How much does eDiscovery cost? Every fee, with 2026 market ranges
Most eDiscovery bills are built from five or six separate meters. This guide lists each one, gives the 2026 market range, and explains why the total is so hard to forecast, then shows the flat-rate alternative for comparison.
Updated October 6, 2026
What are you actually billed for in eDiscovery?
| Fee | How it is charged | 2026 range |
|---|---|---|
| Processing | Per GB ingested, one time | Per GB, one time |
| Hosting | Per GB per month | $5–15 per GB per month |
| User licenses | Per named or active reviewer | No published range; tiers differ by role |
| Productions | Per GB, per page or per production | Frequently a separate line |
| Project management | Hourly | Hourly, discretionary |
| Setup and minimums | One time plus monthly floor | Applies whether or not the matter is active |
Processing is the charge most likely to understate a bill. The base rate covers turning raw collected data into reviewable documents. Some providers charge considerably more, often by unbundling that one step across several per-GB lines: ingestion, “data enrichment” and processing can each arrive as a separate charge, which the Fee Field Guide sets out in full. Where they do, the same gigabyte is metered more than once on its way in.
User licenses carry no market range here because the Fee Field Guide does not publish one; seats are charged per named user, and the tiers differ by role.
Each fee is defensible on its own. The problem is that they compound, and that the largest of them, hosting, is charged on volume you do not control.
Why is an eDiscovery bill so hard to forecast?
A matter that doubles in volume after an opposing production doubles the hosting line, months after the client was quoted a number. Staffing up for a review deadline adds user licenses at precisely the moment the budget is tightest. Productions are charged when there is no choice but to produce. None of this is malicious; it is what a volume-metered model does.
What does a flat rate cost instead?
A flat monthly platform rate replaces the six meters with one: bandwidth, on a running instance. Storage is provisioned in fixed steps rather than metered, so volume moves the price only when a firm outgrows its included storage. The trade is that below a certain volume (roughly 130–400 GB across all active matters, for a firm with six users and four hours of project management a month, at $5–15 per GB hosting) per-gigabyte hosting is cheaper. Above it, the flat rate wins and keeps winning. The cost calculator shows where the break-even sits for your numbers, and the pricing page publishes the flat rate in full. See what the platform includes, or book a walkthrough.
Sources
- The Fee Field Guide dataset (
src/data/fees.json): the nineteen fee types, how each is charged, and every range in the table above. - ComplexDiscovery, eDiscovery Pricing Survey (semi-annual): hosting and processing rate distributions.
- RAND Institute for Civil Justice, Where the Money Goes: Understanding Litigant Expenditures for Producing Electronic Discovery (Pace & Zakaras, 2012).
- A filed cost exhibit in Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co., No. 5:11-cv-01846-LHK (N.D. Cal.), Dkt. 2853-25: 399 pages and 2,896 line items from one eDiscovery vendor.
- The flat monthly rate:
src/data/pricing.json, published in full on the pricing page.
eDiscovery at one flat monthly rate
$3,250 a month on a 12-month agreement. No per-user fees and no per-GB hosting charges.
Common questions
Which eDiscovery fees are charged per gigabyte?
Hosting and processing are the two charged by volume. In 2026 hosting typically runs $5 to $15 per GB per month across the market, with processing charged separately at a one-time per-GB rate. The total per-GB cost over a matter's life depends on how many months the data is hosted, and the cost per GB guide works it through.
Why is eDiscovery so expensive?
Because the pricing model meters volume rather than value. Hosting compounds monthly on every gigabyte, including data never reviewed, and productions, user licenses and project management are billed on top. The total scales with what the other side produces, not with what you use.