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Practice Management Software for Law Firms
Value for money rating
4.6
/5
169
Price starts from
32
What users say
Price starts from
12
Per month
Pricing model
Free trial
Price starts from
2999
One-time payment
Pricing model
Free trial
Price starts from
30
Per month
Pricing model
Free trial
Price starts from
89
/user
Per month
Pricing model
Free trial
Price starts from
25
Per month
Pricing model
Free trial
Martha A.
Legal Services, 11-50 employees
Used daily for 2+ years
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I've been using TABS3 software since about 1998. Having TABS3 Software and its integrated software modules make billing, case management, accounts payable, GL and trust accounting a breeze. TABS3 software bills are easy for clients to read making it easier for them to pay. It's easy to maneuver in, make changes on a draft basis and the like. Pulling information from TABS3 software for analytics makes my job easier to determine timekeeper production, fields of practice viability, and financial progress. And bank reconciliations - nice! PracticeMaster manages information at-a-glance - no more pulling paper files or going to other programs to find it. TABS3 software is one of our most valuable tools.
All STI products are integrated. They are user-friendly.
Report Writer: Unless you have a computer programmer on staff or know someone who is intimately familiar with Report Writer, Report Writer is not worth the trouble because you'll never figure it out. Quirky things that cause problems: A. You can't give discounts on bills unless your current fees billed supports that amount of discount. Discounts are given on an overall basis, not just on the current fees billed. B. AP module leaves you hanging in TABS3 cost entry; it doesn't cycle back to AP so you can write more checks. C. Refunds where no money is involved can go over to GL as if money was involved - need to be on your toes to delete that immediately.
Martha, Thank you very much for taking the time to leave a review! We appreciate your input very much! We have made some changes to credits in version 19 that may help with your discounts and streamlining entry in AP--please reach out to Technical Support if you're interested in more information! - Emily L., Software Trainer
Luann M.
Law Practice, 1-10 employees
Used daily for 2+ years
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The integration features of the billing, accounts payable, general ledger and trust accounting are wonderful and such a time saver. The credit card payment feature is seamless and so easy to use.
We use Tabs 3 billing, Accounts Payable, Trust Accounting and General Ledger programs. The ease of integration is such a time saver. The credit card payment option is so seamless and user friendly.
The cost. We have been using this software since 1992. I don't like the fact that when a new enhancement comes out, i.e. when PracticeMaster was introduced, and now Platinum, you basically have to buy whole new software rather than a nominal upgrade fee--especially when we have been paying the annual maintenance fee on all separate programs. We have no use for PracticeMaster, yet it is necessary to integrate with our Worldox file management software.
Luann, Thank you very much for taking the time to leave a review! We appreciate it very much! - Emily L., Software Trainer
Patty P.
Law Practice, 11-50 employees
Used daily for 2+ years
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I really like the software because I can pull time and expenses quickly. I had another firm ask how come I can quickly get the information needed out of my system. I recommended this software to them and sent them your information.
It captures cost and fees in one easy to use program
The software does not allow the AP system to populate name and address from Tabs3 to issue client settlement checks. Class action firms represent many clients in the same case. When a case settles I have to print client name and address then type the same information into the AP program to issue checks. Being a class action firm we do not bill clients for fees and cost. I need the capability to bill and track cost to individual partners in the firm who then pays for the cost. This billing needs to be on a percentage basis.
Patty, thank you very much for taking the time to leave a review, and for recommending us! We appreciate your input, and I'll forward your request for populating client information into APS to our product development team! - Emily L., Software Trainer
Julie P.
Law Practice, self-employed
Used daily for 2+ years
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Practice Master and Tabs3 provide easy to use case management, conflict check, management of client funds and billing, and capture of billable time. I have used it for over 10 years and appreciate the low maintenance, cost, and dependability of this product.
I began my law practice without a high level of computer/technological skills. Practice Master and Tabs3 has considerably more capabilities than I am able to utilize with my limited tech skills. The tech support necessary for me to learn to utilize the other components costs more than I want to pay.
Julie, Thank you very much for taking the time to leave a review! We appreciate your input very much! There is a library of training videos out on our website that may be helpful for learning more of the product. - Emily L., Software Trainer
Louis V.
Law Practice, self-employed
Used daily for 2+ years
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Ease of use. Excellent support. Very Fast database program.
Nothing to not like about this program. I think that it is a great value.
Louis, Thank you for taking the time to leave a review! We appreciate your feedback. If you do think of something you'd like to discuss, Support is always here to listen! - Emily L., Software Trainer
Bonnie K.
