Bill4Time Reviews

Pros

The program is clean, simple, and available anywhere through the web and various applications for mobile devices. New users are easy to setup and manage. Reporting functions are easy to manage. Downtime is a non-issue. Reports are easy to run and provide the information we need to keep a pulse on our firm's billings, collections, and associated compensation models. There are also easy reports to provide for accountability of time keepers. Invoicing is easy as well and so is receiving payments. We also use the trust accounting functionality which helps us keep on top of retainers. Another popular billing program we looked at tried to charge us about 5 times the cost of our average user, merely because one report regarding collections was critical to our internal compensation model. We've used Bill4Time for our billing needs for over 5 years, and many of our attorneys used it before we formed our firm. Its solid, simple, and easy to use.

Pros

It is cloud-based, super user friendly (everyone's learning curve has been quite small), supports electronic billing, and gets the job done effectively and efficiently. If you have to follow billing guidelines that require a separate entry for every discreet task, the "batch" entry feature CANNOT be beat. Being cloud-based, I able to start working on getting my billing up to date within 48 hours of being hit by a CAT-5 hurricane. It has also let our team work remotely during the pandemic while having full access to our billing platform (my billing admin continues to work with us even though she moved out of state!). To put my review into context, after 25 years I opened my own law firm. My clients are mostly multi-national insurance companies that require I submit bills with ABA task and activity codes. I absolutely needed a billing platform, and I did not have the money to pay close to $10k in a server, "traditional software" (I grew up on one of the main legal billing programs out there) and IT setup. This costs me less per year that what such a program would cost, back-ups are taken care of, I can access from anywhere, and I don't have to cough up a pretty penny every five years to upgrade a server or the program. BTW- It has a very decent iOS app to boot (a proper app mind you; not browser based). I have no relation to Bill4Time; I'm just a very happy customer preaching its benefits as the practice of law evolves.

Cons

Even diamonds have flaws (at least most of them). I have only two items I yearn for, which I will share in order of importance:
1. When I look at a case and below I see all the time entries, I can see the activity code but I cannot see the ABA task code unless I click on the entry. It adds a step I would love to see erased when I am correcting our invoices. Not a dealbreaker for sure, but adding this small item would make a difference.
2. Much farther down the list: as far as I know, no Dropbox integration. I want to beg for it and did when I first subscribed to Bill4Time, but at present I am not sure I would even do much with it. Honestly, by now I don't even miss it.
Being cloud-based, your session can hiccup (it's rare but it does happen) and its a nuisance. This is not on Bill4Time; any platform you use via the internet is always subject to this. But the benefits of a cloud-based program (which I mentioned in the "Pros") exceedingly outweigh this, at least for me.

Pros

Works with Mac. Easy to setup and use. Works well with remote timekeepers. Never had an error or problem with this billing software after 5+ years. Great customer service to answer questions about features.

Cons

Nothing. Works great. No problems to report.

Pros

That it was supposed to integrate with QuickBooks

Cons

After an update in November the two programs stopped communicating

Pros

The software has a lot of useful features such as allowing you to bill by the hour, flat, or contingency. I use all three fee arrangements so this feature is crucial.

Cons

In terms of the user interface, it is not the most appealing software. Everything is basically blue, white, or grey. There is a helpful dashboard, but overall, it might benefit from some redesigning.

Pros

I really like the reports tab...I can run just about any kind of report very quickly and easily.

Cons

I can't really think of anything. There may have been some things in the past that I "wished" bill4time would have, and when I would ask for help if it existed, and if it didn't exist, it does now. Updates are happening without any interruption to our use.

Pros

It is client-based. It allows you to have one client, and assign matters, thus avoiding having three of the same client. It has a pretty strong calendar that allows the whole office to see who is doing what. You can use their app to record time, and it loads that time once you have an internet connection. I can't say enough good about the program. It is very easy to use. But, if you run into a snag, their support team is outstanding and prompt.

Cons

I wish it had a reminder feature with a combination of e-mail and cell phone messaging.

