A legal subscription costs a fixed $1,997 a month ($23,964 a year) for up to 5 attorney hours. Hourly outside counsel averages $349 an hour nationally, and $373 to $453 an hour for common business work, according to Clio’s latest rate data. A full-time in-house attorney typically costs $224,000 to $278,000 a year once benefits are included. The right choice depends less on the hourly math than on how steady your legal needs are.
Below, we walk through the numbers, show where each model wins, and explain where a subscription costs more than paying by the hour.
The three ways small businesses pay for legal help
Most companies with $1 million to $5 million in revenue use one of three models:
- Hourly outside counsel. You call a firm when something comes up and pay for the time spent.
- A monthly legal subscription. You pay a set monthly fee for a block of attorney time and an ongoing relationship. Some people call this fractional general counsel.
- In-house counsel. You hire a lawyer as an employee.
Each model shifts cost and risk differently. Hourly billing is cheapest when you rarely need a lawyer. In-house counsel is efficient when you need one constantly. A subscription sits in the middle.
What hourly outside counsel costs
Clio publishes average hourly rates drawn from anonymized data across tens of thousands of legal professionals who use its software. Its current rate comparison (updated March 2026, reflecting 2025 data) reports a national average lawyer rate of $349 an hour, up 4% year over year.
Rates for typical business work run higher than that average:
| Practice area (Clio, 2025 data) | Average lawyer hourly rate |
|---|---|
| Contracts | $373 |
| Business formation / compliance | $378 |
| Employment / labor | $387 |
| Commercial / sale of goods | $414 |
| Tax | $444 |
| Intellectual property | $453 |
Location matters too. Clio reports average lawyer rates of $299 in Tennessee, $316 in North Carolina, $321 in Colorado and $492 in the District of Columbia.
Two caveats. First, Clio’s data comes from firms that use its software, which skews toward solo and small firms. Rates at larger firms are often higher. Second, these are averages. Your actual bill depends on who does the work and how efficiently.
What a legal subscription costs
Our subscription has one plan:
- $1,997 per month for up to 5 attorney hours on any business legal matter
- $550 per hour for additional time, and we ask before going past 5 hours
- Unused hours don’t roll over
- Month-to-month; cancel anytime
If you use all 5 hours, your effective rate is about $399 an hour. That is within the range of the published business rates above. It is higher than the national average and lower than the District of Columbia average. You can see how the subscription is priced for full details.
Larger matters, like litigation, acquisitions or financings, get a time estimate upfront and an explanation of how the work will be billed. Time from licensed co-counsel, brought in when a matter needs local admission, counts toward the 5 hours.
What in-house counsel costs
Salary is only the starting point. Robert Half’s 2027 Salary Guide lists these midpoints:
- In-house counsel, 4–9 years’ experience: $153,750
- In-house counsel / associate general counsel, 10+ years’ experience: $190,500
For context, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median lawyer wage of $159,670 as of May 2025.
Then add benefits and payroll costs. In the BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation release for June 2026, private employers paid $24.82 in benefits for every $54.06 in wages to management and professional workers. That is roughly 46 cents of benefits per dollar of salary.
Applying that ratio:
| In-house hire | Salary midpoint | Estimated benefits | Estimated total cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4–9 years’ experience | $153,750 | ~$70,600 | ~$224,300 |
| 10+ years’ experience | $190,500 | ~$87,500 | ~$278,000 |
These figures don’t include recruiting fees, bar dues, continuing legal education, research tools, or the outside counsel an in-house generalist still needs for niche matters like tax or patents. A small company usually wants a seasoned lawyer who can work without supervision, which points toward the higher figure.
Side-by-side cost comparison
| Hourly outside counsel | Legal subscription | In-house counsel | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typical cost | $349–$492/hr (Clio averages) | $1,997/mo for up to 5 hrs; $550/hr after | ~$224,000–$278,000/yr all-in |
| Annual cost at 5 hrs/month | ~$20,900–$29,500 | $23,964 | ~$224,000–$278,000 |
| Cost predictability | Low | High, unless you approve extra time | High |
| Knows your business | Depends on how often you call | Yes, by design | Yes |
| Cost when you need nothing | $0 | $1,997 | Full salary |
| Niche matters (tax, patents, litigation) | Firm may cover or refer | Co-counsel coordinated | Usually sent out |
Worked examples: monthly and annual
Assume a company with $3 million in revenue and 20 employees. For hourly counsel, we use Clio’s $378 business formation and compliance average and its $453 intellectual property average as a realistic range.
