Lexis Protégé vs Harvey AI Pricing and Which One Your Firm Can Buy
Neither vendor prints a price, and since 2025 Harvey can answer from the same LexisNexis case law and citator. What separates them is the seat floor. Here is what each really costs at your headcount.
In short
Lexis+ with Protégé and Harvey both sell by quote. Protégé is reported at 128 to 494 dollars a seat a month, built on a published Lexis+ plan of 114 to 432 for one attorney, and the store sells to firms of one to three lawyers. Harvey is reported near 1,200 a seat a month with a 20 to 25 seat minimum. Since June 2025 Harvey users can ask LexisNexis for answers grounded in its US case law and checked through Shepard's. So for a firm under about 20 lawyers the real choice is Protégé or a cheaper research seat. This is informational research, not legal advice.
How we checked this. On 14 October 2026 we requested Harvey's pricing address and a pricing address we invented on the same site. Both returned a 404, while a real Harvey blog post on that site loaded normally, so the missing price is a real absence and not a blocked request. LexisNexis refuses automated requests to every address, including invented ones, so its figures come from its online store as archived on 7 October 2026. Per-seat figures labeled Reported come from third parties, not from either vendor. Yearly totals are our arithmetic.
Side by side
Lexis Protégé and Harvey pricing compared line by line
Two quote-only vendors are hard to compare, so the table separates what each one has put in writing from what other people report. Read the wording in each cell before you carry a number into a negotiation.
| Lexis+ with Protégé | Harvey | |
|---|---|---|
| Published price | None for Protégé. The LexisNexis store lists it as "Pricing on request" | None. harvey.ai/pricing returns a 404, checked 14 October 2026 |
| Published floor underneath | Lexis+ without AI, one attorney: 152 a month on 1 year (Essential, one state) to 432 (Professional, 50 states) | Nothing. No tier, no starting figure |
| Reported price per seat | 128 to 494 a month for Protégé, or 125 to 275 as an add-on to a Lexis+ seat | About 1,200 a month at mid-sized firms, lower at very large deployments |
| Reported seat minimum | None. The store sells to firms of 1 to 3 attorneys | 20 to 25 seats on a 12 month term |
| Trial | Offered on the live sign-up page, length not stated on 12 October 2026 | None. Demo request only |
| Citator | Shepard's, inside the AI answer | Shepard's, through the LexisNexis alliance inside Harvey |
| Where the case law comes from | The LexisNexis US library | The same LexisNexis US case law and statutes, through Ask LexisNexis |
| Models named | Anthropic, Google and OpenAI | External model providers, not named on its security pages |
Treat the low Protégé figure with suspicion. A reported 128 dollars for Protégé is less than the 152 LexisNexis publishes for a one-state Essential seat with no AI at all. It is probably a long-term or narrow-content deal, not a rate card. The store terms tell you what to ask instead: 10 percent off a two-year term, 25 percent off three years, and a stated 5 percent annual increase on the base plans. The full store matrix is on LexisNexis solo practitioner pricing, and where each reported Protégé number comes from is traced on Lexis+ with Protégé cost and price.
What most comparisons miss
Harvey can already answer from LexisNexis case law
On 18 June 2025 LexisNexis and Harvey announced a strategic alliance. Harvey customers can select the LexisNexis Protégé service inside Harvey and get answers grounded in LexisNexis US case law and statutes, validated through Shepard's Citations. Harvey said on 12 August 2025 that Ask LexisNexis was live in open beta for all Harvey users, covering federal and state case law, statutes, administrative codes and agency decisions.
LawNext reported at launch that Harvey customers will not need to be a LexisNexis Protégé subscriber to receive that content. That changes the question. For a large firm, "Protégé or Harvey" is partly "Protégé, or Protégé's research inside a bigger platform". For a small firm it changes nothing, because Harvey is not sold at that size.
18 Jun 2025
Alliance announced, with motion to dismiss and summary judgment workflows co-developed.
Shepard's
The same citator checks the answer in both products. It is not the thing that separates them.
