UniCourt Pricing and Cost per Search for Law Firms
UniCourt publishes three self-serve plans at 59, 199 and 399 dollars a month, metered by searches and tracked cases. Alerts, analytics and the API sit in a separate enterprise tier. Here is what each plan buys, what a search really costs, and when a cheaper tool does the job.
In short
UniCourt costs 59 dollars a month for Personal (10 searches, 1 user, 1 tracked case), 199 for Professional (50 searches, 2 users, 3 tracked cases) and 399 for Premium (200 searches, 5 users, 10 tracked cases). Paying yearly gives two months free: 590, 1,990 or 3,990. There is no free trial. Case alerts, legal analytics and the Legal Data API are not in any of the three plans; they come only with a quoted Enterprise plan. Court documents cost nothing extra when they are already in UniCourt's library and cost whatever the court charges when they are not. Cases is not a docket tool: it searches published US case law for 49 dollars a month. This is informational research, not legal advice.
How we checked this. UniCourt's live pricing page answers automated requests with a human-verification wall, and it returns the same wall for a page that does not exist, so it cannot be read directly. We read the plan table and FAQ from the Internet Archive capture of 19 September 2026, the latest of eight captures since July that all carry the same page. Figures of 49, 149 and 299 a month circulate on software directory sites; they do not match UniCourt's own table. Trellis, CourtLink, PacerMonitor, DocketBird and PACER prices come from each vendor's own pages. Per-search figures are our arithmetic.
UniCourt plan table, self-serve tiers
What 59, 199 and 399 dollars a month buy
Personal use
Personal
59 dollars a month
or 590 a year, 49.17 a month
10
searches a month
1
user
1
tracked case
Small law firms and businesses
Professional
199 dollars a month
or 1,990 a year, 165.83 a month
50
searches a month
2
users
3
tracked cases
Mid-size law firms and businesses
Premium
399 dollars a month
or 3,990 a year, 332.50 a month
200
searches a month
5
users
10
tracked cases
Large firms and businesses
Enterprise
Custom price through sales. This is the only tier that lists case alerts, legal analytics on judges, attorneys and parties, the Legal Data API and technical support. If any of those is the reason you are looking at UniCourt, the three prices above do not apply to you.
The plan names suggest a ladder from personal use to mid-size firms, but the jump that matters is between Premium and Enterprise. Every self-serve tier is search, document download and a small number of tracked cases. Monitoring, the thing most litigation teams actually pay a docket service for, starts at a quote.
Plan price divided by included searches
UniCourt cost per search by plan
Searches are the meter on every UniCourt plan, and UniCourt counts one each time you run a search, change it or rerun a saved search. So the useful number is not the monthly price but the price of a search if you use your whole allowance.
Personal works out at 5.90 a search. Premium brings it down to 2 dollars, and paid yearly to 1.66. That is a threefold spread, so a firm that genuinely runs 50 or more docket searches a month is overpaying on the small plans, and a firm that runs eight a month is overpaying on anything but Personal.
Two things push the real cost up. Refining a vague party name counts as several searches, and documents outside UniCourt's library carry the court's own fee on top. Count last month's docket lookups before you pick a tier.
Dollars per included search
Our arithmetic from UniCourt's plan table. Yearly figures use the yearly price divided by 12.
Read from the plan comparison table
What the self-serve plans leave out
| Feature | Personal, Professional, Premium | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|
| Federal (PACER) and state court case search | Yes, metered at 10, 50 or 200 searches a month | Custom volume |
| Court document downloads | Yes. Free from the CrowdSourced Library, court fees where a court charges | Same |
| Case tracking | 1, 3 or 10 tracked cases | Custom |
| Case alerts (saved searches on parties, judges, case types) | Not included | Custom |
| Legal analytics on judges, attorneys and parties | Not included | Custom |
| Legal Data API | Not included | Custom, billed per call |
| Technical support | Not listed | Included |
No alerts below Enterprise
Saved searches that tell you when a party, judge or case type turns up in a new filing are an Enterprise feature. Tracking a case you already know about is included; finding new ones automatically is not.
