CaseText shut down April 2025. Find the best alternatives like LegesGPT AI legal research. Compare features, pricing & migrate today.
The legal technology landscape shifted dramatically when CaseText, a favorite among solo practitioners and small firms, was officially retired on April 1, 2025. Following its $650 million acquisition by Thomson Reuters, the platform's groundbreaking CoCounsel technology was absorbed into the Westlaw ecosystem, leaving a significant void for those who relied on CaseText's standalone affordability and intuitive AI interface.
For many legal professionals, the transition has meant facing steeper subscription costs or navigating more complex enterprise software. However, 2026 has seen the rise of agile, independent alternatives that prioritize the needs of the modern, budget-conscious lawyer.
In this guide, we provide a comprehensive look at the state of legal research today. We will cover:
| Event | Date | Details |
|---|---|---|
| CaseText founded | 2013 | Started as a legal research startup in San Francisco |
| CoCounsel AI launched | March 2023 | First AI legal assistant powered by GPT-4 |
| Thomson Reuters announces acquisition | June 2023 | $650 million deal announced |
| Acquisition completed | August 17, 2023 | Deal closes, CaseText joins Thomson Reuters |
| Integration period begins | September 2023 | CaseText technology integrated into Thomson Reuters products |
| CaseText shutdown announced | Early 2025 | Thomson Reuters announces discontinuation |
| CaseText shutdown | April 1, 2025 | All CaseText services discontinued |
Thomson Reuters acquired CaseText primarily for its CoCounsel AI assistant technology, which was powered by GPT-4. Less than two years later, Thomson Reuters discontinued the standalone CaseText product, directing former users toward Westlaw subscriptions.
CaseText was founded in 2013 by Jake Heller, a former litigation associate at Ropes & Gray, along with co-founders Pablo Arredondo and Laura Safdie. The company was born out of frustration with the high costs and outdated interfaces of traditional legal research platforms like Westlaw and LexisNexis.
The founding team's vision was to democratize legal research by making it more affordable and accessible to solo practitioners, small firms, and even law students who couldn't afford the premium pricing of established platforms.
In its early years, CaseText focused on building a comprehensive database of U.S. case law with an innovative community-driven annotation system. Legal professionals could add insights, summaries, and notes to cases, creating a collaborative knowledge base that enhanced the raw legal data.
Between 2017 and 2022, CaseText secured significant venture capital funding totaling over $60 million across multiple rounds. This capital allowed the company to:
CARA was particularly groundbreaking for its time. Attorneys could upload a brief, and the AI would identify cases and statutes that might be relevant to the legal issues at hand—even if those authorities weren't explicitly cited. This was one of the first practical applications of AI in legal research.
In March 2023, CaseText launched CoCounsel, the first AI legal assistant built on OpenAI's GPT-4. CoCounsel represented a quantum leap beyond CARA's capabilities. Rather than simply suggesting relevant cases, CoCounsel could:
The launch of CoCounsel made CaseText the clear leader in AI-powered legal technology. Within months, major law firms that had previously relied exclusively on Westlaw and LexisNexis began piloting CoCounsel alongside their traditional research tools.
This success, however, made CaseText an attractive acquisition target.
Thomson Reuters has not provided a detailed public explanation for discontinuing CaseText. However, industry analysts and legal technology experts have identified several likely factors:
CaseText's affordable pricing (approximately $65/month at the time of acquisition) significantly undercut Westlaw's premium pricing ($300-500+/month). By maintaining CaseText as a separate product, Thomson Reuters would have been competing against itself in the legal research market.
From a business perspective, it made more sense to integrate CaseText's valuable AI technology into Westlaw—which commands much higher subscription fees—rather than continue offering a budget alternative.
The primary value Thomson Reuters saw in CaseText was its CoCounsel AI technology and the engineering team behind it. Within months of the acquisition, Thomson Reuters began integrating CoCounsel capabilities into Westlaw as "AI-Assisted Research on Westlaw Precision" and later marketed it as "Westlaw Precision with CoCounsel."
Once the technology was successfully migrated, the standalone CaseText product became redundant from Thomson Reuters' perspective.
Thomson Reuters has a history of acquiring smaller legal technology companies and either integrating their products into its core offerings or discontinuing them. The CaseText shutdown follows a pattern seen with other acquisitions in the legal technology space.
CaseText's primary customer base consisted of solo practitioners and small firms—clients that typically generate lower revenue and require more support relative to their subscription fees. By discontinuing CaseText and directing users to Westlaw, Thomson Reuters effectively moved away from this market segment to focus on higher-value enterprise relationships.
