LegalZoom vs Rocket Lawyer: how they compare in 2026
LegalZoom and Rocket Lawyer sell the same thing to the same people: legal documents, business filings and access to attorneys for individuals and small businesses who handle their own matters, each with AI added. Rocket Lawyer sits in the top two bands on ten of fifteen axes and LegalZoom on five of fifteen. The gap is how much each explains about its AI. Rocket Copilot answers questions, drafts and reviews contracts, and is described as stopping at the line between legal information and advice to hand the conversation to an attorney with its context. Rocket Lawyer names Google Cloud's Vertex AI as what Copilot was built on, states United States hosting, and points to a trust center listing a SOC 2 Type 2 report. LegalZoom's AI is a set of free tools on a business that runs without them, with no model provider named and no security attestation located. LegalZoom's counterweight is reach: 24 published MCP tools, with schemas and setup documentation, let ChatGPT, Claude and Microsoft 365 Copilot form an LLC or book an attorney review. Both state plainly that they are not law firms, and both publish prices.
At a glance
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.
The AI is a feature layer on a business whose value stands without it, which is the C band. LegalZoom's AI features are Doc Assist, a free document summariser; a business name generator, NAICS code search, expense categoriser, grant finder and search summaries; and AI research that produces most business licence lists. The core products (entity formation and compliance filings, registered agent service, trademark and copyright filings, legal forms and attorney plans) run without the models. Verified 18 September 2026.
The models drive a core capability layered on a platform that works without them, which is the B band. Rocket Copilot answers legal questions, drafts documents and reviews uploaded contracts, and the vendor now describes it as the front door to the platform; underneath sit the document library and builder, RocketSign e-signature, business filings, registered agent service and attorney access, all of which function without the models. Verified 18 September 2026.
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.
Grounding is claimed without sources the reader can open or any measurement, which is the C band. The MCP catalogue says documents are analysed against an attorney-curated clause framework, and Doc Assist gives clause highlights and common questions for the document type. The Doc Assist page and FAQ say summaries may be incomplete or inaccurate because they rely on rapidly evolving generative AI, and the AI Additional Terms make no promise that output is accurate. No accuracy figure, test or source linking is published. Verified 18 September 2026.
Grounding is claimed without sources the reader can open or any measurement, which is the C band. The September 2026 Copilot article says Copilot is grounded in legal information created and curated by in-house attorneys, tailored to the user's region and updated regularly. Nothing says that answers link to the statutes, cases or articles behind them, and no accuracy figure or test is published. The Copilot Terms say it is experimental, may give inaccurate information, and that the user is responsible for confirming accuracy. Verified 18 September 2026.
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.
Oversight is asserted through disclaimers and an optional attorney, without a described control on the AI, which is the C band. Doc Assist says its output is informational only and links to attorney review; the AI Additional Terms say the AI Services do not provide legal advice. A March 2026 release says AI now completes about 70 per cent of business licence research requests and the rest still go to human review, but it does not say what sends a request to a person or who that reviewer is. No lawyer reviews AI output by default. Verified 18 September 2026.
A written commitment to route matters to an attorney, with a described handoff, short of a published threshold, which is the B band. The Copilot article says the AI identifies the boundary between legal information and advice, alerts the user when human expertise is needed and connects them to an attorney from the same conversation, carrying the context across; the Copilot Terms say it is not qualified to give legal advice and recommend discussing the situation with a Legal Pro before acting. R124(2) was applied: the handoff is described, but no threshold or rule for when it fires is published, and no lawyer reviews Copilot output by default, so the user is the only check unless they choose an attorney. Verified 18 September 2026.
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.
Results are quoted without customer attribution or a customer-side method, which is the C band. The business licence release estimates about $3 million in LegalZoom's own savings in 2026 from automating licence research, and a 2023 release says 85 per cent of LegalZoom customers had not spoken to an attorney. These are the vendor's operating figures, not named customer outcomes; the Terms say published reviews carry only a first name and last initial. Verified 18 September 2026.
Named customers without figures, which is the B band (R122). The US customer stories page names founders and businesses such as Chosen Collective Consulting, Scary Plants Media, Southern Dwellings and Designs and MVP360 Management, one of them using Copilot for contracts, and the UK site lists more than thirty named customer stories. None gives figures for what changed, and the UK programme offers a free membership in return for a story. The claim of more than 20 million businesses and individuals helped has no stated basis. Verified 18 September 2026.
