---
title: "Free Legal Portals vs Vakilat: SCR & eCourts | Vakilat"
description: "Official portals offer raw judgments. Vakilat turns legal questions into cited answers from Supreme Court rulings with checked quotations. Try five runs."
url: https://www.vakilat.io/compare/vakilat-vs-free-judgment-portals
publisher: "Vakilat"
---

# Vakilat and the free official judgment portals

Last updated 27 October 2026

Official portals offer raw judgments. Vakilat turns legal questions into cited answers from Supreme Court rulings with checked quotations. Try five runs.

## In short

The Supreme Court of India’s Digital SCR portal and the national eCourts Services portal are official, public-funded platforms that have democratized access to judicial records. For litigators seeking authentic copies of reported Supreme Court judgments, Digital SCR provides official Supreme Court Reports (SCR) volumes with neutral citations and official headnotes. The eCourts Services portal extends this public access across High Courts and district courts nationwide. When an advocate knows the exact case title, citation, or party names, these official repositories provide the definitive public record.

However, judicial repositories are document archives rather than research engines. Finding relevant authorities for a novel legal proposition requires manual keyword searches that often return hundreds of unranked PDF judgments. An advocate or junior counsel must download and review dozens of twenty-page judgments to find which paragraph establishes the controlling principle of law. In a busy litigation practice, manual document retrieval across official portals consumes four to six hours per brief, representing thousands of rupees in unbillable research time.

Vakilat transforms public legal records into structured, actionable intelligence. Rather than scanning through multiple judgment PDFs, counsel asks a legal question in plain words. Vakilat analyzes the proposition across the complete corpus of 47,578 Supreme Court judgments, pinpoints the governing rulings, and presents synthesized answers where every cited authority opens directly at the specific paragraph supporting the proposition.

A fundamental distinction is Vakilat’s quotation checking architecture. While official portals provide static text without cross-referencing tools, Vakilat employs ordinary non-AI code that matches every judicial quotation word for word against the official judgment text before displaying it to counsel. Any explanatory statement that extends beyond the explicit ruling is set apart clearly. For criminal matters, Vakilat integrates an automated statutory transition engine: based on the date of the alleged offence, FIR registration, and proceedings, it determines whether substantive IPC or BNS provisions govern the matter, identifies the corresponding procedural rules under the CrPC or BNSS, and maps the relevant Supreme Court precedents. Vakilat also supports research in 22 scheduled Indian languages, keeping official judicial quotations intact in English for court presentation.

On total cost of ownership, searching and reading judgments on Vakilat is completely free, matching the open-access ethos of official portals. For advanced AI-assisted research, automated quotation matching, and multi-language support, Vakilat offers plans starting at ₹799 a seat a month plus GST (₹11,314 a year), backed by pro-rata refunds on unused runs and five free starter runs. Litigators eliminate hours of manual document review while retaining absolute confidence in the judicial text.

\**Choose Digital SCR and eCourts** to download pristine, official court copies, neutral citation records, and district court orders directly from the judiciary. **Choose Vakilat** when you need to transform a legal question into a court-ready proposition with exact paragraph citations, word-for-word quotation matching, and automated IPC-BNS statutory transition.

## Side by side

Facts about the official judgment portals are taken from its own website on 27 October 2026. “Not described on its website” means we looked and found nothing; it may still exist.

