AI Legal Assistant: 7 Tools Priced for a Small Firm (2026)

An AI legal assistant is software that takes on part of a lawyer's work. It answers a legal question with citations, drafts a memo or a clause, reviews a contract, or prepares discovery requests and responses. Some are standalone research tools, some run inside Microsoft Word, and some live inside the practice-management software that already holds a firm's matters and bills. You will also see the same idea sold as an AI paralegal.

Buying one is harder than it should be. The first page of Google for this term is mostly definitions and vendor blog posts, and almost nobody puts a price next to a name. Two of the best-known names, Harvey and Spellbook, publish none at all.

So I priced them myself. I read six pricing pages and Harvey's homepage on 5 October 2026 and worked out what a three-lawyer firm would pay for a year on each. As of October 2026 the published range runs from $3,600 to $17,964. Spellbook and Harvey publish no price, and Clio's pricing page showed none for Clio Work.

One thing up front: I am not a lawyer. I run an AI agent platform. This post judges price, packaging and fit for a small firm. Whether a tool's research holds up in front of a judge is a call only the lawyer using it can make.

Want to know what AI can do across a lawyer's whole day, intake and deadlines included? That question has its own answer in AI agents for lawyers. This page is for the firm shopping for the tool.

How I compared them

Every tool got the same five questions, answered from its own pricing page as I read it on 5 October 2026 (Harvey has none, so its homepage):

• What kind of assistant is it? The label covers four different products, sorted below.
• What is the cheapest published plan that includes the AI? Per attorney, as of October 2026. Practice software counts only from the tier that lists an AI assistant.
• What do three attorneys pay in a year? Three is my stand-in for a small firm, on annual billing where offered.
• Can you try it first, and does the trial want a card?
• What does the page promise about your data? Only where the vendor states it, such as SOC 2 Type II.

What I did not do matters as much. I opened no accounts, ran no research queries and drafted nothing, so there is no accuracy score here. It is published pricing plus arithmetic you can rerun for your own headcount, the same habit behind my list of the cheapest AI agent platforms.

Two well-known names are missing on purpose. CoCounsel (Thomson Reuters) and Lexis+ AI (LexisNexis) are sold through the publisher's sales team, and I could not find a list price on the product pages I checked. Gravity is missing too. It is not a legal assistant, and it does no legal research.

Four different products sell under the same name

1. Research and drafting assistants. Ask a legal question, get an answer with citations, then a memo or a first draft. Paxton, StrongSuit and Harvey sell this kind.
2. Contract assistants inside Word. Review, redline and draft clauses without leaving the document. That is Spellbook.
3. Litigation workflow assistants. One painful task, done end to end. Briefpoint does discovery.
4. AI inside practice-management software. The assistant sits where the matters, documents and bills already live: MyCase with its 8am IQ assistants, and Clio.

Pick the kind before the brand. A contract tool is built for contracts, not discovery responses, and a research tool will not keep your billing straight.

Quick comparison

Starting prices in USD from each vendor's own pricing page, read 5 October 2026. Clio's $49 buys Starter, the entry Clio Manage plan; the plan Clio calls "AI-first" is Core, which showed no price when I read the page. Gravity has no row because it is not a legal assistant.

What a three-lawyer firm pays in a year

Here is the cheapest published way for three attorneys to get each kind of assistant for twelve months. Where a vendor publishes nothing, the row says so.

As of 5 October 2026, from each vendor's own pricing page, in USD. Annual billing where offered. StrongSuit's Individual plan is quoted per month, and Paxton is shown both ways. Gravity is not in this table because it is not a legal assistant.

The working, so you can check it:

• MyCase Pro, $3,600. 3 x $100 x 12.
• MyCase Advanced, $4,680. 3 x $130 x 12. The extra $1,080 a year buys the Case Assistant and the Discovery Assistant.
• Briefpoint, $5,400. 3 x $1,800, the annual Rainmaker price per attorney.
• StrongSuit, $8,964. 3 x $249 x 12, an estimate built from three Individual plans; the Firm quote may come in higher or lower (see the StrongSuit section).
• Paxton annual, $8,997. 3 x $2,999.
• Paxton monthly, $17,964. 3 x $499 x 12.

Three things in that table deserve a second look

The two research tools are a dead heat. StrongSuit on monthly billing and Paxton on annual billing land $33 apart for three lawyers. Paxton on monthly billing costs almost exactly twice its annual price, which matches the "Save 50% compared to monthly" line on its own page. For the same three seats, annual billing roughly halves the bill.

