**Relativity for mega-litigation

Relativity for mega-litigation. Everlaw for mid-market and government. DISCO for speed and simplicity. The e-discovery market has three real players, and the right choice depends on your matter size, firm size, and budget tolerance.

Relativity dominates Am Law 100 firms and handles the largest, most complex document sets on the planet. Everlaw built a modern, intuitive platform that government agencies and mid-size firms love. DISCO (now part of CSS) bet on speed and ease of use. Here's exactly how they compare by every dimension that matters.

By Matter Size: Small, Medium, and Massive

Small matters (under 100GB): - Winner: DISCO. Fastest setup, simplest interface, lowest barrier to entry. You can have a review workspace running in hours, not days. DISCO's AI-powered review (DISCO Cecilia) handles prioritization and categorization well at this scale. - Everlaw works fine here too, but you're paying for capabilities you won't use. - Relativity is overkill. The setup overhead alone costs more than the review.

Medium matters (100GB - 1TB): - Winner: Everlaw. The sweet spot for Everlaw's platform. Intuitive enough for contract reviewers, powerful enough for complex privilege logs and production sets. Everlaw's prediction coding and storybuilder features shine at this scale. - DISCO handles this capably but starts showing limitations in complex workflows. - Relativity works but requires more administrator expertise than the matter justifies.

Massive matters (1TB+): - Winner: Relativity. Nothing else handles this scale as reliably. Relativity's infrastructure is built for matters with tens of millions of documents, complex custodian structures, and multi-year review timelines. RelativityOne (cloud) has eliminated most of the old infrastructure headaches. - Everlaw can technically handle large matters but performance degrades at extreme scale. - DISCO struggles with complex, multi-phase reviews at this level.

By Firm Size: Solo to Am Law 100

Solo and small firms (1-10 attorneys): - Best option: DISCO or Everlaw's lower tiers. Neither Relativity nor most e-discovery platforms make economic sense for occasional use. Consider per-matter pricing from service providers who run these platforms for you. - Many solos outsource e-discovery entirely to vendors who use Relativity or Everlaw on the back end.

Mid-size firms (10-100 attorneys): - Winner: Everlaw. Purpose-built for this segment. Predictable pricing, no in-house admin required, modern UX that contract reviewers learn quickly. The collaboration features work well for firms that staff matters with temporary reviewers. - DISCO is a strong second choice for firms that prioritize simplicity. - Relativity is viable but requires dedicated admin staff or a managed services agreement.

Large firms (100+ attorneys): - Winner: Relativity. The installed base, the integration ecosystem (100+ applications on the Relativity App Hub), and the ability to customize workflows make Relativity the default for large firms. Most Am Law 100 firms already have Relativity infrastructure. - Everlaw is gaining ground here, especially with firms frustrated by Relativity's complexity and cost.

Government and regulatory: - Winner: Everlaw. FedRAMP authorized, used by the DOJ, SEC, and multiple state AG offices. Everlaw's government practice is a major differentiator. Relativity has FedRAMP options too (via RelativityOne Government), but Everlaw has stronger adoption in this segment.

AI and Analytics Comparison

All three platforms now have AI-powered review capabilities. Here's how they actually compare:

Relativity aiR: - Large language model review — asks natural language questions across document sets - Privilege identification at scale with high accuracy - Continuous active learning (CAL) is industry-leading - Most customizable AI workflows via Relativity's extensibility - Caveat: Requires the most configuration and expertise to optimize

Everlaw AI: - Prediction coding with transparent confidence scores - Storybuilder — visual tool connecting documents into narrative timelines - AI-assisted privilege review with strong accuracy - Context panel — shows related documents and communication threads - Best UX for AI features — reviewers can actually understand and trust the AI output

DISCO Cecilia: - Auto-categorization — tags documents by type and topic automatically - Priority scoring — surfaces most relevant documents first - Speed — fastest AI processing of the three platforms - Simplest to deploy — AI features work out of the box - Caveat: Less customizable than Relativity or Everlaw for complex review protocols

Verdict: Relativity has the most powerful AI. Everlaw has the most usable AI. DISCO has the fastest AI. Pick based on what your team can actually leverage.

Pricing Reality: What You'll Actually Pay

E-discovery pricing is notoriously opaque. Here's what firms actually report paying:

Relativity (RelativityOne cloud): - Per-GB pricing: $15-30/GB/month for hosted data - Processing: $25-75/GB depending on file types - User licenses: $75-200/user/month depending on role - A 500GB matter with 20 reviewers: $10,000-25,000/month - On-premise option (Relativity Server) eliminates per-GB hosting but requires infrastructure investment

Everlaw: - Per-GB pricing: $18-35/GB/month (slightly higher than Relativity at scale) - Processing included in many plans - User licenses: typically included in per-GB pricing - A 500GB matter with 20 reviewers: $9,000-17,500/month - More predictable pricing — fewer hidden line items

DISCO: - Per-GB pricing: $15-25/GB/month - Processing: $20-50/GB - User pricing varies by plan - A 500GB matter with 20 reviewers: $8,000-15,000/month - Most competitive pricing at smaller matter sizes

The hidden costs nobody talks about: - Project management and admin time (Relativity requires the most) - Training and onboarding (DISCO requires the least) - Data egress fees when switching platforms - Productions and exports (watch for per-page charges) - Support tiers (Relativity's premium support costs extra)

Migration and Switching: The Honest Assessment

Switching e-discovery platforms mid-matter is painful. Switching between matters is feasible but requires planning.

Easiest to onboard: DISCO. Self-service setup, minimal training, intuitive interface. A new reviewer can be productive in 1-2 hours.

Best training resources: Relativity. Relativity Fest, Relativity University, and a massive community of certified administrators. But you need those resources because the platform is complex.

Most portable data: Everlaw. Clean export formats, transparent data handling, no proprietary lock-in formats. Everlaw makes it relatively easy to move data out — which is a sign of confidence in their product.

Recommendation for firms evaluating all three: 1. Run a pilot matter on DISCO and Everlaw (both offer trial/demo environments) 2. Compare reviewer speed and accuracy across both platforms 3. Only evaluate Relativity if your matters routinely exceed 1TB or you need the App Hub ecosystem 4. Factor in total cost of ownership, not just per-GB pricing — admin time and training costs are real

The Bottom Line: DISCO for matters under 100GB, Everlaw for mid-market firms and government work, Relativity for Am Law 100 firms with massive, complex document sets.