The shutdown left many legal professionals scrambling for alternatives:
The CaseText shutdown sent ripples throughout the legal technology ecosystem and highlighted several important trends:
The acquisition and subsequent shutdown reinforced concerns about consolidation in the legal research market. With Thomson Reuters (Westlaw) and RELX (LexisNexis) controlling the vast majority of the market, smaller competitors face constant acquisition pressure.
Legal professionals and industry observers have expressed concern that this consolidation reduces competition, keeps prices high, and limits innovation.
In response to the CaseText shutdown, several independent legal AI platforms have gained traction. These new entrants are positioning themselves as affordable, innovative alternatives to the legacy providers:
The CaseText shutdown has accelerated interest in open legal data initiatives. Organizations like the Free Law Project (which operates CourtListener) have seen increased support and usage as legal professionals seek alternatives that can't be acquired and shut down by larger competitors.
The CaseText situation taught legal professionals several important lessons:
LegesGPT has emerged as the most direct replacement for CaseText, offering similar AI-powered legal research capabilities at an affordable price point. Here's a detailed comparison:
| Feature | CaseText (Discontinued) | LegesGPT (Active) |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Shut down April 2025 | Active |
| AI Legal Research | ✅ CoCounsel | ✅ AI Legal Chatbot |
| Document Analysis | ✅ Brief analysis | ✅ Upload & analyze contracts, briefs |
| Jurisdictions | U.S. only | 38+ countries |
| Citation Verification | ✅ | ✅ Verified citations |
| Legal Templates | ❌ Limited | ✅ 100+ attorney-drafted templates |
| Starting Price | ~$65/month | $19.99/month |
| Free Trial | 7 days | 3 days |
Affordability Without Compromise: At $19.99/month for the Basic plan, LegesGPT costs significantly less than CaseText did before its shutdown. This makes professional-grade AI legal research accessible to practitioners who previously couldn't justify the expense.
International Coverage: Unlike CaseText's U.S.-only focus, LegesGPT supports 38+ countries. This is particularly valuable for:
Modern AI Architecture: LegesGPT was built from the ground up with modern AI architecture, incorporating the latest advances in large language models. This means it can understand complex legal queries, provide nuanced answers, and improve continuously as the underlying technology advances.
No Long-Term Contracts: The month-to-month pricing option allows legal professionals to use LegesGPT exactly when they need it, without committing to annual contracts. This flexibility is especially valuable for solo practitioners with variable caseloads.
LegesGPT offers three pricing tiers designed to accommodate different practice sizes and research needs. All plans include a 3-day free trial:
| Plan | Monthly Price | Annual Price | Savings | Key Features |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $19.99 | $167.88/year | 30% | Unlimited queries, AI legal chatbot, up-to-date legal data, case law search, statutory research |
| Plus | $49.99 | $419.88/year | 30% | All Basic features + Document upload, 50 document reviews/month, advanced contract analysis |
| Premium | $99.99 | $839.88/year | 30% | All Plus features + Unlimited document review, web search integration, Deep Research Model, priority support |
The Basic plan provides essential AI research tools for general inquiry. It includes:
Best for: Individuals with occasional legal questions who need to understand laws or rights without professional document analysis needs.
The Plus plan introduces substantive document analysis capabilities. Includes everything in Basic, plus:
Best for: Solo practitioners and paralegals who require a baseline of professional AI tools for document review and substantive legal work.
The Premium plan is the most robust tier, offering unlimited power for heavy caseloads. Includes everything in Plus, plus:
Best for: Practicing lawyers, law firms, and legal departments that handle a high volume of documents and require the most sophisticated AI capabilities available.
The core of LegesGPT is its AI-powered legal chatbot, which allows users to ask legal questions in plain, conversational language. Unlike traditional legal research that requires specific search queries and Boolean operators, the AI chatbot understands context and legal concepts.
How it works:
Example queries:
The chatbot provides jurisdiction-specific guidance for 38+ countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and European Union member states.
Available on Plus ($49.99/month) and Premium ($99.99/month) plans, document analysis allows users to upload legal documents for instant AI review.
Supported document types:
Analysis capabilities:
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Contract Review | Identify key terms, obligations, and potential issues in contracts |
| Clause Extraction | Automatically pull out important provisions (indemnification, limitation of liability, termination, etc.) |
| Risk Flagging | Highlight potentially problematic language or missing protections |
| Plain-Language Summaries | Convert complex legalese into understandable summaries |
| Question Answering | Ask specific questions about the document's contents |
| Comparison | Analyze differences between document versions or against standard templates |
| Compliance Checking | Verify documents against regulatory requirements |
Practical use cases:
LegesGPT's case law research goes beyond simple keyword matching. The AI-powered semantic search understands legal concepts and can find relevant authorities even when they use different terminology than your search query.
