5 Best AI Contract Review Software: How To Choose the Right One for Your Business

Contracts are the lifeblood of business, but they're also a major source of headaches. Missed deadlines, hidden risks, compliance nightmares... the consequences of poorly managed contracts can be severe.

But what if there was a way to harness the power of AI to transform contract review, saving time, money, and sanity?

There are a number of AI contract review solutions on the market, but picking the right one can be a challenge in itself. After all, AI is a formidable tool, but it cannot fully replace the judgment of an experienced professional.

The best AI contract review software understands this, combining advanced technology with human oversight to deliver reliable, actionable insights.

In this guide, we will highlight some of the best contract review tools on the market and what you need to know when picking a solution for your team.

What Is AI Contract Review Software?

AI contract review software goes beyond simply scanning documents. It leverages the power of machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) to understand and dissect your contracts, streamlining the contract review process.

Contract review tools are designed to streamline several critical tasks:

Extract key data: AI effortlessly locates and pulls out important details like dates, payment terms, names of parties involved, and other essential information, saving you countless hours of manual searching.
Categorize and organize: AI helps you sort your contracts effortlessly. This could be based on type (e.g., sales agreements, NDAs), department, or any other criteria that works for your business, ensuring easy retrieval when you need them.
Assess risks: Proactively flag clauses that might expose your business to legal or financial risks, ensuring you're aware of potential dangers lurking within the fine print.
Enhance consistency: AI helps ensure your contracts always adhere to standard templates and internal company policies, minimizing inconsistencies and strengthening your legal position.

By automating these time-consuming yet critical tasks, AI contract review software frees up valuable time and resources for legal teams and other departments. This allows them to focus on higher-level tasks that require strategic thinking and human expertise.

How Does AI Help With Contract Review?

Contract review is a complex and high-stakes process that requires a reviewer to scan a contract line-by-line to ensure everything is correct and aligned with the contract's goal and a business’s interests.

AI transforms the contract review process by providing:

Lightning-fast analysis: AI processes contracts at an incredible pace, far surpassing human capabilities. It can cut a 92-minute review down to just 26 seconds. This is particularly beneficial when dealing with lengthy, complex documents or if you need to review multiple contracts quickly.
Pinpoint accuracy: AI's meticulous nature reduces the margin for human error by as much as 10%. AI-powered platforms identify inconsistencies, missing clauses, or unusual language with impressive reliability.
Hidden insights: AI can analyze massive volumes of contracts, uncovering patterns and trends that might go unnoticed during a traditional review. These data-driven insights can help you improve your contract processes, identify areas for negotiation, and make strategic business decisions.
Time and money savings opportunities: Did you know that reviewing and processing a basic agreement can cost as much as $6,900? Well, AI automates tedious review tasks and other contract management processes. This will save time and money and allow your legal professionals to dedicate their expertise to crafting stronger agreements, negotiating favorable terms, and providing strategic counsel to the company. Their human judgment and strategic thinking remain essential for complex contracts.

AI contract review software offers a significant advantage in terms of speed and accuracy, though it's important to remember that AI is a tool, not a replacement for human expertise.

Who Uses Contract Review Software?

list of people who use contract management software

While legal teams often come to mind when discussing contract review, the benefits of AI extend far beyond the legal department.

Here's a look at how different teams across your organization can gain from utilizing AI review tools:

Legal teams: Contract review software handles the initial contract vetting, flagging potential risks and highlighting important clauses. This frees up lawyers to focus on the high-level strategy behind contracts, ensuring they safeguard the company's interests.
Sales teams: Delays in contract approval can frustrate clients and stall deals. AI accelerates the review process, enabling sales teams to seal agreements faster and improve the customer experience.
Procurement teams: Software aids in identifying compliance risks, potential inconsistencies with company policies, and unusual terms in vendor agreements. Procurement teams can negotiate better deals armed with these insights.
Risk management: AI acts as a proactive risk detector. It uncovers hidden contract dangers like unfavorable financial terms, IP ownership issues, or data security flaws, empowering risk management professionals to protect the company.
HR departments: AI software streamlines the review of employment contracts, NDAs, and other HR-related agreements, minimizing administrative overhead.
Marketing teams: Marketing agreements, partnerships, and influencer contracts all come with specific terms. AI review software helps guarantee these align with marketing goals, protects brand reputation, and ensures adherence to relevant regulations.

Basically, AI contract review software can benefit just about anyone and everyone who deals with contracts.

The Pros and Cons of AI Contract Review Software

AI contract review software offers a compelling solution for businesses seeking to streamline contract management. But it’s important to consider both the advantages and potential drawbacks before implementation.

