Trellis is cheaper for a lawyer who works state trial courts in one state: its Research plan is 129.95 dollars a month or 1,099.95 a year, with alerts, motions and rulings included. UniCourt is the better buy when you need federal and state records in one search across several states: Professional is 199 dollars a month or 1,990 a year for 50 searches, 2 users and 3 tracked cases. The deciding detail is alerts. Every Trellis individual plan lists them; no UniCourt self-serve plan does.
Both vendors publish prices, which is rare in this market. We read Trellis's tier page on its support site on 30 September 2026, and UniCourt's plan table from the Internet Archive capture of 19 September 2026, because UniCourt's live site blocks automated reads. This comparison is for a US litigator or a small litigation firm deciding which state court records service to pay for this month. It is informational research, not legal advice. For the full UniCourt plan breakdown, including cost per search and the enterprise-only features, see our UniCourt pricing page.
How much does UniCourt cost?
UniCourt costs 59 dollars a month for Personal, 199 for Professional and 399 for Premium. Paid yearly, those are 590, 1,990 and 3,990 dollars, which UniCourt describes as two months free. There is no free trial, and the plans are month to month with no long-term commitment.
The plans are metered by searches, users and tracked cases: 10 searches, 1 user and 1 tracked case on Personal; 50 searches, 2 users and 3 tracked cases on Professional; 200 searches, 5 users and 10 tracked cases on Premium. A search counts every time you run one, change one or rerun a saved one. Court documents cost nothing extra when they are already in UniCourt's CrowdSourced Library and cost whatever the court charges when they are not.
Case alerts, legal analytics and the Legal Data API are marked as Enterprise features, unchecked on all three self-serve plans. Enterprise is quoted by sales.
How much does Trellis cost?
Trellis costs 69.95 dollars a month (649.95 a year) for Personal, 129.95 a month (1,099.95 a year) for Research, and 199.95 a month (1,999.95 a year) for Research and Judge Analytics. Law firm and academic plans are quoted by sales.
Two conditions attach to every individual tier. Each covers a single state. And each is metered by annual content views: 240 a year on Personal, 900 on the two Research plans. All three include Search, Alerts, Motions and Issues, Judge Bios, Case Update and State Law; the top tier adds Judge Analytics. Our Trellis law search page covers the state and county coverage in detail, which is the other thing to check before paying.
UniCourt vs Trellis pricing side by side
| UniCourt | Trellis | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry plan | Personal, 59 a month or 590 a year | Personal, 69.95 a month or 649.95 a year |
| Middle plan | Professional, 199 a month or 1,990 a year | Research, 129.95 a month or 1,099.95 a year |
| Top self-serve plan | Premium, 399 a month or 3,990 a year | Research and Judge Analytics, 199.95 a month or 1,999.95 a year |
| What is metered | Searches: 10, 50 or 200 a month | Content views: 240 or 900 a year |
| Geography | Federal (PACER) and covered state courts in one search | One state per individual plan |
| Users | 1, 2 or 5 | Individual plans, firm plans quoted |
| Alerts on new filings | Enterprise only | Included on every tier |
| Judge analytics | Enterprise only | 199.95 a month tier |
| API | Enterprise, billed per call | Offered, quoted by sales |
| Free trial | No | Demo; no published self-serve trial |
The meters are not like for like. A UniCourt search is a query; opening the dockets it returns does not use up another search. A Trellis content view is opening a piece of content, so one research session on a motion can use several. Neither vendor counts the thing the other counts, which is why a plan that looks cheaper on the price line can be dearer in use.
Which is cheaper for a one-state practice?
Trellis, in most cases. A California or Texas litigator who wants to read how a judge has ruled on similar motions pays 1,099.95 a year for Trellis Research, against 1,990 for UniCourt Professional. That is roughly 900 dollars a year less, and the Trellis plan includes alerts and rulings that UniCourt keeps for Enterprise.
The number to test is 900 views. Spread over a year that is about 75 a month, or three or four a working day. A lawyer who opens a dozen documents a day on a busy trial calendar will run through it by spring. If that is you, price the Trellis law firm plan before you compare, because the individual plan will not hold.
Which is cheaper for federal and multi-state work?
UniCourt. A Trellis individual plan covers one state, so a firm with matters in three states is either buying three subscriptions or asking sales for a firm plan. UniCourt Professional covers federal courts through PACER and the state courts it indexes in a single search, for 199 a month, with two users on the account.
The catch is tracking. Professional follows 3 cases and Premium 10. A firm that wants to follow 20 of its own federal cases will pay less with a dedicated tracker; our DocketBird vs PacerMonitor pricing comparison prices that at 5, 20 and 60 cases.
Creditors' rights and collection firms are a common UniCourt buyer for exactly this reason: they need to check whether a debtor is already being sued, or already has judgments against it, across several counties and the federal bankruptcy courts before filing. If most of that caseload is still at the demand-letter stage, debt collection software that runs the reminders and payment plans is the step that keeps accounts from needing a lawsuit at all.
Is Trellis better than UniCourt for judge analytics?
Yes, on price transparency alone. Trellis sells judge analytics on a published plan at 199.95 a month, limited to one state. UniCourt lists legal analytics on judges, attorneys and parties only in its quoted Enterprise tier. If analytics is the reason you are buying, Trellis gives you a number today and UniCourt gives you a sales call. For analytics at federal scale, the usual comparison is Lex Machina; we set the two side by side in Trellis vs Lex Machina for case analytics.
Which should a small litigation firm buy?
Go through four questions in order.
- Do you need to know about new suits without searching for them? Then Trellis, or an enterprise conversation with UniCourt, or CourtLink. No UniCourt self-serve plan sends alerts on new filings.
- Is your work in one state's trial courts? Trellis Research at 129.95 a month is the cheaper route, as long as 900 views a year covers you.
- Do you mix federal and state, or work in several states? UniCourt Professional at 199 a month, with two users.
- Are you mainly following your own federal cases? Neither. A per-case tracker is cheaper than both.
If you are already paying for Lexis+, price the docket add-on first. Our CourtLink pricing page has the LexisNexis per-track and per-alert fees, which are higher per use but sit inside a contract you may already have.
Neither one finds the law
Both services are court records tools. They tell you what was filed, by whom, in front of which judge, and what the judge did. What they do not do is answer the legal question in the motion: how appellate courts in your state have treated the argument, and which decision you should cite. Trial court orders are rarely binding authority, and Trellis says as much on its own site.
That is the gap Cases fills. Ask the legal question in plain English and read the US federal and state decisions that answer it, with every citation linked to the opinion, for 49 dollars a month or 24 a month billed yearly. We do not track dockets and we have no citator, so run your final citations through one before filing. A records tool plus case law search still costs less than a single seat on the big research platforms, and each half does its own job properly.
Search case law in plain English
Ask a legal question the way you would say it out loud and get on-point precedents with plain-English summaries, holdings, and citations you can check. Informational research, not legal advice.