Pros

The dashboard simplifies tracking and time entry. Invoicing is simple and I like the multiple ways to reconcile payment.

Cons

The price is a little steep for a small company, but the functionality is great!

Pros

It is perfect for use - never been easier to manage invoices and follow up with clients. Our accounting is virtually on Bill4time. Excellent product

Cons

Mobile App could be more user friendly and easier to navigate

Pros

Customer support is great. I usually have an answer very shortly after I send an inquiry.

Also, I used Timeslips for years and I love how much more flexible this program is.

Cons

I don't like that I HAVE to have a matter and a client. I would prefer to have a choice to only have a client.

Pros

My company has over 150 clients each of which has numerous projects. As my company grew it became more difficult to manage the growing number of clients and track the time spent on each project. Therefore billing my clients became a more difficult and time-consuming process. This product handles mass invoicing which allows me to invoice more often and also track receivables and payments. I especially like that when I have to call for support I actually reach a human who can help me.

Cons

I can't really think of anything that I dislike about the product. Most issues can be resolved with a phone call to support.

Pros

Very user friendly software . When I first started with the firm a co-worker showed me how to maneuver in bill4Time. Then she set me on my own. If I found myself not sure about what I was doing I would either review the tutorial or contact bill4Time's support team either by phone or live chat. The support team has always been very helpful and knowledgeable in the software. There has not been one problem that has gone unresolved with the support team. They are very diligent with getting back with you if they have to research an issue or a problem I may be having.

Cons

I would not say I like any thing least about this software. I am looking forward to the ability to be able to track consult fees. I am looking forward to a new tab that has consultations which will allow you to put the client into the system and the amount of the consult fee. This would eliminate me having to keep track of two Conflict of interest list.

Pros

The best part of Bill4Time is that it is intuitive for users to enter time, and expenses. There is very little training.
Bill4TIme has/supports API's, which allow client and matter data to be fetched for use in other systems, like a practice management suite.
The integration with QuickBooks works well.
The iphone app is well done.

Cons

The pricing is a bit steep compared to TimeSolv, which offers the same as Bill4Time and more. If my firm had things to do over again, it would probably go with TimeSolv (and if B4T's prices continue to increase, we will make a move).
Another drawback is that B4T does not have single sign-on capability. I'm told they're working on it. Single-sign-on allows the program to authenticate using a firm's local credentials, like the credentials for users to login to their computer. So if a user is logged into their computer, they don't need to authenticate on B4T. NetDocuments has this capability and it is VERY nice.
The standard reports could be more of aimed at the reports that law firms would use. Like for instance, matter-specific invoice reports for use in legal fee applications (amazingly, it does not offer that report!)
Clients have found the invoices a bit confusing where they also contain trust account balances. There is some opportunity to customize them--to a point.

Pros

B4T is completely user friendly and has a neat, simple layout with no unnecessary noise to clutter your view like so many software products. It provides all of our billings needs in a straight-forward, uncomplicated manner.
Their customer service is top-notch. I haven't had a single instance where I worked with a rep who wasn't extremely courteous and immediately able fix a problem or provide guidance for whatever need I had. In particular, [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN] is fantastic and is such a pleasure to deal with. She's assisted me on numerous occasions and I can't say enough about her.
Something else that I love about B4T is their support desk phones are answered within 2 or 3 rings by actual human beings. I'm never placed on hold by robo-operators as so often occurs with other companies (both professionally and personally).

Cons

I don't have any cons worth expressing.

Pros

It is easy to keep track of billable time, especially with the desktop widget.

Cons

Things have to be entered in a certain order on the widget. Otherwise they get erased. This is a hassle since my short term memory is not that good. I would like to be able to enter data on the widget in any order. I have always had a hard time with the accounting reports. They are not friendly to non accountants. I just want to know who owes me what and since when. I still don't know how to do that after 11 years of being your client.

Pros

We used another billing product which was specific to our business, but really inadequate for the practice.
This has been a great change for us. The set up was easy. It is user-friendly overall - not just for hourly billing - but for info, expenses and accounting for each client including adding the receipts for the client's review. Additionally, the available reports make it simple to see who is billing how much, which payments have been made in any specific period and help us with work and cash flow.

