RAND found a $1.8M median cost for large-company eDiscovery. 73% of that spend is document review alone. Here's the anatomy of that benchmark, and a clearly labeled modeled compression scenario.
The most rigorous public study of eDiscovery costs remains RAND's analysis of actual matter-level expenditures in large-company litigation.
Current benchmarks from the EDRM / ComplexDiscovery Summer 2025 pricing survey. These are what the market charges, before you add attorney time.
Enterprise eDiscovery was built for Fortune 500 litigation budgets. Most litigants don't have one.
An illustrative mid-complexity LLC dispute model at a CPG company. Multi-source collection across email, cloud storage, and financial platforms. Left-hand figures are modeled from public benchmarks; right-hand figures are self-reported actual deployment metrics.
Verified figures below link to citable sources. Modeled figures and self-reported deployment metrics are labeled as such.
| Claim | Figure | Source | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median cost to produce ESI | $1.8M | RAND, Where the Money Goes | 2012 | Verified |
| Review share of spend | 73% | RAND, Where the Money Goes | 2012 | Verified |
| Current processing rates | <$25/GB (43%) | EDRM / ComplexDiscovery | 2025 | Verified |
| Forensic collection rates | $250–350/hr (70%) | EDRM / ComplexDiscovery | 2025 | Verified |
| Hosting rates | <$10/GB/mo (56%) | EDRM / ComplexDiscovery | 2025 | Verified |
| TAR / predictive coding rates | <$75/GB (27%) | EDRM / ComplexDiscovery | 2025 | Verified |
| Managed review rates | $25–40/hr (53%) | EDRM / ComplexDiscovery | 2025 | Verified |
| Project management rates | $100–200/hr (51%) | EDRM / ComplexDiscovery | 2025 | Verified |
| Median partner rate (Large Law) | $991/hr | LexisNexis CounselLink | 2024 | Verified |
| Self-represented parties in civil cases | 75%+ | NCSC, Landscape of Civil Litigation | 2015 | Verified |
| Solo practitioner tool access | 27% | ABA, 2024 TechReport | 2024 | Verified |
| Small-firm tool access | 38% | ABA, 2024 TechReport | 2024 | Verified |
| Large-firm tool access | 73% | ABA, 2024 TechReport | 2024 | Verified |
| Global eDiscovery market | $16.89B | ComplexDiscovery | 2024 | Estimate |
| Traditional pipeline cost (mid-complexity) | $201K–$475K | Modeled from EDRM 2025 pricing + public large-law rate benchmarks | 2026 | Modeled |
| Traditional pipeline timeline (mid-complexity) | 6–14 weeks | Modeled from public timing benchmarks for mid-complexity matters | 2026 | Modeled |
| Acquit.ai deployment timeline | Under 3 weeks | Self-reported deployment metric | 2026 | Self-reported |
Tools you own. Expertise on call. Under 3 weeks to court-ready.
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eDiscovery Cost Research © 2026 Colin McNamara / Acquit.ai. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). Attribution required for academic and professional use. Commercial licensing: colin@acquit.ai