Based on the complexity of data and legal discovery, it is a continual challenge to fully understand what is representative of industry-standard pricing for the delivery of eDiscovery products and services. With this challenge in mind, the semi-annual eDiscovery Pricing Survey is designed to provide insight into eDiscovery pricing through the lens of 15 specific pricing questions answered by legal, business, security, and information professionals operating in the eDiscovery ecosystem. The summer 2019 survey was open from May 27, 2019, until June 6, 2019, and had 81 respondents share their understanding of the price of admission for access to a market basket of eDiscovery services.
The eDiscovery Pricing Survey
The eDiscovery Pricing Survey is a non-scientific and non-comprehensive survey designed to provide general insight into eDiscovery pricing as shared by individuals working in the eDiscovery ecosystem.
The survey consists of 15 multiple choice questions focused on information and metrics related to eDiscovery pricing for collection, processing, and review tasks. The survey is open to legal, business, security, and information technology professionals operating in the eDiscovery ecosystem and individuals are invited to participate semi-annually primarily by direct email invitation from ComplexDiscovery and leading industry educational partners to include the Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists (ACEDS).
Summer 2019 Survey Results
The summer 2019 survey response period was initiated on May 27, 2019, and closed on June 6, 2019. The was the second eDiscovery pricing survey conducted by ComplexDiscovery, the initial survey being conducted in December of 2018. This survey had 81 respondents.
While individual respondent answers to the pricing survey are confidential, the anonymized aggregate results for the 15 questions of the multiple-choice survey are published below without commentary. These results highlight eDiscovery pricing on selected collection, processing, and review tasks as seen by survey respondents in the summer of 2019.
eDiscovery Pricing Survey Questions (Required)
n=81 Respondents
Collection Pricing
1. What is the per hour cost for a collection by a forensic examiner?
- Less than $250 per hour. 13.6%
- Between $250 and $350 per hour. 61.7%
- Greater than $350 per hour. 8.6%
- Do not know. 16.0%
2. What is the per device cost for a collection by a forensic examiner?
- Less than $250 per device. 9.9%
- Between $250 and $350 per device. 22.2%
- Greater than $350 per device. 48.1%
- Do not know. 19.8%
3. What is the per hour cost for analysis and expert witness support by a forensic examiner?
- Less than $350 per hour. 17.3%
- Between $350 and $550 per hour. 54.3%
- Greater than $550 per hour. 9.9%
- Do not know. 18.5%
Processing Pricing
4. What is the per GB cost to process electronically stored information based on volume at ingestion?
- Less than $25 per GB. 32.1%
- Between $25 and $75 per GB. 46.9%
- Greater than $75 per GB. 14.8%
- Do not know. 6.2%
5. What is the per GB cost to process electronically stored information based on volume at completion of processing?
- Less than $100 per GB. 38.3%
- Between $100 and $150 per GB. 34.6%
- Greater than $150 per GB. 14.8%
- Do not know. 12.3%
6. What is the per GB per month cost to host electronically stored information without analytics?
- Less than $10 per GB per month. 18.5%
- Between $10 and $20 per GB per month. 63.0%
- Greater than $20 per GB per month. 11.1%
- Do not know. 7.4%
7. What is the per GB per month cost to host electronically stored information with analytics?
- Less than $15 per GB per month. 24.7%
- Between $15 and $25 per GB per month. 40.7%
- Greater than $25 per GB per month. 21.0%
- Do not know. 13.6%
8. What is the user license fee per month for access to hosted data?
- Less than $50 per user per month. 19.8%
- Between $50 and $100 per user per month. 66.7%
- Greater than $100 per user per month. 8.6%
- Do not know. 4.9%
9. What is the per hour cost of project management support for eDiscovery?
- Less than $100 per hour. 6.2%
- Between $100 and $200 per hour. 59.3%
- Greater than $200 per hour. 27.2%
- Do not know. 7.4%
Review Pricing
10. What is the per GB cost to conduct predictive coding as part of technology-assisted review during the document review phase of eDiscovery?
- Less than $75 per GB. 43.2%
- Between $75 and $150 per GB. 23.5%
- Greater than $150 per GB. 7.4%
- Do not know. 25.9%
11. What is the cost per hour for document review attorneys to review documents during the review phase of eDiscovery?
- Less than $25 per hour. 3.7%
- Between $25 and $40 per hour. 37.0%
- Greater than $40 per hour. 51.9%
- Do not know. 7.4%
12. What is the cost per document for document review attorneys to review documents during the review phase of eDiscovery?
- Less than $0.50 per document. 6.2%
- Between $0.50 and $1.00 per document. 35.8%
- Great than $1.00 per document. 24.7%
- Do not know. 33.3%
Background Information
13. In which geographical region do you primarily conduct eDiscovery-related business?
- North America – United States – 84.0%
- North America – Canada – 6.2%
- Europe – Non-UK – 4.9%
- Asia/Asia Pacific – 3.7%
- Europe – United Kingdom – 1.2%
- Central/South America – 0.0%
- Middle East/Africa – 0.0%
14. Which of the following segments best describes your business in eDiscovery?
- Software and/or Services Provider – 38.3%
- Law Firm – 32.1%
- Consultancy – 13.6%
- Corporation – 7.4%
- Government Entity – 4.9%
- Media/Research Organization/Educational Association – 3.7%
15. What area best describes your primary function in the conduct of your organization’s eDiscovery business?
- Legal/Litigation Support – 67.9%
- Business/Business Support (All Other Business Functions) – 27.2%
- IT/Product Development – 4.9%
Past eDiscovery Pricing Surveys
Additional Research
Source: ComplexDiscovery
* eDiscovery Pricing Index: A normalized average of price relative to a set of twelve eDiscovery offerings (eDiscovery Market Basket) for a given interval of time.