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.
Confidentiality is asserted in general terms and training use is permitted by policy, which is the C band. The Terms of Service say no attorney-client relationship or privilege is created with LegalZoom; the AI Additional Terms say the AI Services are not meant for privileged or highly sensitive information; the privacy policy says LegalZoom does not intend to collect attorney information in a way that waives privilege. The Doc Assist FAQ says uploads are stored in the user's documents centre and may be used to train LegalZoom's own models but not third-party AI tools. Nothing addresses separation between users or what an AI provider retains. Verified 18 September 2026.
Confidentiality is asserted in general terms and privilege is plainly disclaimed, which is the C band. The General Terms and Copilot Terms say communications with Rocket Lawyer and with Copilot are not privileged; the Copilot Terms let the vendor use inputs and outputs to develop and improve Copilot and own de-identified metadata derived from them; and the privacy policy says Rocket Lawyer can access attorney communications made through the platform for quality assurance and relies on industry-standard security. Nothing addresses segregation between users, or what the model provider may retain. Candour about privilege is recorded; it is not a confidentiality commitment. Verified 18 September 2026.
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.
The vendor states plainly what the product is and is not, who may use it and what it requires of its attorneys, with jurisdiction statements and a disclosure on every page, which is the A band. The Terms of Service open by saying LegalZoom is not a law firm, its forms are no substitute for an attorney, the customer represents themselves and no attorney-client relationship or privilege is created, and that a customer who believes they received legal advice should not buy. The Terms of Use say LegalZoom reviews answers only for completeness and consistency and never applies law to facts, and define network attorneys' experience as five years' practice, errors-and-omissions insurance, good standing and no recent discipline. The Terms say LegalZoom is not a registered legal document assistant under California law; the AI Additional Terms limit AI use to adults and say it is not legal advice; the footer names the subsidiary law firm, LZ Legal Services, LLC, as the only route to advice. Rocket Lawyer precedent. Flagged for sampling. Verified 18 September 2026.
The vendor states plainly what the product is and is not, who may use it and how legal work is supervised, with jurisdiction limits and a disclosure on every page, which is the A band. The General Terms say Rocket Lawyer provides legal information and self-help, is not a law firm or lawyer referral service, does not apply law to the user's facts, and creates no attorney-client relationship unless the user signs a separate agreement with RLPS, its Arizona Alternative Business Structure law firm, whose required disclosure that it is owned or managed by nonlawyers is reproduced. The Copilot Terms say Copilot is not qualified to give legal advice. Users must be adults; attorneys are offered only where authorised; matters under non-US law are excluded; contract attorneys work as counsel supervised by RLPS and External Pros carry their own malpractice insurance. The footer of every page repeats the position. Flagged for sampling. Verified 18 September 2026.
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.
No AI governance position was located, which is the D band. The privacy policy says LegalZoom applies privacy-by-design and has privacy and security teams, and uses AI and human review in processing; the AI Additional Terms set user rules. Nothing describes how the AI features are tested before release, who is accountable for them, or how they perform across users or document types. Searched the Terms of Service, Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, AI Additional Terms, Doc Assist page, AI capabilities page and security page on 18 September 2026. Verified 18 September 2026.
Responsible-use statements without a governance mechanism for the AI, which is the C band. The editorial policy commits to using AI responsibly and transparently and says AI-assisted content is always reviewed by editors and legal professionals before publication, and a Vice President of AI is named as leading AI strategy and product development. That process governs published articles, not Copilot; nothing describes how Copilot or its agents are tested before release, who is accountable for their behaviour, or how they perform across users, states or legal topics. Verified 18 September 2026.
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.
Published policy covering much of the ground, short of a retention period, a subprocessor list and an incident practice, which is the B band. The privacy policy covers products as well as the website, lists the data collected, names payment, shipping and identity-verification vendors (WorldPay, Adyen, Stripe, Onfido, Veriff, FedEx, USPS), bars service providers from other uses, sets out access and deletion requests with an appeal route, and says multi-factor authentication is in place for all customer accounts. The security page describes a dedicated security team, encryption of sensitive information and a responsible disclosure policy; the Doc Assist FAQ says uploads are stored in the user's documents centre. Retention is only 'at least as long as necessary', no AI provider is named, and no breach notification commitment was located. Verified 18 September 2026.
