Legal AI platform vs general AI
Harvey vs Claude: how a legal AI platform compares with general-purpose AI
Reviewed by Christian Brown, J.D. · Oct 2026
Harvey is a legal AI platform sold through a demo-led enterprise process, and it publishes no standard price. Claude is a general-purpose AI assistant from Anthropic, with plan prices published on Anthropic's site.
Harvey
Who Harvey is for
Harvey is built for the workflows of large law firms and enterprise legal departments, not for a lawyer buying alone.
Founded in San Francisco in 2022, Harvey is bought through a demo-led enterprise sale and deployed as a governed rollout across hundreds of users.
- Products: Assistant for research and drafting, Vault for bulk document analysis, Knowledge for citation-backed research, Workflow Agents. Connects to Word, Outlook, SharePoint and Box.
- Built for large, governed deployments: enterprise legal departments and multi-jurisdiction firms
- Scale, funding, customers and certifications: sourced line by line in the side-by-side table below
Claude
Who Claude is for
Claude is a general-purpose assistant a lawyer can start using on day one. It is not a legal product.
Anthropic sells Claude as Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans, and through an API. Lawyers use it for drafting, summarizing and analysis. Playbooks, matter structure and review steps are the firm's to build.
- Plans: Pro is $20 per month, or $17 billed annually and Max is from $100 per month, per Anthropic's published plan page; Team is $25 per seat per month, or $20 billed annually for a standard seat, and Enterprise is $20 per seat per month billed annually, plus usage at API rates
- Context: Anthropic documents context windows of 200K tokens, up to 1M on eligible models; Projects keep documents and instructions available across conversations
- Legal sources: as of the review date, no built-in legal citator is documented on Anthropic's product pages
- Data terms: Anthropic states that its Consumer Terms do not apply to services under Commercial Terms, including Claude for Work, so the plan decides the terms
Pricing
One publishes a price, one does not
Claude's plan prices are public. Harvey's are not, so the only real Harvey number is the one in your own quote.
Harvey's site is demo-gated end to end, and no standard price is published at any firm size. This page does not repeat per-seat estimates from third-party sites, since Harvey has not confirmed them.
Anthropic publishes Claude's plans on its published plan page, captured October 9, 2026. Pro is $20 per month, or $17 billed annually. Max is from $100 per month. Team is $25 per seat per month, or $20 billed annually for a standard seat. Enterprise is $20 per seat per month billed annually, plus usage at API rates. Anthropic publishes usage capacities for each plan, and heavy legal workloads with long documents can reach them. What happens then is set by Anthropic's plan terms.
A published seat price covers access to the model. It does not cover the time a firm spends building prompts, playbooks and review steps around it.
For the full treatment of what is and is not known about Harvey's cost, see our Harvey AI pricing guide.
The real differences
Where the two genuinely differ
The split is a finished legal platform against a general model the firm shapes.
- Legal workflow: Harvey ships with legal workflows, a matter-based Shared Spaces layer and Workflow Agents; with Claude the firm designs these itself
- Document handling: Harvey's Vault is a repository, reportedly up to 100,000 files per Harvey's own materials; Claude works within its context window, with no dedicated bulk-review product found in public documentation
- Citations: Harvey documents citation checking through Shepard's via its LexisNexis alliance; no built-in legal citator is documented for Claude, so cites are checked against a legal source by the lawyer
- Governance: Harvey documents audit trails; Anthropic lists SSO, SCIM and audit logs on Enterprise, and lists no SSO or admin controls on Pro or Max
- Buying path: Harvey is enterprise-quoted at every size; Claude can be bought self-serve at Pro and Max, with Team and Enterprise above that
If a Harvey quote is out of reach, read the real decision for firms that cannot buy either.
Side by side
Harvey and Claude, compared
| Harvey | Claude | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Legal AI platform | General-purpose AI assistant from Anthropic |
| Origin | Founded 2022, San Francisco | Built by Anthropic |
| Core products | Assistant, Vault, Knowledge, Workflow Agents | Chat, Projects, API |
| Bulk document analysis | Vault (reportedly up to 100,000 documents) | Context windows of 200K tokens, up to 1M on eligible models; no dedicated bulk-review product found |
| Legal citation checking | Shepard's via LexisNexis alliance | No built-in legal citator documented as of review date |
| Security certifications | SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, 27701, 42001, AIUC-1 | SOC 2 and ISO 27001 listed for Enterprise; zero data retention by request for eligible customers |
| Admin and audit | Audit trails, per Harvey materials | SSO, SCIM and audit logs on Enterprise; none listed on Pro or Max |
| Standard pricing published | Not on their site | Pro $20 per month, or $17 billed annually; Max from $100 per month; Team $25 per seat per month, or $20 billed annually; Enterprise $20 per seat per month billed annually, plus usage at API rates |
| How a firm buys | Demo-led enterprise sale | Self-serve at Pro and Max; Team and Enterprise plans |
Where Irys fits
A different set of promises, with the proof published
Harvey and Claude are both credible tools for their buyers. Irys makes a different set of promises, and publishes the proof for each:
- Published economics. Irys One is $299 per month and Irys Teams is $329 per seat per month, with no per-token or per-query overage on the advertised Irys One plan, on the pricing page, not behind a quote.
