Descrybe AI Pricing and Review: Descrybe Legal Engine at 25 Dollars, Descrybe Platform at 50
The case law search a lot of solos bookmarked as the free option is now a paid product on a new domain, built to plug into Claude, ChatGPT and Copilot. Here is what each plan costs, what the cap is, what changed since 2025, and who should buy it.
In short
Descrybe AI costs 25 dollars a month for Descrybe Legal Engine, which adds 13 legal research tools to ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot or Perplexity, and 50 dollars a month for the Descrybe Platform, a full research workspace capped at 150 research runs a month with Legal Engine included. There is no free card on the current pricing page. A year earlier the same company offered a free search plus a toolkit at 10 or 20 dollars a month.
How we checked this. On 22 September 2026 we read descrybe.com/pricing, the coverage, FAQ, About and organizations pages, and requested a path that never existed on the same host as a control: it returned a clean 404 while the real pages returned 200, so what we read is what Descrybe publishes. The 2025 prices come from the archived descrybe.ai/pricing page of 12 September 2025 and LawNext's June 2025 launch report. Informational research, not legal advice.
From the vendor's own pages
From a free search to a 50 dollar platform
Most pages that rank for Descrybe still describe the 2024 product. Read top to bottom, this is a free public search turning into a paid research layer for AI assistants, and the price moving with it.
| When | What was on offer | Price | Where we read it |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 2024 | Free plain-English search with AI summaries of state supreme and appellate opinions | 0 dollars, no login | LawNext coverage of the launch |
| June 2025 | Legal Research Toolkit with the Cytator added on top of free search | 10 dollars a month non-commercial, 20 commercial | LawNext, 25 June 2025 |
| September 2025 | Three cards: free Natural Language Search, and the toolkit at two licence levels | 0, 10 and 20 dollars a month | Archived descrybe.ai/pricing, 12 September 2025 |
| September 2026 | Descrybe Platform and Descrybe Legal Engine for AI assistants, on a new domain | 50 and 25 dollars a month, no free card | descrybe.com/pricing, read 22 September 2026 |
What a commercial user paid, then and now. A lawyer on the commercial toolkit paid 20 dollars a month in 2025. The nearest thing today, the Platform with the Cytator and brief checking, is 50. That is a 2.5x step for the person who used it most. The cheaper Legal Engine at 25 is close to the old commercial price, but it only works inside an AI assistant you pay for separately, so it is not the same purchase.
Descrybe says so itself. The notice on the old domain reads: "Some older articles and directories still refer to descrybe.ai as a free AI legal search tool for summarized case law. Descrybe has since expanded into a paid legal research platform and Claude connector built on structured primary law." If a roundup told you Descrybe is free, it is quoting the old site.
Published plans, read 22 September 2026
What each Descrybe plan includes, and the catch
| Plan | Price | What you get | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Descrybe Legal Engine | 25 dollars a month | 13 research tools inside ChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Perplexity or an internal tool: primary law search, the Cytator, citation resolution and quote checks | You also need a paid AI assistant. The assistant subscription is bought separately. |
| Descrybe Platform | 50 dollars a month | The full workspace: DescrybeLM Deep Research, Advanced Brief Checking, saved history, direct toolkit search, Word export, and Legal Engine access included | Capped at 150 full research runs a month. Monthly billing, non-refundable. |
| Organization access | Quote only | Central billing for named users inside the AI environment a firm already runs | No published per-user rate. Academic pricing runs through the NELLCO consortium. |
25
Dollars a month, Legal Engine
Works across every supported assistant on one subscription.
50
Dollars a month, Platform
Legal Engine included. Descrybe says not to buy both.
150
Full research runs a month
The published cap on the Platform plan.
10.99M
Opinions in the corpus
492 courts and tribunals, data as of 11 September 2026.
Two terms matter more than the headline. Billing is monthly and "Payments are non-refundable", so cancelling stops the next renewal, not the current month. And the LAUNCH50 code halves the first month only, so budget on the full rate. Neither is unusual. Both are worth knowing before you enter a card.