Legal Services, 11-50 employees
Used daily for 2+ years
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This software is really user friendly. Entering time and preparing reports are easy. Been using this for over 20 years!
Software maintenance is pretty expensive, since we rarely (if ever) use it as we never have any issues. However, it's good to have "just in case."
Bonnie, Thank you very much for taking the time to leave a review! We appreciate your input very much! Please do keep Support in mind if you even just have questions as to whether something is possible, or if you need a quick question answered. We'll be happy to help! - Emily L., Software Trainer
Faith K.
Law Practice, 11-50 employees
Used daily for 2+ years
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Tabs is very user friendly and their customer support is accessible and knowledgeable. The newest version recently saved me from a big job with a new function "reorder fees". This function came just in time.
We have the version that only allows 9 timekeepers. We only need a few more but the cost is prohibitive to upgrade for a small firm like ours.
Faith, Thank you for taking the time to leave a review! We appreciate your feedback. If there's anything we can do to help, please let us know! - Emily L., Software Trainer
Katherine K.
Law Practice, 11-50 employees
Used daily for 2+ years
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We have used Tabs3 for billing since before I started (16 years ago), but we used another practice management software for a while before switching to PracticeMaster. We recently made the change from the basic version to the Platinum version. The price difference was the hurdle, but the features in Platinum are valuable. Support has been very good over the years.
We have added fields in PracticeMaster to track information that we want available, and those fields are then available in the Report Writer. For example, we added a tab for our Estate Planning matters to track which documents were created for them and whether we are storing the originals or if the client has the originals. Report Writer allows you to create custom reports pulling information from PracticeMaster. I wish you could pull more information from other parts of the Tabs3 Suite in the reports. While we are slow to incorporate new features into our daily use, I find many of them valuable. We have just started to use the email statement feature which isn't very new.
There is so much to the software that it can take a new user a little while to get up to speed on it. It takes some training to know where to enter information so that it syncs correctly between the different parts of the software. We need to be more proactive about learning about the features and functionality. We don't have a reseller that helps us implement them.
Katherine, Thank you for taking the time to leave a review! We appreciate your feedback. There are some tools available to pull data from other areas of the software for reports--if you're interested, reach out to Support and we can talk to you about them! Thanks again! - Emily L., Software Trainer
Becky V.
Law Practice, 1-10 employees
Used daily for 1-2 years
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It was difficult to learn initially. Our consultant spent a day with me in our office showing me how to use it. The difficult part is that some of our cases are billed electronically through a third party website. Learning how to do that was difficult. The other cases are billed normally, just by creating an invoice. That part is pretty simple once you learn the program. There are still several options in the program that I don't know how to use, or haven't needed yet.
Once it's figured out how to use it, it's basically pretty simple. It does have some confusing areas however. Trying to find the solution in the Help area is difficult at times as well. Tech Support is very helpful when needed, and patient if it takes awhile to explain exactly what your problem is.
We've only been using it a little over 1 year. It was a switch from Timeslips, which is very user friendly. There have been too many updates this year though. We have to use our IT company to install the updates, which gets expensive. The main 2020 update was installed, but then there have been I believe 3 since then. It shouldn't be necessary to have so many updates, unless they can be auto installed, like Microsoft does, etc. not involving IT assistance. Tech support can do it as well, but access to the company server is required to install them.
Becky, Thank you for taking the time to leave a review! You're right that we release updates throughout the year--we're making changes and adding new features that we hope our users are excited about! We've changed the process so that not all updates have to be done on the server for our Platinum version, any updates that need to be run at the server will tell you when you go to Help | Check for Updates or when the installer is run. We hope this change will make it easier for you to keep up to date! Thanks again! - Emily L., Software Trainer
Don G.
Computer Software, self-employed
Used daily for 2+ years
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I keep everything about my business in Tabs3, PracticeMaster and the Tabs3 Financials. When I am out of the office I get to my data with Tabs3 Connect.
It is feature rich (can do everything I ask it to do) and is easy to use.
Very little not to like. Even the price is surprisingly OK. They don't want to be the most expensive - just the best.
Don, Thank you for taking the time to leave a review! We appreciate it very much. - Emily L., Software Trainer
Anonymous Reviewer
Verified reviewer
Law Practice, 51-200 employees
Used daily for 1-2 years
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AMAZING. I love this software. It's the best account billing software that I've used in the legal field so far. When cost codes are needed for certain accounts they are easy to use and the reports that can be generated are very detailed.
