'Which CRM should we use?'
It's one of the most common questions we get from law firm clients. And the answer isn't simple, because the 'best' CRM depends entirely on your firm's size, budget, technical capabilities, and how you plan to use it.
A CRM isn't just contact management software. For law firms serious about converting online leads, your CRM is the backbone of your entire intake and follow-up process. Choose the wrong one, or implement it poorly, and leads can slip through the gaps, follow-ups end up getting missed, and you’re clueless as to what’s actually working.
We work with law firms using all of these platforms. Here's an honest comparison based on real implementation experience, including where each option wins, where it falls short, and how to decide which fits your situation.
GoHighLevel: The All-in-One for Smaller Firms
We provide GoHighLevel to all our clients as part of our standard service. For most small-to-mid-sized law firms, we find that it offers the best value.
What It Is
GoHighLevel consolidates CRM, email marketing, SMS marketing, landing pages, forms, appointment scheduling, and basic automation into a single platform. It's built specifically for service businesses and agencies, which means it speaks the language of leads, follow-up, and client acquisition rather than being a generic business tool.
What It Costs
You’ll be paying roughly $137–$150 AUD/month for the Starter plan, which is what most individual firms need. Agency plans run around $450 AUD/month if you're managing multiple locations or sub-accounts.
Why We Recommend It for Smaller Firms
1. It replaces multiple tools
Most firms would otherwise pay separately for:
- CRM: $50-150/month
- Email marketing: $30-80/month
- SMS marketing: $30-100/month
- Landing page builder: $30-100/month
- Appointment scheduling: $15-30/month
GoHighLevel includes all of these, and the total cost is far less.
2. SMS is built-in and affordable
SMS costs around $0.015 per message, making it economical for lead follow-up (which we strongly recommend). Many CRMs either don't support SMS or charge significantly more per message.
3. Native automations don't require external integration
You can build lead nurture sequences, appointment reminders, and follow-up workflows directly in GoHighLevel without needing Zapier or Make.com. For firms without the technical resources, this can make a big difference.
4. Visibility into the lead pipeline
From enquiry → contacted → consultation booked → proposal sent → client signed, you can see exactly where every lead sits. Most small firms don't have this visibility, which means they can’t see where leads are getting lost.
Where It Falls Short
Overwhelming interface
GoHighLevel tries to be everything, which means the interface is dense. When you log in, you're greeted with dozens of menu options, settings, and features. For someone just trying to see their leads for the day, this can feel like overkill.
The platform is incredibly powerful, but there's a learning curve. Teams need training, and not everyone will use all the features.
Less polished UX than competitors
HubSpot and Monday feel cleaner and more intuitive. GoHighLevel works well once you know your way around, but it doesn't have that 'designed by Apple' feel.
Reporting could be better
Reporting exists, but it's not as sophisticated as HubSpot's. For firms wanting deep analytics on campaign performance, lead sources, and multi-touch attribution, you'll likely need to supplement it with Google Looker Studio or something similar.
Our Take
For law firms with 1-5 people, spending less than $5,000/month on marketing, GoHighLevel gives you 90% of what you need at a fraction of the cost of the alternatives out there. The learning curve is steep, but there’s definite value to be had.
HubSpot: The Premium Option (With Premium Pricing)
HubSpot is excellent. It's also expensive once you get past the free tier.
What It Is
HubSpot started as a marketing automation platform and expanded into a full CRM suite. It's known for sophisticated email automation, content management, and comprehensive reporting.
What It Costs
Starts free for basic CRM, but realistically:
- Marketing Hub Starter: $24 AUD/month (very limited)
- Marketing Hub Professional: $1,380 AUD/month
- Marketing Hub Enterprise: $5,580 AUD/month
For law firms using HubSpot comprehensively, with marketing automation, advanced workflows, reporting dashboards, and team access, expect $10,000-20,000 AUD/year minimum.
Why Firms Choose HubSpot
1. Best-in-class marketing automation
HubSpot's email sequencing, lead scoring, and workflow automation are more sophisticated than any of its competitors. If you're running complex nurture campaigns with branching logic based on engagement, HubSpot handles it beautifully.
2. Content marketing integration
HubSpot's blog and content management tools integrate seamlessly with the CRM. For firms investing heavily in SEO and content marketing, this ecosystem makes sense.
3. Reporting and analytics
HubSpot's dashboards and reporting are exceptional. You can track multi-touch attribution, see which content drives leads, analyse campaign performance across channels, and build custom reports without needing external tools.
