMA private instance per firm
Each firm gets its own deployment — its own database, storage and credentials — with the client portal on a separate one. Run it yourself from the open-source repository, or let us operate it.
How it is run →Four approaches, six questions that matter in year three
Feature lists age quickly. These are the attributes firms still care about after the novelty has gone.
| Shared-tenant suite | On-premise / desktop | Spreadsheets & email | OpenLPM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Where firm data sits | One shared database, permissions | A server in your office | Personal drives and inboxes | Its own database per firm |
| Client portal boundary | Same store, extra rules | Rarely available, or bolted on | None | Separate deployment and store |
| Who does the operations | The vendor | Your firm or contractor | Nobody, formally | Us, or your own team from the open source |
| How updates arrive | All tenants at once | An upgrade project | Not applicable | Per firm, verified, reversible |
| Time and money recovery | Good, if configured | Variable, often manual | Reconstructed at month end | Captured as work happens |
| Exit | Whatever the vendor exports | Your data, but trapped in the format | Nothing to exit | Complete export; deployment is yours |
| Best for | Firms wanting breadth operated for them | Firms needing locality or no internet dependency | Very small practices with simple work | Firms for whom confidentiality and control are the deciding factors |
Eight questions worth asking every vendor
Ask these of us too. The answers should be specific, written down, and the same on the second ask.
- “Where does our data physically sit, and with whose data?” Ask for the structure, not a reassurance.
- “What happens to our firm when another firm has an incident?” Blast radius is the question nobody asks until it matters.
- “Can your isolation claim be checked in the code?” If the answer is “trust us”, that is an answer.
- “How are updates delivered, and who is first?” Fleet-wide means your firm is a test environment.
- “Show me a restore, not a backup schedule.” A drill record is worth more than a policy.
- “What exactly do we get if we leave?” Format, timescale, and whether there is a fee.
- “How does client money move through your ledger?” Ask for the double entry, and where it can be refused.
- “What are the honest limits of your product today?” Every vendor has them. The interesting part is whether they will say so.
Put us against your shortlist — live
Bring the systems you are actually considering. We will compare the parts that will still matter in year three, and we will say so if one of them suits you better.