Contractbook vs Ironclad: how they compare in 2026

C
Contractbook profile
I
Ironclad profile
Last verifiedOctober 15, 2026

Contractbook offers a direct route from imported agreements to verified fields and automated follow up. Its HubSpot workflow suits a contract process organized around deal data, signatures and repository records. Ironclad combines the contract system with a wider set of agents that can handle intake, reviews, renewals and workflow tasks from a common conversational entry point. The review experience also reaches Word. Availability and charging need to be understood at the feature level: Ironclad's precedent redlining and Playbook Agent are in early access, playbook setup requires Professional Services, and eligible actions draw from a shared usage balance. Contractbook's plan limits instead distinguish seats, templates and annual signatures. Both retain human review, while the surrounding workflow and the way usage accumulates differ.

At a glance

Category
ContractbookContract Review & Drafting
IroncladContract Review & Drafting
Founded
Contractbook2017
Ironclad2014
Headquarters
ContractbookCopenhagen, Denmark
IroncladSan Francisco, California, United States
Last verified
ContractbookOct 15, 2026
IroncladOct 14, 2026

All 15 axes, side by side

The same grid applied to every vendor in the index, graded from public sources. Hover a grade to see what the letter means on that axis.

AI Centrality

How much of the product is actually AI. Whether the machine learning is the mechanism the buyer is paying for or a feature layered onto conventional software, and whether the vendor is specific about which is which.

Contractbook
BB on AI CentralityThe models are the engine of a core capability, layered on a product that would still function without them as a document or workflow system.

AI Import reads existing contracts, extracts structured fields and helps turn a collection of files into a usable agreement database. The Contract Assistant adds plain language questions, summaries, risk identification and clause revisions. Both operate inside a wider application with template drafting, collaboration, electronic signatures and ongoing contract management. Templates and configured workflows still handle repeat agreements independently of the assistant. Customers can combine the extracted dates and obligations with reminders, while CRM data populates new agreements. Essential includes the assistant; higher plans add broader data extraction, custom fields, automation and team administration around these AI functions.

Ironclad
BB on AI CentralityThe models are the engine of a core capability, layered on a product that would still function without them as a document or workflow system.

Intake, the no code Workflow Designer, approvals, signature, the repository and analytics run without AI, and Ironclad sells that system of record as the base of the platform. Ironclad AI sits on top of it. Ironclad Agent takes a plain language request and returns the answer, the contract or the workflow, or hands the task to a specialized agent. Contract Review Agent redlines third party paper against playbooks and, in early access, precedent, Intake Agent pulls terms into launch forms, Renewal Agent briefs upcoming renewals, and Analytics Agent charts contracting data. The agents act on live workflow state, such as where a contract sits in approval, as well as on documents. The contract platform predates generative AI and would still work without the models.

Citation Accuracy and Hallucination Disclosure

Whether the vendor publishes measured accuracy on citations and assertions, grounds output to primary sources, and says plainly what its system does when it does not know. Legal has a documented public record of fabricated citations reaching filed briefs, so an untested claim of accuracy is not evidence.

Contractbook
BB on Citation Accuracy and Hallucination DisclosureGrounding is real and documented, with linked primary sources and a described retrieval method, short of published accuracy figures an outsider can test.

AI Import connects extracted data to the text it came from. Selecting a purple field in the sidebar moves the reader to its exact location in the original agreement and highlights the passage. Users can inspect individual values or verify all fields together, and the repository marks completed verification. Import first processes the uploaded files and extracts their contract data, with OCR included for relevant files. This is source based verification of customer agreements, rather than a legal citator. No test set, measured accuracy result or explicit unsupported answer behavior accompanies the Contract Assistant's broader clause recommendations.

Ironclad
BB on Citation Accuracy and Hallucination DisclosureGrounding is real and documented, with linked primary sources and a described retrieval method, short of published accuracy figures an outsider can test.

Ironclad's extraction uses two passes to connect values to source text. The model returns each value with a description of where it sits in the contract. A second pass ties that value to the exact OCR tokens, so the interface highlights the passage with its page and position. If the model returns no match, the system tries the raw text and then the normalized value before giving up on a location. Contract Review Agent bases redlines on the customer's playbooks and templates, with precedent based redlining in early access, and redlines can show their rationale. Answers through the MCP connectors link back to the contract in Ironclad. No accuracy figure, error rate or test set is available, and the AI Addendum says output may be incorrect or inaccurate.

Autonomy and Oversight Model

What the system decides on its own, what a lawyer must approve, and whether the vendor documents where the review point sits. A tool that drafts under review and a tool that files without one are different products and different risks.

Contractbook
BB on Autonomy and Oversight ModelA written commitment that the models work alongside a supervising lawyer, with real review surfaces, short of the full control structure: commonly the threshold at which the system stops or what happens after it is wrong.

