Review Any Contract in Seconds: The 6 Best AI Contract Review Tools (2025)

contract review guide

The best AI contract review tools in 2025 are Contract Crab, Legly, Legartis, Summize, Luminance, and Spellbook. They analyze and summarize contracts in minutes, flag risky language, extract key dates and clauses, and highlight missing protections. Choose based on team size, review volume, and whether you need quick summaries or enterprise workflows.

Table of Contents

Why contract review matters

Contract review is an essential part of doing business — but it’s also time-consuming, expensive, and prone to human error. AI-powered software speeds up the process by highlighting risks and summarizing key terms so you can understand what you’re agreeing to before you commit.

These tools can analyze and summarize contracts in minutes.

 

They can also:

  • Flag risky or unfavorable language
  • Extract key dates and clauses
  • Identify missing protections

But how exactly do these tools work? And with so many options available, how do you know which one to trust?

In this article, you’ll discover how contract review AI software works, which types of businesses benefit the most, and which six platforms stand out from the rest — complete with side-by-side comparisons of features and pricing to help you make the right choice.

What is a contract review?

A contract review is when someone examines an agreement before it gets signed. Usually a lawyer or paralegal reads through the document line by line. In small companies, the founder or a business manager often handles this work. In larger organizations, junior lawyers do the first pass and flag issues for senior attorneys to review. No matter who performs the review, the goal is always to understand what you’re agreeing to before you commit.

A contract review is an examination of an agreement before or after signing to understand obligations, risks, and missing protections. Pre-signature reviews flag potential problems and allow renegotiation; post-signature reviews verify that existing agreements still protect your interests and comply with current regulations.

Pre-signature vs. post-signature

  • Pre-signature reviews are in place to flag potential problems and renegotiate before the contract is signed.

  • Post-signature reviews are meant to verify that existing agreements still protect your interests and comply with current regulations.

What is contract review software?

While you can review contracts manually, the process is slow and costly — a single agreement can take 90 minutes or more to go through by hand. Even then, human reviewers are bound to miss small details now and then — especially when fatigue sets in or when reviewing complex contracts alone. That’s where artificial intelligence contract review software makes all the difference.

Contract review software uses artificial intelligence — tools like ChatGPT, for example — to read through your contracts, extract key details such as party names, payment terms, important dates, and obligations, and present them in a clear, easy-to-understand summary. It also flags anything that looks unusual or potentially risky. If something seems off about the contract, the software highlights the exact language and explains why it might be a concern. For simpler contracts, these tools can even take the place of a lawyer. At the very least, they help you understand what you’re looking at; at best, they can save you thousands of dollars in legal fees.

 

For simpler contracts, these tools can even take the place of a lawyer; at minimum, they help you understand what you’re looking at and can save on legal fees.

Contract review software uses artificial intelligence to read contracts, extract key details (party names, payment terms, dates, obligations), and present an easy-to-understand summary. It also flags unusual or potentially risky language and highlights the exact wording so you can see why it may be a concern.

 

How AI reviews legal contracts (step by step)

  • Document ingestion: accepts PDFs or Word files for analysis.

  •  Entity extraction: pulls parties, dates, amounts, and other key details.

  • Clause recognition: identifies sections like indemnities, liability, termination, confidentiality.

  • Risk assessment: highlights terms that deviate from common practice or may be unfavorable.

  •  Compliance checks: verifies whether required regulatory clauses are present (e.g., GDPR-related items in data processing agreements).

  • Version comparison: detects additions or changes between drafts (such as auto-renewal).

  • Summarisation: condenses long agreements into concise overviews of obligations and key terms.

  • Reporting: groups findings and recommended next steps across reviewed documents.

online reviewing

Who should use AI contract review

AI assisted contract review AI tools can benefit almost any organization that deals with legal agreements — but they’re especially valuable for:

• Legal teams that handle high contract volumes and need to speed up due diligence without sacrificing accuracy.


• Procurement and sales departments that regularly negotiate vendor or customer agreements and want faster turnaround times.


• Startups and small businesses that don’t have in-house legal counsel but still need to review contracts confidently.


• Enterprises looking to standardize contract workflows and minimize compliance risk across departments.

Now that we’ve covered what contract review software is and why it matters, let’s walk through how it works step by step using Contract Crab — one of the top contract review tools — as an example.

How to simplify contract review with Contract Crab

Contract Crab is one of the most accurate online contract review tools available. You can start using it right away with a free trial — just create a free account. Unlike many competitors, there’s no need to book a demo before getting started. The platform features pay-as-you-go pricing (just $3 per contract, though you can also choose from multiple subscription plans), peer-to-peer security, and a fast turnaround, with AI-generated summaries delivered to your email within minutes.

How it works in 3 steps

  1. Upload your contract in .pdf, .docx, or .txt.

  2.  Wait a few moments while the AI analyzes it.

  3. Receive a detailed summary by email within minutes.

You’ll get a plain-language breakdown that helps you grasp the key terms and obligations — even for multi-page documents — in seconds.

Pricing: $3 per contract (pay-as-you-go), or $30/month for Light, or $75/month, with custom corporate pricing also available.

