Everlaw vs Relativity

Everlaw and Relativity are the two heavyweights in eDiscovery, but they reflect different eras and operating philosophies. Relativity is the long-incumbent platform — deep, configurable, and the de-facto standard at AmLaw firms and litigation service providers for two decades. Everlaw is the cloud-native challenger that bet on usability, predictive coding, and a clean SaaS model. Both run real bet-the-company matters; the question is what your team optimizes for.

Where Everlaw wins

• Native cloud and usability. Everlaw was built cloud-first with a UI that paralegals and associates can use without a week of training. Relativity’s cloud product (RelativityOne) is solid, but the underlying interface still carries on-prem-era complexity.
• Predictive coding and AI assistance. Everlaw’s TAR and generative AI features (StoryBuilder, AI assistant for review) are tightly integrated and don’t require third-party plugins. Relativity’s AI lives in aiR, which is newer and pricier.
• Pricing transparency. Everlaw publishes per-GB pricing and bundles features that Relativity often charges separately. For mid-market litigation departments, the math is friendlier.

Where Relativity wins

• Ecosystem and customizability. Twenty years of third-party apps, custom workflows, and integration with every litigation service provider on earth. If you have a non-standard need, someone has built a Relativity solution for it.
• Enterprise scale and complex matters. Multi-million-document, multi-language, cross-border matters with sophisticated production requirements — Relativity handles them with a depth Everlaw is still catching up to.
• Service provider availability. Almost every litigation service provider runs Relativity. Switching providers mid-matter is easier when everyone speaks the same platform.

Pricing reality

Everlaw is per-GB hosted, with most features included. Relativity (especially RelativityOne) is per-GB plus per-user plus add-ons (aiR for review, aiR for Privilege, integration fees). For a clean mid-size matter, Everlaw usually comes in 20-40% cheaper. For a complex matter with many third-party dependencies, Relativity’s flexibility can be worth the premium.

Verdict

• Pick Everlaw if you’re an in-house litigation team, a mid-market firm, or a corporate legal department running matters yourself, and you value usability and predictable pricing.
• Pick Relativity if you regularly run AmLaw-scale matters, you depend on third-party integrations, or your service provider strategy assumes Relativity as the lingua franca.
• Use both is rare but happens — Everlaw for in-house early case assessment, Relativity for productions handed to outside counsel.

The single mistake to avoid: choosing on the demo. Everlaw demos better; Relativity wears better on a 10-million-document matter with three productions and four reviewing firms.