Relativity aiR vs Everlaw AI vs DISCO Cecilia: Real AI eDiscovery Cost in 2026
Short answer
The eDiscovery AI market went through a genuine structural reset in 2025–2026: generative AI review, once sold as a paid add-on or surcharge, is now bundled into the base subscription at all three vendors — Relativity's aiR for Review and aiR for Privilege ship at no additional cost to RelativityOne customers, and Everlaw's AI features (predictive coding, privilege review, its Storybuilder tool) are similarly included in its base platform. This shifts the real cost differentiator away from "does AI cost extra" and toward each platform's underlying hosting-and-processing model. DISCO stands apart structurally by collapsing hosting, processing, and AI review into a single flat per-GB fee with no separate line items — reported at $15–25/GB/month — while Relativity's and Everlaw's real costs are reported to run considerably higher once hosting, processing, licensing, and support are all counted separately.
Pricing at a glance
| Relativity (RelativityOne + aiR) | Everlaw (+ Everlaw AI) | DISCO (+ Cecilia) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public rate card | None — three custom plans, reported at $500–25,000/month depending on scope | None — quote-based, per-user fee structure layered on volume-based hosting | None — quote-based, though its own positioning emphasizes a single, predictable flat rate |
| AI review cost | Included at no additional charge for RelativityOne customers (aiR for Review, aiR for Privilege) — a genuine 2025–2026 change from AI being a paid surcharge | Included in the base platform (predictive coding, AI-assisted privilege review, Storybuilder) | Included in DISCO's single flat per-GB fee — no separate AI line item at all, by design |
| Reported hosting rate | One detailed, dated source reports $11–13/GB/month post-2025, inclusive of aiR; a separate, less specific source reports $5–15/GB for hosting alone, with combined hosting-plus-processing-plus-licensing-plus-support reported at $15–30/GB/month | Not reported as a clean standalone per-GB figure — Everlaw's pricing is described as a platform-plus-hosting decision evaluated as a whole rather than itemized per GB in the sources reviewed | Reported at $15–25/GB/month, all-inclusive (hosting, processing, and AI review in one fee) |
| Reported real-world total cost of ownership | Reported to run 2–3 times the headline per-GB figure once processing, user licensing, and support are added — a mid-size matter's true cost is described as routinely landing at that multiple of what the per-GB rate alone implies | Reported to deliver "90% of Relativity's capability at 60–70% of the cost" specifically for matters in the 100 GB–2 TB range | For a specific reported reference case (500 GB matter, 20 reviewers, 6 months), total cost is reported at $48,000–90,000 — described as typically 20–30% cheaper than a comparable Everlaw deployment |
| Positioning by matter size | Reported strongest for large, complex, or enterprise-scale litigation, with the most extensive AI capability and the steepest learning curve of the three | Reported as the strongest fit for mid-size matters (100 GB–1 TB), with the most usable AI interface of the three, per multiple sources | Reported as the strongest fit for smaller matters (under 100 GB) prioritizing predictable pricing and fast deployment, with the fastest AI processing of the three |
| Deployment/switching effort | Reported to have the steepest administrative complexity of the three | Not specifically reported | Reported to require 2–3 weeks for workflow rebuilding when switching from another platform |
What headline pricing excludes
Relativity's per-GB hosting figure does not consistently include processing, and different sources disagree on whether it does. One detailed, specifically dated source states that Relativity's $11–13/GB/month figure includes aiR (though this doesn't clarify whether processing is bundled too), while a separate source describes a $15–30/GB/month combined rate for hosting plus processing plus licensing plus support — and notes this combined real cost can run two to three times the bare hosting figure. A buyer comparing "Relativity's per-GB rate" across different sources should confirm exactly which cost components a given quote includes before treating it as comparable to another vendor's all-inclusive figure.
DISCO's flat, all-inclusive per-GB fee is a deliberate structural choice, not simply a lower number — the vendor's own positioning specifically markets the absence of separate processing fees, hosting markups, and AI-feature surcharges as a predictability advantage over Relativity's itemized model. A buyer evaluating DISCO against Relativity purely on a per-GB headline number should confirm whether that Relativity quote is genuinely comparable in scope (hosting only, versus hosting-plus-processing-plus-support).
Everlaw's pricing is not itemized into a clean per-GB figure in available pricing sources — it is described as a combined platform-and-hosting decision priced per user and by volume together, which makes a direct line-by-line comparison against Relativity's or DISCO's per-GB model inherently harder to construct without a specific quote.
None of the three vendors' figures in this article include professional services, migration assistance, or specialized consulting — these are described across the category generally as separate, negotiated costs on top of whatever the base hosting-and-review figure comes to.
Hidden costs
- A firm renegotiating an existing eDiscovery contract in the current market has genuine leverage, per one detailed industry analysis — buyers are specifically advised to challenge any vendor still charging AI surcharges on top of hosting fees, given that AI review is now bundled as standard at both Relativity and Everlaw.
- A rough benchmark worth applying to any current quote: paying above $10/GB/month for hosting, or above $75/GB for processing, is described as a signal of overpaying relative to current 2026 market rates.
- Switching platforms carries a real, underestimated cost in workflow rebuilding, reported at 2–3 weeks specifically for a DISCO migration — a real time cost on top of any licensing considerations, and a factor that should weigh against switching platforms for a modest per-GB saving alone.