An AI import can be canceled during upload, OCR or extraction, and the canceled file is discarded. After processing, a reviewer checks the proposed data against highlighted source text and marks the fields verified. That verification can become the trigger for a reminder or a move into a shared space. Users need the relevant company permissions to import files and manage custom contract types. Template workflows also support approval steps before signing. These controls give teams review and cancellation surfaces, but the assistant has no stated confidence cutoff or defined escalation path for an answer that cannot be supported.

Ironclad
BB on Autonomy and Oversight ModelA written commitment that the models work alongside a supervising lawyer, with real review surfaces, short of the full control structure: commonly the threshold at which the system stops or what happens after it is wrong.

Ironclad Agent routes each request to the right agent or workflow, and the agents work inside existing contracting workflows under the user's permissions. Contract Review Agent proposes redlines, flags risk and applies positions in Ironclad or directly in Microsoft Word, with the final decision left to the reviewer. Playbooks set preferred positions and fallbacks, and answers through the MCP connectors are limited to contracts the user can already open. The AI Addendum makes the customer responsible for reviewing and validating output before using it, and says the AI products are no substitute for human oversight. Agent stop conditions, handback routes and limits on work completed without a person are not specified.

Operational and Outcome Evidence

Named, dated evidence that the product works in production at real firms or legal departments. Case studies with figures and identified customers count. Unattributed testimonials and launch announcements do not.

Contractbook
BB on Operational and Outcome EvidenceReal deployment evidence with substance, short of full attribution or measurement: a named customer without figures, or figures without the named customer.

Bizzkit's compliance officer describes saving 15 to 20 hours extracting data from about 50 legacy data processing agreements. That is a named example of AI extraction in use, with the time estimate supplied by the customer. Lenus separately describes reducing contract preparation from 15 minutes to five through templates and integrations with Salesforce, Greenhouse and HiBob. Those automation results are not presented as a measurement of the newer Contract Assistant. GANNI and Pave also discuss repository and extraction benefits. No dated comparative study isolates the assistant's effects on review quality or legal outcomes.

Ironclad
BB on Operational and Outcome EvidenceReal deployment evidence with substance, short of full attribution or measurement: a named customer without figures, or figures without the named customer.

Named customers report figures. NEXT Insurance says Contract Review Agent gave legal operations half its time back, and AES reports first pass redlines that took 30 minutes to two hours now reach a first draft in minutes. Signifyd puts an MNDA review or custom order form clause at minutes rather than an hour to a day, and Hormel's senior counsel reports turnaround cut from 12 weeks to 3. A Forrester study drawn from five customer organizations puts the three year return at 314 percent. Apart from that study, the figures come from the customers themselves, undated and with no method stated.

Privilege and Confidentiality Posture

How client confidences are handled: attorney client privilege and work product treatment, segregation of one client matter from another, whether client data trains any model, and what the vendor commits to in writing rather than in marketing.

Contractbook
BB on Privilege and Confidentiality PostureSubstantive published commitments on confidentiality and training use, short of the full picture: commonly silence on segregation between users or matters, or on what the underlying model provider may retain.

Section 9.12 of the service terms bars AI model training on retained platform data unless the customer gives consent in writing or through the application. Confidential information is limited to service delivery and remains protected after termination. AI imports start in the user's private contract view, while sharing depends on the application's space permissions. Google Cloud hosts platform data and Azure hosts the language model, both with EU locations in the processor list. Privilege and work product handling are not addressed directly, and the terms do not specify what the model provider retains from individual prompts or responses.

Ironclad
BB on Privilege and Confidentiality PostureSubstantive published commitments on confidentiality and training use, short of the full picture: commonly silence on segregation between users or matters, or on what the underlying model provider may retain.

Ironclad's AI Addendum lets it train its own models on customer data, input and output only after a customer enables AI Training Settings in the admin console. An opt out stops new training from that date. That data is first de identified, anonymized and aggregated, and output for other customers may not contain it. Whether or not a customer opts in, Ironclad may use input and output to evaluate the performance and accuracy of the service. External model providers may not train on customer data and run under zero data retention where available. The Enterprise Services Agreement treats customer data as confidential information, and SOC 2 covers the privacy category. The terms say nothing about attorney client privilege or work product, and access follows roles without specified matter boundaries.

UPL and Professional Responsibility Posture

Whether the vendor is clear that it supplies a tool rather than legal advice, who its audience is, and how it addresses unauthorized practice of law, competence and supervision duties, and jurisdiction limits. ABA Formal Opinion 512 is the reference point. Where the advice line is not the duty a product raises, the axis is read through the nearest professional duty it does raise: judicial conduct rules and the reviewing duty for products sold only to courts, and the duty to bill for time actually spent for products that draft time entries.

