CustodyNote vs Bullseye: Which Is Right for Your Practice?

Both tools digitise police station attendance notes. Here is an honest comparison to help you decide.

If you are comparing dedicated attendance-note software with a broader legal platform, the right choice depends less on a feature checklist and more on whether you need a focused tool for the station or an end-to-end case management ecosystem. Below is a practical overview for UK solicitors and representatives who spend real time in custody suites and need reliable records for supervision, file, and billing.

Neither product replaces professional judgment or your firm's own templates policy. Both sit in a market where attendance notes must survive peer review, insurer scrutiny, and — for legal aid work — the detail expected on CCMS. The comparison below is written for reps who still scribble on clipboards, use Word, or run a CMS that does not handle the station well, and who are weighing a dedicated note app against a full platform.

What each product is

CustodyNote

CustodyNote is a Windows desktop application built specifically for police station attendance notes. It costs £9.99 per month (early access pricing) after a 30-day free trial. The product is offline-first: your notes are stored locally with AES-256 encryption, you can work without a reliable connection in the cell block or interview room, and you can export a PDF when you are ready. LAA-oriented fields are built in to support consistent capture of what billing teams and supervisors expect to see. There is no attempt to run your whole practice — the scope is attendance notes, done thoroughly.

Bullseye

Bullseye is a full case management suite with a free mobile app. Its Digital Notepad and wider system are priced around £20 per month for the full platform (pricing can vary by module and firm arrangements — check their current site). Coverage extends well beyond the police station: magistrates court, Crown Court advocacy, mental health work, and integrated case data. That breadth is powerful for firms that want one system for diary, documents, and notes, but it also means more configuration, training, and day-to-day navigation than a single-purpose tool.

Focus

CustodyNote does one thing: attendance notes at the police station (and related representation tasks tied to that workflow). The interface and prompts reflect that narrow focus — fewer menus, less context-switching when you are under time pressure after a long interview.

Bullseye is a full case management system. Your attendance note sits inside a larger product where cases, courts, and firm processes live. That is an advantage if you already live in that ecosystem; it is overhead if you only wanted a fast way to capture the station visit.

Offline capability

Both products are designed to work offline in real custody environments, where signal is often poor or absent. CustodyNote saves locally with AES-256 encryption, so the record stays on the machine until you choose to export or share it. Bullseye handles offline use through its apps, with sync when connectivity returns. If your firm has strict policies about where data resides at rest, review each vendor's security documentation and DPA terms against your own risk assessment.

Platform

CustodyNote is Windows desktop only. If your representatives use firm-issued Windows laptops or tablets running Windows, that is a clean fit. If your workflow is iPad- or Android-first, you would need a different device or product for the station.

Bullseye offers Apple, Android, and Windows apps, which suits mixed device estates and lawyers who prefer to work from a phone or tablet at the station.

Pricing

CustodyNote is £9.99 per month (early access pricing) with a 30-day free trial — a straightforward subscription for the attendance-note tool alone. Bullseye's free app sits alongside paid tiers; the full Digital Notepad / case management experience is typically in the region of £20 per month, reflecting the wider scope. For a sole rep or small set of station attenders, the pound-per-month difference matters less than whether you are paying for features you will actually use.

Billing integration

CustodyNote includes LAA-oriented fields and structure so that times, attendances, and common billing touchpoints are captured at source. That reduces the gap between what happened at the station and what reaches your legal aid claim or internal billing sheet.

Bullseye integrates with its own case management layer and can connect with third-party practice management systems, depending on your firm setup. The strength there is consistency across the whole file; the trade-off is that billing logic follows the wider platform, not a standalone note-first design.

Learning curve

CustodyNote is deliberately simple: install, start a note, follow the sections. New users can usually be productive on the first attendance. Bullseye rewards investment in setup — user accounts, matter structure, and how notes relate to cases — which pays off for firms standardising everything in one place but takes longer to bed in.

Best for

CustodyNote suits solicitors and reps who want a fast, focused attendance note tool without adopting a full practice management migration. It fits duty schemes, freelancers, and firms that already have a CMS they are happy with but weak station documentation.

Bullseye suits firms that want all-in-one case management and are prepared to align police station, court, and mental health workflows inside one vendor stack.

Typical station scenarios

A duty solicitor attending a volatile overnight arrest may care most about speed, offline reliability, and a PDF before leaving the suite. A Crown Court advocate dipping into the same firm's Bullseye matter may care more that the note is already attached to the case and visible to the clerks. Neither scenario is "wrong" — they prioritise different parts of the lifecycle. CustodyNote assumes the station note is the artefact; Bullseye assumes the matter record is the hub.

If you instruct external agents or freelance reps who are not on your CMS, a standalone Windows tool with a simple export path can be easier to roll out than giving each agent a seat in a full case management suite. Conversely, if every fee earner already has Bullseye open all day, adding another silo for station notes can create duplicate entry unless you design a clear handoff.

When to choose CustodyNote

• Your main pain point is incomplete or late attendance notes, not diary or document management.
• You work on Windows and value offline-first, encrypted local storage.
• You want LAA-friendly structure without changing your entire CMS.
• You prefer a lower monthly cost and a short trial before committing.

When to choose Bullseye

• You are already planning or running firm-wide case management on Bullseye and want notes inside that world.
• You need iOS, Android, and Windows clients from the same product family.
• Police station work is one part of a broader advocacy and court workflow you want unified.

An honest word from us

We built CustodyNote, so we are not unbiased. Product pages and comparisons never replace your own judgment: try both products on real attendances (where trials allow), involve your billing team, and decide which fits your firm's devices, policies, and appetite for change.

For more on attendance notes in general, see our UK guide to police station attendance notes and digital vs paper attendance notes. Ready to try CustodyNote? Download for Windows or view pricing and the 30-day trial.