EDiscovery Processing, Hosting, and Project Management Costs

EDiscovery processing, hosting, and project management, essential functions that keep legal data workflows running efficiently, are undergoing a fundamental transformation. As reported in a new industry survey conducted by ComplexDiscovery OÜ and the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM), eDiscovery is being reshaped by cost pressures, commoditization, and experimentation with pricing models.

Processing and hosting services, which manage massive data volumes and determine accessibility for legal teams, are seeing the fiercest pricing competition. Nearly half of the respondents reported processing costs of less than $25 per gigabyte, with another 21% adopting alternative pricing structures, such as flat fees, subscriptions, or hybrid models. 

These experiments reflect client demand for predictable budgeting and providers’ efforts to align pricing with the realities of cloud-based costs. Approximately 30% of providers now utilize non-traditional models for processing, a sign that the market is evolving beyond the per-gigabyte standard.

Hosting data, with or without analytics, increases the costs. More than half of respondents reported sub-$10-per-gigabyte pricing for basic hosting, while analytics-inclusive hosting remains modestly higher but is still a low-cost option. The once-premium analytics feature has become an expected baseline, forcing providers to compete on the sophistication and speed of their tools rather than on the tools themselves.

In contrast, project management has retained its premium status. Over half of respondents charge between $100 and $200 per hour, highlighting the value of human expertise in coordinating complex discovery efforts.

Across all segments, the survey revealed a maturing market defined by cost control, client predictability, and cautious innovation. Providers face razor-thin margins that may drive consolidation, but they also have new opportunities to redefine value through AI-driven analytics, outcome-based pricing, and service differentiation. Experimentation with pricing models for eDiscovery processing, hosting, and project management is reinventing how value is defined and delivered.