Contractbook
BB on UPL and Professional Responsibility PostureA real position is published on advice versus tooling, short of full treatment: commonly a disclaimer without the supervision and competence dimension, or silence on jurisdiction limits.

The service is restricted to business activity and is not offered to consumers. Section 8 describes the supplied templates as drafting inspiration rather than legal advice, and the company profile makes the same tooling distinction for the product. Legal teams can control templates, approvals and shared spaces while other employees generate routine agreements. The customer remains responsible for using suitable agreements and deciding whether electronic signatures are appropriate. No jurisdiction specific competence guidance or named professional supervision standard accompanies the assistant. Its explanation and rewriting features therefore sit inside the customer's own legal review and contracting responsibilities.

Ironclad
CC on UPL and Professional Responsibility PostureA boilerplate disclaimer sits in the terms while the marketing describes the product in advice terms, or the intended audience is left ambiguous.

Ironclad markets its AI to legal teams and to sales, procurement and operations users, and describes the platform as built for everyone, lawyers or not. Its AI Addendum states that Ironclad is not the customer's legal advisor, that using the AI products creates no attorney client relationship, and that the customer should consult its own counsel. A separate AI Disclaimer says output is not legal advice and should be verified with a licensed professional before anyone acts on it. Neither document addresses competence or supervision duties, or which jurisdictions the product suits.

AI Governance and Bias Disclosure

Published governance over model behavior: who owns it inside the vendor, what is tested before release, and what is disclosed about disparate output across matter types, parties, or populations.

Contractbook
DD on AI Governance and Bias DisclosureNo governance position published for a system whose output affects legal outcomes.

Contractbook's trust center describes security policies, change management and an incident response program. Management reviews that security program at least annually, and production data is restricted in development and testing environments. The AI features separately support source highlights, user verification and consent for model training. None of these materials sets out an AI release evaluation process, a responsible AI framework or results showing uneven performance across contract types or user groups. The page titled AI Policy Page is a company and product profile for automated readers, rather than a policy assigning accountability for the behavior of the language model.

Ironclad
BB on AI Governance and Bias DisclosureA published governance framework with real substance, short of testing results or a named owner.

Ironclad says every AI feature passes through its Evaluation Framework, which measures accuracy, consistency and reliability against curated benchmarks and real contract data. Subject matter experts validate model output during development and after release, with feedback loops meant to catch bias early, and training data is chosen to cover varied contract types and jurisdictions. Dimitry Dukhovny, the chief information security officer, leads security, compliance and AI governance. Customers can review, override and keep governing agent behavior across teams and contract types. Evaluation results and performance differences by contract type, jurisdiction or party are not available.

AI Safety and Data Stewardship

Retention, deletion, access control, and what happens to prompts and documents after they are processed. Whether the vendor states its subprocessors and its incident practice, or leaves the buyer to assume.

Contractbook
BB on AI Safety and Data StewardshipSubstantive published policy covering most of the ground, short of the full set: commonly no named subprocessor list or no stated incident practice.

Customers can remove or archive their own data through the application and request removal at termination. Signature verification information has separate retention rules and generally requires all signers' consent before deletion. The privacy policy gives a general service data retention period with legal exceptions, while the processor list identifies providers, roles and locations. Space permissions, encrypted storage, logging and a trust center incident plan add operational controls. Confidentiality breaches require prompt notice under the terms. A specific retention window for assistant prompts and outputs, together with a deletion schedule at the model host, is not stated.

Ironclad
AA on AI Safety and Data StewardshipRetention, deletion, access control, subprocessors and incident practice are all published, current, and specific enough to hold the vendor to.

Ironclad's Data Processing Addendum, version 3.10 from 5 March 2026, limits storage of customer personal data to what the services need. It destroys all copies, archives included, within 90 days of the agreement ending, returns data within 30 days on request and issues a deletion certificate within 30 days. A security incident is reported to the customer within 48 hours of Ironclad becoming aware of it. The subprocessor list names each provider, its activity and its location for the United States platform, the EU datacenter and Clickwrap. A new subprocessor comes with 30 days' email notice and a right to object. External model providers run under zero data retention and may not train on customer data. Data is encrypted with TLS 1.2 or higher in transit and AES 256 at rest, with per tenant keys and bring or hold your own key options, and access follows administrator set roles.

AI Liability and Recourse

What the vendor stands behind contractually when its output is wrong. Indemnities, caps, carve outs, insurance, and whether any of it is published or only reachable through a negotiated agreement.

Contractbook
CC on AI Liability and RecourseLiability is addressed only through a standard limitation clause that disclaims the exposure the product creates.

