Docassemble vs. Gavel Workflows: free open-source code you host, or a hosted no-code tool

Who builds and maintains the interviews?

With Docassemble, a developer does. An interview is "a text file consisting of blocks separated by ---" written in YAML, and the YAML "can contain bits of logic, written as lines of Python code." With Gavel Workflows, the lawyer or paralegal who knows the document does the building in a no-code browser interface, so the person who owns the legal content also owns the automation.

Docassemble's documentation is candid about the learning curve: "The hardest part about learning docassemble is not writing Python code" and "The more difficult aspect may be learning YAML." Templates are Markdown or DOCX files marked up with the Jinja2 template language. A firm can hire one of the consultants docassemble.org lists, such as Lemma Legal Consulting, but every later change to a question or clause goes back through someone who can read the code.

Gavel Workflows removes that dependency and accepts a trade: you work inside the features Gavel ships rather than writing arbitrary Python. For most firm documents that is enough, Gavel Blueprint drafts a workflow from a document you upload, and firms that want help can use Hire an Automator, Gavel's marketplace of independent automators.

Hosting and security: your server or Gavel's

Docassemble runs wherever you put it, and you are responsible for it. Gavel Workflows runs on Gavel's infrastructure, and Gavel is responsible for it. That difference drives most of the cost and risk on this page.

Docassemble's installation guide "strongly" recommends Docker and suggests an Amazon Web Services EC2 virtual machine for production, with at least 4GB of memory and 40GB of disk. The docs call it "important for security purposes to deploy docassemble using HTTPS rather than HTTP." Interview answers are stored in encrypted form, two-factor authentication is supported, and the security page warns that developer accounts "can run arbitrary code on the server" and should be kept off production. Knackly's comparison page puts it this way: "Docassemble leaves encryption, access controls, and compliance up to you." Managed hosting exists: Elestio offers Docassemble "as a fully managed service starting at $16/mo," and courts and legal aid programs can get hosting through the Suffolk LIT Lab's Document Assembly Line.

For Gavel Workflows, gavel.io/security states that data is encrypted at rest with AES-256 in AWS data centers and in transit, that each customer has its own subdomain and isolated database, that a cybersecurity firm tests the software each year, that customers may set up two-factor authentication or single sign-on (SSO), and that data lives in the United States by default with options in the European Union, Canada and Australia. Gavel is SOC 2 Type II certified. Details are at Gavel's security page.

Total cost of ownership: a worked example

Docassemble's license costs nothing and its server costs a little; its real cost is the people who build and maintain it. Gavel Workflows costs a published subscription. Here is the arithmetic for a five-lawyer firm over its first year; the developer figures are our assumptions, and your rates will differ.

Docassemble. Hosting: docassemble.org estimates $10 to $40 per month or more, so $120 to $480 a year, or $192 a year on Elestio's $16 managed tier. Build: assume 60 to 100 hours for a developer or consultant to install the server, learn the framework, and automate the first five documents with a client-facing interview, signature step and email delivery. At an assumed $100 per hour that is $6,000 to $10,000. Maintenance: assume 2 to 4 hours a month for upgrades, backups and small edits, or $2,400 to $4,800 a year. First-year total under these assumptions: roughly $8,500 to $15,300, nearly all of it labor. A firm with a salaried developer who already knows Python can push the cash cost down to the hosting line.

Gavel Workflows. The Pro plan is $290 per month and includes two builder seats plus three organization user seats, which fits five lawyers exactly, plus the legal template library, Docusign, Stripe payments and priority support. That is $3,480 for a year paid monthly, or $2,900 paid annually, since annual plans get two months free. A firm that needs one builder and internal use only can start on Lite at $83 per month ($996 a year); client-facing forms begin on Standard at $210. A lawyer builds the first workflow during the 7-day free trial; those hours are real, but a developer would spend the same hours on Docassemble, plus the server work.

For a legal aid organization the math changes when a Technology Initiative Grant or a Suffolk hosting arrangement covers the developer and server, which is why Docassemble is common there. If the grant ends and the developer leaves, maintenance cost returns. Run your own numbers with the document automation savings calculator.

Client portal, e-signature, payments and integrations

Gavel Workflows includes these as product features. Docassemble gives you the building blocks and recipes to construct them. If any of the four is a launch requirement, it is a schedule item for a Docassemble project.

Docassemble can "Gather touchscreen signatures and embed them in documents," supports multi-user interviews (its recipes include one for collecting a client's signature), sends text messages through a Twilio account, and exposes an HTTP API on every install for starting sessions and reading or writing interview variables. Payments are a recipe (a dastripe.py module defining a DAStripe class) with the warning that "Payment processing is a very complicated subject, so this recipe should only be considered a starting point." There is no packaged Clio, Docusign or Zapier connector; a developer wires those through the API or Python.

Gavel Workflows includes a client-facing portal for intake and document delivery from the Standard plan, a Docusign integration and Stripe payments on Pro, and integrations with Clio Manage, LegalServer, DecisionVault, Docusign and Zapier. The Clio Manage integration brings contacts, matters and custom fields into a workflow. Document generation through the Gavel Workflows API is on Scale plans, from $417 per month billed annually through sales, so a firm that needs API access on day one pays more for Gavel than for Docassemble, where the API is free.

Legal aid and court use on both sides

Both tools have legal aid footprints. Docassemble powers the Suffolk LIT Lab's Document Assembly Line, whose partners include the Massachusetts Trial Court, the Alaska Court System, Illinois Legal Aid Online, Michigan Legal Help, Legal Services Vermont and Legal Action of Wisconsin. Gavel Workflows is used by legal aid organizations as well and integrates with LegalServer.

The Legal Services Corporation's November 26, 2024 grant announcement shows the two side by side. Land of Lincoln Legal Aid received $197,940 to expand its Easy Forms project, noting that "The software platform, Docassemble, will further integrate features like Google Maps and SMS functionality." Montana Legal Services Association received $275,706 to redesign its most-used automated forms "with a focus on user-friendly document assembly software platforms like Gavel and DocAssemble" and connect them to LegalServer and the Montana courts.

Gavel's about page says CEO and Founder Dorna Moini launched HelpSelf Legal in 2017 through her pro bono work at Sidley Austin, a platform that helped domestic violence survivors prepare restraining order paperwork, and that "Lawyers and legal aid organizations asked for the same kind of tool for their own practice areas," which led to Gavel in 2019. Gavel publishes a guide to automation for legal aid organizations. A program with a developer and Suffolk hosting has a strong case for Docassemble; one whose staff attorneys must build and change forms themselves has a strong case for Gavel Workflows.

Docassemble vs. Gavel Workflows by criterion

Sources: docassemble.org or a named third party for Docassemble; gavel.io for Gavel Workflows.

Docassemble wins on license cost, code ownership, a free API and depth of customization. Gavel Workflows wins on who can build, time to launch, the included portal, e-signature, payments and integrations, and vendor support. The HotDocs alternatives roundup covers both tools alongside five others, and Knackly vs Gavel Workflows compares a Word add-in approach.