---
title: "Indian Kanoon Alternative: Vakilat vs Kanoon | Vakilat"
description: "Indian Kanoon alternative: search raw cases on Kanoon, or get cited Supreme Court answers with checked quotations on Vakilat. Try five free runs today."
url: https://www.vakilat.io/compare/vakilat-vs-indian-kanoon
publisher: "Vakilat"
---

# Vakilat and Indian Kanoon compared

Last updated 27 October 2026

Indian Kanoon alternative: search raw cases on Kanoon, or get cited Supreme Court answers with checked quotations on Vakilat. Try five free runs today.

## In short

Indian Kanoon is where many advocates start their research: an open search engine indexing more than three crore Indian judgments, central and state statutes, and constitutional assembly debates. When an advocate needs a High Court ruling, a tribunal order, or a municipal regulation, Indian Kanoon provides unmatched breadth across Indian courts free of cost.

Vakilat addresses a subsequent stage in the litigator’s workflow. Rather than manually scanning dozens of twenty-page judgment PDFs to locate a relevant holding, an advocate asks Vakilat a specific legal question in plain words. Vakilat researches the proposition across 47,578 Supreme Court judgments and synthesizes a structured answer. Crucially, each authority opens directly at the specific paragraph supporting the proposition, and ordinary non-AI code matches every quotation word for word against the official judgment text before counsel sees it. Any statement that goes beyond the judgment is set apart with an explicit explanation. Indian Kanoon’s paid Prism tools offer AI Q&A through Know Your Kanoon, but its documentation does not describe algorithmic citation or quotation verification against source texts.

Handling India’s criminal law reform also reflects distinct technical choices. Indian Kanoon hosts individual sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA) as standalone search documents. Vakilat integrates an automated criminal law transition engine: based on the date of the alleged offence, FIR registration, and trial stage, Vakilat determines whether substantive IPC or BNS provisions govern the matter, identifies the applicable procedural code, and cross-references corresponding sections with Supreme Court authorities. Vakilat also operates across 22 scheduled Indian languages, keeping official judicial quotations intact in English for court presentation.

On pricing, Indian Kanoon provides free keyword search and judgment viewing across High Courts and tribunals, with paid Prism features starting at ₹500 a month for Premium and ₹1,500 a month for Pro plus 18% GST (totaling ₹7,080 to ₹21,240 a year). Vakilat provides free judgment reading and search on every plan, and offers its AI research capabilities starting at ₹799 a seat a month plus GST (₹11,314 a year) on transparent monthly terms with pro-rata refunds on unused runs and five free research runs to start.

\**Choose Indian Kanoon** to find and read raw judgments and statutory acts from any Indian court for free. **Choose Vakilat** when you need an answer on a point of Supreme Court law that you can cite with confidence, worked out under the IPC or the BNS from your dates, in your own language if you prefer.

## Side by side

Facts about Indian Kanoon 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) Indian Kanoon Supported Supreme Court, High Courts, tribunals, and district courts of Delhi and Bengaluru, with central, state and municipal laws. It states over 3 crore documents. [Source](https://indiankanoon.org/premium/)
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. Indian Kanoon Partial Know Your Kanoon, part of its paid Prism tools, answers legal questions from its database. [Source](https://indiankanoon.org/premium/)
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) Indian Kanoon Not described Answers link to search queries and judgments. Paragraph links: not described on its website.
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) Indian Kanoon 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. Indian Kanoon Supported Every document shows Cited by and Cites lists, and a Reliability of Precedent feature sorts how a judgment discussed each case it cites. [Source](https://indiankanoon.org/free_features/)
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) Indian Kanoon Partial BNS sections are hosted one by one. A mapping to the IPC: not described on its website.
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) Indian Kanoon Partial Google Translate on documents, with a note that the translation is not authoritative. [Source](https://indiankanoon.org/doc/141610969/)
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. Indian Kanoon Partial Upload and Chat on paid plans, with 500 MB on Premium and 2 GB on Pro. [Source](https://indiankanoon.org/prism/pricing/)
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) Indian Kanoon Supported Premium ₹500 and Pro ₹1,500 a month, plus 18% GST, for one person. [Source](https://indiankanoon.org/prism/pricing/)
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) Indian Kanoon Supported All data and search are free. The free plan has a few Prism credits. [Source](https://indiankanoon.org/premium/)
11. **Inside AI assistants:** Vakilat Supported A Vakilat connector for Claude searches and reads judgments and checks citations, with 30 free calls a day. Indian Kanoon Partial An API, charged per request. A connector for AI assistants: not described on its website. [Source](https://api.indiankanoon.org/pricing/)

