PACER
Shares rank 3 of 4 legal research databases by recommenders
PACER gives access to US federal court records, and people find it useful for research and litigation. Critics mainly object to the per-page fees and the poor interface.
PACER gives access to US federal court records, and people find it useful for research and litigation. Critics mainly object to the per-page fees and the poor interface.
16 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 11
- approval share
- 31%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 0.4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Research and litigation use
“I used pacer to research tcpa cases in order to bring litigation (successfully) against telemarketers in local courts.”
Comment from 20 Jun 2026 in “Court Records Should Be Free” Handy menubar access
“Nice to have it in the menubar though.”
Comment from 8 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: Pacer – will your AI coding subscription last until the reset?”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Per-page fees seem too high
“PACER is for federal courts, price is $1 per page.”
Comment from 19 Jun 2026 in “Court Records Should Be Free” “half a ten thousandth of a penny per page”
Comment from 20 Jun 2026 in “Court Records Should Be Free” “I owe a real pound of flesh to the courts”
Comment from 20 Jun 2026 in “Court Records Should Be Free” - Comment from 24 Aug 2026 in “Anna's Archive Owes $340 Million, Lost Several Domains, but It's Still Online”
Fees exceed the cost of running it
“The costs of running PACER are absolutely trivial in comparison to the costs of running the judiciary.”
Comment from 20 Jun 2026 in “Court Records Should Be Free” “figuring out roughly how much per page it'd cost to run PACER using AWS GovCloud”
Comment from 28 Oct 2026 in “Pacer Fees Are Going Up 20%. They Should Be Going Away” “it has high revenue which 2) is required to go to expenses”
Comment from 20 Jun 2026 in “Court Records Should Be Free” Poor, hard-to-use interface and search
“It's a poor service, seemingly designed to discourage its own use.”
Comment from 20 Jun 2026 in “Court Records Should Be Free” “it's sadly also unusable in a work environment”
Comment from 8 Oct 2026 in “Show HN: Pacer – will your AI coding subscription last until the reset?” “their search is also annoying”
Comment from 20 Jun 2026 in “Court Records Should Be Free”
Other legal research databases people recommend
The three most recommended other legal research databases, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CourtListener | 10 | 0 | 100% | 8 | — | Approved |
| LexisNexis | 7 | 9 | 44% | 5 | — | — |
| PACERThis page | 5 | 11 | 31% | 4 | — | — |
| Westlaw | 5 | 6 | 45% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
16 of the 20 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“figuring out roughly how much per page it'd cost to run PACER using AWS GovCloud”
“Nice to have it in the menubar though.”
“when I'm in the flow, slowing down isn't an option”
“it's sadly also unusable in a work environment”
“gatekeeps its own law at $.10/page”
“freelaw can deliver a better cheaper equivalent than what exists”
“their search is also annoying”
“I owe a real pound of flesh to the courts”
“It's a poor service, seemingly designed to discourage its own use.”
“half a ten thousandth of a penny per page”
“I used pacer to research tcpa cases in order to bring litigation (successfully) against telemarketers in local courts.”
“it has high revenue which 2) is required to go to expenses”
“The costs of running PACER are absolutely trivial in comparison to the costs of running the judiciary.”
“PACER is for federal courts, price is $1 per page.”
“Just a treasure-trove of PII if it ever falls into the wrong hands.”
“though by no means solved”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.