Different court systems
Trellis vs PacerPlus: State Trial Courts or Federal
These two products barely overlap. Trellis indexes state trial courts. This one indexes federal courts. Pick by where your case is filed.
PacerPlus vs Trellis: the short version
Trellis is a state trial court research and analytics platform. It scrapes and standardizes dockets, rulings, and documents from county-level courts, then layers judge analytics on top — which motions a particular state judge grants, how long they take, and how they have ruled before.
That is a hard problem, because state trial courts have no PACER. Every state, and often every county, publishes records differently. Trellis reports coverage across 45 states and more than 3,000 courts in over 2,500 counties.
PacerPlus does not cover state courts at all. It searches the federal system: civil and criminal cases across the 94 district courts, plus appellate matters, sourced from PACER and the free RECAP archive, with AI summaries of filings and analytics on federal judges. Bankruptcy dockets are reachable by case number but are not part of a name search.
Feature and price comparison
| Feature | PacerPlus | Trellis |
|---|---|---|
| Court system | Federal district (civil and criminal) plus appellate by name; bankruptcy only by case number | State trial courts |
| Geographic coverage | All 94 federal districts nationwide | 45 states, 3,000+ courts, 2,500+ counties |
| Federal dockets | Core product | Not covered |
| State dockets | Not covered | Core product |
| Judge analytics | Federal judges, included and unlimited | State trial judges, motion and outcome analytics |
| PACER page costs | 150 PACER pages included each month, then $9.99 per 30-page pack | State court fees vary by county; some documents are free, others are purchasable |
| AI docket summaries | Included — Pace summarizes filings and answers questions | AI-assisted research across state records |
| Published pricing | $199.99 per month, listed publicly | Published on trellis.law/plans; not retrievable by our automated check on September 2, 2026 |
Green marks the product with the clearer advantage on that row, including the rows where Trellis wins.
What Trellis charges
Trellis plans: Published on the Trellis plans page, not quoted here
Trellis lists its plans and prices at trellis.law/plans. That page refused our automated read on September 2, 2026, and we will not print a figure we have not verified ourselves, so open it directly or ask Trellis for a quote.
Third-party software directories list several different Trellis prices, and they disagree with each other. We treat those as unverified and do not repeat them.
PacerPlus: $199.99 per month
One plan. Unlimited federal case searches, 150 PACER pages a month, 10 PacerAlerts, unlimited judge analytics, and AI docket analysis. Extra pages are $9.99 per 30-page pack. Full detail on the pricing page.
Where Trellis is the better choice
No product wins everywhere. These are the cases where we would tell you to buy Trellis instead.
State trial courts are unsolved elsewhere
If your case is in a county superior court, PACER cannot help you and neither can we. Trellis built coverage where no federal system exists, across 45 states.
State judge analytics
Knowing how a specific state trial judge rules on demurrers or summary judgment is information that is otherwise nearly impossible to assemble. That is Trellis's core value.
Volume state practices
Personal injury, employment, and consumer practices that live in state court get more from Trellis than from any federal-only tool, including this one.
Where PacerPlus is the better choice
Federal is the whole focus
Every feature here assumes a federal docket: PACER page accounting, the 30-page document cap, RECAP checks, and federal judge profiles.
Live PACER retrieval
When a federal filing is not in the free archive, we pull it from PACER during your session rather than waiting on a scrape cycle.
A price you can read before you talk to anyone
The subscription is $199.99 a month, published on the pricing page, with no sales call required to learn it.
The bottom line
This is not really a head-to-head. If your matter is in state court, Trellis is the tool; if it is in federal court, Trellis does not cover it.
Firms with both kinds of matters usually run both, and that is a reasonable answer rather than a compromise.
Common questions
Does Trellis cover federal courts?
No. Its published coverage is state trial courts across 45 states. Federal district and appellate dockets are not part of it.
How much does Trellis cost?
Trellis publishes prices at trellis.law/plans, but that page refused our automated read on September 2, 2026, so we do not repeat a figure we have not verified. Open the page or ask Trellis directly.
Can I search state cases here?
No. This platform is federal only. We would rather tell you that up front than have you subscribe and find out.
Which has better judge analytics?
Different judges. Trellis profiles state trial judges; we profile federal judges. Neither substitutes for the other.
Where these numbers come from
Every Trellisprice on this page was read from the vendor's own pages on the dates below. Prices change; check the source before you rely on it.
- Trellis ruling, docket, and document coverage — checked September 2, 2026
- Trellis plans page (published prices; not retrievable by our automated check) — checked September 2, 2026
Other comparisons
- PacerPlus vs Westlaw — The incumbent research suite. Enormous case law library, boolean search, and enterprise pricing that starts far above a solo budget.
- PacerPlus vs PacerMonitor — Federal docket monitoring from Fitch Solutions, with per-page document charges layered on top of a monthly subscription.
- PacerPlus vs UniCourt — Normalized state and federal litigation data across 4,000+ courts, sold in tiers that meter your case searches.
- PacerPlus vs Docket Alarm — Very wide coverage including PTAB, TTAB, and ITC, billed either pay-as-you-go or at a flat fee per user.
- PacerPlus vs CourtListener — The free, nonprofit RECAP archive and case law collection from the Free Law Project. Start here if cost is the constraint.
- New to federal records? Start with how to find a federal case or how PACER fees work.