The service agreement limits liability to fees paid in the 12 months before the first claim arose. It excludes lost profit, business opportunity, third party liabilities, data loss and several other categories of loss, and supplies the service as is. Death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud and fraudulent misrepresentation are outside the stated limitations. The customer, rather than the vendor, gives the agreement's indemnity. Contractbook promises customary insurance without naming its amount or scope. These provisions do not provide a specific warranty or recovery route for a mistaken AI clause explanation, extraction or revision.

Ironclad
AA on AI Liability and RecourseWhat the vendor stands behind when its output is wrong is published and specific: indemnity scope, caps, carve outs, and any insurance or warranty a buyer can actually invoke.

The Enterprise Services Agreement, version 2.2 effective July 2026, governs warranties and financial remedies. Ironclad defends and indemnifies customers against third party claims that the platform infringes intellectual property, and against claims from unauthorized disclosure of customer data caused by its breach of the data and security terms. It warrants that the services materially conform to the agreement and comply with applicable law; if a nonconformity is not fixed within 30 days, the customer may terminate for a pro rata refund. Liability is capped at the fees paid in the prior twelve months, rising to three times that amount for data and confidentiality breaches and the data indemnity. Gross negligence, intentional misconduct and the intellectual property indemnity sit outside the cap, and consequential loss is excluded. The service level schedule targets 99.7 percent uptime, with service credits as the remedy. The customer bears sole responsibility for results from AI output, which Ironclad does not warrant as accurate, and the agreement carries no insurance commitment.

Practice Systems Integration Depth

How deeply the product reaches into the systems legal work already lives in: document management such as iManage and NetDocuments, Word and Outlook, contract lifecycle management, matter management, e-billing, and court filing systems.

Contractbook
AA on Practice Systems Integration DepthDocumented, verifiable integrations into the systems legal work already lives in, with the depth described: what syncs, in which direction, and what a firm must configure.

The HubSpot integration moves deal and company data into contract templates and can synchronize negotiated values back after signing. Setup requires defined template fields, the appropriate Contractbook template or company permissions, and specified HubSpot CRM, product library and marketplace rights. The administrator connects the accounts through Integrations and accepts the requested permissions, then configures triggers and actions. HubSpot quotes can become attachments, and its widget displays contract status and activity. Disconnecting unpublishes related automations without deleting generated files. Salesforce, API access, Zapier and Make extend other workflows, with availability and charges varying by plan.

Ironclad
BB on Practice Systems Integration DepthReal integrations exist and are documented, short of depth: named connections without a description of what they actually move.

Ironclad offers native integrations, iPaaS connections to more than 8,000 applications, and an API, with Tray, Zapier and MuleSoft in its directory. The directory names Salesforce, which is AppExchange approved, Coupa, SAP, NetSuite, Zip and Ramp, Microsoft Word and Teams, Slack, DocuSign and Adobe Acrobat Sign, and Box, Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox and Egnyte. MCP connectors answer questions about contracts and workflow status in Claude, ChatGPT and Slackbot, scoped to the user's permissions and linked back to Ironclad. No iManage or NetDocuments connector is identified, and the directory does not specify individual field mappings or sync directions.

Deployment Model and Data Residency

Where the software runs and where the data sits. Multi tenant cloud, single tenant, private deployment, on premises, and whether region of residence is a published option or an enterprise conversation.

Contractbook
BB on Deployment Model and Data ResidencyDeployment model is stated clearly with partial residency detail, or residency is offered without the processing location being addressed, or the tenancy model is stated on its own with no residency detail published.

Contractbook runs as an online contract workspace with organization accounts, shared spaces and individual access rights. The subprocessor list places Google Cloud platform hosting and Azure language model hosting in the EU. It also identifies United States services for email, messaging, monitoring, traffic management and integrations, so the EU hosting entries do not describe every supporting data flow. The privacy policy permits transfers outside the EU and EEA with safeguards. No country selection, customer hosted installation or private tenancy option is specified, and the available material does not allocate storage and processing locations separately for each subscription plan.

Ironclad
BB on Deployment Model and Data ResidencyDeployment model is stated clearly with partial residency detail, or residency is offered without the processing location being addressed, or the tenancy model is stated on its own with no residency detail published.

Ironclad runs as a cloud service on Google Cloud Platform, in multiple zones in the United States, with a separate EU datacenter. For EU hosted customers the subprocessor list places Anthropic and OpenAI, along with Elastic Cloud, Datadog and the product database, in the EU, so AI processing stays in that region too. Clickwrap runs separately on Amazon Web Services in the United States. Customers can bring or hold their own encryption keys. Ironclad does not describe a tenancy model or what changes between plans.

Security Certifications and Trust Center

Independent attestation a buyer can pull without a sales call: SOC 2, ISO 27001, penetration test summaries, a trust center with current reports and named scope rather than a badge image.

Contractbook
BB on Security Certifications and Trust CenterCertification is real and stated, short of accessible evidence: a named standard without scope, date, or a way to obtain the report.

