LexisNexis vs. Thomson Reuters: The Comparison

This article was written by the Small Law Marketing team at LexisNexis and compares U.S. product offerings. 

• LexisNexis and Thomson Reuters are large, international companies that boast decades of experience in creating products for a variety of organizations and legal entities.
• Best-in-class search technology, Shepard’s® Citations, and data visualization set LexisNexis apart from Thomson Reuters.
• The better solution for legal research? LexisNexis.

LexisNexis, owned by the publicly traded company RELX, and Thomson Reuters are veterans in the legal industry. Their experience with legal technology benefits customers – both companies are now adept at making strategic changes in a fast-paced technological environment to improve user experience. If you’re here, you’re likely wondering which company would best meet your organizational needs and comparing AI legal research platforms.

To simplify your evaluation process, we’ve compared these two legal industry giants, providing you with a comparison of products, features, and costs for the U.S. market. We’ll close by letting you know which company offers the better option for legal research.

LexisNexis and Thomson Reuters: The Basics

While LexisNexis and Thomson Reuters are both renowned for their AI legal solutions, each company offers a broader range of products, including legal analytic tools, risk solutions, and news and media collections.

Of course, the landscape of research, news, and media is continuously evolving – and both LexisNexis and Thomson Reuters have been at the forefront of technological changes in these industries. As a result, both companies have strong reputations. So, what do they have to offer?

LexisNexis Top Products

LexisNexis offers over 100 products in a variety of industries, separated broadly into two key categories: legal and risk solutions. The flagship legal research product, Lexis, and its enhanced counterpart, Lexis+ are top offerings from LexisNexis. Depending on your contract, Lexis+ can include Practical Guidance, a well-respected database of secondary law material. LexisNexis also offers legal analytics through Lex Machina, as well as analytical platforms like Context, which is a case-law language analytics solution that can be integrated into Lexis or Lexis+. And the legal industry sings the praises of Law360, a one-stop source for breaking legal news and analysis, with up-to-the-minute coverage of litigation, policy developments, and corporate deals across every major practice area and industry.

Other legal solutions from LexisNexis include:

• Brief Analysis
• Verdicts & Settlements Analyzer
• Lexis Medical Navigator
• Intelligize
• CaseMap Suite
• Lexis CourtLink
• Juris
• CounselLink
• Lexis for Microsoft Office
• Public Records
• Automated Templates

What if you’re a business professional? Nexis is the product for you, with its robust global collection of trusted news, company profiles, legal content, public records, and industry information – all standardized to help you make smarter business decisions. Finally, industries ranging from healthcare to insurance can find risk solutions through LexisNexis.

Thomson Reuters Top Products

Similar to LexisNexis, Thomson Reuters offers an expanse of solutions across industries. Top competing products from Thomson Reuters include its flagship legal solution, Westlaw Classic, and its premium offering, Westlaw Edge. Thomson Reuters also offers a database of secondary legal content called Practical Law, which can be bundled with Westlaw Edge.

Other legal solutions from Thomson Reuters include:

• Quick Check
• Case Evaluator
• Medical Litigator
• Drafting Assistant
• Legal Tracker
• CLEAR

Thomson Reuters also offers numerous products within the Tax and Accounting industry, as well as two primary news and media outlets– Westlaw Today and Reuters Connect.

LexisNexis and Thomson Reuters U.S. Legal Solutions Compared

We know that both LexisNexis and Thomson Reuters offer a broad range of products, but these companies are most widely recognized for their legal research solutions. Here, we focus on comparing key features included in Lexis+ and/or Westlaw Edge.

• What's the difference between Lexis+ and Lexis? Read the comparison to find out. 

As shown above, LexisNexis boasts more total content on Lexis+ than Thomson Reuters houses on Westlaw Edge, but both LexisNexis and Thomson Reuters provide users with a wealth of primary and secondary law materials. Admittedly, more content might be exactly what some users are looking for (and if that’s the case, LexisNexis can be your go-to). But if you are satisfied with the amount of content offered by both LexisNexis and Thomson Reuters, what else matters when deciding which legal software to use?

Ultimately, the most important features are the ones that help users make sense of all the content they are researching. How capable are each of these platforms in helping users understand the results of their search and in presenting consistent, relevant information? Search Technology and data visualizations are key components of effectively solving this user need. We briefly compare both of these features below.

• AI-Powered Search Technology: Both LexisNexis and Thomson Reuters feature AI-powered search technology and an all-in-one search box.
• Data Visualizations: While both companies advertise integrated data visualization tools, LexisNexis boasts the exclusive data visualization tool, Ravel View, which allows users to quickly understand how their top 75 search results are connected.

Comparison of costs

LexisNexis and Thomson Reuters both adjust pricing based on multiple factors, including the size of a firm, the features included in a package, and, of course, the products purchased. Up-to-date pricing for solo attorneys can be found on the e-commerce store for both LexisNexis and Thomson Reuters.

• LexisNexis Pricing
• Thomson Reuters Pricing

Again, pricing ultimately depends on multiple factors– and it’s recommended to chat directly with a sales representative to get the best price. 

• Curious about how LexisNexis compares against a free solution? Check out LexisNexis vs. Google Scholar Case Law Search.
• Related: Legal Tech ROI: The Stats are In for Small to Midsize Law Firms Making a Big Purchase 

The Better Solution for Legal Assistance

We don’t have to tell you that conducting high quality legal research is critical to the success of any practicing attorney. After all, your legal research software can make or break your case.

So, if you haven’t evaluated your legal research software in a while, now is the time.

LexisNexis offers access to exclusive content and superior search and visualization features. With an overall better price point and 24/7 customer service, Lexis+ is your choice for legal research.

Now that you’ve done the research, it’s time to explore the possibilities. Try Lexis+ for free today.

Buy Now  Free Lexis+ Access

*LexisNexis and the Knowledge Burst logo are registered trademarks of RELX Inc. Other products or brands referenced may be trademarks of RELX Inc., its subsidiaries and affiliates or other companies. 

**Comparison data based on information available as of September 2021 for claims in this row, with the exception of Municipal Codes which is based on information available as of October 2021.

***Comparison data based on information available as of  September 2021 for claims in this row.

****Comparison data based on information available as of January 2021 for claims in this row.