Features:
Search examples:
| Query | Traditional Search Limitation | LegesGPT Advantage |
|---|---|---|
| "qualified immunity police excessive force" | Returns only cases using these exact terms | Finds cases discussing "reasonable officer standard," "clearly established law," and related concepts |
| "can landlord keep security deposit" | May miss cases using "damage deposit" or "rental deposit" | Understands these terms are equivalent and returns comprehensive results |
| "breach of warranty used car" | Limited to exact phrase matches | Also returns cases discussing "implied warranty of merchantability" and "Lemon Law" claims |
LegesGPT provides access to 100+ professionally drafted legal templates reviewed by licensed attorneys. Templates are available in Word (.docx) and PDF formats for easy customization.
Template categories include:
Business Formation & Operations
Contracts & Agreements
Employment
Real Estate
Family Law
Financial
Note: All templates are starting points and should be customized for specific situations. Complex matters should involve consultation with a licensed attorney.
LegesGPT is designed for a broad range of users who need accessible, affordable legal research:
Solo attorneys often struggle with the high costs of traditional legal research platforms. LegesGPT provides the AI-powered research capabilities needed to compete with larger firms at a fraction of the cost.
Firms with 2-50 attorneys can equip their entire team with AI research tools without the substantial budget required for firm-wide Westlaw or LexisNexis access.
Legal support staff can conduct substantive preliminary research and document review, increasing their value to the attorneys they support.
Students learning legal research benefit from AI assistance that helps them understand how to find and apply legal authorities.
Corporate legal departments can extend their research capabilities without adding headcount or expensive subscriptions.
Non-lawyers can understand their legal obligations and review contracts before signing—while recognizing when professional counsel is needed.
Everyday people facing legal issues can research their rights and options before deciding whether to hire an attorney.
When evaluating CaseText alternatives, consider these critical factors:
Why it matters: Legal research is only useful if the citations are accurate. AI tools can sometimes "hallucinate" cases that don't exist.
LegesGPT approach: Every response includes precise citations and references that users can independently verify.
Why it matters: Legal research needs vary by practice area and client base.
LegesGPT approach: Supports 38+ countries including comprehensive U.S. coverage.
Why it matters: Modern legal research benefits from AI that understands context, not just keywords.
LegesGPT approach: Built with modern AI architecture, including Deep Research Model for complex queries.
Why it matters: Legal research costs can spiral with per-search fees and hidden charges.
LegesGPT approach: Three clear tiers ($19.99-$99.99/month) with month-to-month options.
Here's an in-depth look at the major alternatives to CaseText:
| Platform | Best For | Starting Price | AI Features | Jurisdictions | Mobile App |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LegesGPT | Solo/small firms, affordability | $19.99/month | ✅ Full AI chatbot, document analysis | 38+ countries | ✅ Web |
| Westlaw | Large firms, comprehensive research | $300-500+/month | ✅ Westlaw AI (add-on) | Primarily U.S., some international | ✅ Yes |
| LexisNexis | Large firms, news integration | $300-500+/month | ✅ Lexis+ AI | Primarily U.S., some international | ✅ Yes |
| Google Scholar | Budget research, academics | Free | ❌ No AI | U.S. only | ✅ Web |
| CourtListener | Federal case law, budget users | Free | ❌ No AI | U.S. Federal only | ✅ Web |
| Fastcase | Bar association members | Included with bar dues | ⚠️ Limited | U.S. only | ✅ Yes |
| vLex | International research | $99+/month | ✅ AI-powered | 100+ jurisdictions | ✅ Yes |
Transitioning from CaseText to LegesGPT is straightforward. Follow this step-by-step guide:
Get started with LegesGPT for just $1. Your 3-day trial unlocks full access to all features of your selected plan — sign up at legesgpt.com.
To understand the difference in workflow, take three recent research queries you would have run on CaseText and input them into the LegesGPT chatbot.
Upload a redacted brief or contract to test the speed and accuracy of the analysis features.
Choose the plan that fits your practice volume. Remember that annual billing offers significant savings.
The loss of CaseText left thousands of legal professionals without the affordable, AI-powered research tool they depended on. LegesGPT picks up right where CaseText left off — with AI legal research, document analysis, case law search, and coverage across 38+ countries, all starting at $19.99/month. Start your 3-day trial for just $1 and get back to work.
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