Security: peer-to-peer encryption, no intermediaries or data logging; you retain control over your account and documents.

Drag and Drop upload icon

Drag & drop your contract to try out

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The 6 best contract review AI tools (2025) — comparison

Contract Crab is one of the best options for fast summaries and a pay-per-contract model, but it’s not the only choice. Here’s how the top six compare.

ToolBest ForKey StrengthsStarting Price
Contract CrabSmall teams, solo entrepreneursFast summaries; plain-language output; multi-format; email delivery$3 per contract; plans $30/mo, $75/mo; custom corporate
LeglySmall to mid-sized legal teamsDeal-breaker highlighting; portfolio risk visualizationFree (2 reviews/90 days); $29/user/month unlimited
LegartisLaw firms with complex contractsDeep clause analysis; customizable terminologyContact for pricing
SummizeLarge teams wanting human oversightPlain English summaries; lawyer-reviewed; Microsoft Word integrationContact for pricing
LuminanceLarge enterprises doing due diligenceAnomaly detection across thousands; pattern recognitionContact for pricing
SpellbookLawyers drafting in Microsoft WordReal-time risk flagging; inline clause suggestions; Word add-inContact for pricing; user reviews suggest $299 USD/user/month (12-month)
ToolBest ForStarting Price
Contract CrabSmall teams, solo entrepreneurs$3 per contract; plans $30/mo, $75/mo; custom corporate
LeglySmall to mid-sized legal teamsFree (2 reviews/90 days); $29/user/month unlimited
LegartisLaw firms handling complex contractsContact for pricing
SummizeLarge teams wanting human oversightContact for pricing
LuminanceLarge enterprises doing due diligenceContact for pricing
SpellbookLawyers drafting in Microsoft WordContact for pricing; user reviews suggest $299 USD/user/month (12-month)

Now, let’s take a closer look at each of the top six options, including Contract Crab

1. Contact Crab

Contract Crab is an AI-powered contract review tool designed to quickly summarize and simplify contracts. It’s one of the easiest tools to use among those we’ve tested — ideal if your main goal is to quickly understand what’s in a contract without getting bogged down in legal jargon.

It’s one of the easiest tools to use among those we’ve tested — ideal if your main goal is to quickly understand what’s in a contract without getting bogged down in legal jargon.

Core features:

  • AI-powered contract summarizer that extracts key details from documents
  • Secure contract storage
  • Supports multiple file formats, including .docx, .txt, and .pdf
  • Summarized results delivered directly to your email within minutes

Contract Crab uses peer-to-peer encryption, with no intermediaries or data logging. This means that you retain full control over your account and documents.

Pros:

  • Affordable pay-per-contract option at just $3 (no subscription required)
  • Results are delivered right to your email in minutes
  • Supports multiple file formats
  • You don’t need a legal background to understand the summaries

Cons:

  • It’s not a fully fledged Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) platform, so it may not meet the needs of large legal teams

Another major plus is the flexible pricing structure, which makes Contract Crab accessible for individuals, small businesses, and enterprise users alike.

Pricing: $3 per contract (pay-as-you-go), or $30/month for Light plan, or $75/month, with custom corporate pricing also available.

2. Legly

Legly targets small and mid-sized teams that need affordable AI assisted contract review. The platform focuses on deal-breaker highlighting and visual portfolio analysis. You can see risk distribution across multiple contracts at once, making it easier to prioritize which agreements need attention first.

Legly works with PDFs, scanned documents, and Word files. The interface is straightforward, and you don’t need extensive training to get value from it.

Pros:

  • Free tier available (2 reviews every 90 days)
  • Affordable unlimited plan at $29/user/month
  • Visual portfolio overview
  • Basic review guidelines included

Cons:

  • Limited customization for enterprise needs
  • Fewer features than higher-priced competitors
  • No advanced redlining capabilities

Pricing: Free up to 2 reviews every 90 days. Professional plan starts at $29/user/month, with custom enterprise pricing available.

Note: We should point out that, of the tools on this list, Legly is one of only two that publicly share their pricing (the other being Contract Crab).

For the other tools, you’ll need to request a quote to see how much they cost — which isn’t exactly transparent.

3. Legartis

Legartis focuses on analyzing contract clauses, and it’s a tool made for law firms and legal teams working with complex contracts. You train Legartis on your own contract language and industry terms, making it more accurate for specialized areas like AI construction contract review, finance or M&A.

But beware: it’s really a tool for lawyers. Although it’s very good at highlighting key obligations, it doesn’t make the content any easier to understand, it just makes reading the contract faster.

Pros:

  • Features very accurate clause interpretation
  • You can set up the platform for different industries and terminologies
  • Comes with advanced data visualization dashboards

Cons:

  • Ideally, you need to have a legal background to use this tool
  • There’s a steep learning curve, compared to Contract Crab
  • Pricing is not transparent

Pricing: Contact for custom quote

4. Summize

What sets Summize apart from other review tools is that, in addition to AI-generated summaries, it incorporates a step where real lawyers review and refine the AI’s output. In theory, this adds a verification layer, but it also introduces variability — how competent is the lawyer? This also drives up the price.