Published policy covering most of the ground, short of a subprocessor list and an incident practice, which is the B band. The privacy policy covers the platform, not just the website: it says what is collected when documents are prepared, that users can delete drafts, completed documents and personal information themselves, that the vendor does not delete customer information except on request but may delete free accounts, and that data is hosted in the United States. The editorial policy lists encryption at rest and in transit, limited access to personal data, and ongoing monitoring and testing, and the trust centre excerpt lists backup, segmentation, tested continuity plans and penetration testing. No named subprocessor list and no breach notification commitment was located. Verified 18 September 2026.
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.
Liability is addressed only by disclaimers and a standard cap, which is the C band. The AI Additional Terms provide the AI Services as is, with no promise that output is accurate, complete or fit for use; the Terms of Service and Terms of Use exclude indirect damages and cap liability at the amount paid. The LZ Guarantee is a refund policy on purchases and does not reach the free AI features. Verified 18 September 2026.
The AI output is covered only by a disclaimer and a standard cap, which is the C band. The Copilot Terms say Rocket Lawyer disclaims all liability for use of any output generated by Copilot and that Copilot is used at the user's own risk. The General Terms cap aggregate liability at the greater of $500 or the fees paid in the previous 12 months, and offer an enforceability guarantee on legal documents only where the user has not modified them; that guarantee attaches to the document library, not to Copilot's output. Verified 18 September 2026.
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.
Documented, verifiable integrations with the contract of each described, which is the A band. The AI capabilities page publishes 24 MCP tools in seven families, from LLC formation and business licences to document analysis and attorney booking, each with its own page, plus a catalog.json carrying schemas, annotations, versions and authentication, a text catalogue for agents, connector set-up documentation and six read-only WebMCP browser tools. Named integrations cover ChatGPT, Claude and a Microsoft 365 Copilot agent. For a small-business buyer these assistants and Microsoft 365 are where the work happens. Flagged for sampling. Verified 18 September 2026.
Integration is referenced without documentation, which is the C band. The privacy policy says Rocket Lawyer licenses an API to business partners who offer its services in their own applications, Developer Terms govern that access, and a separate set of terms covers registered agent service for Stripe Atlas customers. No API documentation, named connector to accounting, storage or productivity tools, or description of what moves between systems was located. Verified 18 September 2026.
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.
Cloud delivery is implied and neither hosting location nor tenancy is stated, which is the C band. The privacy policy covers US, EU and UK users but says nothing about where data is hosted or processed, and the Doc Assist FAQ says the service is available only to US customers, which concerns eligibility rather than residency. Verified 18 September 2026.
Hosting location is stated without the processing location for the AI, which is the B band. The privacy policy says the service is hosted in the United States and that, where the vendor provides legal advice directly, tools in the United States and the United Kingdom are used; the vendor's 2023 launch release says Copilot runs on Google Cloud's Vertex AI. Where Copilot's processing happens is not stated, and no tenancy or regional option is published (R38). Verified 18 September 2026.
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.
No independent security attestation was located, which is the D band. The security page, titled a trust page, describes a dedicated information security team, encryption, multi-factor authentication and a responsible disclosure policy, and names no SOC 2 report, ISO certification or audit. Searched the security page, privacy policy and Terms on 18 September 2026. Verified 18 September 2026.
Named attestations in a trust centre that could not be read, short of dates or report access, which is the B band. The May 2026 release says Rocket Lawyer holds SOC 2 certification and points to its trust centre; the trust centre's search excerpt lists a SOC 2 Type 2 report, a PCI DSS SAQ-A attestation of compliance, GDPR and CCPA, and a control inventory. The Vanta-hosted page returns metadata only (R128), so no audit period, auditor or access route was read. CaseBlink precedent. Verified 18 September 2026.
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.
Proprietary models are referred to without saying what sits underneath, which is the C band. The Doc Assist FAQ says inputs may train LegalZoom's own proprietary AI models and will not train third-party AI tools, and the AI Additional Terms say the features use generative AI. No model, version or provider is named, and nothing commits to notice of changes. The ChatGPT, Claude and Microsoft 365 Copilot integrations run LegalZoom tools inside other vendors' assistants and do not disclose what powers LegalZoom's own features. Verified 18 September 2026.