- Relativity's real total cost of ownership is reported to run 2–3x its headline per-GB figure once processing, licensing, and support are all added — a buyer budgeting only the advertised hosting rate is very likely to significantly underestimate the real bill.
Worked scenarios
50 GB litigation matter
| Estimated monthly cost | |
|---|---|
| Relativity (hosting only, lower reported rate) | 50 × $11–13 = $550–650/month, before processing, user licenses, and support, which are reported to add substantially more |
| Relativity (combined hosting-plus-processing-plus-support, higher reported rate) | 50 × $15–30 = $750–1,500/month, still before user licensing |
| DISCO (all-inclusive) | 50 × $15–25 = $750–1,250/month, with no separate processing or AI charges |
| Everlaw | Not confirmable at this specific scale from available sources — Everlaw's pricing requires a direct quote given its combined per-user-and-volume model |
At this small scale, DISCO's all-inclusive model is likely to be genuinely competitive with or cheaper than Relativity's bare hosting rate, once Relativity's additional processing and licensing fees are factored in.
500 GB matter (illustrative reference case: 20 reviewers, 6 months)
| Estimated total cost (6 months) | |
|---|---|
| DISCO | Reported directly at $48,000–90,000 for this specific matter profile |
| Everlaw | Reported to run "typically 20–30% cheaper" for DISCO relative to Everlaw in this scenario — implying an illustrative Everlaw total of roughly $60,000–117,000, derived from that relative percentage rather than an independently reported Everlaw figure |
| Relativity (hosting plus processing only, before licensing) | 500 × $15–30 × 6 = $45,000–90,000, before user licensing and support, which the broader reported 2–3x total-cost-of-ownership multiplier suggests could push the real total to roughly $90,000–270,000 |
This is the one scenario in this article with a directly reported reference figure (DISCO's $48,000–90,000), making it the most reliable basis for comparison — the Everlaw and Relativity figures alongside it are derived or estimated rather than independently reported for this exact matter profile, and are labeled accordingly.
5 TB enterprise litigation portfolio
At this scale, none of the three vendors' per-GB list-style rates can be applied with confidence — enterprise-scale eDiscovery contracts are reported across the category to involve substantial negotiated volume discounts, multi-matter commitments, and custom professional-services arrangements, but no reliable enterprise-scale figure is publicly available for this specific matter size. What can be said with reasonable confidence: Relativity's positioning and client base skew toward this scale specifically, and its ecosystem integrations and enterprise compliance features are reported as a genuine differentiator large firms value at this volume, independent of the pure per-GB cost comparison.
Normalizing across billing units
Relativity's and DISCO's per-GB hosting models are the most directly comparable pair in this article, provided a buyer confirms exactly which cost components (processing, licensing, support) each vendor's quoted per-GB figure actually includes — DISCO's is explicitly all-inclusive, while Relativity's is reported inconsistently across sources as either hosting-only or a broader combined figure. Everlaw's per-user-plus-volume model resists a clean per-GB conversion without a specific quote, since available sources describe it qualitatively (as competitive for mid-size matters) rather than with a standalone per-GB rate.
Break-even and crossover
The clearest, most specific reported data point in this article — DISCO's $48,000–90,000 total cost for a 500 GB, 20-reviewer, 6-month matter, described as 20–30% cheaper than an equivalent Everlaw deployment — suggests a real, though narrow, crossover in DISCO's favor at this specific matter profile. Beyond this one reported reference case, no source provided enough independently corroborated data to establish a reliable crossover point between any other pair of the three vendors at other matter sizes.
Who pays more, and when
- A small matter (under 100 GB) prioritizing predictable, all-inclusive pricing is reported to be best served by DISCO, which several sources describe as the price-and-simplicity winner at this scale.
- A mid-size matter (100 GB–1 TB) with complex review needs is reported to be Everlaw's specific sweet spot, where its more usable AI interface and included analytics are described as justifying its cost relative to DISCO's simpler feature set.
- A large or enterprise-scale matter, or one requiring extensive third-party ecosystem integration, is where Relativity's greater complexity and steeper learning curve are reported to be justified by its broader capability and compliance feature set.
- A firm currently paying an AI surcharge on top of hosting fees with any eDiscovery vendor has real, immediate renegotiation leverage, given that AI review capability is now standard and included at both Relativity and Everlaw.
- A firm switching platforms specifically to chase a lower per-GB rate should weigh the reported multi-week workflow-rebuilding cost against the actual savings, since a modest per-GB difference may not offset the transition cost and disruption.
Limitations and uncertainty
None of the three vendors publishes a complete public rate card; every dollar figure in this article is reported from third-party industry analysis rather than an official price list, and this article does not convert any of these reported law-firm or vendor-adjacent estimates into official pricing. Relativity's per-GB hosting rate shows genuine disagreement across sources ($11–13/GB/month inclusive of aiR in one source, versus a broader $15–30/GB/month combined figure in another), and this article presents both rather than resolving the conflict. The Everlaw figure in the 500 GB scenario is explicitly derived from a reported relative percentage gap against DISCO's directly reported figure, not an independently reported Everlaw total, and is labeled as such. The 5 TB enterprise scenario could not be estimated with any specific figure from available sources.
Official sources
None of the three vendors publishes a complete public rate card. All figures in this article are drawn from multiple independent third-party pricing analyses and industry benchmark surveys.