What you will actually pay
The real monthly cost depends on the assistant you pair it with
Legal Engine looks like the cheapest legal research subscription on the market until you add the tool it runs inside. Descrybe is clear that "Third-party assistant or app subscriptions are purchased separately." Here is the whole bill for the setups a solo or small firm would really run, next to two published seats that work on their own.
| Setup | Per month | Per year | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Descrybe Platform alone | 50 dollars | 600 dollars | About 33 cents per full research run if you use all 150 |
| Legal Engine plus Claude Pro or ChatGPT Plus | About 45 dollars | About 540 dollars | 25 to Descrybe plus about 20 to the assistant vendor |
| Legal Engine inside a firm AI license you already pay for | 25 dollars | 300 dollars | The cheapest route, if your firm already runs Copilot or Claude Team |
| Cases Starter | 29 dollars | 288 dollars (24 a month) | Plain-English case search in the browser, no assistant needed |
| Midpage Professional | 100 dollars | 960 dollars (80 a month) | Published, re-read 22 September 2026 |
The assistant figure uses the consumer Claude Pro and ChatGPT Plus rate of about 20 dollars a month; our Claude for lawyers pricing comparison has the plan-by-plan detail, including which plans train on your data by default. If you already pay for an assistant anyway, Legal Engine at 25 is a cheap way to make it cite real cases. If you do not, the honest comparison is 45 dollars for the pair against a standalone seat.
Published, reported, or quote only
Descrybe vs Cases, Midpage and Westlaw
Every price in this table is published by the vendor and dated. Where Descrybe is stronger than us, the table says so.
| Vendor | Price | Status | Citator | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cases | Starter 29, Pro 59, Team 149 dollars a month | Published | No full citator. Pro adds a good-law flag that tells you which cases to re-verify | A lawyer who wants on-point US cases in plain English today, in a browser |
| Descrybe | Legal Engine 25, Platform 50 dollars a month | Published, read 22 September 2026 | Yes, the Cytator, including backward treatment | A lawyer who already works inside Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot and wants it grounded in real law |
| Midpage | Professional 100 a month, or 80 billed annually | Published, re-read 22 September 2026 | Yes, an AI citator | A litigator who wants agentic research and PACER access in one seat |
| Westlaw Advantage | 256.75 to 399.75 dollars a month | Published, firms up to 10 attorneys | Yes, KeyCite | A firm whose clients, courts or opponents expect KeyCite and Westlaw headnotes |
| Fastcase or vLex through your bar | Often inside your dues | Varies by state bar | Yes, Authority Check or the Cert citator | Check this before you buy anything |
Where Descrybe wins. It has a citator in every plan, statutes, regulations and court rules alongside cases, Word export, brief checking, and a connector that works inside the assistants lawyers already use. At 50 dollars that is a lot of product. If those are the jobs you have, it deserves a trial month.
Where Cases fits. Cases does one thing: you ask a legal question in plain English and read the US decisions that answer it, as headnote cards with the holding and a real citation you can check. It runs in a browser with no assistant to buy and starts at 29 dollars a month, or 24 billed yearly; Pro at 59 adds higher volume, the holding on every card and saved research. If you need Midpage-level agentic research instead, our Midpage vs Westlaw pricing page prices that seat against the incumbent.
Honest fit, including where it is wrong
Who should buy Descrybe, and who should not
| Buyer | Verdict | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| A solo who already pays for Claude or ChatGPT and drafts inside it | Strong fit | Legal Engine is built for exactly this. For 25 dollars the assistant you already use can search primary law, resolve citations and check quotes instead of guessing. Just price the assistant in: the combined bill is about 45 dollars a month. |
| A firm on Microsoft 365 Copilot or Claude Team | Worth a pilot | Descrybe says Legal Engine is enabled by default as a Microsoft-published source in Microsoft 365 tenants unless an administrator turns it off, and listed in the Claude Connector Directory. Named-user pricing is by quote, so get the per-user rate in writing. |
| A lawyer who used the free Descrybe search in 2024 or 2025 | Re-decide | The tool you remember was a free search on descrybe.ai. Today there are two paid plans on descrybe.com. Treat it as a new purchase and compare it with other paid seats, not with what it used to cost. |
| A lawyer who wants to type a question and read the cases, without an AI assistant | Compare with Cases | The Platform does this at 50 dollars with a 150-run cap. Cases Starter does plain-English case search at 29 dollars a month, or 24 billed yearly. Descrybe gives you more tools, including a citator; Cases gives you a simpler, cheaper seat. |
| A firm that must show KeyCite or Shepard's treatment to a court or client | Not a replacement | The Cytator is a real feature, but it is not the citator your opposing counsel will cite. Keep the incumbent or your bar library for that check. |
Pricing the whole market before you commit is worth ten minutes. Our legal research pricing comparison keeps every vendor in one dated table, and Counsel Stack pricing covers another research tool that changed who it sells to in the last year.