The provider is named without the models or any change notice, which is the B band. The vendor's December 2023 launch release says Copilot was built with Google Cloud's AI tools, including Vertex AI and Dialogflow, and uses large language models through Vertex AI; the September 2026 product article describes a team of specialised AI agents. No model or version is named in the vendor's own material, and nothing commits to notifying users of changes. A third-party claim that Copilot uses Gemini models is not credited. Verified 18 September 2026.
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.
A buyer can learn the price without a sales process, which is the A band. LegalZoom's own pages publish LLC formation at $0 (Basic), $249 (Pro) and $299 (Premium) plus state filing fees, with Premium's attorney consultations renewing at $49 a month after 30 days and bookkeeping tools at $9.99 a month after six months, and Doc Assist is free. The Terms of Service set out filing fees, a 60-day refund window and an installment plan for purchases of $200 or more. Verified 18 September 2026.
A buyer can learn the price without a sales process, which is the A band. The vendor's own pages publish Rocket Legal+ at $19.99 a month billed annually at $239.88, with the first business registration free and half-off filings, and the UK site publishes £34.99 a month with a 7-day free trial; a free account gives Copilot contract review, and the General Terms set out trials, auto-renewal, downgrades and a 30-day refund window. Group legal benefits for employers are quoted on request and carry no figure. Verified 18 September 2026.
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.
Who the product serves and what it covers are documented with limits stated, which is the A band. LegalZoom serves small businesses and individuals across business formation and compliance, business licences, trademarks, copyrights and provisional patents, wills, trusts, powers of attorney, prenuptial agreements, divorce and real estate documents. Stated limits: Doc Assist is US-only and takes text-based files up to 5 MB; licence lists exclude tax registrations and professional licences; the AI features are not for privileged, highly sensitive or minors' information; the Terms say LegalZoom is not a registered legal document assistant in California. Firm-segment and government limbs do not bite on a consumer product (R15). Flagged for sampling. Verified 18 September 2026.
Who the product serves and what it covers are documented with the limits stated, which is the A band. Rocket Lawyer serves individuals, small businesses and employers offering group legal benefits, with document areas for business and contracts, real estate, and family and personal matters, plus business filings, trademarks, tax and immigration support for employers. The General Terms exclude matters under the law of jurisdictions outside the United States, matters involving an alleged violent crime by the user, matters where the user already has counsel, and matters adverse to the vendor or a sponsoring employer, and say attorneys are available only where authorised. Firm-segment and government limbs do not bite on a consumer product (R15). Flagged for sampling. Verified 18 September 2026.
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?
Public material states that customer inputs may train the vendor's own models, with no matching term in the agreement. The Doc Assist FAQ says information provided through Doc Assist may be used to improve the product, which may involve training LegalZoom's own proprietary AI models, and will not be used to train any third-party AI tools. The Terms of Use license personal information only to enable the service and incorporate the Privacy Policy, whose product-development purpose covers developing machine learning or AI technologies without naming training. No opt-out was located.
The published terms grant an improvement right that never names training. The Rocket Copilot Terms (19 November 2024) let Rocket Lawyer use users' inputs and outputs to develop and improve Copilot, and to own de-identified or aggregated metadata derived from them and use it without restriction. The General Terms let it use aggregated or anonymized information from user-created documents to research, develop and improve its services, and non-personal inputs to improve the services. The privacy policy does not mention training. No surface names training in either direction.
Prompt and Output Retention
How long does the product keep what a lawyer typed, and can that be set to zero?
Retention is acknowledged without a period. The privacy policy says personal information is kept at least as long as needed for its purposes and legal obligations; the Doc Assist FAQ says uploaded documents are stored in the user's documents center and summaries in a LegalZoom database. Deletion is by verified request and may be declined.
Retention is acknowledged without a period. The privacy policy says personal information is kept as long as needed for the purposes it describes, that customer information is not deleted except on request, that free accounts may be deleted at any time, and that users can delete drafts, completed documents and personal information themselves. Nothing states how long Copilot conversations and outputs are kept or whether users can delete them.
Ethical Walls and Matter Segregation
Does retrieval respect the firm’s ethical walls, or can the model read across them?