Analytics is a quote
Judge, attorney and party analytics are listed for Enterprise only. Trellis sells judge analytics on a published 199.95 a month plan, which gives you a number to hold a UniCourt quote against.
The API is metered
UniCourt bills API calls on Search, Case, Download Document, Order Document Confirm and Update Cases. Everything else, webhooks included, is free. Model your call volume before the sales call, not after.
Every price from the vendor's own page
UniCourt vs Trellis, CourtLink, PacerMonitor and PACER on price
UniCourt's distinctive feature is one search across federal PACER records and state courts. The tools below each do part of that job, and several do it for less if you only need one half.
| Tool | Price | What the price covers | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| UniCourt Professional | 199 a month, or 1,990 a year | 50 searches, 3 tracked cases, 2 users | A firm that searches federal and state dockets together a few times a week and tracks a handful of its own matters |
| Trellis Research | 129.95 a month, or 1,099.95 a year | 900 content views a year, one state | State trial court work in one state, with motions and rulings to read |
| CourtLink (LexisNexis) | 294 to 392 a month as a Lexis+ add-on, or 11 per track run | Per track, document and alert outside a plan | Firms already on Lexis+ that need alerts on litigants and judges |
| PacerMonitor Professional | 99 a month | 20 alerts, 10 cents a page | Federal only practices that want alerts without an enterprise contract |
| DocketBird | From 35 per user a month billed annually | 20 active cases per user, PACER at cost | Tracking your own federal cases cheaply |
| PACER | 10 cents a page, 3 dollar cap per document | 12 cents from 1 January 2027 | Occasional federal lookups when you know the case |
| Cases (us) | 49 a month, or 24 a month billed yearly | Case law search, not dockets | Finding the published decisions a motion turns on |
Where UniCourt wins
Month to month terms, cancel anytime, and federal plus state records in one search. Trellis individual plans cover a single state, and CourtLink is sold on top of a Lexis+ contract. For a firm that needs both court systems without a multi-year commitment, UniCourt is the straightforward buy.
Where others win
Tracking and alerts. DocketBird includes 20 active cases per user from 35 dollars, and PacerMonitor Professional has 20 alerts at 99 a month, against 3 tracked cases and no alerts on UniCourt Professional at 199. For state trial court rulings and judge analytics, Trellis publishes a price where UniCourt asks for a call.
We compare the two state court tools plan by plan in UniCourt vs Trellis pricing. If alerts are the priority, our CourtLink pricing breakdown has the LexisNexis per-alert fees, and the DocketBird vs PacerMonitor pricing comparison covers the federal trackers at 5, 20 and 60 cases.
The question behind unicourt vs pacer
When UniCourt costs less than PACER and when it does not
0
PACER bill under 30 dollars a quarter
PACER waives quarterly charges of 30 dollars or less, rising to 40 dollars in 2027, and opinions are free. A lawyer who pulls a few federal dockets a month may pay PACER nothing, which no subscription beats.
12
Cents a page from January 2027
The judiciary announced a five year increase from 10 to 12 cents a page, with the 3 dollar cap per document unchanged. Records already in UniCourt's library do not trigger a fresh PACER charge for you.
1
Search for state and federal together
PACER has no state courts at all. The moment you need a county docket next to a federal one, you are paying for convenience, and that is what UniCourt charges for. You can connect your own PACER account or use UniCourt's.
Honest fit, including when to skip it
Which UniCourt plan fits your practice
| Practice | Verdict | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Solo who needs a state docket two or three times a month | Personal can work | Ten searches is enough if you know the party or case number. Every refined search counts, so vague searches burn the allowance fast. |
| Small litigation firm tracking 20 of its own federal cases | Look elsewhere | Professional tracks 3 cases and Premium 10. A per-case tracker includes 20 active cases per user for a fraction of the price. |
| Firm that searches federal and state dockets in one place every week | Professional or Premium | One search across PACER and state courts is what the self-serve plans are good at. Premium brings the cost down to 2 dollars a search. |
| Defense or insurance team watching for new suits against clients | Enterprise only | Case alerts are not in any self-serve plan. That need is an enterprise conversation, so price it against CourtLink alerts. |
| Legal tech team building on court data | Enterprise API | The Legal Data API is quoted through sales and billed per call on Search, Case, Download Document, Order Document Confirm and Update Cases. |
| Lawyer who mainly needs the law, not the filings | Not a docket purchase | Dockets show what was filed. Authority for a brief comes from published opinions, which a case law search tool finds for less. |
A quick way to choose: take last month and count three things. Docket searches (not documents, searches). Cases you checked more than once. New suits you wish you had heard about sooner. The first number picks the UniCourt tier. The second tells you whether a per-case tracker is cheaper. If the third is more than zero, you need alerts, and that means Enterprise here or a different vendor.
