Estimate litigation discovery costs including document review, e-discovery processing, data hosting, and production expenses for legal cases.
Discovery is the pre-trial phase where parties exchange relevant information and evidence. In modern litigation, electronic discovery (e-discovery) has become the most expensive phase of many cases, often consuming 50–80% of total litigation costs.
This calculator estimates total discovery costs based on document review volume, per-page review rates, e-discovery data processing fees, data hosting costs, and production expenses. Understanding these costs early helps you make informed decisions about litigation strategy and potential settlement.
The volume of electronically stored information (ESI) drives discovery costs. A single custodian's email and files may contain hundreds of thousands of documents. Processing, reviewing, and producing this data requires specialized technology and significant attorney time.
Legal professionals, business owners, and individuals alike benefit from transparent discovery cost calculations when evaluating obligations, settlements, or compliance requirements. Bookmark this page and return whenever circumstances change so you always have current figures at your fingertips.
From contract negotiations to dispute resolution, having reliable discovery cost numbers at your disposal strengthens your position and streamlines decision-making. Adjust the inputs to reflect your unique circumstances and run the calculation as many times as needed to cover every plausible scenario.
From contract negotiations to dispute resolution, having reliable discovery cost numbers at your disposal strengthens your position and streamlines decision-making. Adjust the inputs to reflect your unique circumstances and run the calculation as many times as needed to cover every plausible scenario.
Discovery costs are the largest and most unpredictable litigation expense. This calculator helps you forecast these costs early to inform litigation budgets, settlement decisions, and discovery scope negotiations. Instant recalculation as you change inputs lets you model multiple scenarios quickly, giving you the data foundation needed for well-informed legal and financial decisions.
Review Cost = Documents × Cost per Document Processing Cost = Data Volume (GB) × Per-GB Rate Hosting Cost = Monthly Rate × Months Total = Review + Processing + Hosting + Production
Result: $87,000 total discovery cost
Review = 50,000 docs × $1.50 = $75,000. Processing = 100 GB × $30 = $3,000. Hosting = $500/mo × 12 = $6,000 (est. $3,000 averaged over case). Production = $5,000. Total ≈ $87,000.
Document collection involves gathering data from custodians, servers, and cloud services. Processing reduces raw data to reviewable documents through deduplication and filtering. Review is the most expensive phase—attorneys read documents for relevance and privilege. Production formats and delivers responsive documents to the other party.
Use search terms and date ranges to narrow the data set, employ predictive coding to accelerate review, negotiate proportionality limits with opposing counsel, and consider stipulations on non-controversial documents. Early case assessment tools can predict costs before committing to full discovery.
Courts increasingly apply proportionality principles, weighing discovery costs against the amount in controversy and the importance of the issues. If discovery costs would exceed the value of the case, courts may limit or shift costs.
E-discovery costs range from $10,000 for small cases to millions for large commercial litigation. The primary cost driver is document review, which accounts for 60–80% of total e-discovery costs. Processing and hosting are comparatively small.
Manual attorney review costs $1–$3 per document or $15–25 per hour per reviewer. Technology-assisted review (TAR) can reduce costs to $0.50–$1.50 per document. Offshore review teams charge $0.50–$1.00 per document.
ESI (electronically stored information) processing involves collecting, deduplicating, filtering, and converting electronic data into a reviewable format. Costs range from $15–$50 per GB of native data. This step reduces the volume that needs human review.
Generally, each party bears its own discovery costs. However, courts can shift discovery costs to the requesting party for disproportionately burdensome requests. Some fee-shifting statutes allow recovery of litigation costs including discovery.
Discovery typically lasts 6–12 months in standard civil cases. Complex cases with large data volumes can extend to 2+ years. Courts set discovery deadlines, and extensions require court approval.
Technology-assisted review (TAR) uses machine learning to classify documents as relevant or not, based on attorney-coded training documents. It significantly reduces the number of documents requiring manual review, cutting costs by 40–70%.