Nevertheless, the platform generates plain English summaries of complex terms and clauses, and it is one of the few tools offering something between hiring lawyers and outsourcing entirely to AI. It won’t be suitable for everyone, but it’s worth considering.

Pros:

  • Lawyer-verified analysis for higher confidence
  • Plain language output accessible to non-lawyers
  • Microsoft Word integration

Cons:

  • Human review adds time compared to pure AI tools
  • Pricing not publicly available
  • May be overkill for simple contracts

Pricing: Contact for custom quote

5. Luminance

Luminance is an enterprise-grade platform designed for due diligence and large-scale contract analysis. It is ideal for environments where thousands of documents need to be processed simultaneously. It comes with advanced visualisation tools to help teams collaborate on complex reviews. Customers use these tools for M&A transactions, regulatory compliance projects and multi-jurisdictional contract analysis.

This is the type of tool you need if you want AI assistance with reviewing multi-million-dollar contracts. For anything else, it’s excessive and probably too expensive.

Pros:

  • Handles large amounts of documents quickly and easily
  • Excellent teamwork and visualisation features
  • Designed for complicated, international reviews

❌ Cons:

  • The setup and onboarding are complicated.
  • The prices are unrealistic for startups
  • There are more features than most small businesses need

Pricing: Contact for custom quote.

6. Spellbook

Spellbook works as an add-on for Microsoft Word. It suggests ways to improve your contracts as you write and edit them. The tool identifies risks, and checks that your work follows standard practices — all without leaving Word. It’s designed for lawyers who want to use AI as part of their current work routine.

Pros:

  • Integrates with Microsoft Word
  • Real time suggestions as you edit
  • 7-day free trial available

Cons:

  • Expensive
  • Not for bulk portfolio analysis
  • Requires Microsoft Word
  • Designed for lawyers

Pricing: Approximately $299 USD/user/month (12-month contract), 7-day free trial available

Notable mentions

A few other platforms deserve recognition but didn’t make our top six. Workday Contract Intelligence (powered by Evisort) is a good choice for enterprises already using Workday. LEGALFLY is worth noting because it combines auto-redlining with jurisdiction-aware compliance checks. ContractSafe focuses on contract lifecycle management with AI features included at no extra cost, making it accessible for mid-sized teams. Juro merges artificial intelligence contract review with full CLM capabilities in the browser. We didn’t include these tools because, when it comes to simple summarisation, we feel that they are slightly overcomplicated and are designed for legal teams first.

How to collaborate with AI in legal review

Use AI for first-pass speed and consistency, then keep human oversight for judgement calls and final sign-off. Define playbooks and constraints up front, prefer tools that show sources or short rationales for suggestions, and approve material edits before sending or signing.

future of ai

What to look for in a contract review tool

  • Microsoft Word workflow: redlining/suggestions where teams already draft.
  • Playbook awareness: checks aligned to your positions.
  • Anonymisation/privacy: sensitive data handled with clear terms.
  • Traceability: suggested changes with concise justifications.
  • Pricing clarity: pay-per-use vs seats vs enterprise quotes.

Where AI review tools may fall short

It’s important to understand that, although AI is becoming more accurate every year, it is not infallible and there are areas in which it may fall short. While using these tools is definitely beneficial, it’s important to be aware of their limitations in order to use them effectively.

• Doesn’t get tricky language: AI can miss unusual wording, custom clauses, or phrases that aren’t standard.

• Can’t fully judge risk: It can flag things like “material breach” or complex indemnity clauses, but it can’t tell how serious they really are.

• Accuracy depends on what it’s learned: If the AI hasn’t seen certain types of contracts, it can miss issues or make mistakes.

FAQ

What is the purpose of a contract review?

The purpose of a contract review is to understand what you’re committing to before signing an agreement. A thorough review makes sure the contract is right for your business and protects you from unexpected costs.

Yes! AI-assisted contract review tools can flag risks, compare versions and highlight deviations from standard practices. AI is very good at handling this scanning work and can save 85–90% of the time spent on contract reviews.

You can, in theory, but it’s not recommended here: general tools may lack specific contract training, and there are concerns about data handling compared to more privacy-focused solutions.

Definitely. AI can identify unusual clauses, missing protections and language that deviates from standard practices, including loopholes.

Bottom line

AI contract review software is designed to quickly scan and summarise contracts, highlighting any deviations and potential risks. There are many different types of contract review tool, ranging from online services offering quick summarisation to fully fledged CLM tools designed to help large legal teams work faster on international, multi-million-dollar agreements (which carry a similarly large price tag).

The right tool for you depends on your needs. For smaller teams and solo entrepreneurs, consider Contract Crab, which offers the most user-friendly contract summarisation features of all the tools we’ve highlighted today. Before we finish, here’s a word of caution: AI tools cannot replace human judgement and common sense, and the final decision is always yours, regardless of what the summary says. However, if you don’t know the law, getting a simple, expertly crafted summary will not harm you, but will help you in many cases.

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