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Legal · head to head

Luminance vs Relativity

Luminance logo

Luminance

Legal

Machine learning contract analysis for review, negotiation and compliance

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Relativity logo

Relativity

Legal

Ediscovery and legal data platform for large matters

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Luminance no independent evaluation of its accuracy has been published, and it did not take part in the Vals Legal AI Report, so buyers have only vendor-produced evidence to work from.; Relativity quote-only and expensive, typically billed on data volume, so costs escalate with matter size
  • They diverge on capability: Luminance covers Anomaly detection, Relativity covers Large-scale processing.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Luminance and Relativity actually diverge.

Attributes where Luminance and Relativity differ
AttributeLuminanceRelativity
PlatformsWeb, WindowsWeb, Cloud, Self-hosted

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 Luminance

  • Anomaly detection
  • Contract negotiation
  • Due diligence review
  • Multi-language analysis
  • Document comparison

Only in Relativity

  • Large-scale processing
  • Review workflow
  • Analytics and active learning
  • Application ecosystem

What people use each for

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

Luminance

  • In-house teams auditing a contract estate for a specific exposure such as change of controlnot Relativity
  • Procurement and compliance functions reviewing supplier agreements at scalenot Relativity
  • Transaction teams reviewing large contract populations against a deal deadlinenot Relativity
  • Negotiation teams applying a standard playbook consistently across many counterpartiesnot Relativity

Relativity

  • Large litigation with very high document volumesnot Luminance
  • Corporate investigations requiring defensible, auditable reviewnot Luminance
  • Firms whose review process is already built around the platformnot Luminance

Where each one falls short

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

Luminance

  • No independent evaluation of its accuracy has been published, and it did not take part in the Vals Legal AI Report, so buyers have only vendor-produced evidence to work from.
  • The one named accuracy benchmark, ContractIQ Bench, was built, run and scored by Luminance on a dataset it has not released, against comparison models it does not name.
  • Value scales with document volume, so an organisation reviewing tens rather than thousands of contracts will not recover the licence cost.
  • Output still requires qualified review, so it reduces reading time rather than removing the lawyer, and staffing plans that assume otherwise fail.
  • Pricing is not published, so cost per matter cannot be modelled until after a sales process and a proof of concept.

Relativity

  • Quote-only and expensive, typically billed on data volume, so costs escalate with matter size
  • Complex enough that certified specialists are a job title, which is a real staffing cost
  • Considerable overkill for small matters, where lighter self-service tools are far cheaper

Pricing, plan by plan

Luminance

On request
  • Luminance$undefined/year
    • Enterprise licensing quoted per organisation
    • Scoped by user count and document volume
    • Proof of concept normally run before contracting

Relativity

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Relativity review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Luminance if

  • You need anomaly detection.
  • You work on Web, Windows.
  • You also want contract negotiation.
Luminance review

Choose Relativity if

  • You need large-scale processing.
  • You work on Web, Cloud, Self-hosted.
  • You also want review workflow.
Relativity review

Questions people ask

Is Luminance or Relativity better?
Neither clearly leads. Luminance starts at On request and Relativity at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Luminance or Relativity?
Luminance starts at On request and Relativity at On request.
Does Luminance or Relativity run on more platforms?
Luminance runs on Web, Windows. Relativity runs on Web, Cloud, Self-hosted.
What is Luminance best used for?
Luminance is most often used for in-house teams auditing a contract estate for a specific exposure such as change of control, procurement and compliance functions reviewing supplier agreements at scale, transaction teams reviewing large contract populations against a deal deadline, negotiation teams applying a standard playbook consistently across many counterparties. Of those, in-house teams auditing a contract estate for a specific exposure such as change of control and procurement and compliance functions reviewing supplier agreements at scale are not what Relativity is typically brought in for.
What can Luminance do that Relativity cannot?
Luminance covers Anomaly detection, Contract negotiation, Due diligence review, Multi-language analysis. Relativity covers Large-scale processing, Review workflow, Analytics and active learning, Application ecosystem.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Luminance: Is Luminance's accuracy independently verified?

No independent verification has been published. It did not participate in the Vals Legal AI Report, the main lawyer-baselined benchmark, and the only named benchmark in its materials is one it built and ran itself. Treat the published figures as vendor claims and run a proof of concept on your own documents.

Relativity: What does Relativity cost?

It does not publish rates. Ediscovery is generally billed on data volume and users, quoted per matter or organisation.

Luminance: What do the ninety per cent time-saving claims mean?

They are unattributed marketing figures about time and cost rather than accuracy, published without methodology, dataset or baseline. They are not a measure of how often the software is right.

Relativity: Is Relativity only for law firms?

No. Corporate legal departments and government agencies use it for investigations as well as litigation.

Luminance: Who backs Luminance?

It launched in 2016 with backing from Invoke Capital, the fund founded by Mike Lynch, and has since raised further rounds led by March Capital and Point72 Private Investments.

Relativity: Do I need trained staff?

In practice yes. Relativity certification is a recognised specialism, and that staffing cost is part of the total.

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