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Legal · head to head

DISCO vs Westlaw

DISCO logo

DISCO

Legal

Cloud e-discovery priced by data volume, with review, legal hold and case preparation in one platform

From
On request
Rated
-
Westlaw logo

Westlaw

Legal

Thomson Reuters legal research platform, priced per seat with tiers from Edge to Advantage and negotiated enterprise contracts above 10 attorneys

From
On request
Rated
-

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: DISCO per-gigabyte pricing that is attractive on a 200 gigabyte matter becomes the dominant line item on multi-terabyte collections, and the only cost lever left is aggressive culling before upload.; Westlaw firms of 11 or more attorneys, which is most firms actually spending serious money on Westlaw, get no published price at all and negotiate blind against a sales team that sees every prior deal.
  • They diverge on capability: DISCO covers All-in per-gigabyte pricing, Westlaw covers Case law and statute database.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which DISCO and Westlaw actually diverge.

Attributes where DISCO and Westlaw differ
AttributeDISCOWestlaw
PlatformsWebWeb, iOS, Android

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Legal).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in DISCO

  • All-in per-gigabyte pricing
  • Cecilia AI
  • Technology assisted review
  • Legal hold
  • Case Builder
  • Self-service ingestion

Only in Westlaw

  • Case law and statute database
  • KeyCite
  • Practical Law
  • CoCounsel Legal
  • Litigation analytics
  • West Key Number System

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

DISCO

  • A litigation team that needs a matter budget approved before the volume of collected data is fully knownnot Westlaw
  • A firm that wants unlimited reviewer accounts without paying per seat during a document review surgenot Westlaw
  • An in-house legal department consolidating legal hold and review with one vendor instead of twonot Westlaw
  • A case where speed of ingestion matters more than the analytics depth of an enterprise review platformnot Westlaw

Westlaw

  • A solo attorney or small firm wanting published, self-service pricing rather than a sales negotiationnot DISCO
  • A firm evaluating whether Practical Law and secondary sources justify moving from Edge to Advantagenot DISCO
  • A litigation team wanting KeyCite and litigation analytics in the same research platformnot DISCO
  • A firm that previously used Casetext and needs to understand that it must now buy CoCounsel Legal inside Westlaw insteadnot DISCO

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

DISCO

  • Per-gigabyte pricing that is attractive on a 200 gigabyte matter becomes the dominant line item on multi-terabyte collections, and the only cost lever left is aggressive culling before upload.
  • Hosting is cloud only in United States regions, so matters with European, United Kingdom or Australian data residency requirements are excluded outright.
  • Review analytics, scripting and the third-party application ecosystem remain deeper on Relativity, which matters for firms with established review workflows.
  • As a listed company reporting losses, it has been through leadership change including the founder departure in 2023, so multi-year roadmap commitments carry more risk than with a private vendor.
  • Complex productions and unusual data types still require professional services, so the promise of self-service holds mainly for mainstream email and document collections.

Westlaw

  • Firms of 11 or more attorneys, which is most firms actually spending serious money on Westlaw, get no published price at all and negotiate blind against a sales team that sees every prior deal.
  • Casetext no longer exists as an independent, cheaper self-serve product; anyone who liked its pricing and simplicity now has to buy into the Westlaw ecosystem, typically at a higher, seat-based cost.
  • Multi-year contracts are structurally rewarded with the biggest discounts, which pressures firms into 2 or 3 year commitments before they know if usage will justify the tier chosen.
  • Content and features vary meaningfully between Edge and Advantage, so an apparently small monthly price difference can hide the absence of Practical Law, which many firms end up needing anyway.
  • Switching away from Westlaw means retraining staff on Lexis search syntax and the Key Number System has no direct Lexis equivalent, which is a genuine cost that suppresses competitive shopping at renewal.

Pricing, plan by plan

DISCO

On request
  • DISCO Ediscovery$undefined/year
    • Quoted per gigabyte of hosted data per month with unlimited users
    • Annual commitments and volume tiers negotiated for firms with steady caseloads
    • Legal hold, Case Builder and AI features priced as separate modules

Westlaw

On request
  • Westlaw Edge (solo and small firm, up to 10 attorneys)$undefined/month
    • Single-circuit coverage from roughly $107 to $155 a month
    • All-states-plus-federal coverage roughly $266 a month
    • 2-year contracts around 12% off list, 3-year around 18% off
  • Westlaw Advantage (firms of 11+ attorneys)$undefined/year
    • Bundles Practical Law and secondary sources
    • No published price, quote via sales representative
    • CoCounsel Legal available as a seat add-on, reported around $639 per seat per month

Which should you pick?

Choose DISCO if

  • You need all-in per-gigabyte pricing.
  • You also want cecilia ai.

Choose Westlaw if

  • You need case law and statute database.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want keycite.

Questions people ask

Is DISCO or Westlaw better?
Neither clearly leads. DISCO starts at On request and Westlaw at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, DISCO or Westlaw?
DISCO starts at On request and Westlaw at On request.
Does DISCO or Westlaw run on more platforms?
DISCO runs on Web. Westlaw runs on Web, iOS, Android.
What is DISCO best used for?
DISCO is most often used for a litigation team that needs a matter budget approved before the volume of collected data is fully known, a firm that wants unlimited reviewer accounts without paying per seat during a document review surge, an in-house legal department consolidating legal hold and review with one vendor instead of two, a case where speed of ingestion matters more than the analytics depth of an enterprise review platform. Of those, a litigation team that needs a matter budget approved before the volume of collected data is fully known and a firm that wants unlimited reviewer accounts without paying per seat during a document review surge are not what Westlaw is typically brought in for.
What can DISCO do that Westlaw cannot?
DISCO covers All-in per-gigabyte pricing, Cecilia AI, Technology assisted review, Legal hold. Westlaw covers Case law and statute database, KeyCite, Practical Law, CoCounsel Legal.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

DISCO: How is DISCO priced?

Per gigabyte of hosted data per month, all-in, with unlimited users. There is no published rate card, so it is quoted.

Westlaw: Can I still buy Casetext?

No. Casetext was retired on 1 April 2025. Its AI functionality continues as CoCounsel Legal, sold only as part of the Westlaw ecosystem.

DISCO: Can data be hosted outside the United States?

Coverage is centred on United States cloud regions, so confirm residency before shortlisting for European or Australian matters.

Westlaw: Why does Westlaw publish some prices but not others?

Self-service online pricing exists only for solo practitioners and firms up to 10 attorneys; larger firms are routed to a sales representative with no public rate.

DISCO: Is it cheaper than Relativity?

On small and mid-sized matters usually yes, because seats and analytics are included. On very large collections the volume charge often overtakes a negotiated Relativity arrangement.

Westlaw: What does CoCounsel Legal cost on top of Westlaw?

Reported figures put it around $639 per seat per month as an add-on, though this is not an official published rate and varies by contract.

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