Searched the Terms of Service, Terms of Use, Privacy Policy, AI Additional Terms, Doc Assist page and security page on 18 September 2026. Nothing addresses separation between users' matters beyond authorised-contact controls on account access.
Searched the General Terms, Copilot Terms, Privacy Policy, editorial policy and Copilot product article on 18 September 2026. Nothing addresses separation between users' matters or accounts; the privacy policy says the vendor can access attorney communications sent through the platform for quality assurance.
Third Party Request and Subpoena Notice
If someone subpoenas the vendor for a firm’s data, does the firm hear about it first?
Disclosure is addressed and notice is not. The privacy policy says personal information may be disclosed as required by law, including subpoenas and law enforcement or national security requests, and the Terms of Service say that for a disabled account no information is released outside LegalZoom absent a subpoena or court order. No commitment to tell the customer first was located.
Disclosure is addressed and notice is not. The privacy policy says personal information may be disclosed when the vendor believes the law requires it, such as a subpoena, warrant or court order, and the General Terms say documents may be preserved and disclosed to comply with legal process or government requests. No commitment to tell the user first was located.
Primary Law Corpus Provenance
Where does the law in this product come from, and does the vendor have the right to use it?
The sources are identified as the vendor's own content, with no primary law named. The MCP catalog says document analysis uses an attorney-curated clause framework and knowledge search draws on LegalZoom articles and approved legal education; the Terms of Use say LegalZoom strives to keep its documents current but cannot guarantee it. The statutes and cases behind that content and any update cadence are not stated.
The source is identified as the vendor's own curated content, with no primary law sources or rights basis named. The Copilot article says Copilot is grounded in more than 15 years of legal information created, curated and reviewed by in-house attorneys, tailored to the user's region, with knowledge bases updated regularly; the document templates are the vendor's own copyright under the General Terms. Which statutes, cases or other primary sources sit behind that content, and how often it is updated, are not stated.
Good Law Verification
Does the product tell you when the authority it just cited has been overruled?
Searched the Doc Assist page, AI capabilities page, AI Additional Terms and Terms of Use on 18 September 2026. The AI features summarize and analyze documents and cite no legal authority; no good-law check is described.
Searched the Copilot Terms, the Copilot product article, the editorial policy and the General Terms on 18 September 2026. No check of whether cited authority remains good law is described; the editorial policy says articles are reviewed and updated for legal changes, which concerns published content rather than Copilot's answers.
Refusal and Uncertainty Behavior
What does the product do when the answer is not in the corpus?
Searched the Doc Assist page and FAQ, the AI Additional Terms, the AI capabilities page and the March 2026 business license release on 18 September 2026. Doc Assist says its summaries may be incomplete or inaccurate and points users to attorneys, and the release says about 30 percent of license research requests still go to human review, but no behavior for questions the AI cannot answer, and no confidence signal, is described.
A stop-and-route behavior is described. The September 2026 Copilot article says Copilot identifies the boundary between legal information and advice, recognizes when a situation needs personalized advice, alerts the user and offers to connect them with a qualified attorney. This is a handoff at the advice line rather than a stated behavior for questions it cannot ground, and no confidence signal is shown to users.
Fabricated Citation Record
Does a public court record exist addressing fabricated or hallucinated legal citations in output from this product?
Searched web and trade press reporting on court sanctions for AI-fabricated citations on 18 September 2026 for any court record addressing fabricated or hallucinated content in output from LegalZoom's AI features. None located. This signal does not record litigation history of any other kind.
Searched web and trade press reporting on court sanctions for AI-fabricated citations on 18 September 2026 for any court record addressing fabricated or hallucinated content in output from Rocket Copilot. None located. This signal does not record litigation history of any other kind.
Bar Guidance Alignment
Has the vendor engaged in public with the ethics opinions its buyers are bound by?
Professional responsibility is addressed in general terms without named guidance. The Terms set out that LegalZoom is not a law firm, is not a registered legal document assistant under California law, and define the experience standard for network attorneys; the footer names its subsidiary law firm. No ethics opinion, court AI order or bar guidance on AI is named on the surfaces read.
Professional responsibility is addressed through a regulatory license rather than named guidance. The General Terms and site footer reproduce the Arizona Supreme Court's authorization of RLPS as an Alternative Business Structure and its required nonlawyer-ownership disclosure, and carry an attorney advertising disclaimer. No ethics opinion, court AI order or bar guidance on AI is named on the surfaces read.
