RECAP review
Affordable federal docket research with alerts, OCR, APIs, and searchable PACER records.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
RECAP is a suite for accessing, searching, collecting, and monitoring PACER data from U.S. federal courts. It is aimed at attorneys, researchers, journalists, developers, court watchers, and other PACER users who need searchable filings, dockets, scanned pages, and case updates. The service also includes browser extensions, an ECF notification handler, APIs, bulk data, and utilities for working with legal documents.
Pricing is structured around alert and search limits. The Free Tier includes five docket alerts, unlimited daily opinion search alerts, five daily RECAP search alerts, and free access to public legal materials. Tier 1 costs $10 per user per month and adds unlimited docket alerts, unlimited real-time opinion search alerts, 10 daily RECAP search alerts, and five real-time RECAP search alerts. Tier 2 costs $25 per user per month, while Tier 3 costs $50 and Tier 4 costs $100; each increases the daily and real-time RECAP alert allowances to 25 and 10, 50 and 25, or 100 and 50, respectively. This makes the lower tiers suitable for lighter monitoring and the higher tiers more relevant to intensive search workflows.
RECAP’s clearest distinction is its connection to the RECAP Archive and PACER. Browser extensions can upload PACER purchases to the public archive and expose available records, while the web interface supports searching filings, dockets, and scanned PDF pages. Integrations include PACER, CourtListener, recap.email, and Internet Archive, with API access, webhooks, citation extraction, OCR, and bad-redaction detection utilities for technical workflows. Choose RECAP when federal docket research and monitoring are the priority. Choose another legal research product if statute, regulation, or legal commentary search is central to the work.
RECAP pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Searches millions of federal filings, dockets, and scanned PDF pages
- Free tier plus monthly plans starting at $10 per user
- Includes alerts, OCR, citation extraction, APIs, and webhooks
- Where it doesn't
- Focuses on U.S. federal courts rather than broader jurisdictions
- Does not provide statute, regulation, or legal commentary search
- Higher tiers are needed for more daily and real-time RECAP alerts
RECAP fact sheet, pricing and score →
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