Needles vs Tabs3

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Our analysts compared Needles vs Tabs3 based on data from our 400+ point analysis of Legal Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

Needles Software Tool

Product Basics

Needles is a flexible solution aimed at enabling law practices to streamline their firm operations. It provides numerous templates to build configurable workflows, daily checklists and schedules. Firms can maximize billable hours using its time and expense tracking modules. It allows firms to manage and collaborate on documents and cases with ease. Its personalized dashboards provide greater practice visibility.

Users can leverage pre-built or custom real-time reporting modules to gain granular insights into different practice facets. Firms can opt for its cloud-based Neos offering to enable remote access to all its functionality. Hosted on Microsoft Azure, it provides robust security, data backups and an API for seamless integrations.
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Tabs3 is an integrated suite of solutions designed for law firms to streamline their entire matter lifecycle. Practices can opt and pay for only the modules they need, which include billing, practice management, general ledger, accounts payable and trust accounting. It requires minimal implementation and can be deployed either in the cloud or on-premises. It has an array of ways to review important metrics, track billable hours, send bills and get paid faster.

In addition to modifying account structures with ease, users can stay on top of their cash flows by tracking and resolving invoices, bank statements, deposits and payments. It improves firm-wide monitoring with dashboards to visualize historical data and flexible reporting on productivity, profitability, billing and other aspects. Users can access it on the go from any device and use numerous integrations to enrich it.
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$85 Quote-based
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$40 Monthly
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Tailored to your specific needs
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Product Assistance

Documentation
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Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
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Product Insights

  • Ensure Accurate Documentation: Eliminate human errors or omissions by creating document checklists. 
  • Abundant Reporting Options: Offers multiple reporting modules categorized by legal matter and practice areas. 
  • Enhanced Security: Clients can choose to maintain an in-house database for maximum security. 
  • Personalized App Experience: Customize apps based on the firm’s requirements. 
  • Implementation Support: Trained professionals guide the implementation process and provide hands-on help whenever required. 
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  • Expedited Billing: Boost cash flow with multiple payment modes, mobile payment options, and customizable statements and payment plans.  
  • Streamlined Data Management: Quickly find legal matters, records and case information with electronic data organization and easy-to-use search tools. 
  • Sync With Court Rules: Seamlessly sync the legal calendar to Federal and State-based jurisdictional rules with affiliations to ALA and ABA. 
  • All-in-One Connectivity: Stay connected regardless of the mode of deployment using a mobile app. 
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  • Task Management: Stay on top of pending tasks, deadlines and important events with fully configurable workflows, synchronized Outlook calendars and automated daily checklists. Receive and broadcast important updates with firm-wide scheduling and communication portals. 
  • Document Management: Encourage employees to collaborate on and share documents, globally in real time. Identify documents using keywords, prepare files for e-Signatures and choose customizable rich templates from industry-specific case libraries. 
  • Firm Insights: Leverage real-time reporting and analytics on business health. Use the configurable dashboard to create custom reports, data and metrics, monitor business processes and identify valuable assets. 
  • Data Management and Security: Secure your data with centralized data storage that eliminates redundancies and automatically backs up all documentation. Organize and store files with the PDF Template Wizard and import data in bulk via CSV files. 
  • Time and Expense Tracking: Track time effortlessly with the help of the Outlook add-in for any device, including mobile devices. Log expenses in real time, eliminate errors and omissions and automate internal audit logs. 
  • Client Management: Improve customer satisfaction via the self-service portal with over 99% uptime. Address client inquiries, process reimbursements and payments and update case details seamlessly. 
  • API: Implement low-code integration of third-party extensions or create new integrations entirely using the API-based architecture. Directly integrate with Microsoft Office 365, OneDrive, QuickBooks, DocuSign and Lexitas. 
  • Security: Secure data, documentation and digital access with Microsoft Azure. Get 24/7 security from cyber attacks and ensure business continuity with biometrically-secured physical data centers, remote-hosted servers and advanced data encryption. 
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  • Financial Management: Manage firm financials with the end-to-end accounting portal. Interact directly with the billing module to issue checks, print financial statements, operate trust accounts and perform year-end reconciliations. 
    • General Ledger: Balance operating and trust accounts with the general ledger tool. 
    • Accounts Payable: Track all incoming and outgoing transactions for a holistic view of firm financials. Monitor aging receivables, cash requirements, vendor payments, recurring payments and voided checks. 
    • Trust Accounting: Automatically log all transactions made from trust accounts. Reconcile deposits and withdrawals and print checks from the client’s trust fund. 
    • Integrations: Supports integrations with Tabs3 Billing Software, Tabs3 Accounts Payable Software and Tabs3 General Ledger Software. 
    • 1099 Forms: Combine payment disbursements to vendors and trust account payees with the 1099 form. Always maintain compliance with IRS regulations. 
  • Matter Management: View a quick feed of matter-specific information like contacts, communication history, case notes, documentation and invoices directly into the dashboard. Verify the billing summary of matter information and issue invoices against unpaid bills. 
  • Calendar Management: Switch between firm-wide and personal calendar views to get a 360-degree picture of firm obligations. Schedule individual and/or collective appointments and color-code them based on associated staff and activities. 
    • Deadline Checks: Automatically check new calendar entries against existing events for scheduling conflicts. Set up custom federal, state, county and jurisdiction-based rules for detecting deadlines. 
    • Notifications: Notify individual or collective staff members about important events and hearings. 
    • Recurring Meetings: Automate calendar entries for recurring events that take place at both regular and irregular time intervals. 
    • Planning Templates: Prepare sequential events with calendar planning templates. Use event-based or time-based triggers for court rules and collection follow-ups. 
  • Conflict Checks: Check all potential clients for conflicts of interest. Investigate legal documents, emails, matters and attachments for partial and/or phonetic matches to the conflict checking tool. 
  • Email Management: Integrate with Microsoft Outlook to automatically track time spent on writing and reviewing client emails. Add emails directly to client files, perform conflict checks and sort by associated matter. 
  • Time and Expense Tracking: Track every minute of time spent on client activities and correspondence with multiple built-in timers. Interact directly with the billing portal to issue invoices directly from time entries. Set custom billing and increment rates for individual clients. 
  • Document Management: Organize legal documents by connecting them to associated matters and clients. Import scanned documents using the PaperPort extension. Track various changes made to a document across previous versions. 
    • Smart Documents: Autofill common data fields with information already in the firm database. Automatically issue invoices for any document-related activity. 
  • Workflow Automation: Engineer custom workflow patterns with up to 10 tasks including emails, communication, documentation, appointments and more. Assign tasks to staff members with trigger-based alerts. 
  • Controlled Access: Restrict access to sensitive documents with permission-based accounts and customizable viewership controls. Permit edits for specific data fields. 
  • Backup and Recovery: Secure firm information with regular backups. Export firm data at any time in case of power outages or network failures. 
  • eNote: Send secure messages in real time with the built-in messaging portal. Send appointment links and reminders along with text messages. 
  • Billing: Use the billing portal to directly transform time entries into billable hours. Prepare tailored bills with quick access to client contacts, payment history, write-offs, WIP, account balance and more. 
    • Billing Flexibility: Process payments faster with flexible billing methods. Issue contingency, retainer, hourly, flat fee or threshold-based bills and design custom rate charts for specific clients. 
    • Online Payments: Accept credit card transactions for expedited payments. Use the Tabs3Pay tool to email online payment links along with client invoices. Supports integration for LawPay and ProPay. 
    • Reports: Generate built-in reports for greater insights into revenue, important clients, receivables, compensation, productivity, profitable practice areas and more. 
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Product Ranking

