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Side-by-side comparison · Legal, Finance & HR

CoCounsel vs HireVue vs Spellbook

Everything that matters when choosing between them, in one place: our rating, what each can do, what they cost, and the trade-offs.

CoCounsel

3.8

Free to start

HireVue

3.8

Free to start

Best overall

Spellbook

3.9

Free to start

Comparing 3 tools, the maximum.

At a glance

Pick it if: Law firms and legal teams, mostly in the US, that already use Westlaw or Practical Law.

Pick it if: Large employers and HR teams running high-volume or graduate hiring.

Best overallEasiest to use

Pick it if: Commercial lawyers, small firms and in-house teams who review and draft contracts in Word every day.

Overview

AttributeCoCounselHireVueSpellbook
In one lineThomson Reuters' legal AI for research, drafting and document review, built on Westlaw.Video interviews, AI interviewing and skills assessments for hiring at scale.Drafts, reviews and redlines contracts inside Microsoft Word.
Pricing modelPaidPaidPaid
Starting priceSee websiteSee websiteSee website
Free plan No No No
Works with Claude Code Yes Yes No

Rating breakdown

Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.

AttributeCoCounselHireVueSpellbook
Overall rating3.83.83.9Winner
Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it.
4.0
4.0
4.5
FeaturesHow completely it covers its own job, and how well the pieces fit together.
4.5
4.5
4.0
Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them.
4.0
3.5
4.0
Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan.
3.0
3.0
3.0
Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over.
3.5
4.0
4.0

Feature comparison

A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.

AttributeCoCounselHireVueSpellbook
Access & platform
Free plan No No No
Mobile app– Yes–
Desktop app–– Yes
Browser extension–––
API access Yes Yes–
Teams & business
Team workspace Yes Yes Yes
Enterprise plan or SSO Yes Yes Yes
Connects to other apps Yes Yes–
Open source or self-hosted No No No
AI abilities
Works with your files Yes– Yes
Understands images–––
Makes images No No No
Makes video No No No
Writes code–––
Runs agents or automations Yes Yes Yes
Learns your brand or style–– Yes
Works in many languages– Yes–
Capabilities score6/ 177/ 176/ 17

Pricing

Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.

AttributeCoCounselHireVueSpellbook
Plans

CoCounsel Essentials

Custom

Firms adding AI to an existing Westlaw or Practical Law plan.

EnterpriseOur pick

Custom

Employers hiring at volume.

Free trial

Free for 7 days

Testing it on real contracts before you talk price.

CoCounsel LegalOur pick

Custom

Teams that want the full research, review and drafting set.

Law FirmsOur pick

Custom

Private practice firms of any size.

In-House Teams

Custom

Corporate legal departments.

Which plan to pickTalk to your Thomson Reuters account manager, since price depends on your Westlaw contract. Ask for a trial on real matters and compare the full CoCounsel Legal tier with the cheaper Essentials bundle before you choose.Pricing is by quote. Decide up front whether you want AI scoring or only recorded interviews for humans to review, since that changes both the price and your legal obligations.Run the 7-day trial on contracts you actually negotiate, then ask for a quote. Get the per-seat price and any minimum term in writing, as third-party reports put prices anywhere from under US$200 to around US$350 per user a month.

Key features

AttributeCoCounselHireVueSpellbook
Standout features
  • Research with citations
  • Deep research and agent steps
  • Tabular document review
  • Brief and document drafting
  • Works where lawyers work
  • Video interviewing
  • AI Interviewer
  • Assessments
  • Match and Apply
  • Cheating and fraud checks
  • Review
  • Draft
  • Benchmarks and Compare
  • Playbooks
  • Associate

Pros and cons

AttributeCoCounselHireVueSpellbook
Pros
  • Research answers grounded in Westlaw with clickable citations
  • Handles large document reviews in a table
  • Works inside Word, Outlook and Teams
  • Backed by a long-standing legal publisher
  • Official MCP connection for Claude
  • Saves recruiters a lot of phone-screen time
  • Structured, consistent questions for every candidate
  • Candidates can interview at any time from a phone
  • Strong security certifications, including FedRAMP
  • Works inside Word with tracked-change redlines
  • Quick to learn, with little setup
  • Playbooks keep a team's positions consistent
  • Free trial before you talk to sales
  • Zero data retention agreements with AI providers
Cons
  • No public pricing, and costs vary a lot depending on your Westlaw contract
  • Product names and tiers are confusing
  • Built mainly for US law
  • Like every legal AI, its answers and citations still need checking
  • Candidates often find one-way video interviews impersonal and stressful
  • AI scoring has drawn bias criticism and a 2025 ACLU complaint (HireVue disputes it)
  • Laws on AI in hiring (New York City, Illinois, the EU) add audit and consent work
  • No public pricing; built for enterprise budgets
  • No public pricing, and reported prices rose in late 2025
  • Word only, so Google Docs users are left out
  • Can suggest wrong or made-up language, so every change needs checking
  • No built-in contract repository or approval workflow

Who each one is for

AttributeCoCounselHireVueSpellbook
Best for
  • Legal research with linked case citations
  • Drafting briefs and memos
  • Reviewing large document sets against set questions
  • Firms already paying for Westlaw
  • High-volume and graduate hiring
  • Structured first-round video interviews
  • Skills and game-based assessments
  • Hiring across many countries and languages
  • Reviewing and redlining contracts in Word
  • Drafting clauses and agreements from your templates
  • Applying a team playbook consistently
  • Small firms and in-house legal teams
You'll find it used by
  • Litigators
  • Law firms
  • In-house legal teams
  • Government legal teams
  • HR teams
  • Talent acquisition
  • Graduate recruiters
  • Retail and contact centre employers
  • Commercial lawyers
  • Small law firms
  • In-house legal teams
  • Founders handling contracts

Questions people ask

Which is better, CoCounsel, HireVue or Spellbook?

Spellbook scores highest overall in our ratings (CoCounsel 3.8/5, HireVue 3.8/5 and Spellbook 3.9/5). CoCounsel is best for legal research with linked case citations and drafting briefs and memos. HireVue is best for high-volume and graduate hiring and structured first-round video interviews. Spellbook is best for reviewing and redlining contracts in Word and drafting clauses and agreements from your templates.

Which is cheaper, CoCounsel, HireVue or Spellbook?

CoCounsel: Pricing isn't published; check the vendor's site for a quote. HireVue: Pricing isn't published; check the vendor's site for a quote. Spellbook: Pricing isn't published; check the vendor's site for a quote.

Which is easier to use, CoCounsel, HireVue or Spellbook?

Spellbook rates highest for ease of use in our scores. Commercial lawyers, small firms and in-house teams who review and draft contracts in Word every day.

How we compare

Ratings are our own, from using each tool, across ease of use, features, output quality, value for money, speed & reliability.

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