The security page states SOC 2 compliance and describes recurring penetration tests, encrypted credentials, verified accounts and two factor signing. A Secureframe trust center offers a SOC 2 report through a request control and lists security policies covering access, change management, risk and incident response. Its public material does not identify the assessment period, report type, auditor or detailed system scope. The separate Openli profile could not be accessed, so any material there remains unknown. Customer signatures and identity controls support contract execution, while the SOC 2 claim addresses service controls rather than measured accuracy of the AI assistant.

Ironclad
BB on Security Certifications and Trust CenterCertification is real and stated, short of accessible evidence: a named standard without scope, date, or a way to obtain the report.

Ironclad holds SOC 1 and SOC 2 Type II reports from routine third party audits covering security, availability, confidentiality and privacy, along with ISO 27001, 27701, 27017 and 27018. It runs a GDPR program with standard contractual clauses, complies with HIPAA and holds Cloud Security Alliance Trusted Cloud Provider status, with a public CAIQ on the alliance's site. Penetration tests run each year and vulnerability tests each quarter, and disaster recovery is tested twice a year. Certification documents are requested through a security portal, and the website gives no auditor, audit period or report date.

Model Supply Chain Disclosure

Which models sit underneath, whose they are, where they run, and whether the vendor commits to telling customers when that changes. A legal buyer inherits every dependency it cannot see.

Contractbook
BB on Model Supply Chain DisclosureThe supply chain is partly disclosed: providers named without change notification, or architecture described without the providers.

Microsoft Azure hosts the large language model used for the product's AI functions, with the processor list assigning that service an EU location. Google Cloud is separately responsible for storage and platform hosting. The application combines document import, OCR, field extraction and a conversational contract assistant, but the specific model name and version are not identified. The terms require customer consent before retained platform data is used for model training. A general notice rule for contractual updates does not provide a specific commitment to notify customers about model replacements or changes to the inference supply chain.

Ironclad
BB on Model Supply Chain DisclosureThe supply chain is partly disclosed: providers named without change notification, or architecture described without the providers.

Contract Review Agent uses models from Google Gemini, OpenAI and Anthropic, chosen for quality, latency and performance, and Ironclad says it evaluates and swaps in models as they change. Its own models, which learn from aggregated, anonymized data of customers who opt in, sit alongside them. The subprocessor list names Anthropic, OpenAI and Extend for AI and Google Cloud Platform for cloud and AI infrastructure, each in the United States or the EU. A new subprocessor brings 30 days' email notice and a right to object, and AI subprocessors run under zero data retention where available and may not train on customer data. Ironclad does not say which model serves which agent, and a change of model within an existing provider triggers no notice.

Commercial Transparency

Whether a buyer can learn what this costs without entering a sales process: published rates, the unit being charged, what sits behind an enterprise tier, and what implementation adds.

Contractbook
BB on Commercial TransparencyReal pricing is published for part of the range, with enterprise tiers withheld, or the unit and structure are stated without the figure.

Essential, Centralize and Accelerate include one, five and ten users, with annual signed contract allowances of 100, 350 and 500. Template limits are five, 15 and 25. The current pricing page shows no base subscription amount; a company profile updated in March 2026 gives a starting rate of €89 per month. The pricing FAQ lists five extra users at €50 per month, or €600 annually. Automation and provisioning are optional for Centralize and included in Accelerate, while several integrations cost extra. Custom setup uses a quote, and the terms provide for upgrades or additional charges when usage limits are exceeded.

Ironclad
BB on Commercial TransparencyReal pricing is published for part of the range, with enterprise tiers withheld, or the unit and structure are stated without the figure.

The base CLM, AI assistant and eSignature products use a custom quote, with deployment led by the customer, Ironclad's legal engineers or a partner. API connections, integrations, extra instances and support plans can add charges. Eligible agents consume a shared pool of AI Credits, with additional use billed at $1 per unit unless administrators enable a cap or buy prepaid packs. Not every AI feature uses those credits, and existing Contract Review Agent seat arrangements continue through the current contract term. Playbook creation and optimization require Professional Services; precedent redlining and Playbook Agent are in early access. A starting platform rate and fixed implementation fee are not specified.

Firm and Practice Coverage

Who the product is actually built for. AmLaw, midlaw, small firm and solo, in house departments, government and courts, and which practice areas are supported rather than merely claimed.

Contractbook
BB on Firm and Practice CoverageSegment and practice coverage is described with substance, short of the boundaries: what is supported is clear, what is not is left open.

Small and midsize sales, legal, HR and operations teams use the platform for standard recurring agreements such as NDAs, sales contracts and employment agreements. The Lenus case describes legal counsel setting templates and boundaries for colleagues across several markets. Bizzkit uses extraction for legacy data processing agreements, while GANNI and Pave describe contract visibility and renewal work. The company focuses on European markets and also offers industry pages for government, healthcare, construction and procurement. Its own profile excludes legal advice and simple one off signing as its intended role, without supplying a jurisdiction by jurisdiction support matrix.

