The Hidden Costs of Per-GB eDiscovery Pricing
How per-gigabyte pricing works
You are charged for the volume of data hosted, usually per gigabyte per month. On a single rate card it looks clean and easy to compare. The catch is that the total is the rate multiplied by a volume and a duration you do not fully control at signing. The wider pricing picture is set out in the eDiscovery pricing decoded guide.
Where it surprises you
The bill grows in ways the rate card does not show. Data volume balloons once you collect from cloud sources and collaboration tools. Processing and analytics are often billed on top. A matter that runs for a year keeps paying monthly hosting the whole time. And exception documents, the files that do not process cleanly, get handled under terms most buyers never read closely.
The exception-document problem
Exception documents are the clearest example of the hidden cost. A 2026 eDiscovery pricing survey found that 39.6% of buyers could not explain how their own contracts treat exception documents. If you cannot say how they are charged, you cannot predict the bill, and exception handling is exactly the kind of line item that grows on a large or messy matter. Reducing volume early, before it reaches hosting, is the most reliable defence, and the eDiscovery workflow automation guide and automated legal hold guide cover how to do it.
Questions to ask before signing
- How is volume measured, and at what point in the workflow.
- What is billed on top of hosting, such as processing and analytics.
- How are exception documents defined and charged.
- What happens to the monthly cost on a matter that runs for a year.
- What are the export and production costs at the end.
For matters that move from discovery into a hearing, legal investigations sets out the end-to-end view, and the platform that holds it together is described in the Setara overview.
Frequently asked questions
Is per-GB eDiscovery pricing cheaper?
Not necessarily. It is predictable per unit but the total depends on volume and how long the matter runs, so a low per-gigabyte rate can still produce a high and unpredictable bill.
What are exception documents in eDiscovery?
Files that do not process cleanly and need special handling. They are a common source of unexpected cost, and a 2026 survey found that 39.6% of buyers could not explain how their contracts charge for them.
How do I make eDiscovery costs more predictable?
Understand what is billed on top of hosting, pin down how exception documents are charged, and reduce data volume early so less data is hosted and processed in the first place.