What your headcount pays
What a year costs at 3, 10, 25 and 60 lawyers
Both columns use reported midpoints, about 300 dollars a seat a month for Protégé and about 1,200 for Harvey, times twelve. They are arithmetic for budgeting, not quotes. The point is the shape: the seat floor decides who is even in the room.
3 lawyers
Protégé
About 10,800 a year
Harvey
Not sold at this size
Under the reported seat floor, Harvey is not a choice. The decision is Protégé or a cheaper research seat.
10 lawyers
Protégé
About 36,000 a year
Harvey
Not sold at this size
Still under the floor. A Protégé quote is the realistic ceiling of this decision.
25 lawyers
Protégé
About 90,000 a year
Harvey
About 360,000 a year
The first size where both are on the table, and the gap is roughly four to one.
60 lawyers
Protégé
About 216,000 a year
Harvey
About 864,000 a year
At this size Harvey is negotiated, and the reported per-seat rate tends to fall. Get both quotes in writing.
Below the floor, the honest comparison is not Harvey at all. It is Protégé against the published research plans: Westlaw Advantage from 256.75 a month for one circuit, CoCounsel Legal at 784 for all states plus federal, and focused case law search from 49. Every published rate in this market sits side by side on our legal research pricing comparison. If Harvey is on your list because a partner saw a demo, Harvey AI alternatives priced by seat floor lists the nine tools firms under 25 lawyers actually buy.
What the money pays for
What each product does that the other does not
300+
Protégé workflows
Prebuilt research, drafting and analysis workflows plus a no-code builder, launched with general availability on 24 February 2026.
1 to 3
Attorneys the Lexis store sells to
A small firm can reach a LexisNexis store price and a trial without an enterprise procurement process. Harvey offers neither.
Vault
Harvey document workspace
Bulk analysis of large document sets, plus agents, knowledge and firm analytics. This is what Harvey charges for beyond research.
20 to 25
Harvey seats, reported floor
The single number that rules most firms out. It comes with a reported 12 month term and no trial.
Accuracy evidence is thin on both sides. The Stanford and Yale study tested Lexis+ AI, Protégé's predecessor, in 2024 and found it accurate on 65 percent of queries, the best legal tool in that test, while still hallucinating on at least 17 percent. Nobody has published an independent research benchmark of Protégé or of Harvey's research mode since. Our Lexis Protégé review and Harvey AI review collect what testing does exist.
Honest fit, including where both are wrong
Which to buy for your kind of firm
| Firm | Buy | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Solo or small firm, research-first litigation | Lexis Protégé, or a research seat | Harvey is not sold below its reported floor. If you already read Shepard's, a Protégé quote is the AI upgrade that fits. If you mostly need to find the case, a focused search seat costs a fraction of either. |
| Firm already on Lexis+, 5 to 20 lawyers | Lexis Protégé | Ask for the Lexis+ price with and without Protégé on the same term. The difference is what the AI really costs you, and it is the only number in this comparison you can isolate. |
| Firm of 25 or more with drafting and diligence volume | Harvey, priced against Protégé | Harvey is a platform for document work, agents and firm knowledge, and since 2025 it can ask LexisNexis for grounded answers. Take a written Protégé quote into the Harvey negotiation. |
| Firm already paying for both | Check for overlap | Harvey users can reach LexisNexis case law and Shepard's inside Harvey. Ask both vendors, in writing, which research features you are paying for twice. |
| Transactional practice, little case law | Neither for research | Reviewers rate Protégé strongest on research and weakest on drafting. Harvey is built for document work but sells only at enterprise scale. Price contract tools separately. |
The first row is where we fit, and we say plainly what we are not. Cases is not a citator, has no drafting suite and does not replace Shepard's. It finds on-point US federal and state decisions from a plain-English question and shows the real citation, from 49 dollars a month, or 199 for a team, with no sales call. A lot of small firms run a seat like that next to the citator their bar provides and revisit a platform once the work justifies it. If the platform you are weighing is the Thomson Reuters one, Lexis Protégé vs CoCounsel covers that matchup, and Legora vs Harvey pricing covers Harvey's closest platform rival.
