← Comparisons
Westlaw vs. Fastcase vs. CoCounsel

Westlaw alternatives for solo attorneys

Westlaw publishes no pricing — every tier is gated behind 'Contact Sales.' Attorneys report $750-1,000/month for a full solo subscription. The more durable lower-cost paths are a bar-association Fastcase membership, or dropping to Practical Law or Bloomberg Law if you don't need primary case law every day.

Pricing

ToolPriceNotes
Westlaw (full bundle)$750–1,000+/moNo public pricing — every tier gated behind 'Contact Sales.' Figure is attorney-reported for a full solo subscription.
CoCounsel (Westlaw-bundled AI)$225–428/mo/attorneySelf-reported by a small-firm practitioner; not vendor-confirmed, since Westlaw publishes no price list.
FastcaseBar-association bundledNo direct-purchase price; free through 80+ state and local bar memberships. Being acquired by Clio; Casemaker has merged into Fastcase and no longer exists as a separate product.
Paxton.ai$499/user/moNamed as a cheap escape hatch in 2024 at $99/mo; has since repriced roughly 5x.

What practitioners report

I have access to Fastcase for free through the Florida Bar, but I don't find it great for actual research, just pulling up cases... Westlaw is way too expensive for me to afford right now.
I am annoyed at how complicated Westlaw makes their plans... Also annoying all these legal research companies require such long-term contracts.

Switching signals

I use co-counsel as a research tool occasionally because it's included along with our westlaw subscription. I would never pay $400 a month for it if I was a solo just for that.
For in-house and small firms that don't need deep case law every day, Practical Law or Bloomberg Law often does the job for less. I've seen plenty of in-house lawyers drop Westlaw and not miss it.