Cons

The only issue that I have is when I am adding multiple expense or time entries, I occasionally end up with an open item that I am not sure is captured or not. This may be due to my method of entry, but it requires me to double back and recheck it.

Pros

The software is much like the software that I had become accustomed to using at a law firm and is reasonably priced for me as a one person newly established business where the cost of the law firms software is simply not feasible. Additionally, I love the convenience of being able to create and produce a customized report for any given request for information once an entry has been created and entered. The ease of use and setup is also something I really like.

Cons

I haven't found anything thus far that I don't like about the software.

Pros

The best thing about Bill4Time is that it is so easy to use and you can access it from anywhere. I can work on client billing and invoices from home or on the road and do not have to worry about making sure my laptop is with me. It provides the LEDES invoice formats that our clients require for us to submit our bills electronically to them and creating the LEDES files is just the click of a button. Then you can also create a PDF file of the invoice just as easily. It is extremely simple to change the settings and customize it to fit your exact type of business. The website usually runs flawlessly with very little downtime, if ever. Bill4Time offers many features. It is easy to search for clients, matters, or invoices within the program. Any information you need that is in the program is at your fingertips ready to bring up with just a few clicks.

Pros

The software itself is fine. What stands out, however, is the technical support. They not help with software questions, but help even more with correcting bookkeeping errors. We have gone to a virtual firm model, so each attorney handles more and more of the day to day administrative functions, including billing and bookkeeping. To know you have someone to call who can generally take the time to walk through and correct mistakes and provide technical assistance is critical.

Cons

As with any software if you were to develop it yourself (assuming you had the ability to do so) you would do it differently in some regards. For instance, I usually enter time for a day on the following day. it would be nice to not have to change the date for each entry, but to change the date just at the start and keep it on that date until you manually change to a different date. This is a nit and relates to how I do things. I'm sure I could come up with other nits, but overall the program works and works well.

Pros

Setting up clients and matters is very simple to do, and it requires minimal steps and provides maximum flexibility. The time and expense entry, reporting, invoicing, and accounting features are all easy to use. It also includes a conflicts check feature which searches across multiple fields so is comprehensive. The simplicity and flexibility of the software is what we love. Customer and technical support is exceptional.

Cons

There are no "cons" to the software that we have experienced.

Pros

It's very easy to learn and it's inexpensive for the service you get

Cons

I wish that I could list matters that I'm working on according to both the client and the matter instead of just the client. Sometimes I have two or 3 different matters open for the same client, but I can't tell at a glance which entry is the one I want to work on next.

Pros

1. I like being able to associate budgets to clients. This is very helpful if it involves a fixed bid project. We don't want to go over budget or under. Running the Budget Report every few days keeps our projects inline with the client's expected investment.

2. I like the new dashboard. It's much more convenient and fun.

3. It's easy to add in contractors when needed. It's easy to give them the access I want them to have. It's also easy to set contractor's rates.

Cons

I would like to be able to include sub-projects (or phases) under a parent project. This would be very convenient.

I would like more control over the report formating. I've noticed that some really wide reports are generated on portrait layout PDFs.

Sometimes we have all hands on deck and are really busy. I would like the software to send out an alert when hours logged are within 10% (or a user-defined percentage) of the associated budget. This would keep us from accidentally going over budget.

Pros

Bill4Time is easy to use and provides the features that I need for case management. Customer support is outstanding as well.

Cons

Sometimes it reorders the time that I have entered, but that is not a substantive problem.

Pros

The best thing about this software is the customer support. All of the features are here -- accounting, invoicing, timekeeping, reports -- and the customer support helps us figure out how to use it for our needs.

Cons

I cannot think of any improvements that are needed

Pros

It is so easy to use. At the end of each workday, I try to bill for all the cases handled that day. Bill4Time encouraged me to bill for even .25 hrs. because those phone calls add up. Without a billing system I would not even enter a short phone call into my files.

Cons

Not Applicable. I am a big fan of the software.