CourtListener vs Indian Kanoon
CourtListener
courtlistener.comIndian Kanoon
indiankanoon.orgSide by side
| Figure | CourtListener | Indian Kanoon |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $10/mo | ₹41.67/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 5 | 4 |
| Spec score · Legal Research Software | 8.2 (#10) | 8.9 (#3) |
| Alerts | CourtListener provides alerts for topics, people, companies, citations, and other monitored searches. | Query Alert Service sends daily alerts when matching legal documents are added and can track new orders citing a specified judgment. |
| Purpose | CourtListener is a free legal research website containing millions of legal opinions from federal and state courts. | Indian Kanoon provides searchable access to Indian laws and court judgments, linking statutes with cases to help identify relevant clauses and interpretations. |
| Support | CourtListener help documentation covers donations and memberships, data coverage, developer documentation, content removal, and direct contact support. | API users with issues are directed to contact the service by email. |
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
Indian Kanoon
- FreeFree
- Premium₹500 a year
- Pro₹1,500 a year
- API usagePriced 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.
Indian Kanoon
Indian Kanoon provides searchable access to Indian laws and court judgments, connecting statutes with cases to help readers locate relevant clauses and interpretations. Its database contains over 3 crore documents, including judgments, orders, laws, Lok Sabha debates, and Law Commission reports. Search filters include document type, date, title, citation, author, and bench, alongside phrase and Boolean-style operators. For documents longer than five paragraphs, structural analysis separates material such as facts, issues, arguments, reasoning, and conclusions. It also labels cited-case discussion by whether a party relied on it, a court accepted it, a court viewed it negatively, or the treatment is unclear. Prism AI offers legal questions grounded in the database, document chat, drafting and review, counterarguments, outcome predictions, moot simulation, and study assistance. NoteIK supports research topics, searchable notes, annotations, and collaboration. Daily alerts can identify matching additions or new orders citing a selected judgment. API access includes search and document endpoints, Python and Java clients, and JSON or XML responses. The service is available on web and Android, as well as through its API. Its free plan includes a limited number of Prism credits, 25 court copies per month, and two query alerts.