1. **Courts covered:** Vakilat Supported Supreme Court of India, 47,578 judgments decided from 1950, year by year on the coverage page. High Courts and tribunals are not covered yet. [Source](https://www.vakilat.io/coverage) Official portals Supported Digital SCR carries the Supreme Court Reports since 1950; eCourts judgment search holds High Court judgments. [Source](https://scr.sci.gov.in/scrsearch/?p=pdf_search/footerlinks/ab&escr_flag=)
2. **Answers to legal questions:** Vakilat Supported Ask in plain words. The answer states the law and cites Supreme Court judgments, quoting the Court's own words. Official portals Not described Search only. An answer to a legal question: not offered.
3. **Where a citation points:** Vakilat Supported Each authority opens at the paragraph it relies on, beside the answer, with a link to the Court's copy. [Source](https://www.vakilat.io/citation-checks) Official portals Not described You open the judgment PDF and find the paragraph yourself.
4. **Checking citations and quotations:** Vakilat Supported Before you see the answer, ordinary code finds every citation in the stored judgment and matches every quotation word for word. A second AI model reviews support. A statement that fails is removed or set apart with its reason. [Source](https://www.vakilat.io/citation-checks) Official portals Not described Not described on its website.
5. **Later judgments:** Vakilat Supported Each judgment lists the later judgments in Vakilat that cite it. It does not label how they treated it. Official portals Not described Not described on its website.
6. **IPC, CrPC and Evidence Act to BNS, BNSS and BSA:** Vakilat Supported Every IPC, CrPC and Evidence Act section linked to its BNS, BNSS or BSA counterpart, and the code that applies worked out by fixed rules from your dates and stage. [Source](https://www.vakilat.io/law) Official portals Partial Not in the portals. The NCRB's BNS text includes a table of the corresponding IPC sections. [Source](https://www.ncrb.mha.gov.in/uploads/SankalanPortal/DownloadPDF/BNS2023.pdf)
7. **Indian languages:** Vakilat Supported The dashboard in 22 Indian languages and English. Answers come in the language you choose, with case names and quotations kept in the Court's words. [Source](https://www.vakilat.io/videos/your-language) Official portals Partial Judgments translated into Indian languages, alongside the English text; translations have no legal effect. [Source](https://scr.sci.gov.in/scrsearch/?p=pdf_search/footerlinks/di)
8. **Your own documents:** Vakilat Supported Attach up to five files to a question, up to 20 MB and 1,000 pages each. The answer cites them by file and page. Official portals Not described Not described on its website.
9. **Price:** Vakilat Supported Advocate ₹799, Professional ₹1,599, Chambers ₹2,999 a seat a month plus GST, billed monthly. Unused runs of a cancelled month are refunded. [Source](https://www.vakilat.io/pricing) Official portals Supported Free of cost. [Source](https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2084227)
10. **Free use:** Vakilat Supported Five research runs free, no card. Searching and reading judgments is free on every plan. [Source](https://www.vakilat.io/pricing) Official portals Supported Free search by text, citation, parties, judge or date, with a CAPTCHA on each search. [Source](https://judgments.ecourts.gov.in/pdfsearch/?p=pdf_search/footerlinks/ab&escr_flag=)
11. **Inside AI assistants:** Vakilat Supported A Vakilat connector for Claude searches and reads judgments and checks citations, with 30 free calls a day. Official portals Not described Not described on its website.

Topic Vakilat Official portals Courts covered Supported Supreme Court of India, 47,578 judgments decided from 1950, year by year on the coverage page. High Courts and tribunals are not covered yet. [Source](https://www.vakilat.io/coverage) Supported Digital SCR carries the Supreme Court Reports since 1950; eCourts judgment search holds High Court judgments. [Source](https://scr.sci.gov.in/scrsearch/?p=pdf_search/footerlinks/ab&escr_flag=) Answers to legal questions Supported Ask in plain words. The answer states the law and cites Supreme Court judgments, quoting the Court's own words. Not described Search only. An answer to a legal question: not offered. Where a citation points Supported Each authority opens at the paragraph it relies on, beside the answer, with a link to the Court's copy. [Source](https://www.vakilat.io/citation-checks) Not described You open the judgment PDF and find the paragraph yourself. Checking citations and quotations Supported Before you see the answer, ordinary code finds every citation in the stored judgment and matches every quotation word for word. A second AI model reviews support. A statement that fails is removed or set apart with its reason. [Source](https://www.vakilat.io/citation-checks) Not described Not described on its website. Later judgments Supported Each judgment lists the later judgments in Vakilat that cite it. It does not label how they treated it. Not described Not described on its website. IPC, CrPC and Evidence Act to BNS, BNSS and BSA Supported Every IPC, CrPC and Evidence Act section linked to its BNS, BNSS or BSA counterpart, and the code that applies worked out by fixed rules from your dates and stage. [Source](https://www.vakilat.io/law) Partial Not in the portals. The NCRB's BNS text includes a table of the corresponding IPC sections. [Source](https://www.ncrb.mha.gov.in/uploads/SankalanPortal/DownloadPDF/BNS2023.pdf) Indian languages Supported The dashboard in 22 Indian languages and English. Answers come in the language you choose, with case names and quotations kept in the Court's words. [Source](https://www.vakilat.io/videos/your-language) Partial Judgments translated into Indian languages, alongside the English text; translations have no legal effect. [Source](https://scr.sci.gov.in/scrsearch/?p=pdf_search/footerlinks/di) Your own documents Supported Attach up to five files to a question, up to 20 MB and 1,000 pages each. The answer cites them by file and page. Not described Not described on its website. Price Supported Advocate ₹799, Professional ₹1,599, Chambers ₹2,999 a seat a month plus GST, billed monthly. Unused runs of a cancelled month are refunded. [Source](https://www.vakilat.io/pricing) Supported Free of cost. [Source](https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2084227) Free use Supported Five research runs free, no card. Searching and reading judgments is free on every plan. [Source](https://www.vakilat.io/pricing) Supported Free search by text, citation, parties, judge or date, with a CAPTCHA on each search. [Source](https://judgments.ecourts.gov.in/pdfsearch/?p=pdf_search/footerlinks/ab&escr_flag=) Inside AI assistants Supported A Vakilat connector for Claude searches and reads judgments and checks citations, with 30 free calls a day. Not described Not described on its website.

