CourtListener vs HeinOnline

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.

HeinOnline is a web-based multidisciplinary research platform with more than 251 million pages of periodicals, government documents, international resources, case law, and other content. Its material is supplied as searchable, image-based PDFs described as authoritative and true-to-print. Researchers can browse or search 1,500 subjects, including criminal justice, history, political science, religion, and business. Tools include article summaries, PathFinder, ScholarCheck, author profiles, More Like This, and Keyword Search Builder; case law, statute and regulation search, legal commentary, citation tools, and research alerts are also listed. A free MyHein account helps users organize work and personalize their experience. The free Social Justice Suite offers five databases after registration to interested organizations and institutions. Annual subscriptions are tailored to the type, size, and scope of an institution or organization, with pricing on request. HeinOnline lists integrations including Dropbox, EndNote, Google Scholar, and Zotero, plus single sign-on for several account types. Security measures described include geographically separated data centers, encryption, and a 3-2-1 backup strategy. Support includes a knowledge base, training videos, live demos, phone support, and live chat.