CourtListener vs Fastcase
CourtListener
courtlistener.com
Fastcase
fastcase.comSide by side
| Figure | CourtListener | Fastcase |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $10/mo | $57.92/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 5 | 7 |
| Spec score · Legal Research Software | 8.2 (#10) | 8.4 (#8) |
| Audience | The project describes CourtListener as serving lawyers, journalists, academics, the public, researchers, and organizations. | Fastcase describes its software solutions as serving small and solo law firms, and also lists enterprise solutions for larger organizations. |
| Founded | 2010 | 1999 |
| Headquarters | Oakland, California, United States | Washington, D.C., United States |
| Support | CourtListener help documentation covers donations and memberships, data coverage, developer documentation, content removal, and direct contact support. | Fastcase offers customer support by phone, email, and live chat from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern, Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. |
Plans
CourtListener
- Free Tier Non-MembersFree
- Tier 1$10 a month
- Tier 2$25 a month
- Tier 3$50 a month
- Tier 4$100 a month
Fastcase
- Appellate$65 a month
- Premium$95 a month
- Appellate$695 a year
- Premium$995 a year
- Docket AlarmPriced on request
- EnterprisePriced on request
- NextChapterPriced on request
In their own words
CourtListener
CourtListener is a web-based legal research service with a searchable archive covering opinions from U.S. federal and state courts, oral arguments, judges, judicial financial records, and federal filings. Its RECAP Archive includes nearly every federal case, hundreds of millions of docket entries, and tens of millions of legal documents. Search tools cover case law, dockets, and citations, and alerts can track topics, people, companies, citations, and other searches. Free Law Project also provides REST APIs, bulk data files, webhooks, database replication, and an MCP server through which AI assistants can access CourtListener data and APIs. The project is built on open source technology. The free non-member plan includes five docket alerts, unlimited daily opinion search alerts, five daily RECAP search alerts, five Pray & Pay requests, and API limits of 5 per minute, 50 per hour, and 125 per day. Paid tiers list higher limits. Complimentary EDU and qualifying LSO memberships are also available.
Fastcase
Fastcase is an online legal research system providing access to cases, statutes, regulations, court rules, and bar publications. Its research tools include the Interactive Timeline and Authority Check, while Bad Law Bot uses citation analysis to flag negative treatment when it recognizes it. Fastcase says its libraries are updated daily, with most appellate cases added 24 to 48 hours after release by a court. Free mobile applications provide access to the research database, and more than 80 national, state, and county bar associations offer the service as a free member benefit. The pricing page lists a free option and a daylong premium trial with unlimited printing. Appellate costs $65 a month; Premium costs $95 a month. A Clio integration lets attorneys track research time with Clio's timer and save research entries to matters. The service lists coverage across federal courts, all 50 states, and the District of Columbia, and describes solutions for small and solo firms as well as larger organizations.