The cheapest AI in the table comes bundled into software a firm may already pay for. On MyCase Pro, the 8am IQ Writing and Document Assistant is inside a bill a firm already on Pro is paying anyway.

And some of the best-known names publish nothing. Spellbook and Harvey sell by demo, and Clio's pricing page showed no figure for Clio Work. For a small firm that is a buying signal in itself: shortlist the tools with a price on the page, run their trials, and book a demo only when those have let you down.

1. Paxton: research and drafting, priced for commitment

Paxton is a research and drafting assistant. As of October 2026 its Individual plan costs $499 per user a month on monthly billing, or $2,999 per user a year on annual billing, and there is a 7-day free trial.

The pricing page lists AI drafting for legal documents, clauses, emails and contracts; a knowledge base of US federal regulations, state laws and case law across all 50 states; and AI file analysis. Paxton's homepage, captured 5 October 2026, pitches it as "AI for Litigation Teams" and promises "drafts grounded in sources you can verify". The lawyer using it still has to do that verifying.

Annual billing cuts Paxton's price roughly in half

$499 a month comes to $5,988 a year per user. $2,999 is a shade over half of that, which is what Paxton's "Save 50%" label says. Use the 7-day trial to decide, then pay annually or not at all: for three lawyers, the difference between the two billing options is $8,967 a year.

Best for

A litigator who wants research and first drafts in one place and will commit for a year.

Pricing

$499 per user a month, or $2,999 per user a year. As of October 2026.

Verdict

Fair value on annual billing. On monthly billing, the most expensive line in this post.

2. StrongSuit: research with a Word integration at $249 a month

StrongSuit's pricing page sits at callidusai.com but is branded StrongSuit. As of October 2026 the Individual plan is $249 a month, with a free trial. It lists a case database of "10M+ federal and state cases", a Microsoft Word integration, and a line I wish every vendor here printed: "Models never trained on user data + SOC 2 Type II". A year of one seat is $2,988, which is $11 under Paxton's annual plan.

The Firm plan is a custom quote, covering multiple licenses and onboarding with StrongSuit attorneys. So the $8,964 in my table is an estimate built from three Individual plans; the Firm quote may come in higher or lower. The Firm plan covers multiple licenses, so three seats may fall under it.

Read the fair-usage clause before you sign

The pricing page says all plans are "subject to our Fair Usage Policy". Ask for the Fair Usage Policy in writing during the trial, so you know what it covers before you rely on it.

3. Briefpoint: discovery and nothing else

Briefpoint does one job. It drafts written discovery: propounding requests for admission, requests for production and interrogatories, and responding to them with objections. The pricing page claims coverage of "All 50 states + 98 federal district courts", plus English and Spanish client translations, and lists SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA.

The Rainmaker Plan costs $150 per attorney a month, billed annually, which is $1,800 a year as of October 2026. It is a flat rate with "No per-case fees" and unlimited document downloads.

A flat fee rewards the busiest litigator

The price ignores case count. A lawyer with a dozen active matters pays the same $1,800 as one with two, so the more discovery the practice produces, the cheaper each set becomes. For a firm whose litigators spend their evenings on interrogatories, that is the whole pitch.

Best for

A litigation practice that drafts and answers written discovery every week.

Pricing

Rainmaker Plan, $150 per attorney a month billed annually ($1,800 a year). As of October 2026.

Free trial

Not stated on the pricing page; the homepage offers Book a Demo.

Verdict

The only priced single-purpose tool here, if discovery is where your hours go.

4. MyCase: the AI comes with the practice software

MyCase is practice-management software: cases, clients, documents and billing in one system. Its AI arrives under the 8am IQ name, and which assistants you get depends on the plan. As of October 2026, per user per month:

• Basic, $50 billed annually or $60 monthly. No AI assistant in the feature list.
• Pro, $100 annually or $120 monthly. Adds the 8am IQ Writing and Document Assistant, client intake forms and legal CRM, and automated workflows.
• Advanced, $130 annually or $150 monthly. Adds the 8am IQ Case Assistant and the 8am IQ Discovery Assistant (OCR).

The trial needs no credit card, and the homepage repeats that under its sign-up box. The same page says you can ask the Case Assistant to summarize a file, build a timeline or surface next steps.

The AI starts on Pro, the middle plan

For three lawyers on annual billing, as of October 2026, Pro is $3,600 a year and Advanced $4,680, the two cheapest rows in my table. On monthly billing Pro becomes 3 x $120 x 12, or $4,320. A firm already on Basic pays $1,800 more a year on annual billing for three people to reach Pro and its writing assistant.