Billing and Fee Posture
Does the vendor address what happens to the bill when the work takes an hour instead of six?
The product sits outside a lawyer-client fee relationship. Small businesses and individuals buy forms, filings and the free AI tools for their own matters and represent themselves, per the Terms of Service; attorney fees under the legal plans are governed separately and are not the product graded.
The product sits outside a lawyer-client fee relationship. Individuals and small businesses buy the software and Copilot for their own matters and represent themselves unless they separately engage an attorney; fees for RLPS legal work are set in a separate RLPS Services Agreement and Order and are not the product graded. Savings claims are aimed at the buyer's own legal costs.
Outside Counsel Guideline Readiness
Can a firm get this vendor through a client’s AI clause without a bespoke negotiation?
Searched the Privacy Policy, Terms, AI Additional Terms, Doc Assist page and security page on 18 September 2026. The privacy policy names payment, shipping and identity-verification vendors as examples, but no subprocessor or AI model provider list is published and none is offered on request.
Searched the General Terms, Copilot Terms, Privacy Policy and the trust center's search excerpt on 18 September 2026. No subprocessor or model provider list, and no statement that one is available on request, was located; the privacy policy refers to vendors and processors in general terms and names Google Analytics. Google Cloud is named as the AI partner in a 2023 release, not in a disclosure list. The trust center body could not be read (R128), and its excerpt shows no subprocessor section.
Court Disclosure Support
If a judge’s standing order requires an AI disclosure, can the product produce one?
Searched the Terms, AI Additional Terms, Doc Assist page and AI capabilities page on 18 September 2026. Customers prepare documents they may file, such as divorce papers, but nothing addresses disclosing AI use to a court or recording which content AI produced.
Searched the General Terms, Copilot Terms and the Copilot product article on 18 September 2026. Users can create documents they may file, such as eviction notices and settlement agreements, but nothing addresses disclosing AI use to a court or records which content Copilot produced.
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.
- Ethical Walls and Matter Segregation
- Good Law Verification
- Outside Counsel Guideline Readiness
- Court Disclosure Support
Which one fits
Choose LegalZoom if
- You want to run legal tasks from the assistant you already use. LegalZoom publishes 24 MCP tools in seven families, each with its own page, a machine readable catalog with schemas and versions, and setup documentation, so ChatGPT, Claude or a Microsoft 365 Copilot agent can form an LLC, analyze a document or book an attorney review.
- You are forming a business on the smallest possible budget. LegalZoom publishes LLC formation at $0 for Basic, $249 for Pro and $299 for Premium, each plus state filing fees, with a 60 day refund window and installments on purchases of $200 or more, and its Doc Assist summarizer is free.
- Your needs run from the business to the household. LegalZoom covers formation and compliance, business licenses, trademarks, copyrights and provisional patents, and personal documents from wills and trusts to prenuptial agreements and divorce, and it states its limits, such as license lists that exclude tax registrations and professional licenses.
Choose Rocket Lawyer if
- You want AI that tells you when to stop and talk to a lawyer. Rocket Copilot is described as recognizing when a question needs personal advice, alerting you, and connecting you to an attorney in the same conversation with the context carried across. No threshold for that handoff is published.
- You want to know whose AI you are typing into and what covers it. Rocket Lawyer's launch release says Copilot was built with Google Cloud's Vertex AI and Dialogflow, its privacy policy states the service is hosted in the United States, and its trust center lists a SOC 2 Type 2 report and a PCI DSS attestation.
- You expect ongoing legal needs rather than one filing. Rocket Legal+ is $19.99 a month billed annually at $239.88, with the first business registration free and half off filings, a free account includes Copilot contract review, and attorney work is available through its own law firm, Rocket Legal Professional Services.
In summary
LegalZoom
LegalZoom is an online legal platform for small businesses and individuals, selling business formation and compliance filings, registered agent service, trademark and copyright filings, legal forms, estate planning documents and attorney plans. LegalZoom.com, Inc. is listed on Nasdaq, is based in Mountain View, California, and states that it is not a law firm. The AI Legal Index grades it in the top two bands on five of fifteen capability axes, with A grades on professional responsibility posture, integration, pricing and coverage. It publishes 24 MCP tools that let ChatGPT, Claude and Microsoft 365 Copilot form LLCs and book attorney reviews, and LLC formation starts at $0 plus state fees. As of 18 September 2026 the index located no security attestation, no named model provider and no AI governance position.
