If you are a solo or small-firm litigator choosing between Thomson Reuters' CoCounsel and CaseRead, here is the short version. CoCounsel Legal is the deeper product: Westlaw content, KeyCite, Practical Law and a broad AI assistant, at $784 a month for one attorney on a one-year plan (all states and federal), as Thomson Reuters' own configurator showed on October 26, 2026. CaseRead is cited research and drafting over the public law and your own files, with two checks on every citation, at $149 a month month to month, or $119 a month billed yearly. Which is right depends on whether you need Westlaw's editorial layer, and whether you can commit to a year to get it.
Both products answer to the same court. Whatever you use, the brief that goes out under your name has to cite real authority that says what you say it says. That is the test this comparison starts with.
CoCounsel vs CaseRead at a glance
| CoCounsel Legal (Thomson Reuters) | CaseRead Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Published price, 1 attorney | $784/month on a 1-year plan; $637/month on a 3-year plan (all states and federal) | $149/month, or $119/month billed yearly |
| Lower-priced option | CoCounsel Essentials: $360/month on a 1-year plan, with no legal research | Pro is the single-seat plan; Team is $199 per seat a month, or $159 billed yearly |
| Term | 1, 2 or 3 years; online plans for firms of 1 to 10 attorneys | Month to month, or yearly |
| Where the law comes from | Westlaw Advantage and Practical Law content | Case law from the Free Law Project's collection of US court opinions; statutes and regulations from CaseRead's public law database for all 53 US jurisdictions |
| Your own documents | Document review, including tabular review of up to 10,000 documents | Research across your project files and the public law in one conversation |
| Checking the citations in a brief | Quick Check integration, KeyCite flags and "Analyze Document for Errors" in the CoCounsel Legal bundle | Two checks on each citation: does the source exist, and does it support the sentence it is cited for |
| Is the case still good law? | KeyCite | Not a citator: use KeyCite, Shepard's or a search of citing cases |
| Word | CoCounsel inside Microsoft Word | CaseRead for Word, in a side panel |
| Try it | 24-hour free trial, no card | The citation check is free, with no account |
Thomson Reuters' figures are its online prices for new customers, read on its own plan pages on October 26, 2026 (sources below). Prices change, so confirm them before you buy. CaseRead's are on our pricing page.
Where CoCounsel is the better buy
Honesty first, because it is the only kind of comparison worth reading.
- You need Westlaw's editorial layer. Headnotes, the Key Number system, KeyCite's treatment analysis and Practical Law's forms and practice notes are real advantages that no public-law tool replicates. If your practice is appellate, or a mischaracterized holding is a malpractice problem, that layer is worth paying for.
- You want one vendor for research, drafting content and review. CoCounsel Legal bundles Westlaw Advantage, Practical Law and the CoCounsel assistant in one plan. If you would buy all three anyway, the bundle is the efficient way to do it.
- Large document review. CoCounsel advertises tabular review of up to 10,000 documents against 100 questions. CaseRead reads your project files alongside the law, but heavy discovery-scale review is not what it is built around.
Where CaseRead differs
- Price and term. At published prices, CoCounsel Legal costs about five times CaseRead Pro per month, on a one-year commitment, and its cheapest plan, Essentials, does no legal research. CaseRead runs month to month. For a small firm, the contract shape matters as much as the number.
- The citation check is free to try on a real brief. You can paste a draft into CaseRead's checker without an account and see what it flags. Each citation is looked up, then read against the sentence it supports, up to 50 per run.
- Research that starts from your matter. CaseRead searches your firm's own files and the public law together, so one answer can cite both: the statute and the deposition excerpt, the case and the contract clause.
- Every jurisdiction on one plan. Pro covers all 53 US jurisdictions. Westlaw-based plans are priced by coverage: a single circuit costs less than all states and federal.
The test that matters more than price
Courts keep sanctioning lawyers for citations nobody opened. Our running list of AI hallucination sanctions cases has the orders, from Mata v. Avianca on. No research product removes your duty to read what you cite, and none of the orders on that list turned on which tool the lawyer used. They turned on whether anyone checked.
So run both products against the same brief before you decide. Take a draft you have already cite-checked by hand, run it through CoCounsel's document analysis during its trial and through CaseRead's free check, and compare what each one flags. Our page on the citation checker for briefs explains what CaseRead's check covers and what it leaves to your citator.
Who should pick which
- Pick CoCounsel Legal if you will use Westlaw's editorial content and Practical Law every week, you can commit to a year or more, and your budget absorbs about $9,400 a year per attorney at the one-year price.
- Pick CaseRead if you need cited research over the public law and your own files, a check on every citation before filing, and a month-to-month plan at $149.
- Run both if you are a small litigation firm keeping one Westlaw seat for the partner who lives in KeyCite. That configuration is common, and it often costs less than a CoCounsel seat for everyone.
For the wider field, see CoCounsel alternatives, CoCounsel vs Lexis+ AI, Westlaw vs Lexis vs CaseRead pricing for solo attorneys, and our LexisNexis alternatives guide.
Sources
All read October 26, 2026.
- Thomson Reuters, CoCounsel Legal plans and pricing (law firm, 1 attorney, All States and Federal; online pricing for new customers): price, terms, the bundle's contents, and its citation features.
- Thomson Reuters, CoCounsel Essentials plans and pricing (1 attorney): price and contents.
- Thomson Reuters, CoCounsel Legal product page: Westlaw and Practical Law content, tabular review, Word.
- Thomson Reuters, CoCounsel Legal free trial: 24 hours, no credit card.
Product names are trademarks of their owners; naming them implies no affiliation or endorsement.
Frequently asked questions
How much does CoCounsel cost? Thomson Reuters' online configurator, read on October 26, 2026, priced CoCounsel Legal for one attorney with all-states-and-federal coverage at $784 a month on a one-year plan, or $637 a month on a three-year plan. CoCounsel Essentials, which has no legal research, was $360 a month on a one-year plan. Those are prices for new customers and they change, so check the configurator before you buy.
Is CaseRead cheaper than CoCounsel? Yes, at published prices. CaseRead Pro is $149 a month month to month, or $119 a month billed yearly, against $784 a month for CoCounsel Legal on a one-year plan. CoCounsel Legal includes Westlaw Advantage and Practical Law content, which CaseRead does not, so compare what you will actually use.
Does CoCounsel check the citations in a brief? The CoCounsel Legal bundle lists Quick Check integration, KeyCite flags and an "Analyze Document for Errors" skill. CaseRead runs two checks on each citation in a pasted or uploaded brief, up to 50 per run: whether the source exists and whether it supports the sentence it is cited for. CaseRead's check is free with no account; it is not a citator.
Can I use CaseRead without Westlaw? Yes. CaseRead answers from case law in the Free Law Project's collection of US court opinions and from its own public law database of statutes and regulations for all 53 US jurisdictions, alongside your own files. It does not include Westlaw's headnotes, KeyCite or secondary sources.
Which is better for a solo attorney? It depends on whether you need Westlaw's editorial layer. A solo who relies on KeyCite and Practical Law every week may find CoCounsel Legal worth the annual commitment. A solo who needs cited research, drafting and a citation check before filing, on a month-to-month plan, will usually find CaseRead the better fit.