#4

among all
Legal Software

#49

among all
Legal Software

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Analyst Rating Summary

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Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

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Billing And Payments Calendaring And Legal Docketing Client And Contact Management Dashboard And Reporting Document Management Matter/Case Management Mobile Capabilities Task Management Time And Expense Management 96 69 83 69 64 78 67 100 0 25 50 75 100
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User Sentiment Summary

Great User Sentiment 164 reviews
Excellent User Sentiment 355 reviews
85%
of users recommend this product

Needles has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 85% when considering 164 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

93%
of users recommend this product

Tabs3 has a 'excellent' User Satisfaction Rating of 93% when considering 355 user reviews from 4 recognized software review sites.

4.7 (12)
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4.2 (22)
3.8 (27)
4.2 (98)
4.7 (160)
4.3 (32)
4.7 (166)
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3.9 (2)

Awards

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Tabs3 stands above the rest by achieving an ‘Excellent’ rating as a User Favorite.

User Favorite Award

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Functionality: Its time-tracking, billing and accounting functionalities meet the modern-day requirements of the legal industry, according to 65% of users mentioning this element.
Ease of Use: According to 69% of users who reviewed this aspect, the platform is intuitive and easy to use.
Reporting: 67% of users who reviewed this feature said that it provides plenty of customizable options.
Task Management: Regarding this feature, 75% of users found it helpful to track tasks and meet deadlines.
Training: 75% of users who reviewed this element said they’re satisfied with the knowledge base and training resources.
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Intuitive Interface: Users highlight the user-friendliness of Tabs3, making it easy to navigate and manage legal tasks.
Comprehensive Features: Tabs3 is praised for its wide array of features, covering various aspects of legal practice management, from time tracking and billing to document management.
Robust Reporting: Users appreciate the detailed reporting capabilities of Tabs3, allowing for insightful analysis of financial and operational data.
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Integrations: It provides limited integration options, according to 60% of users mentioning this aspect.
Speed and Performance: According to 100% of reviews about this feature, the platform’s performance sometimes suffers under heavy workloads.
Cost: All the users who mentioned this element said it’s more expensive than its competitors.
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Limited Customization: Users have expressed frustration over the inflexibility of certain features, particularly when it comes to document assembly. For instance, one user found it cumbersome that they couldn't easily modify the formatting of numbered clauses within a legal document.
Learning Curve: Legal professionals transitioning from older software versions have reported a steep learning curve with Tabs3. The new interface and features require time and effort to master, impacting productivity during the transition phase.
Integration Challenges: Some users have encountered difficulties integrating Tabs3 with other essential software used in their legal practice. This lack of seamless integration can disrupt workflows and lead to inefficiencies.
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Needles provides all the functions expected of a modern legal practice management solution, including matter and document management, mobile time tracking, reporting and task supervision. It offers an efficient task management module, but it’s important to note that some users experienced difficulty editing entries in the legal calendar. According to reviews, the platform is difficult to learn, but the product training and support team are helpful in getting past the initial hurdle. Finally, the intuitive UI and exhaustive features make it a capable contender, but only for companies with a budget to justify the extra cost.

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Users rave about Tabs3's robust document management and search capabilities, highlighting its ability to centralize all case-related information, making it easy to find any document quickly. They also appreciate the comprehensive financial tools, including billing, trust accounting, and reporting features, which streamline financial operations and ensure compliance. However, some users find the interface dated and not as intuitive as newer cloud-based solutions like Clio or MyCase. They also point out that the on-premise deployment option, while offering more control, can be more demanding to maintain than cloud-based alternatives. Despite these drawbacks, users consistently praise Tabs3's deep feature set and its long-standing reputation for reliability, making it a solid choice for firms prioritizing stability and comprehensive functionality over a modern user interface. It's particularly well-suited for larger, established firms with complex needs and the IT infrastructure to support an on-premise solution.

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