4. Professional appearance and UX
HubSpot feels polished and professional, with a clean, intuitive, and well-designed interface. Non-technical team members tend to adapt quickly, which reduces onboarding time and lowers the barrier to adoption across the organisation. As a result, teams can start using it effectively with minimal training.
5. Scalability
As your firm grows, HubSpot grows with you. The platform handles enterprise-level complexity without breaking apart at the seams.
Where It Falls Short
Cost escalation
This is the big one. The free CRM is genuinely useful, but as soon as you need features that actually matter for law firm marketing, automation, sequences, sophisticated workflows, you're jumping into Professional or Enterprise tiers.
We've seen firms start with HubSpot's free plan, realise they need more features, upgrade to Starter, quickly outgrow it, and then land on Professional at AUS$1600+ per month. That's AUS$19,000+ annually for a 3-person firm.
For established firms with marketing budgets, this is fine. For smaller firms, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
Native SMS is limited
SMS exists in HubSpot, but requires third-party integrations or add-ons for it to be used seriously. If SMS is central to your follow-up strategy, GoHighLevel's native SMS is simpler.
Our Take
For law firms with 5+ people, spending $10,000+/month on marketing and actively investing in content and multi-channel campaigns, HubSpot is worth it. The investment pays for itself in better conversion tracking and more sophisticated automation.
For smaller firms or those not yet committed to comprehensive digital marketing, HubSpot is overkill. You'll certainly be paying for features you won’t use.
Monday CRM: The Emerging Middle Ground
Monday CRM is newer to the legal space but has been gaining traction as a balanced option between GoHighLevel's complexity and HubSpot's cost.
What It Is
Monday started as project management software and expanded into CRM. It brings a clean, visual interface to contact and pipeline management.
What It Costs
It’s around $150-300 AUD/month, depending on user count and the features needed. That’s to say, it’s comparable to GoHighLevel but without as many built-in marketing features.
Why It's Worth Considering
1. Clean, intuitive interface
Monday's visual boards make it easy to see your pipeline at a glance. It feels less overwhelming than GoHighLevel while being more modern than some older CRM platforms.
2. Good integrations
Monday integrates well with Zapier, Make.com, and other automation platforms, making it viable for firms wanting to connect their CRM to other tools.
3. Customisability
Monday's flexibility means you can configure it to match your firm's specific intake and matter management process without being locked into rigid structures.
Where It Falls Short
Less proven in legal
Monday CRM is new to the legal market. There's less community knowledge, fewer legal-specific implementations, and less certainty about how it performs at scale for law firms, especially when managing cases.
Marketing features require add-ons
Unlike GoHighLevel, Monday doesn't include email marketing, SMS, landing pages, or forms. You'll need external tools for these, which adds cost and can make things complicated.
Our Take
For firms that prioritise clean UX and are comfortable integrating external tools for marketing automation, Monday CRM is a solid middle-ground option. It's not our default recommendation yet (mainly due to a lack of a track record in legal), but it's one we're watching closely.
Built-In Practice Management CRMs: Convenient But Limited
Most practice management platforms, Clio, LEAP, ActionStep, and others, offer a built-in CRM or intake module. It's a natural upsell: you're already in the system, so why not manage your leads there too?
Clio Grow, included with Clio Expand subscriptions (and available as a paid add-on for other plans), is a good example of how these built-in tools work and where they tend to fall short.
What It Is
Clio Grow handles intake forms, lead management, and basic client onboarding. It's designed to feed directly into Clio Manage for improved management.
What It Costs
It is included with Clio Expand subscriptions, which cost $229 AUD per user per month, and is also available as a paid add-on for the Advanced and Essentials plans at $59 USD per user per month.
Why It Seems Like the Obvious Choice
Native Clio integration
Whatever the platform, the pitch is the same: leads convert to matters without manual data transfer. Everything lives in one system. It sounds seamless, and for basic intake, it often is.
Where It Falls Short (Significantly)
The trade-off is consistent across built-in practice management CRMs. What you gain in matter management convenience, you tend to lose in marketing capability. Using Clio Grow as the example:
1. Poor marketing platform integrations
Getting leads from Facebook Lead Ads, Google Ads form extensions, or website forms into Clio Grow is complicated. It doesn't integrate natively with Facebook Conversions API, which is essential for optimising Meta ads.
Even connecting via Zapier or Make.com is problematic because Clio Grow's API has limited integrations and capabilities.
2. Limited automation capabilities
Clio Grow can't do sophisticated email sequences, multi-touch follow-up automation, or complex workflows. It's designed for basic intake, not for marketing automation.
3. No native SMS
SMS follow-up requires third-party integrations, which brings us back to the integration limitations.