Ironclad
BB on Firm and Practice CoverageSegment and practice coverage is described with substance, short of the boundaries: what is supported is clear, what is not is left open.

Ironclad sells to enterprise and growing companies, with dedicated pages for general counsel, legal operations, procurement, sales and IT. It describes the platform as handling every contract type, from legal and sales to finance, HR, marketing and procurement, from intake through renewal. Named customers include Mastercard, L'Oreal, Cisco, Docker, Gusto and Rippling. The platform centers on contracting, while Contract Review Agent also supports legal questions with embedded citations. Ironclad does not say which organization sizes or contract types it does not serve.

The 12 legal signals, side by side

Recorded rather than graded. These are the questions a practitioner has to answer before a tool touches a client matter, and the answers are taken from public material only.

Client Data in Training

Can material a lawyer puts into this product be used to train a model?

Contractbook
Opt in

Section 9.12 prohibits use of retained platform data for AI model training unless the customer consents in writing or through the platform. Section 9.1 separately refers to anonymized development data where consent has been given. The general service processing license covers delivery, maintenance, fixes, security and legal obligations. It does not override the express training consent requirement, and no default training permission is stated for a new customer.

Ironclad
Opt in

Section 1.1 of the AI Addendum, version 2.1 from 20 April 2026, lets Ironclad train its own models on customer data, input and output once the customer turns on AI Training Settings. The data is de identified, anonymized and aggregated first, an opt out stops new training but not training already under way, and external model providers may never train on it. Ironclad's product FAQ says the default setting depends on the customer's agreement and data location.

Prompt and Output Retention

How long does the product keep what a lawyer typed, and can that be set to zero?

Contractbook
Customer controlled, no zero option

Customers may remove or archive their data at any time through the platform under section 9.4, and may request removal of their own data when the agreement ends. Signature verification information follows a separate rule requiring signer consent. The privacy policy supplies a broader service data retention period with legal exceptions. No explicit zero retention setting or separate fixed period for assistant prompts and answers is specified.

Ironclad
Disclosed without a period

During the term, the Data Processing Addendum keeps customer personal data only as long as the services need it, and the AI Addendum sets no separate period for prompts and output. All copies are destroyed within 90 days after the agreement ends, with a 28 day window to export the repository. External model providers run under zero data retention.

Ethical Walls and Matter Segregation

Does retrieval respect the firm’s ethical walls, or can the model read across them?

Contractbook
Own model, documented

AI imports are private in the importing user's contract view until shared directly or moved to a shared space. Space access separates viewing, contract management and space management, while external collaborators receive view rights only. Company user groups can also receive access, with direct permissions surviving removal from a group. This is Contractbook's own access model, without an identified connection that inherits a firm's document system ethical walls.

Ironclad
Own model, documented

Ironclad keeps its own role based permissions, set by administrators, rather than inheriting them from a document system. Agents and MCP answers respect the same permissions, so a user sees only the contracts already open to them. Nothing describes walls between matters, since the product is built for in house teams rather than firms.

Third Party Request and Subpoena Notice

If someone subpoenas the vendor for a firm’s data, does the firm hear about it first?

Contractbook
Notice committed

Section 9.8 requires written notice before legally compelled disclosure whenever possible. The confidentiality clauses also permit information to be supplied to other signers of an agreement completed through the platform. The privacy policy covers legal obligations and requests from authorities. No transparency report accompanies these commitments. The separate Disclosure Policy concerns security vulnerability reporting and does not describe the handling of subpoenas or other demands for customer contracts.

Ironclad
Notice committed

The Data Processing Addendum commits Ironclad to tell the customer promptly of any government or law enforcement request for its personal data, unless the law forbids it, and to help the customer contest it. The Enterprise Services Agreement allows disclosure of confidential information under a court or government order after reasonable notice where the law permits. No transparency report is available.

Primary Law Corpus Provenance

Where does the law in this product come from, and does the vendor have the right to use it?

Contractbook
Sources named, basis unstated

AI Import processes the customer's legacy agreements and points extracted fields back to text in those files. The contract assistant also works with the selected agreement, while customers can create templates or use the vendor's template library. No licensed case law or statute collection is identified for those functions. The supplied templates are drafting material, and the agreement expressly distinguishes them from legal advice for the customer's situation.

Ironclad
Sources named, basis unstated

Ironclad's AI works over the customer's own contracts, playbooks and workflow data rather than a body of law. Its own models learn from aggregated, anonymized patterns across customers who opt in, and Ironclad cites more than 2 billion contracts processed. No source, scale, license or refresh cycle is given for that training data.