I love how easy Tabs is to use and just like the name, all you have to do is TAB through the entire invoice. It's very easy to navigate and when you need to make changes it's super easy. The new design layout that was just unveiled is great! There are some new much-needed features that were updated and that makes it even better.
I don't like the fact that once you create an invoice and save it if you realize you messed up and put it under the wrong account number, you can't just fix it and delete it yourself. You need to contact an administrator with permissions to have it deleted, but I understand that's just a safety precaution and nothing really negative about the software itself. Otherwise, I haven't found any additional negative things about Tabs.
Thank you very much for taking the time to leave a review! We appreciate your comments very much. If there's anything we can do to help you, please let us know! - Emily L., Software Trainer
Dorothy B.
Law Practice, 1-10 employees
Used daily for 2+ years
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Tabs3 software is very powerful. By the time I learned how to use Tabs 3 at the most basic level, I felt as if I could be an accountant. I am still discovering useful and time saving features.
I most value the interface between Practice Master Billing and Tabs 3 . A law firm rises or falls on its billing practices. The easy to use timer allows us to easily capture time spent on multiple projects and with multiple clients throughout the work day, which results in more accurate billing.
The software is not user friendly. The learning curve is very steep.
Dorothy, Thank you for taking the time to leave a review, we appreciate it! We'd like to know what we could do to make the software easier for you to use--feel free to contact Technical Support with any suggestions. Thanks again! - Emily L., Software Trainer
Tracy J.
Law Practice, 11-50 employees
Used daily for 2+ years
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I have utilized TABS3 and it's corresponding modules in firms I have worked for since 1991. I find the program to be user friendly and robust in the features it offers. Module integration allows for seamless flow throughout the programs. TABS3 customer support is the best I have ever worked with. I can always count on their customer support representatives to assist me with any problem I may encounter. Support representatives will see your problem until it is resolved to your satisfaction. As a company, TABS3 is open to suggestions for changes/additions to its programs. They are very open to user feedback. If you are considering a switch from your time, billing, and accounting software, I highly recommend you review TABS3. I think you will be very happy you did.
Module integration, ease of use, customer support, and company response to user feedback
The cost of cloud-based (platinum) service. It would be wonderful if I could work on TABS remotely without having to pay an arm and a leg to do so.
Katrina A.
Legal Services, 11-50 employees
Used daily for 2+ years
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I have been using it for over 20 years. It is easy to learn and use for new employees. Improvements and updates are helpful and easy to install.
I use everything except for PracticeMaster. All the components work well together and allow me to manage our firm effectively and efficiently. We use the report writer for customized reports, the trust account manager for managing trust accounts.
The cost of maintenance and the increased cost to platinum are a little more than what I'd like to pay. We have not moved to platinum for this reason. It might make sense to other firms, but for us, the cost is not worth it.
Katrina, Thank you very much for taking the time to leave a review! We appreciate your input very much. Please don't hesitate to reach out to Technical Support for any questions you have! Thanks again! - Emily L., Software Trainer
Caroline A.
Law Practice, 11-50 employees
Used daily for 2+ years
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User friendly, good prompt support always available.
Report customization is quite technical, although support are usually available to assist.
Caroline, Thank you very much for taking the time to leave a review! We appreciate your feedback. If you think of a way we can make things easier for you, please let us know! - Emily L., Software Trainer
Angela F.
Legal Services, 11-50 employees
Used daily for 2+ years
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The largest problem we have been able to solve using Tabs3 is being able to apply our numerous client billing guidelines against all fee entries as they are being entered by the timekeepers into PracticeMaster.
I like the seamless integration and the cost.
The learning curve was much greater than expected. We had a week of onsite training after installation, and it was nowhere near enough. We ultimately had a weekly, sometimes daily, telephone conference with Tabs3 support and after four months of that, we finally had a good grasp on the terminology to be able to function within the program and make it work for us.
Angela, Thank you very much for taking the time to leave a review! We appreciate all the input we've gotten from you and Shana over the last couple of years. - Emily L., Software Trainer
Phil G.
Legal Services, 1-10 employees
Used weekly for 2+ years
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I have had Tabs since 2010, it is terrible. You purchase the program and then you constantly have to go back to customer service (tech dept.) and they want to hit you up for $200 per hour for tech help, as you can imagine that is absurd, expensive and terrible. They let you buy the product and make it seem like there is no additional cost, reality is that you better pay for the ongoing tech support because there are always errors and problems that need addressing, did I mention the $50 minimal charge or $200 per hour for tech help. I rarely was able to use the program, each time I tries there was some new error message and a need to seek out tech department, truly a terrible experience.