Rocket Lawyer
Rocket Lawyer is an online legal platform for individuals and small businesses, selling document creation, RocketSign electronic signatures, business formation and filings, and Rocket Copilot, a conversational AI assistant that answers legal questions, drafts documents and reviews contracts. Based in San Francisco, it states that it is not a law firm; legal work runs through its subsidiary Rocket Legal Professional Services, an Arizona Alternative Business Structure, and independent attorneys. The AI Legal Index grades it in the top two bands on ten of fifteen capability axes, with A grades on professional responsibility posture, pricing and coverage. It names Google Cloud's Vertex AI as the platform Copilot was built on. As of 18 September 2026 the index located no accuracy measure for Copilot, no subprocessor list and no statement on whether Copilot content trains models.
Questions buyers ask
LegalZoom vs Rocket Lawyer: which is better for a small business?
On published evidence about their AI, Rocket Lawyer sits in the top two bands on ten of fifteen AI Legal Index capability axes and LegalZoom on five of fifteen. Rocket Lawyer explains more about Copilot: what it runs on, when it hands off to an attorney and which security report covers it. LegalZoom connects more widely, with 24 published tools for outside AI assistants, and offers LLC formation from $0 plus state fees. Both publish prices, and both state that they are not law firms.
Does LegalZoom train its AI on my documents?
It may. The Doc Assist FAQ states that information you provide through Doc Assist may be used to improve the product, which may involve training LegalZoom's own proprietary AI models, and will not be used to train any third party AI tool. No opt out was located. LegalZoom's AI terms also say the AI features are not meant for privileged or highly sensitive information, and uploaded documents are stored in your documents center. Graded by AI Legal Index against 15 capability axes and 12 legal signals, including privilege handling and citation accuracy, from each vendor's own published materials, verified September 25, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
What AI does Rocket Lawyer use?
Rocket Lawyer's December 2023 launch release says Rocket Copilot was built with Google Cloud's AI tools, including Vertex AI and Dialogflow, using large language models through Vertex AI, and a September 2026 product article describes a team of specialized AI agents behind it. No specific model or version is named in Rocket Lawyer's own material, and nothing commits to telling users when the models change. LegalZoom names no provider for its AI features. Graded by AI Legal Index against 15 capability axes and 12 legal signals, including privilege handling and citation accuracy, from each vendor's own published materials, verified September 25, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
Are LegalZoom and Rocket Lawyer law firms?
No, and both say so plainly. LegalZoom's terms state that it is not a law firm and that customers represent themselves, with advice available through independent attorneys and, where authorized, its subsidiary law firm LZ Legal Services, LLC. Rocket Lawyer's terms state the same and route legal work through Rocket Legal Professional Services, an Alternative Business Structure law firm authorized by the Arizona Supreme Court in September 2024, and through independent attorneys. The AI Legal Index grades both A on professional responsibility posture.
What do LegalZoom and Rocket Lawyer both leave unpublished?
How accurate the AI is. Neither publishes an accuracy figure or links answers to the sources behind them, and both disclaim the accuracy of AI output in their terms. Neither states how long AI conversations and outputs are kept, publishes a subprocessor or model provider list, or commits to telling a customer before handing data to a court or government. Neither addresses how a user filing an AI drafted document should disclose that to a court. Graded by AI Legal Index against 15 capability axes and 12 legal signals, including privilege handling and citation accuracy, from each vendor's own published materials, verified September 25, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
Two readings matter. Both vendors state that their platforms are not law firms, and both route legal advice through a separate law firm they own, so this page grades the software and the AI, not the attorney services. On training, LegalZoom states that Doc Assist uploads may train its own proprietary models and will not train third party tools, which is a disclosure a buyer can act on. Rocket Lawyer's Copilot terms let it use inputs and outputs to develop and improve Copilot, and own metadata derived from them, without saying whether that includes training. Both records were verified on 18 September 2026. Neither vendor reviewed this page.
Neither vendor paid for inclusion, placement or a grade, and neither reviewed this page before it published. Everything above comes from public material on the dates shown. How the index grades.