Good Law Verification

Does the product tell you when the authority it just cited has been overruled?

Contractbook
Not addressed

The platform's verification feature checks extracted information against the source contract, with highlighted passages and a completed verification marker. It does not track judicial treatment of cases or statutory amendments. The assistant can explain and rewrite clauses, but no connection to a legal citator or warning that an authority has been overturned is specified. Renewal reminders and signature status concern the agreement's lifecycle, rather than the legal status of an authority.

Ironclad
Not addressed

Ironclad centers on contracts, while Contract Review Agent can also answer legal questions with embedded citations. No citator, treatment signal or check of later history is described.

Refusal and Uncertainty Behavior

What does the product do when the answer is not in the corpus?

Contractbook
Not addressed

Reviewers can inspect AI extracted fields beside highlighted source passages and verify them individually or together. They can also cancel an import during processing, which discards the file. These controls let a person check the extraction, but no explicit unsupported answer response or confidence indicator is described for the conversational assistant. The option to stop an upload is a user action, not a model refusal when information is insufficient.

Ironclad
Not addressed

Contract Review Agent flags missing clauses and departures from a company's standards, and extraction highlights the passage each value came from. When the model cannot place a value, the grounding system retries on the raw and normalized text rather than returning nothing. No path for declining to answer, and no confidence signal for the user, is described.

Fabricated Citation Record

Does a public court record exist addressing fabricated or hallucinated legal citations in output from this product?

Contractbook
None located

No court order or disciplinary record concerning fabricated legal citations from Contractbook appears in the AI Hallucination Cases database. The product extracts data from customer agreements and offers questions, summaries and clause revisions within its contract workspace. That database result does not measure extraction or drafting accuracy. Its source highlights support a user's review of contract data, without constituting a check of every legal assertion produced by the assistant.

Ironclad
None located

Ironclad has no entry in the AI Hallucination Cases database, Damien Charlotin's record of court decisions involving hallucinated AI content. Ironclad is a contracting platform, and its output is seldom filed with a court as cited authority.

Bar Guidance Alignment

Has the vendor engaged in public with the ethics opinions its buyers are bound by?

Contractbook
Not addressed

The service terms limit the platform to business users and explain that the template library does not provide legal advice. Legal departments can control templates, permissions and review steps for other employees. No named bar opinion, jurisdiction specific competence requirement or product mapping to professional ethics guidance accompanies these controls. The statement that the service is a business tool does not specify how a lawyer should record supervision of its AI functions.

Ironclad
Not addressed

Ironclad's AI Addendum and AI Disclaimer say output is not legal advice and should be verified with a licensed professional. No ethics opinion or bar guidance is named, ABA Formal Opinion 512 included.

Billing and Fee Posture

Does the vendor address what happens to the bill when the work takes an hour instead of six?

Contractbook
Outside the fee relationship

The stated buyers are business teams managing their own sales, employment, supplier and compliance agreements. Named legal customers include internal counsel at Lenus, GANNI and Pave, and the product describes savings in their contract administration. Bizzkit reports less manual extraction work on legacy agreements. No law firm client billing workflow is identified in the current buyer materials, and those savings relate to the organization's own time and contracting costs.

Ironclad
Outside the fee relationship

Named corporate customers describe shorter contract reviews and less legal operations work. NEXT Insurance reports recovering half of its legal operations time, while AES and Signifyd describe first redlines and NDA reviews in minutes. The platform serves internal legal, procurement, sales and operations teams handling their organization's agreements. It does not provide a law firm billing workflow or a client fee disclosure process for the time saved.

Outside Counsel Guideline Readiness

Can a firm get this vendor through a client’s AI clause without a bespoke negotiation?

Contractbook
Subprocessors listed

The processor register names Google Cloud for platform hosting and Azure for the language model, both in the EU, alongside supporting providers and their locations. Customer terms set a training consent requirement and confidentiality duties. The data processing agreement is generated through a workflow that requests customer details and acceptance of terms. No separate client consent pack or exact model version inventory accompanies the public processor register.

Ironclad
Subprocessors listed

Ironclad's subprocessor list names Anthropic, OpenAI and Extend for AI and Google Cloud Platform for cloud and AI infrastructure, with locations for the United States platform and the EU datacenter. The Enterprise Services Agreement, Data Processing Addendum and AI Addendum are public in its legal center. A new subprocessor brings 30 days' email notice and a right to object. No notice pack for a client's outside counsel guidelines is available.

Court Disclosure Support

If a judge’s standing order requires an AI disclosure, can the product produce one?

Contractbook
Partial record

Imported agreements retain extracted fields, highlighted source passages and a verification state that users can inspect in the contract view. The application also tracks versions, collaboration and signature activity. These elements provide part of the record of a user's review, without a specified export connecting each AI response to its model version and a named human verifier. No court specific certification form or complete AI disclosure bundle is described.

