Which Type of eDiscovery Pricing Will Save Money for My Small Law Firm?

17 February 2018 by Anith Mathai eDiscovery affordable-pricing pricing

Most eDiscovery providers use ‘per GB’ pricing to charge for their software. Because it seems more flexible. But ‘fixed volume’ pricing is actually simpler, more transparent, and (with a little tweaking) just as flexible. This post explores what these pricing strategies are, and which one is better for your small law firm.

eDiscovery providers use two types of pricing strategies.

With ‘fixed volume’ pricing, storage space is divided into chunks (or ‘plans’)-e.g. 3 GB, 5 GB, 10 GB, etc. And their prices have been set in advance.
With ‘per GB’ (or, ‘pay as you go’) pricing there aren’t any ‘plans.’ However big or small your case is, your bill is calculated based on a per-GB rate.

So, which pricing strategy is better for your small law firm?

‘Per GB’ pricing seems more flexible because you don’t have to decide in advance how much storage space you’ll need. But ‘fixed volume’ pricing is actually simpler and more transparent. And with a small tweak, it can be just as flexible. Let’s explore how.

Fixed-volume pricing simplifies billing. No need to negotiate, email, or call.

With per-GB pricing, there’s a lot you’ll need to clarify. Things like per-seat licensing costs, processing fees, and overage. That means emails and phone calls back-and-forth. All before you’ve even uploaded your first file. With fixed-volume pricing, you bypass this negotiating. There are no ‘rates’ to calculate because the plans (and their prices) have been set in advance. Just choose the size that suits you and start working.

Fixed-volume pricing makes billing transparent. You know exactly how much you’ll be paying and what you’re paying for.

For most small and solo law firms, the size of a case keeps changing. So, with per-GB pricing, how do you calculate what you owe? Say you start with 3 GB of data. Then you delete 1 GB after a couple of weeks. What’s your bill at the end of the month? Do you pay for the largest size your case got to-3 GB? Or its average size-2.5 GB?

By fixing volumes, these distinctions aren’t relevant anymore. If you’re on a 3 GB plan, you’re paying for 3 GB of space. You can do whatever you want with that space. Add and delete as many files as you need to, as often as you need to. Your monthly bill is still predictable.

Fixed-volume pricing can be tweaked to minimize wasted space.

The per-GB model’s chief draw is that you ‘pay for only what you use.’ But an eDiscovery app like GoldFynch makes fixed-volume pricing just as fair, with one simple tweak: prorated prices. You can move freely from one plan to another and pay only for time spent on each plan. So, if you have an 8 GB plan for only half the month and then you change it, you’d pay for only that half month. This would be impossible to offer with per-GB pricing.

GoldFynch is eDiscovery software that uses fixed volumes to bring down costs for small law firms.

Let’s look at an example. If you had 1.7 GB of data, you would be on GoldFynch’s 3 GB plan. Which is $27 per month. A per-GB provider would round to the nearest GB and still charge $40/GB for the entire month. Which works out to $80!

Choosing your GoldFynch eDiscovery plan takes just minutes.

Go to https://goldfynch.com/pricing.
Choose from plans sized at 3, 5, 10, 15, 50, 100, and 100+ GB. We’ve set plan sizes based on data usage patterns of law firms like yours.
Click the ‘Sign up’ button.

That’s it! The best part is as your case grows, GoldFynch upgrades your plan automatically and emails you a notification. So, just choose the smallest plan you think you’ll need and let GoldFynch look after it. If you want to downgrade your plan, you can do it at any point in the GoldFynch ‘Settings’ section.

GoldFynch is cool for other reasons too!

You don’t have to install anything. It runs off the internet, and you use it through your web browser. So you can start working immediately. No sales calls or emails. And no credit card.
It’s easy to use. It’s highly intuitive, and you’ll learn how to use it in minutes.
It lets you do eDiscovery essentials, like tagging files and redacting privileged information. ‘Producing’ files takes just a few clicks.
Most importantly, it’s affordable. Just $27 a month for a basic case. That’s much less-every month-than the nearest comparable software. And hundreds of dollars cheaper than many others.

Want to learn more about GoldFynch?

For more about eDiscovery for small law firms, check out these articles.

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