The Paxton AI alternative.
Paxton is one of the few legal AI vendors that publishes a price you can read without a sales call. That deserves saying before anything else.
It also makes this the cleanest comparison on the site, because both numbers are real.
Verified 2026-08-24. Every figure carries its source and read date.
Where Paxton is the right answer
Starting here, because the rest is worthless if this part is dishonest.
You want a browser tool
Paxton is web-based with a Microsoft Word add-in. If your firm is not standardized on Microsoft 365 and you want a research tool that opens in any browser, that is the simpler fit.
Medical chronologies
Paxton builds medical chronologies and billing summaries as first-class workflows. For a personal injury practice that is a specific, real capability Marcella does not offer.
You want to try it today
Paxton offers a seven day free trial with no long-term contract. Marcella is on a waitlist. If you need a tool this week, that difference decides it.
Paxton publishes a price and offers a trial you can start today. Marcella does neither of those things right now. Any comparison that skipped over that would not be worth reading.
Both published prices, side by side
Paxton's public rate has been reported inconsistently across review sites, which is worth flagging rather than papering over. The two most recent sources agree on the figures below.
| Plan | Published rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Paxton Individual | $499 / user / mo | Or $2,999 per user per year, a reported saving of about half against monthly. Seven day free trial.Lawyerist review, June 8 2026; corroborated by Vaquill benchmark citing paxton.ai/pricing, July 3 2026 |
| Paxton Enterprise | Custom | Volume-based, aligned to firm case volume.paxton.ai/pricing, 2026 |
| Earlier reported tiers | $199 to $299 / mo | Older third-party listings report lower figures. Treat superseded reporting with caution and confirm on the vendor page.Software Finder, December 2025; Costbench, May 7 2026 |
| Marcella Firm | $99 / seat / mo | 1 to 25 seats, annual billing, Technology Outlaws hosted. Published rate, no sales call. |
| Marcella BOYA | $278 / mo flat | 3 seats. Deploys in the firm's own Azure tenant. |
Confirm the current number on paxton.ai/pricing before you decide. Four different rates appear across review sites for the same product within a nine month window. That is not unusual in this category and it is the reason every figure on this site carries a source and a date.
The two real differences
Where the software runs
Paxton is a browser tool with a Word add-in. Marcella runs inside the Microsoft 365 tenant your firm already contracts for, which means no new login, no new vendor to approve on Bring Your Own Azure tiers, and no third party holding your prompts.
That matters more than it sounds. Prompts and outputs are electronically stored information. When a third party holds them, the firm is not the custodian of its own work product. Full explanation.
Practice management integration
Paxton does not currently integrate with practice management software. Neither does Marcella, and neither should. Practice management runs the matter. Research answers the legal question. Firms that substitute one for the other end up with gaps in both.
What both do that the incumbents do not
Both publish a price. In a category where a July 2026 survey found six of twenty vendors post a readable rate, that is the shared position, and it is the reason a firm can evaluate either one without sitting through a discovery call.
Feature by feature
| Capability | Paxton AI | Marcella |
|---|---|---|
| Published pricing | Yes. $499 per user per month or $2,999 per year. | Yes. $99 per seat per month, $278 flat on BOYA, $1,498 flat on BOYA 20. |
| Free trial | Seven days, no long-term contract, available today. | Waitlist. Trials at $20 for 7 days and $35 for 30 days at launch. |
| Where it runs | Web browser plus a Microsoft Word add-in. | Inside the firm's Microsoft 365 tenant. On BOYA tiers, the firm's own Azure tenant. |
| Medical chronologies | First-class workflow, built for personal injury. | Not offered. |
| Citation architecture | AI research across federal, state, and appellate case law. | Retrieval only from an indexed corpus, with a six-item Daubert attestation on every output. |
| Practice management integration | None currently. | None, by design. Runs alongside Clio, MyCase, or anything else. |
The second and fourth rows are Paxton wins today. A firm that needs a tool this week, or that runs a personal injury practice, should read those rows first.
Questions
How much does Paxton AI cost?
Paxton publishes $499 per user per month, or $2,999 per user per year, for the Individual plan, with a seven day free trial and custom Enterprise pricing. Older third-party listings report $199 to $299, so confirm the current figure on the vendor pricing page.
Does Paxton AI have a free trial?
Yes, seven days with no long-term contract, according to a June 2026 Lawyerist review. Marcella is currently on a waitlist rather than offering an immediate trial.
Does Paxton integrate with Clio or MyCase?
No. Paxton does not currently integrate with practice management software. Marcella does not either, deliberately, because practice management and legal research are separate jobs.
What is the difference between Paxton AI and Marcella?
Paxton is a browser tool with a Word add-in and a published $499 per user per month rate. Marcella runs inside the firm's own Microsoft 365 tenant at $99 per seat per month, retrieves citations from an indexed corpus rather than generating them, and carries a six-item Daubert attestation on every output.
Which is cheaper, Paxton or Marcella?
On published rates, Marcella Firm is $99 per seat per month against Paxton Individual at $499 per user per month. Paxton is available today and Marcella is on a waitlist, which is a real difference that price alone does not capture.
Published rates at every tier. Waitlist members get 30 days free on any paid plan at launch.
Join the Waitlist