# CourtListener

10 Hacker News commenters recommended CourtListener and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Free, donation-funded search of US court documents and bulk case law from the non-profit Free Law Project, seen as a cheaper alternative to PACER.

## Why people recommend it

- Free access to court documents (2 comments): "courtlistener is providing a much better service at no cost to the public through donations" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48606041)) "who make millions of US court documents freely available to the public" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47538045))
- Cheaper alternative to PACER (2 comments): "As a user of both courtlistener and pacer, I mostly believe freelaw can deliver a better cheaper equivalent" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48611414)) "courtlistener is providing a much better service at no cost to the public through donations" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48606041))
- Bulk case law data available (2 comments): "CourtListener (from the non-profit Free Law Project) provides bulk access to its case law collection." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47577648)) "We have hosted bulk case law at Free Law Project for over a decade" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49753077))
- Non-profit, donation-funded service (2 comments): "CourtListener (from the non-profit Free Law Project) provides bulk access to its case law collection." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47577648)) "courtlistener is providing a much better service at no cost to the public through donations" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48606041))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [LexisNexis](https://hackerapproved.com/p/lexisnexis.md): 7 recommend
- [PACER](https://hackerapproved.com/p/pacer.md): 5 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://www.courtlistener.com/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "CourtListener", https://hackerapproved.com/p/courtlistener/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).