A light month: 2 hours of legal work
The owner needs one vendor contract reviewed.
- Hourly: 2 × $378 = $756 (or $906 at $453)
- Subscription: $1,997
Hourly wins clearly. If most of your months look like this, a subscription may not be the right fit.
A typical month: 5 hours of legal work
A customer agreement, an employee separation question and a trademark clearance check.
- Hourly: 5 × $378 = $1,890 (or $2,265 at $453)
- Subscription: $1,997
Roughly even. The subscription is slightly higher than the business formation average and lower than the intellectual property average.
A busy month: 9 hours of legal work
A commercial lease renewal plus a contractor dispute.
- Hourly: 9 × $378 = $3,402 (or $4,077 at $453)
- Subscription: $1,997 + (4 × $550) = $4,197
Hourly costs less here at average rates. Our $550 rate for extra time is above Clio’s averages, and we’d rather you know that upfront.
A full year: averaging 5 hours a month
- Hourly: 60 × $378 = $22,680 (or $27,180 at $453)
- Subscription: 12 × $1,997 = $23,964
- In-house counsel: ~$224,000 to $278,000
The subscription and hourly billing land in the same range. In-house counsel costs roughly nine to twelve times more for this level of need.
When in-house counsel starts to make sense
The difference between an in-house hire and a subscription is roughly $200,000 a year. At $224,000 all-in, you could buy the subscription plus about 364 extra hours at $550. That is about 424 hours a year, or around 35 hours a month.
So a rough rule: until your legal work reliably runs well above 35 hours a month, a full-time hire generally costs more than buying the time. Companies usually cross that line when they have regular deal flow, heavy regulatory work, or a large contract volume.
What the hourly math leaves out
If the costs are similar, why choose a subscription? A few practical reasons:
- Budgeting. A set monthly cost is easier to plan around than a variable bill.
- Continuity. A lawyer who already knows your contracts, owners and history spends less time getting up to speed.
- Earlier questions. Many owners avoid calling an hourly lawyer over small issues. Small issues are often cheaper to handle before they grow.
- Coordination. Chris Clark, who leads client work, coordinates licensed co-counsel when a matter needs it, so you aren’t managing several firms yourself.
The trade-off is real, though. You pay $1,997 in a month you don’t need anything, and unused hours don’t roll over. If your legal needs are rare and predictable, hourly billing is often the cheaper path.
How to decide
Look back at the last 12 months. Count the legal issues you handled, including the ones you put off. Then ask:
- Fewer than 2 hours a month, on average? Hourly counsel is probably cheaper.
- Somewhere between 3 and 10 hours a month? A subscription is worth comparing closely.
- Consistently 35 or more hours a month? Start pricing an in-house hire.
For more on spotting issues early, see our guide on when to call a business lawyer. If contracts drive most of your legal work, our list of essential contracts for growing businesses and our article on contract red flags with vendors and customers are good next reads.
If a subscription fits how your business uses legal help, you can start your subscription. We’ll run a conflict check, then send the engagement agreement and billing through a secure link before kickoff.
Frequently asked questions
Is a legal subscription cheaper than paying a lawyer by the hour?
Not always. If you use the full 5 hours, the subscription works out to about $399 an hour, which is in the range of published hourly rates for business work. In a light month, hourly billing usually costs less. The subscription’s value is predictable cost, a lawyer who already knows your business, and less hesitation about asking questions early.
How much does in-house counsel cost a small business?
Using Robert Half’s 2027 salary midpoints ($153,750 to $190,500) and the Bureau of Labor Statistics ratio of benefits to wages for professional workers, a single in-house attorney costs roughly $224,000 to $278,000 a year before recruiting, research tools and outside counsel for niche matters.
What is fractional general counsel?
Fractional general counsel is a common name for part-time, ongoing legal help that works like an in-house lawyer without a full-time salary. A monthly legal subscription is one way to structure that kind of relationship. The key features are continuity, a set monthly cost and a lawyer who learns how your business runs.
What happens if I need more than 5 hours in a month?
We ask before going past the 5 included hours. Approved extra time is billed at $550 per hour. Larger matters, such as litigation, acquisitions or financings, get a time estimate upfront and an explanation of how the work will be billed.
When does it make sense to hire in-house counsel instead?
Generally, when legal work is steady enough to keep a full-time lawyer busy. Based on the figures in this article, a full-time hire starts to make financial sense once your legal needs reliably run well above 35 hours a month. Even then, most in-house lawyers still rely on outside counsel for niche matters.