LexDraft vs CoCounsel
Quick Answer
CoCounsel is the better choice if you already pay for Westlaw, Practical Law, or other Thomson Reuters products and want AI research, document analysis, and drafting tightly integrated with that ecosystem. CoCounsel (acquired by Thomson Reuters from Casetext in 2023) shines at multi-document analysis, deposition prep, and legal research. LexDraft is the better choice if you draft contracts in Microsoft Word and want a free-tier, self-serve tool that focuses on the document itself — surgical edits, clause libraries, citation verification — without a Thomson Reuters subscription or enterprise sales cycle.
Last updated: June 2026
Thomson Reuters' integrated legal AI platform vs a focused Word add-in
Honest Feature Comparison
Both are AI assistants for lawyers, but the products serve different jobs. CoCounsel is the broader "AI legal assistant"; LexDraft is the narrower "drafting assistant in Word."
| Dimension | LexDraft | CoCounsel (Thomson Reuters) |
|---|---|---|
| Target market | Solo, small firm, in-house counsel | Mid-market through AmLaw 100, plus solo via Casetext heritage |
| Free tier | ✓ Yes — 2,000 words/month | ✗ No (limited free trial available) |
| Published pricing | $0 / $99 / $199 per month per user | Not publicly disclosed — typically $250–$500+ per user/month |
| Primary surface | Microsoft Word add-in | Web app, plus Westlaw/Practical Law integration |
| Contract drafting in Word | ✓ Core feature | ✓ Yes, but secondary to research/review |
| Multi-document review (deposition prep, doc review) | ✗ No | ✓ Core feature — handle 1000s of docs |
| Legal research (case law) | ✗ No (verification only) | ✓ Deep — backed by Westlaw |
| Surgical word-level edits | ✓ Yes | ○ Paragraph-level rewrites typical |
| Attorney-authored playbooks | ✓ 4 free (NDA, MSA, DPA, Services) | ✓ Firm-configured playbooks available |
| Case-law citation verification | ✓ CourtListener (4.2M opinions) | ✓ Westlaw-backed verification |
| Westlaw / Practical Law integration | ✗ No | ✓ Native (same vendor) |
| SOC 2 Type II | ✗ Not yet (TLS + zero retention) | ✓ Yes (Thomson Reuters enterprise stack) |
| Onboarding | Install in 2 minutes | Demo + sales call typically required for full pricing |
When CoCounsel is the right answer
These are the honest scenarios where CoCounsel is the better fit:
You already pay for Westlaw and Practical Law
CoCounsel is the same vendor — single sign-on, integrated search, billing all in one place. If you're a Thomson Reuters shop, friction with anything else is real.
You do litigation document review or deposition prep
CoCounsel's multi-document analysis (the original Casetext "AllSearch") is a real strength: feed it a 500-document production, ask "find every reference to the November meeting," get scoped results with citations.
You need legal research, not just drafting
CoCounsel can answer "what's the rule in California for X?" with case citations. LexDraft can verify citations in a draft you're writing, but won't answer open research questions — that's not the product.
When LexDraft is the right answer
You draft contracts in Word and that's the main job
LexDraft sits in the Word task pane. The output is a .docx file you can email, save to SharePoint, or hand to a paralegal. CoCounsel does drafting, but the experience is built around a web app, not around being inside the document.
You don't use Westlaw and don't want to start
Many transactional and in-house lawyers don't need primary legal research. If that's you, paying for CoCounsel's research depth is paying for capability you won't touch. LexDraft is shaped to do less, but for less money.
You want to try the tool tonight without a demo call
Install LexDraft from AppSource, free tier handles your first NDA in under five minutes. No sales rep, no procurement review, no minimum seats.
You want word-level surgical edits, not paragraph rewrites
LexDraft identifies the specific 3–12 word span that should change and applies a tracked change only to that span — important when you've already negotiated language you don't want the AI to "improve."
Pricing comparison
LexDraft (public pricing)
Free
$0 / month
2,000 words/month
Pro
$99 / month per user
100K words/month, full playbooks · $990/year (15% off)
Enterprise
$199 / month per user
Unlimited usage ·
$199 / month per user
Unlimited usage,990/year (15% off)
CoCounsel (Thomson Reuters)
All tiers
Contact sales
Public pricing is no longer disclosed since the Thomson Reuters acquisition. Industry reporting suggests typical solo/small-firm pricing in the $250–$500 per user/month range; enterprise deployments scale higher and are often bundled with Westlaw/Practical Law.
Note: Pre-acquisition Casetext published a $400/user/month CoCounsel price. That number is no longer authoritative. Get a current quote.
How to add LexDraft alongside CoCounsel
If CoCounsel covers your research and review workflow, LexDraft is a cheap way to add focused drafting AI inside Word without disrupting anything.
Install LexDraft from AppSource
No conflict with CoCounsel or Westlaw. LexDraft runs as a Word task pane. Free tier works immediately.
Split the workflow
CoCounsel for research, deposition prep, and document review. LexDraft for in-Word drafting, redlines against your playbook, and clause-level review.
Reassess after 60 days
Look at usage. If your team spends 80% of CoCounsel hours on drafting/review work that LexDraft handles, you can downgrade or right-size the CoCounsel contract at renewal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. They're complementary. CoCounsel is strongest at research, multi-document review, and integrating with the Thomson Reuters stack. LexDraft is strongest at clause-level drafting and review inside Word. Many firms run both — CoCounsel for the research-heavy matters, LexDraft for transactional drafting.
No. LexDraft will not answer "what's the rule on consideration in New York for option contracts?" — that's primary legal research and not something we try to do. What LexDraft does is verify any citation the AI produces against the CourtListener database (4.2M US opinions) so you don't ship a fabricated case. Different scope, different job.
LexDraft Pro for 20 seats is $23,760/year at list price. CoCounsel doesn't publish current pricing under Thomson Reuters, but historical and industry-reported numbers put a 20-seat deployment somewhere in the $60K–$120K/year range, often bundled with Westlaw. If you only need drafting AI, the gap is real. If you also need research and multi-doc review, CoCounsel's bundle is more rational than buying pieces separately.
CoCounsel is on Thomson Reuters' enterprise security stack, which includes SOC 2 Type II among other certifications. LexDraft does not currently hold SOC 2. We use TLS 1.2+ encryption in transit and at rest, and we have a zero-retention agreement with our model provider — your document content is not used to train models. If SOC 2 is a hard procurement gate, CoCounsel clears it and we don't yet.
Thomson Reuters acquired Casetext for $650M in 2023. CoCounsel continues as the AI assistant product; legacy Casetext research features (CARA, AllSearch) have been folded into the broader Thomson Reuters platform. The product is being integrated more tightly with Westlaw and Practical Law, which is good for existing Thomson Reuters customers and adds friction for everyone else.
Compare other tools
Try LexDraft for free
2,000 words/month, no credit card. Runs alongside any Thomson Reuters subscription.
Install from Microsoft AppSource →Further reading
- CoCounsel official site — for current product scope and Thomson Reuters integration details.
- ABA Law Technology Today — ongoing coverage of AI adoption in legal practice.
- CourtListener (Free Law Project) — the open case-law database LexDraft uses to verify citations.