Let's weigh the pros and cons to see if AI is the right fit for your organization's needs.

list showing the pros and cons of ai contract review software

The Pros of AI Contract Review Software

AI-powered contract review promises a significant transformation in efficiency, accuracy, and scalability. Let's explore the compelling benefits AI tools can offer:

Enhanced speed: AI processes contracts at blazing speeds, far surpassing manual review capabilities. This speed boost is invaluable when dealing with tight deadlines or a high volume of contracts.
Improved accuracy: AI-powered platforms identify inconsistencies, missing clauses, or unusual language with impressive reliability, significantly reducing the risk of human error.
Cost savings: Reduced labor hours for contract review translate into real cost savings for your business.
Scalability: If your business is growing rapidly, AI ensures your contract management processes can keep up with the increased volume without overwhelming your legal team.
Data insights: By analyzing your portfolio of contracts, AI can uncover patterns and trends, aiding with strategic decision-making. These insights can help you improve negotiations, identify areas where standard templates need strengthening, and spot potential risks across your contracts.
Streamlined processes: AI can help bypass legal bottlenecks by handling redundant contracts and standard agreements. This allows non-legal teams to manage straightforward contracts more efficiently, freeing up legal professionals to focus on complex, high-stakes agreements.

While the benefits are undeniable, it's equally important to consider the potential limitations of AI contract review software.

The Cons of AI Contract Review Software

Let's take a realistic look at the limitations and challenges you might encounter when implementing AI solutions.

Complexity and adoption: Some legal tools have a steep learning curve and may require technical expertise for adoption and ongoing management.
Nuance and context: While AI is constantly improving, it can still struggle to grasp subtle language nuances, the specific intent behind clauses, or highly specialized terminology used in certain industries.
Potential bias: If the AI model is trained on a biased dataset, it may perpetuate those biases in its analysis. For example, a model trained on contracts with historically unfair terms toward certain groups might not flag those terms as problematic.
Cost of implementation: High-quality AI contract review solutions can come with significant upfront investment. It's essential to calculate the potential ROI and determine if the long-term benefits outweigh the initial costs.
Lack of human judgment: AI is a powerful tool, but it cannot fully replace the experience and strategic thinking of a seasoned lawyer. Complex negotiations, compliance oversight, and interpreting the broader implications of certain clauses still require human expertise.

Understanding both the benefits and limitations is crucial for making an informed decision about integrating AI into your contract management process.

The 5 Best AI Contract Review Software

Ready to choose the AI tool that works best for your business? Let's break down the top five options for contract review software.

1. ContractSafe

ContractSafe is a comprehensive contract management platform designed to streamline the entire contract lifecycle, from creation to execution.

It offers a user-friendly interface and features that make contract reviews faster, more accurate, and better organized.ContractSafe simplifies contract review with these features:

Data extraction: Use ContractSafe’s AI[ssistant] to quickly and accurately pull essential information like key dates, payment terms, and parties involved, eliminating the need for manual searches.
Organization and categorization: Sort contracts by type (e.g., NDAs, sales agreements), department, or custom criteria, ensuring you can easily find the right contract when you need it.
Automated contract workflows: With ContractSafe, you can automate routine tasks like approvals and reminders, keeping the process moving efficiently and minimizing bottlenecks.
Commenting and redlining: ContractSafe enables seamless collaboration, allowing multiple team members to make revisions and comments directly within the platform.

Automatic setup for new contracts: Use your standard templates to streamline the creation process and ensure consistency across all contracts.

One of the standout features of ContractSafe is its pricing model. Unlike other platforms that charge extra for AI functionalities, ContractSafe includes AI-powered features in its basic contract management system (CMS) at no additional cost.

This aligns with its philosophy that AI should seamlessly integrate into your existing workflows, not disrupt them completely.

ContractSafe’s approach ensures that businesses of all sizes can benefit from advanced AI capabilities without worrying about hidden costs or tiered pricing. By making AI an integral part of our CMS, it aims to enhance your contract management process, making it more efficient and accessible.

2. Legartis

Legartis is a powerful AI-driven contract analysis platform designed for legal professionals. It focuses on deep clause analysis and extracting legal obligations, going beyond surface-level keyword recognition.

Legartis helps with:

In-depth clause analysis: Legartis leverages advanced NLP to understand the meaning of clauses and their relationship within the contract. This allows it to accurately identify obligations, potential risks, and unusual language.
Customization: The platform can be trained on your specific contract language and terminology, tailoring its analysis to your industry or individual company’s needs.
Data visualization: Provides easy-to-understand dashboards and reports, aiding in strategic decision-making.

Legartis is great for law firms and in-house legal teams managing complex contracts (e.g., M&A, finance, or those with highly specific terminology). Legartis is likely best for organizations with some technical expertise to maximize its customization features.

3. Summarize

Summarize takes a user-centric approach to contract review, combining AI with human expertise. It focuses on simplifying complex legal language and highlighting key points for easy understanding.

Summarize can help with:

Plain English summaries: Summarize provides clear summaries of terms and clauses, making contracts easier to understand for non-lawyers or those working quickly.
Risk identification: It can flag potential risk areas within the contract, prompting attention from legal professionals.
Human-in-the-loop approach: Trained lawyers review and refine AI analysis, ensuring greater accuracy and a deeper level of understanding.