The software has a wide array of features and billing is nicely prints out in a very organized and concise format, it really does have a lot of detail and nice features.
It seems to always have some problem or error message on the rare instances when I actually needed it to do a billing for a client, nothing is worse than paying for a product and then having to waste time because it will not work and then get stuck paying extra by having to call and pay the tech department $200 per hour to help you figure out why their product does not work as it is promised and as it should from the start. How is it possible that the product regularly has error messages that are not resolvable without a call to the tech department. Very frustrating.
I am sorry that Mr. Gunthert has not had a good experience. We have reached out to him to discuss the specific issues that he is having. I did want to mention a few things related to the points that he brought up. To make sure clients get off to a good start, every purchase of Tabs3 includes a free year of maintenance, which includes both technical support and any product updates that come out...
Anonymous Reviewer
Verified reviewer
Law Practice,
Used daily for 2+ years
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It does what it is supposed to do. I use Tabs3 for billing and for keeping track of my client trust account. It has many useful features and reports.
They had very bad service when it comes to maintenance. The software is not very user-friendly, first of all, so you're likely going to need technical and/or customer support. I've been using it for nearly 10 years, and this is how they treated me: I paid the same price for maintenance for the first three years, and everything was fine. Then they decided it was time to start gouging me. Every year,...
Sandra C.
Law Practice, 1-10 employees
Used daily for 2+ years
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We can get almost any report that we want in the Tabs3 software, already there and ready to go with many user options.
It is very capable software for the price, and the software company that writes it bases many of their upgrades on enhancement requests from actual users.
As it has grown more sophisticated, the non-platinum software has become slower and the integration with Outlook 365 keeps dropping the PracticeMaster add-in.
Sandra, Thank you very much for taking the time to leave a review! We appreciate it very much! - Emily L., Software Trainer
Angie P.
Law Practice, 11-50 employees
Used daily for 2+ years
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I very much like the program
Very easy to use and price was right for our size firm
There are little things that could be done to make things easier that cheaper program offer, there could be more free/inexpensive training and/or training groups
Angie, Thank you very much for taking the time to leave a review! Please contact Technical Support for help submitting your wishlist, and keep an eye out on our newsletter and mailings for available webinars. We appreciate your feedback very much! - Emily L., Software Trainer
Anonymous Reviewer
Verified reviewer
Legal Services, 11-50 employees
Used daily for 2+ years
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I am currently in the process of updating all my systems and they have been amazing to work with. Everything I have asked for has been completed.
Although there is a learning curve, this software is able to do everything I need. The other Tabs systems all integrate seamlessly which allows for less time wasted.
There is a learning curve. It isn't an expensive system, so the cost shows in some of the functionality. There is way more offered than you actually use so it's not as user friendly as it could be.
Maribeth A.
Law Practice, 201-500 employees
Used daily for 2+ years
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It is a value for money software.
After sales customer service and support from the technical staff. Ease of use. Version upgrades.
Version 19 did not successfully support automatic upload to positive pay.
Maribeth, Thank you for taking the time to leave a review! Version 2020 of the software has added a Positive Pay export so you can get a file to upload to your bank. Contact Support if you have questions about it! - Emily L., Software Trainer
Meichell W.
Law Practice, 1-10 employees
Used daily for 2+ years
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This is a very good product for a small firm. User friendly and very easy to learn.
I would prefer lower cost to add individuals to Platinum to allow for time entry on phones.
Meichell, Thank you for taking the time to leave a review! We do have options to add more people to Connect without adding users to PracticeMaster--if you're interested, reach out to Sales and ask about Tabs3 Connect for Billing! Thanks again! - Emily L., Software Trainer
David S.
Law Practice, 1-10 employees
Used daily for 2+ years
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The Price was reasonable and the software is stable and reliable.
PM is Difficult and expensive to use in the cloud. Will not work on VPN.
David, Thank you very much for taking the time to leave a review! There are some options for cloud usage, however you're correct in that we don't recommend VPN in a lot of situations for performance reasons. If you need to discuss options, Support would be happy to help. - Emily L., Software Trainer
Steven H.
Law Practice, self-employed
Used daily for 2+ years
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I have used TABS3 since 1987, for a general practice of law, with special emphasis on Family Court matters. Never had a problem that was not resolved within minutes by staff at Software Technologies.
Ease of use and durability. Ability to email bills.
Without Premium (expensive for a solo), there is no use on wireless products.