The 8am IQ assistants on the pricing page are for writing, documents, cases and discovery. If cited legal research is the job you are buying for, run Pro's trial alongside StrongSuit's or Paxton's and compare them on the same question.

5. Clio: a price for the practice software, none for the AI workspace

Clio's pricing page says its "plans start at $49 USD per user per month", as of October 2026. That buys Starter, the entry tier of Clio Manage, its practice-management product. The other three plans are Core, Signature and Elite, and Clio describes Core as "AI-first practice management", with AI that drafts bills on schedule. None of those three rendered a price when I read the page, so I am not quoting one.

Clio Work is the legal AI workspace, the part of Clio that sits in the same category as the tools above. The pricing page I read showed no price for it.

The homepage argues for keeping the AI next to the matters

Clio's homepage puts it plainly: "The best legal AI is the one that knows you, your firm, and the law." For a firm already running its matters in Clio Manage, that argument has weight, since the AI would sit beside the documents it needs. For a firm on anything else, ask whether that knowledge depends on moving the firm's matters into Clio.

Best for

A firm already running on Clio Manage.

Pricing

From $49 per user a month (Starter), as of October 2026. Core, Signature, Elite and Clio Work showed no price.

Free trial

Offered on the homepage.

Ask Clio two things before the demo: what Clio Work costs, and whether it needs a Clio Manage plan underneath.

6. Spellbook: contract review inside Word, priced by demo

Spellbook is the contract specialist on this list. It works inside Microsoft Word: reviewing contracts, redlining and drafting clauses. Its pricing page says it is "Trusted by 5,000 legal teams worldwide". That is Spellbook's own figure, and I have no way to check it.

There is no price. The page says pricing is "structured around the number of team members on your license", and that to get personalized pricing you book a demo. There is a 7-day free trial, as of October 2026.

Start the 7-day trial before you book the demo

Seven days is enough to run a handful of templates or documents you are free to share through it. Do that first, so the demo call is about seats and price instead of a product tour. Bring your headcount, because by Spellbook's own description the number of people on the license is what moves the quote.

7. Harvey: built for large firms, no public price

Harvey publishes no price. When I checked on 5 October 2026, harvey.ai/pricing returned a 404 and the only path on the site was "Request a Demo". The homepage says "The world's top law firms and in-house legal teams trust Harvey with their highest-stakes work", and a banner across the top announced "We Raised $550M at a $15.5B Valuation". Both are Harvey's statements about Harvey.

The homepage copy and the demo-only route both point at large firms and in-house legal teams. For a three-lawyer firm, I would treat Harvey as out of scope until it shows a price and spend the trial weeks on the published tools.

Best for

Large law firms and in-house legal departments.

Pricing

Not published, as of October 2026.

Free trial

Demo only.

A $5,000 lesson in invented case law

On 22 June 2023, Judge P. Kevin Castel of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York sanctioned the lawyers in Mata v. Avianca, Inc., No. 1:22-cv-01461, $5,000 under Rule 11. They had filed a brief citing cases that ChatGPT invented. The docket is public on CourtListener, and AP reported the sanctions.

The case shows the risk legal-specific assistants are built around: citations grounded in a real case database. Paxton describes a knowledge base of case law across all 50 states, and StrongSuit a database of more than 10 million federal and state cases. The pitch is citations drawn from real cases, where a general chatbot can produce one that never existed.

None of that removes the lawyer's job. I have no accuracy figure for any tool here and I will not invent one. Whatever you buy, a lawyer reads every cited case before it goes into a filing.

If you landed here looking for help with your own legal problem: these are tools for lawyers, and they do not replace legal advice from one.

Which one should you choose?

Start with the job that eats the most hours each week, then pick the kind of tool that does it. All prices below are as of October 2026.

If you already pay for MyCase, check your plan first. On Pro or Advanced the 8am IQ assistants are already in the bill, and the cheapest AI legal assistant is the one already in your bill.

If the job is legal research and first drafts, trial StrongSuit and Paxton side by side. For three lawyers they cost $8,964 and $8,997 a year, so choose on the work, and pay Paxton annually or not at all.

If discovery is where the evenings go, Briefpoint does that one thing for $1,800 per attorney a year, flat. If you draft contracts in Word all day, Spellbook is the specialist; run its trial, then take the demo for a price.

Already running the firm on Clio? Ask what Clio Work costs before you buy a separate tool. A large firm or an in-house team is who Harvey is built for, demo process included.

Whichever you choose, a lawyer still checks every citation, and the client updates and unpaid invoices still need doing. The best AI agents for small business covers that side of running a firm.

FAQ

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