Ironclad
Partial record

Ironclad's workflows record routing, assignment and approvals for each contract, and AI review is described as auditable, with humans able to review and override it. Extracted values highlight their source passage and redlines can show their rationale. No export records which model produced an output or who verified it. Ironclad's output is contract work rather than court filings.

What neither one publishes

The questions both sides leave open

Derived from the records above rather than written, so it cannot favor either vendor. Take these into both conversations and ask each side the same question.

Signals neither addresses in public material
  • Good Law Verification
  • Refusal and Uncertainty Behavior
  • Bar Guidance Alignment

Which one fits

Choose Contractbook if

  • Importing existing agreements requires a source highlight for each extracted value.
  • HubSpot deal fields should drive drafts and receive updates after signing.
  • The team wants contract operations organized around defined plan allowances.

Choose Ironclad if

  • A common agent should route intake, review, renewal and analytics requests.
  • Contract reviewers need redlining within Microsoft Word.
  • Administrators can manage a shared AI usage balance and optional spending cap.

In summary

Contractbook

Contractbook carries commercial agreements from templates through approval and signature, then keeps the resulting records in a shared repository. Existing agreements enter through AI Import, which extracts values from supported files and highlights the text behind each value. In this workflow, the AI Legal Index points to human verification before extracted data starts an automation. A separate assistant handles questions, summaries and clause rewriting. HubSpot can send deal information into a draft and receive contract details after execution. Essential, Centralize and Accelerate plans use different seat, template and annual signing allowances, and the service agreement requires customer consent for AI training.

Source: AI Legal Index, 2026

Ironclad

Ironclad Agent routes requests across specialized agents for contract intake, review, renewals, analytics and workflow design. Contract Review Agent, formerly Jurist, works in Ironclad and Microsoft Word, using company playbooks and proposed redlines. The AI Legal Index identifies an availability limit that matters here: precedent redlining and Playbook Agent are in early access. Playbook creation and optimization also require Professional Services. Eligible agent actions consume a shared balance of AI Credits across users and workflows; additional usage costs $1 per unit unless a cap or prepaid arrangement applies. Base subscriptions remain subject to a quote, and existing review agent seat arrangements continue through their current contract terms.

Source: AI Legal Index, 2026

Questions buyers ask

Is Ironclad's precedent redlining generally available?

The current Contract Review Agent guide labels precedent redlining as early access, as it does Playbook Agent. Playbook based redlining is a separate capability, and creating or optimizing those playbooks requires Professional Services. From the AI Legal Index, based on each vendor's own published materials as of October 15, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.

How are additional Ironclad AI actions charged?

Eligible agents use a shared AI Credits balance across users and workflows. Additional usage is billed at $1 per unit unless administrators enable a cap or arrange prepaid capacity. Not every AI feature consumes that balance, and the base platform still requires a quote. From the AI Legal Index, based on each vendor's own published materials as of October 15, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.

What does Contractbook verify during import?

Its import workflow extracts fields, links them to highlighted contract passages and lets a user confirm the values. Verification matters because those fields can feed later automations. Users can also cancel an upload while processing is underway. From the AI Legal Index, based on each vendor's own published materials as of October 15, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.

Can both products work with existing business systems?

Yes. Contractbook includes a detailed HubSpot workflow for drafting and returning signed contract data. Ironclad offers native connectors, integration platforms and an API, alongside MCP access to contract information. The required workflow determines which connection is relevant. From the AI Legal Index, based on each vendor's own published materials as of October 15, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.

Disclosure

Neither vendor paid for inclusion, placement or a grade, and neither reviewed this page before it published. Everything on it comes from public material on the dates shown. How the index grades.

Contractbook and Ironclad share a contract review and drafting focus. Early access limits and usage charges reflect the current product guides. No hands on accuracy test or vendor review was performed.

Contact

Correct a record, or ask how something was graded

Every grade and every signal on this index is drawn from public sources and dated. If a record is wrong, out of date, or missing an artifact the index did not locate, send the source and it will be reviewed and the record redated. Vendors are welcome to submit documentation. Nothing on this index is for sale, including a listing, a placement, or a grade.

AI Legal Index

The AI Legal Index is an independent index that tracks changes to AI vendors in legal. It holds 462 vendors across 9 categories, each graded on the same 15 capability axes and recorded against 12 legal signals, from public sources. No vendor pays for inclusion, placement, or rating.

Index Status
Last index update
October 16, 2026
The AI Legal Index is an editorial reference. It is not a regulatory body, not a law firm, and nothing published here is legal advice or a recommendation to retain or avoid a vendor. Records are verified against published sources, bar guidance and public court records. Where a record reads not addressed, the material was not located in public sources on the date shown. See the Methodology page for evaluation standards and limitations.
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