What the reviews actually are
Descrybe reviews: good press, no independent benchmark
What the coverage says
LawNext covered each step, from the free AI summaries of state appellate opinions in 2024 to the paid toolkit and Cytator in 2025, and the ABA's Law Technology Today ran a piece on it as an affordable tool for solo and small firms. Most of that press describes the old, free-first product.
What Descrybe says
Its About page says it is "trusted by thousands of paying subscribers and institutionally licensed users" and lists awards and recognition, from the American Legal Technology Awards to the Webbys. Law libraries can license it through NELLCO. Those are vendor statements, and worth reading as such.
What is missing
Descrybe was not one of the tools scored in the Vals legal research report, the one independent test of AI research accuracy on 200 US questions. So there is no neutral number to compare with Midpage or Counsel Stack. Test it on three questions you already know the answer to.
Whatever you buy
The citation is still yours to check
Descrybe's own professional responsibility page points to ABA Formal Opinion 512 and tells users to "Check material propositions against the underlying authority" before relying on AI-assisted work. That is the right advice for every tool on this page, including ours. A connector that grounds Claude or ChatGPT in real opinions lowers the chance of a fabricated case. It does not move the duty under Rule 11 from the lawyer who signs.
Cases returns real US decisions you can open and read, with the citation on every card. Starter is not a citator. Pro adds a good-law flag that marks cases to re-verify, which is a prompt to check, not a KeyCite or Shepard's report. Read the case, then confirm it in the official reporter.
Questions buyers ask
Descrybe AI questions, answered
Is Descrybe AI free?
Not anymore, going by its own pricing page. In September 2025 descrybe.ai offered a free Natural Language Search with no login, alongside 10 and 20 dollar toolkit plans. In September 2026 descrybe.com lists two paid plans, Legal Engine at 25 dollars a month and the Platform at 50, and no free card. Descrybe itself says older articles still describe it as free.
How much does Descrybe cost?
Descrybe Legal Engine costs 25 dollars a month and the full Descrybe Platform costs 50 dollars a month, with Legal Engine included. Both bill monthly, a LAUNCH50 code takes 50 percent off the first month, and payments are non-refundable. Firm and legal department access is priced by quote, and universities buy through NELLCO.
What is Descrybe Legal Engine?
It is a connector that gives an AI assistant 13 legal research tools: primary law search, the Cytator, citation resolution and quote checks. It works in ChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Perplexity and internal tools through an Open Connector. One 25 dollar subscription covers every supported assistant, but the assistant itself is paid for separately.
Does Descrybe work with Claude?
Yes. Descrybe lists Claude, including Claude.ai, Claude Desktop and Claude Code, among its supported assistants, and says the connector is in the Claude Connector Directory for Team and Enterprise organizations. You need a Descrybe Legal Engine or Platform subscription plus your own Claude plan.
Is Descrybe AI good for legal research?
It is a serious product with a large corpus. Its coverage page lists 10,987,388 opinions from 492 courts and tribunals, data as of 11 September 2026, plus statutes, regulations and court rules, and it has its own citator. What it lacks is independent benchmark evidence: it was not among the tools scored in the Vals legal research study, so accuracy claims come from Descrybe.
Does Descrybe have a citator?
Yes. The Cytator shows how later cases treated a decision and, unusually, how that decision treated the cases it cited. It is included in both current plans. It is Descrybe's own analysis, not KeyCite or Shepard's, so a firm that has to show incumbent citator treatment still needs one of those.
What happened to descrybe.ai?
It moved. descrybe.ai now shows a notice that Descrybe operates at descrybe.com, and its old pricing and plan addresses return 404. The company, founders and product line continued on the new domain, where the offer changed from a free search plus a 10 or 20 dollar toolkit to a 25 dollar Legal Engine and a 50 dollar Platform.
What is the best alternative to Descrybe?
It depends on why you wanted it. If you want case law search in a browser without paying for an AI assistant too, Cases starts at 29 dollars a month. If you want agentic research with a citator and PACER access, Midpage is 100 a month. If a court expects KeyCite, Westlaw Advantage publishes 256.75 to 399.75 dollars a month for small firms.
Keep comparing
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