Topic Vakilat Indian Kanoon 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 Supreme Court, High Courts, tribunals, and district courts of Delhi and Bengaluru, with central, state and municipal laws. It states over 3 crore documents. [Source](https://indiankanoon.org/premium/) 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. Partial Know Your Kanoon, part of its paid Prism tools, answers legal questions from its database. [Source](https://indiankanoon.org/premium/) 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 Answers link to search queries and judgments. Paragraph links: not described on its website. 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. Supported Every document shows Cited by and Cites lists, and a Reliability of Precedent feature sorts how a judgment discussed each case it cites. [Source](https://indiankanoon.org/free_features/) 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 BNS sections are hosted one by one. A mapping to the IPC: not described on its website. 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 Google Translate on documents, with a note that the translation is not authoritative. [Source](https://indiankanoon.org/doc/141610969/) 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. Partial Upload and Chat on paid plans, with 500 MB on Premium and 2 GB on Pro. [Source](https://indiankanoon.org/prism/pricing/) 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 Premium ₹500 and Pro ₹1,500 a month, plus 18% GST, for one person. [Source](https://indiankanoon.org/prism/pricing/) 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 All data and search are free. The free plan has a few Prism credits. [Source](https://indiankanoon.org/premium/) Inside AI assistants Supported A Vakilat connector for Claude searches and reads judgments and checks citations, with 30 free calls a day. Partial An API, charged per request. A connector for AI assistants: not described on its website. [Source](https://api.indiankanoon.org/pricing/)

## Where Indian Kanoon goes further

- It covers High Courts, tribunals and laws, which Vakilat does not cover yet. [Source](https://indiankanoon.org/browse/)
- Search and full judgments are free without an account. [Source](https://indiankanoon.org/premium/)
- Its paid Prism tools include drafting from templates and other research tools. [Source](https://indiankanoon.org/premium/)

## Questions

### What is the difference between Vakilat and Indian Kanoon for legal research?

Indian Kanoon is a comprehensive search engine covering over three crore Indian court judgments and statutes for keyword discovery, whereas Vakilat is an AI research platform that answers specific legal questions using checked Supreme Court precedents. Vakilat opens each authority at its exact paragraph and matches every quotation word for word, saving advocates hours of manual document review.

### Is Vakilat a replacement for Indian Kanoon?

For finding and reading a judgment, Indian Kanoon is free and covers far more courts. Vakilat is for a different step: turning a question into an answer whose every citation and quotation has been checked against the Supreme Court's text.

### Does Indian Kanoon check citations in an AI answer?

Its website does not describe a check of citations or quotations against the judgment text. Its terms say Prism output is not legal advice.

### How do Vakilat and Indian Kanoon handle the transition to BNS, BNSS, and BSA?

Vakilat applies statutory transition rules to determine whether the IPC or BNS applies based on the date of offence, providing cross-referenced section tables and relevant Supreme Court jurisprudence. Indian Kanoon hosts individual sections of the new criminal codes as standalone web pages, but does not offer an automated transition calculation tool for pending matters.

### Which costs less?

Indian Kanoon Premium is ₹500 a month plus GST and its search is free. Vakilat starts at ₹799 a seat a month plus GST, with five research runs free and searching and reading judgments free on every plan.

### How does Vakilat protect client confidentiality compared to Indian Kanoon document chat?

Vakilat processes attached case briefs and petitions without storing or using your documents to train artificial intelligence models, adhering strictly to Indian data privacy regulations and advocate confidentiality obligations. Indian Kanoon allows file uploads up to 500 MB on Premium and 2 GB on Pro for chat analysis under its standard portal privacy terms.

## 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).

- [Vakilat and SCC Online compared](https://www.vakilat.io/compare/vakilat-vs-scc-online)
- [Vakilat and Manupatra compared](https://www.vakilat.io/compare/vakilat-vs-manupatra)
- [Vakilat and CaseMine compared](https://www.vakilat.io/compare/vakilat-vs-casemine)
- [Vakilat and general AI chatbots compared](https://www.vakilat.io/compare/vakilat-vs-chatgpt)
- [Vakilat and the free official judgment portals](https://www.vakilat.io/compare/vakilat-vs-free-judgment-portals)

## 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://indiankanoon.org/premium/](https://indiankanoon.org/premium/)
- [https://indiankanoon.org/free_features/](https://indiankanoon.org/free_features/)
- [https://indiankanoon.org/doc/141610969/](https://indiankanoon.org/doc/141610969/)
- [https://indiankanoon.org/prism/pricing/](https://indiankanoon.org/prism/pricing/)
- [https://api.indiankanoon.org/pricing/](https://api.indiankanoon.org/pricing/)
- [https://indiankanoon.org/browse/](https://indiankanoon.org/browse/)