Summarize can help businesses of various sizes where contract review involves multiple stakeholders with varying legal expertise. Summarize is a good option for teams prioritizing ease of use alongside the reassurance of human oversight.

4. LegalOn Technologies

legalon-technologies

LegalOn Technologies is an enterprise-focused contract lifecycle management platform with robust AI-powered features for contract analysis and review.

Here’s how it works:

Clause library and analysis: LegalOn can identify key clauses and offer insights into their implications, allowing users to compare contract terms against their standard templates.
Risk assessment: It highlights potential risk areas, such as unfavorable payment terms, indemnification clauses, or unusual wording.
Workflow automation: It can also streamline the contract review process, including approvals, redlining, and execution.

LegalOn Technologies is good for medium to large businesses seeking an end-to-end contract management solution with powerful AI analysis tools built-in. It may be particularly suitable for organizations with a high volume of contracts.

5. Luminance Diligence

luminance-diligence

Luminance Diligence is an enterprise-level AI platform designed specifically for due diligence processes, often associated with mergers and acquisitions. It offers highly advanced NLP with a focus on large-scale, complex document review.

Here’s what it can do for you:

Rapid analysis of massive datasets: Luminance can quickly analyze thousands of documents simultaneously, uncovering insights that might be missed during manual review.
Pattern and anomaly detection: The software identifies trends, inconsistencies, and potential red flags across a large volume of contracts and legal documents.
Collaboration and visualization: It also provides tools for teams to collaborate on due diligence review, track progress, and visualize findings.

Luminance Diligence is fantastic for law firms, investment banks, and large corporations involved in frequent mergers, acquisitions, or complex transactions requiring extensive due diligence. It also likely requires significant setup and is an ideal tool for highly sensitive document analysis.

What To Look for in AI Contract Review Software

Choosing the right AI contract review software is crucial. Here are some key considerations to help you decide.

Accuracy

Let's be honest: Fancy marketing promises about AI accuracy only go so far.

When choosing a contract review tool, you need hard data.

Ask vendors for specific performance metrics, like precision and recall scores, that tell you exactly how well the software identifies key clauses and potential risks.

Don't settle for sales pitches! Request a demo so you can test the software with your actual contracts and see its performance firsthand.

Customization

Every company has its own unique way of phrasing contracts and defining specific terms. You need AI software that’s flexible.

Look for tools that let you customize dashboards on a user level. This will give each team the ability to focus on the things that are most important to them.

For industries with highly specialized language, a powerful search feature is a must. This will help you find everything you need quickly.

Additionally, check if the software understands your contract formatting. Optical character recognition (OCR) technology can analyze your contracts, whether they’re saved as Word documents, PDFs, or images.

Ease of Use

Elegant AI algorithms won't help you if the software is impossible to navigate.

An intuitive, user-friendly interface is crucial, especially if you want teams across your company to use the tool, not just the legal department.

Look for contract tracking features that give you insights at a glance, clear navigation, and visual representations of the analysis.

During product demos, don't just listen to the pitch; get hands-on! See how easy it is to generate reports, find the data you need, and for team members to collaborate directly within the platform.

Integrations

Your contract review software shouldn't exist in a vacuum. The best tools play nicely with your existing systems.

Ask about integrations with your CRM, document management platform, and cloud storage provider. This streamlines your workflow, preventing the need to manually move data between different tools.

Additionally, if e-signatures are a crucial part of your process, check how well the AI tool integrates with your chosen e-signature solution for a seamless experience.

Support

Even with the best software, questions and the occasional hiccup are inevitable.

Responsive customer support is non-negotiable.

Dig into what kind of support a vendor offers — is it just a barebones knowledge base, or do they offer live chat, phone support, and even dedicated account managers for larger accounts?

Don't underestimate the importance of training!

Find out what resources the vendor provides to help your team get up to speed and make the most out of the software.

Security

Your contracts often hold sensitive information. Don't just take a vendor's word for it when they say their security is "top-notch."

Ask specific questions about how your data is used, encrypted, and stored:

How is data being used?
How is it being secured?
What kind of compliance certifications are in place?
Where does data live?
Is data backed up anywhere?

Look for compliance certifications (like SOC 2 or ISO 27001) demonstrating that they take security seriously and understand where your data will reside physically. (This matters for complying with data privacy regulations.)

Finally, inquire about their backup procedures. Having a way to recover your contract data in case of an emergency provides peace of mind.

See How ContractSafe Can Transform How You Manage Contracts

If you’re looking for a comprehensive contract management solution that can support your legal team with reviews, organize your documents, and keep your team ahead of the game, look no further.

ContractSafe is a powerful contract management tool built by legal pros for legal pros.

And its intuitive design and focus on simplicity mean anyone and everyone who deals with contracts in your organization can hop in easily and start managing contracts with the best of ‘em.

But don’t just take our word for it; give it a spin and see for yourself.