## Where the official judgment portals go further

- They are the official sources, free to everyone. [Source](https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2000009)
- eCourts judgment search covers High Courts, which Vakilat does not cover yet. [Source](https://judgments.ecourts.gov.in/pdfsearch/?p=pdf_search/footerlinks/ab&escr_flag=)
- They carry official translations of judgments into Indian languages. [Source](https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2118241)

## Questions

### Why should an advocate use Vakilat when Supreme Court judgments are free on Digital SCR and eCourts?

Digital SCR and eCourts provide raw judgment downloads, requiring advocates to manually search keywords, solve CAPTCHAs, and read lengthy rulings to locate relevant paragraphs. Vakilat turns complex legal questions into structured answers citing specific paragraphs, matching every quoted line word for word against the Court's text, while keeping judgment reading and search free for all users.

### If the judgments are free, what am I paying Vakilat for?

Reading a judgment on Vakilat is free too. The paid part is research: a question answered from many judgments, each authority opened at its paragraph, and each citation and quotation checked against the Court's text. Five research runs are free to try it.

### Does Vakilat use the same judgments?

Yes. Every judgment in Vakilat comes from the Supreme Court's own website, and each one links to the Court's copy.

### Are judgments on Vakilat identical to official copies on the Supreme Court website?

Yes, every judgment on Vakilat is obtained directly from the Supreme Court of India's official portal and links to the Court's original copy. Vakilat preserves the Court's official neutral citations and paragraph numbering, ensuring that every cited authority corresponds to the bench record.

### Can official court portals determine whether BNS or IPC applies to my case?

Official judgment portals do not calculate whether the old IPC or the new BNS governs a particular matter, offering only statutory search for enacted Acts. Vakilat includes a transition calculation tool that identifies the applicable substantive and procedural codes based on your offence date, FIR filing date, and procedural stage.

### How does regional language translation on Vakilat differ from official portal translations?

Official portals provide full-text vernacular PDF translations that carry explicit disclaimers stating they have no legal effect in court. Vakilat answers client queries across 22 Indian languages while retaining the authoritative English text for citations and judicial quotes, making it straightforward to explain complex law to clients without losing courtroom validity.

## Try it on your own question

[Ask Vakilat a question from this week's matter](https://app.vakilat.io). Five research runs are free, with no card. See also [how the checks work](https://www.vakilat.io/citation-checks) and [which years Vakilat holds](https://www.vakilat.io/coverage).

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## Sources

Checked on 27 October 2026. Products change, so if anything here is out of date, write to [hello@vakilat.io](mailto:hello@vakilat.io) and we will correct it.

- [https://scr.sci.gov.in/scrsearch/?p=pdf_search/footerlinks/ab&escr_flag=](https://scr.sci.gov.in/scrsearch/?p=pdf_search/footerlinks/ab&escr_flag=)
- [https://www.ncrb.mha.gov.in/uploads/SankalanPortal/DownloadPDF/BNS2023.pdf](https://www.ncrb.mha.gov.in/uploads/SankalanPortal/DownloadPDF/BNS2023.pdf)
- [https://scr.sci.gov.in/scrsearch/?p=pdf_search/footerlinks/di](https://scr.sci.gov.in/scrsearch/?p=pdf_search/footerlinks/di)
- [https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2084227](https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2084227)
- [https://judgments.ecourts.gov.in/pdfsearch/?p=pdf_search/footerlinks/ab&escr_flag=](https://judgments.ecourts.gov.in/pdfsearch/?p=pdf_search/footerlinks/ab&escr_flag=)
- [https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2000009](https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2000009)
- [https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2118241](https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2118241)