- Stateful architecture. Matters keep their full context: facts, documents and authorities persist across sessions instead of resetting with every chat.
- Finished work. Drafting ends in a finished, signable document: source-linked output, citation review through Cite Check, built-in e-signature.
- Start today. A 7-day trial with no credit card: evaluate on a real matter before anyone talks to sales.
Head-to-head pages: Irys vs Harvey and Irys vs Claude.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is Claude a replacement for Harvey?
Not directly. Harvey is a legal AI platform with legal workflows, a document repository and governed rollout. Claude is a general-purpose assistant. A firm can use Claude for drafting and analysis, but it has to build the legal workflow, review steps and governance itself.
How does Claude's price compare with Harvey's?
Harvey does not publish a standard price, so there is no public basis for a figure. Anthropic publishes Claude's plans on its published plan page: Pro is $20 per month, or $17 billed annually, Max is from $100 per month, Team is $25 per seat per month, or $20 billed annually for a standard seat, and Enterprise is $20 per seat per month billed annually, plus usage at API rates. The only way to compare real cost is a Harvey quote against Anthropic's plan for your usage.
Can a small firm buy Harvey the way it can buy Claude?
Harvey sells through a demo-led enterprise process and publishes no low-end price, so a small firm should ask Harvey directly whether it sells at its size and what the minimum commitment is. Claude Pro and Max can be bought without a sales call.
Does Claude check legal citations the way Harvey does?
Harvey documents citation checking through Shepard's via its LexisNexis alliance. As of the review date, Anthropic's product pages do not document a built-in legal citator for Claude. A lawyer using Claude should check every citation against a legal source.
How do Harvey and Claude differ on data handling for client work?
Harvey states that it requires zero data retention from its model providers. Anthropic runs a zero data retention program for eligible customers, by request rather than by default, and states that its Consumer Terms do not apply to services under Commercial Terms. In United States v. Heppner (S.D.N.Y., February 2026), a court held that a defendant's own use of Claude, without counsel's direction, was not privileged; the court noted that attorney-directed use might be analyzed differently. Firms should confirm which terms apply to their plan before using client material.
Which Claude plan is closest to what Harvey sells?
Claude Enterprise. Anthropic lists SSO, SCIM, audit logs and fine-grained permissioning there, which are the controls a governed firm rollout needs. Team lists SSO, central billing and role-based access. Pro and Max are single-user plans with no SSO or admin controls listed. Even on Enterprise, Claude remains a general model rather than a legal platform.
Who publishes this comparison?
Irys (formerly Iqidis), a legal AI platform for solo lawyers and small to mid-size firms. Irys competes with both Harvey and, for some buyers, general-purpose tools like Claude at the smaller-firm end of the market, which is why it appears only in the closing section: the comparison above rests on each vendor's own public record.
More comparisons
Put Harvey and Claude next to Irys One.
The comparison tool holds the same facts as this page, with Irys One fixed in the first column and two tools of your choice beside it, across 26 buying questions.
This comparison is based on publicly available information. Claude plan details were reviewed on October 9, 2026; Harvey details were reviewed on August 8, 2026. “Not on their site” means the fact was not on the vendor's own pages as of that date, a statement about their pages and not about their product; actual pricing, features and contract terms may vary and may require particular plans, content subscriptions or integrations. “Claude” here means Anthropic's Claude used directly, through its Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise plans or its API. Product capabilities change frequently; confirm current details with each vendor before making a purchasing decision. Harvey, Claude, Anthropic and all other product names are trademarks of their respective owners, used here for identification and comparison only, with no affiliation or endorsement implied. Irys (formerly Iqidis) publishes this page and competes with both. This page is informational and is not legal, financial or purchasing advice.
Ready to see Irys in action?
Book a demo and see how Irys connects drafting, research, and matter context into one platform.