4. Reporting gaps
Users consistently report that Clio Grow can't track multi-channel marketing efforts, making it hard to understand which lead sources actually convert.
The Reality
This isn't a criticism unique to Clio, it reflects how these tools are built. Practice management software is designed around running matters, not nurturing leads or optimising ad spend.
We've worked with clients using Clio Grow specifically, and the experience frequently involves workarounds just to get basic marketing automation functioning.
Our Take
If you're on any practice management platform and leads come primarily from referrals and direct website enquiries, not paid ads, the built-in CRM may be adequate for basic intake.
If you're doing any serious legal digital marketing, the limitations are consistent regardless of platform: poor ad platform integration, no native SMS, and limited visibility into what's actually converting. You need a purpose-built marketing CRM.
Trying to use a practice management CRM for serious lead nurturing is like trying to hammer nails with a screwdriver. It's the wrong tool for that part of the job.
The Decision Framework
We’ve developed this framework to help you choose effectively:
Choose GoHighLevel if:
- Your firm has 1-5 people
- Marketing budget under $5,000/month
- You want all-in-one (CRM, email, SMS, forms, scheduling)
- You're willing to invest time in learning the platform
- SMS follow-up is important to your strategy
Choose HubSpot if:
- Your firm has 5+ people
- Marketing budget over $10,000/month
- You're investing heavily in content marketing and SEO
- You need sophisticated reporting and multi-touch attribution
- Budget allows for $10,000-20,000/year on CRM
Choose Monday CRM if:
- You want a clean UX as a top priority
- You're comfortable integrating external tools for marketing features
- Budget is moderate ($200-400/month)
- You value flexibility and customisation
Be Cautious With Built-In Practice Management CRMs if::
- You're running paid ads (Google, Meta, LinkedIn)
- You need marketing automation and sophisticated follow-up
- SMS is part of your follow-up strategy
- You want to track lead sources and conversion data accurately
Use Clio Grow only if you're already on Clio Manage and leads come primarily from referrals, not digital marketing.
What Actually Matters More Than the Platform
Here's something most firms miss: the CRM you choose matters less than whether your team actually uses it.
The best CRM in the world won’t help if:
- Leads aren't being entered (because there's no automated integration)
- Team members don't update lead status (so you can't see the pipeline)
- Follow-up tasks get ignored (because no one is accountable)
- Data is inconsistent (because there's no process)
Before obsessing over which CRM is 'best,' ensure you have:
1. Automated lead capture
Forms, phone tracking, and enquiries should flow into your CRM automatically. Manual data entry means delays and gaps.
2. Clear ownership and process
Who's responsible for following up on new leads? What's the sequence? What's the timeline? The CRM can't enforce this; your processes must.
3. Team training and buy-in
If team members see the CRM as an administrative burden rather than a tool that makes their job easier, they won't use it properly. Training and change management are vital.
4. Integration with your existing tools
Your CRM needs to connect with your website, ad platforms, phone system, appointment scheduling, and (for some firms) practice management software. Choosing a CRM with poor integration capabilities creates bottlenecks.
We've seen firms succeed with basic CRMs because they used them well, and fail with sophisticated CRMs because they didn't.
Our Recommendation
For most Australian law firms under 10 people: Start with GoHighLevel.
It's affordable, comprehensive, and handles 90% of what you need. Yes, there's a learning curve. Yes, the interface could be prettier. But the value-to-cost ratio is unmatched.
For firms already spending $10,000+/month on marketing or serious about content-driven growth: Invest in HubSpot.
The cost is high, but so is the return when you're operating at that scale. Better tracking, better automation, and better reporting. In other words, it pays for itself.
For firms on Clio Manage (or any practice management platform) doing digital marketing: resist the temptation to use the built-in CRM for lead management. Use GoHighLevel or HubSpot for marketing and intake, then integrate with your practice management software for matter management. The extra integration step is worth it.
And whatever you choose: make sure your team actually uses it, leads flow in automatically, and you're tracking the metrics that matter, lead source, response time, and conversion rates at each stage.
The right CRM doesn’t solve every problem, but it dramatically improves how everything else fits together.
Still unsure which CRM fits your firm? Leadtree specialises in CRM selection, implementation and marketing automation for Australian law firms. We don't just recommend a platform; we set up your pipeline, build automated follow-up workflows and integrate everything so leads actually convert into signed clients. Book a 30-minute no obligation call to discuss how we can help today: https://calendly.com/leadtreemarketing/30min.
Disclaimer: All currency amounts are approximate conversions based on indicative exchange rates at the time of writing and may change over time as rates and vendor pricing are updated.