Before you sign
How to price Lexis Protégé against Harvey
1
Count your lawyers first
Under 20 to 25 lawyers Harvey is reported not to sell at all. That single fact settles most of these decisions before a demo is booked.
2
Isolate the Protégé premium
Ask LexisNexis for your Lexis+ plan with and without Protégé, same term, same content. The difference is the AI price. Ask for year two and three in writing, because the base plans carry a 5 percent annual increase.
3
Ask Harvey what Lexis access is included
The alliance put LexisNexis case law and Shepard's inside Harvey. Ask whether Ask LexisNexis is in your quote, whether any usage limit applies, and what happens to it if the alliance changes.
4
Test on one live matter
Run the same research question through each, then open every case cited. A grounded answer still has to say what the case says. That check is yours, whichever tool you buy.
Whichever you sign, the duty stays with the lawyer. ABA Formal Opinion 512, issued 29 July 2024, treats generative AI as a competence and confidentiality question, and a Shepard's flag tells you a case is still good law, not that it says what the answer claims. If the real choice turns out to be Protégé against the chatbot the firm already pays for, see Lexis AI vs ChatGPT pricing.
Questions buyers ask
Lexis Protégé vs Harvey questions, answered
Is Lexis Protégé better than Harvey?
They are built for different buyers. Lexis+ with Protégé is a research platform with AI, Shepard's inside the answer and a store that sells to firms of one to three attorneys. Harvey is an enterprise platform for document work and agents, reported to sell from 20 to 25 seats. No independent benchmark has tested them head to head.
How much does Harvey AI cost compared to Lexis+ AI?
Harvey publishes no price. Reported figures put it near 1,200 dollars a seat a month at mid-sized firms, with a 20 to 25 seat floor. Lexis+ with Protégé is also quote only, reported at 128 to 494 a seat a month, built on a published Lexis+ floor of 114 to 432 for one attorney.
Does Harvey use LexisNexis?
Yes. LexisNexis and Harvey announced a strategic alliance on 18 June 2025. Harvey customers can ask LexisNexis Protégé inside Harvey for answers grounded in US case law and statutes and checked through Shepard's Citations. Harvey said in August 2025 that Ask LexisNexis was live in open beta for all Harvey users.
Do Harvey users need a LexisNexis subscription?
Not according to the launch reporting. LawNext wrote on 18 June 2025 that Harvey customers will not need to be a LexisNexis Protégé subscriber to receive US primary law and Shepard's Citations in Harvey. Commercial terms can change, so ask Harvey to confirm in writing what your contract includes.
Is Lexis+ AI the same as Lexis Protégé?
Lexis+ with Protégé replaced Lexis+ AI when LexisNexis made it generally available in the US on 24 February 2026. It added more than 300 prebuilt workflows, a workflow builder and general models from Anthropic, Google and OpenAI alongside the legal assistant. If a renewal still says Lexis+ AI, ask which product is being quoted.
Can a small law firm buy Harvey?
In practice, no. Harvey publishes no price, no trial and no self-serve signup, and the commonly reported minimum is 20 to 25 seats on a 12 month term. It now runs a page for mid-sized firms, but that still means a firm with a technology budget, not a solo or a three-lawyer office.
Is there a free trial of Harvey or Lexis Protégé?
Harvey offers no trial, only a demo request. LexisNexis runs a trial sign-up for Lexis+ with Protégé, and on 12 October 2026 the live page did not state a length. Older LexisNexis materials said two days, so plan the trial around a real matter you can test on day one.
Is there a cheaper alternative to Lexis Protégé and Harvey?
Yes, if the job is finding and reading US case law. Cases searches federal and state decisions in plain English and returns real citations you can open, from 49 dollars a month with no quote and no contract. It is not a citator and has no drafting suite, so pair it with Shepard's, KeyCite or a bar-provided service.
Find the case without a 25 seat contract
Ask a legal question in plain English and read the US decisions it returns, with real citations. From 49 dollars a month, no sales call required.