Two different purchases
Court records show what was filed, not what the law is
UniCourt is good at telling you that a complaint was filed in Cook County last week and pulling the docket. It will not tell you how Illinois appellate courts have treated the claim in that complaint, and that is usually the question the partner asks next.
That second job is what Cases does. 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. We do not track dockets and we have no citator, so pair us with whichever records tool the tables above point you to, and check citations in a citator before you file. A 199 dollar docket plan plus 49 dollars of case law search is still cheaper than most single research seats. Start from our federal case law search, or see every research seat priced side by side on our legal research pricing overview.
Questions buyers ask
UniCourt pricing questions
How much does UniCourt cost?
UniCourt costs 59 dollars a month for Personal, 199 for Professional and 399 for Premium, according to its own pricing page as captured on 19 September 2026. Paid yearly the plans are 590, 1,990 and 3,990, which is two months free. Enterprise plans with API access, alerts and analytics are quoted by sales.
Is UniCourt free?
No. UniCourt says it does not offer free trials because its plans are month to month with no long-term commitment. Some case pages are publicly viewable, and documents already in its CrowdSourced Library download at no extra cost to subscribers, but searching and tracking require a paid plan from 59 dollars a month.
How much is the UniCourt API?
UniCourt does not put an API price on its plan page. API access comes only with an Enterprise plan through sales, and billable calls are Search, Case, Download Document, Order Document Confirm and Update Cases, with all other endpoints and webhooks included. Budget for a quote and per-call billing, not a flat seat price.
What counts as a search on UniCourt?
UniCourt counts a search every time you run a search, modify a search or run a saved search. That matters on the smaller plans: ten searches on Personal can be gone in one sitting if you refine a party name three or four times. Tight search terms stretch the allowance furthest.
Does UniCourt charge for court documents?
Sometimes. UniCourt charges what the court charges: if a court makes a record free, UniCourt passes it on free, and if the court charges, UniCourt charges. Documents already in its CrowdSourced Library cost nothing extra. For federal records you can use your own PACER account or UniCourt's.
Is UniCourt cheaper than PACER?
Not for occasional federal lookups. PACER charges 10 cents a page with a 3 dollar cap per document and waives quarterly bills of 30 dollars or less, so light use can cost nothing. UniCourt costs more but searches state and federal courts together and tracks cases. PACER rises to 12 cents a page in January 2027.
Does UniCourt include legal analytics?
Not on the self-serve plans. The plan table lists Legal Analytics, Case Alerts and the Legal Data API as Enterprise features, unchecked on Personal, Professional and Premium. If judge or attorney analytics is the reason you are buying, you are in a sales conversation, so compare the quote with Trellis or Lex Machina.
Can I cancel UniCourt anytime?
Yes. UniCourt sells monthly subscriptions with no long-term commitment and says you can cancel anytime from your account or through support. Upgrades take effect immediately and downgrades apply at renewal. It accepts major credit cards, and ACH for Enterprise plans.
Is UniCourt legit?
Yes. UniCourt is a US legal data company selling court records search, docket tracking and a legal data API to law firms, insurers and businesses. People ask because its public case pages show up in Google for their own names. Those pages republish public court records, and questions about a record belong to the court that holds it.
Keep comparing
Related pricing pages for litigators
You found the filing. Now find the law that decides it.
Ask a legal question in plain English and read the US federal and state decisions it returns, with citations you can open. 49 dollars a month, month to month, no sales call.