The Best AI Tools for Due Diligence in 2024
In mergers and acquisitions, venture capital, and corporate transactions, due diligence is the foundation of informed decision-making. Yet the process often involves reviewing large volumes of contracts, financial statements, regulatory filings, and other documents under tight deadlines. That makes it easy for critical issues to slip through.
AI is changing that. The best AI tools for due diligence can help legal teams and business leaders review documents faster, identify risks more consistently, and surface insights that may be missed in manual review. This article covers leading AI tools for due diligence in 2024 and explains how to choose the right one for your workflow.
Why AI Matters in Due Diligence
Traditional due diligence is time-consuming and labor-intensive. Legal teams may spend weeks reviewing documents manually, which increases costs and leaves room for fatigue-related errors. AI helps reduce that burden by automating repetitive work and highlighting relevant issues faster.
Key benefits include:
- Speed and efficiency: AI can process large document sets far faster than manual review, helping teams move deals forward sooner.
- Accuracy and consistency: AI can identify clauses, terms, and patterns across documents with a consistent approach.
- Risk mitigation: AI helps flag potential legal, financial, and operational issues before they become problems.
- Cost reduction: Reduced review time and fewer missed issues can improve overall deal efficiency.
- Deeper insight: AI can surface patterns and connections across large datasets that may not be obvious in a manual review.
Used well, AI can turn due diligence from a bottleneck into a strategic advantage.
Best AI Tools for Due Diligence
The best AI tools for due diligence vary by use case. Some are built for contract analysis, while others are stronger for research, sensitive data review, or operational risk assessment.
1. Kira Systems (now part of Litera)
Kira Systems is a contract analysis platform built to extract and review key provisions from legal documents using machine learning and natural language processing.
What it does:
- Identifies and extracts clauses and data points from legal documents
- Summarizes provisions such as change of control, indemnification, termination rights, and force majeure
- Supports custom models for deal-specific data extraction
Why it is useful:
Kira is especially helpful in M&A due diligence, where legal teams need to review large numbers of contracts quickly and consistently. It helps identify unfavorable terms, missing clauses, and inconsistencies across agreement sets.
Best fit/use case:
Transaction lawyers, in-house legal teams, and private equity firms handling M&A, commercial real estate, or other high-volume contract review projects.
Pros:
- Strong clause identification
- Robust reporting
- Custom data extraction
- Integrates with other legal tech tools
Cons:
- Can be expensive
- Advanced model creation takes time to learn
- Primarily focused on contract review
2. Cognito (formerly eBrevia)
Cognito is another AI platform focused on contract analytics and due diligence. It is designed to speed up review by extracting key information from legal documents.
What it does:
- Reads and analyzes contracts using NLP
- Extracts clauses, terms, and key data points
- Highlights risks and summarizes obligations
- Compares terms across document sets
Why it is useful:
Cognito is well suited for reviewing lease agreements, loan documents, vendor contracts, and other standardized agreements. It helps teams quickly spot unusual terms, compliance issues, and contractual risks.
Best fit/use case:
Law firms, corporate legal departments, and financial institutions working on M&A, real estate, or financing transactions with large sets of similar documents.
Pros:
- Accurate clause extraction
- Intuitive interface
- Handles a wide range of contract types
- Good at summarizing data
Cons:
- May need customization for highly bespoke documents
- Pricing may be less accessible for smaller firms
3. LawGeex
LawGeex is an AI-powered contract review platform designed to automate review of standard legal agreements. While it is often used for routine contract work, it can also support certain due diligence tasks.
What it does:
- Compares contracts against pre-approved standards and templates
- Flags deviations and potential risks
- Extracts key terms and obligations
- Supports review and redlining workflows
Why it is useful:
For due diligence focused on compliance or standard contract alignment, LawGeex can quickly show whether target-company agreements follow expected terms. That makes it useful for identifying deviations and areas that need closer legal review.
Best fit/use case:
In-house legal teams and corporate counsel reviewing standard agreements such as NDAs, MSAs, and SaaS contracts during an acquisition or investment process.
Pros:
- Fast review of standard agreements
- Clear deviation detection
- Strong compliance focus
- Easy to use
Cons:
- Less effective for complex, bespoke transactional documents
- Best suited to comparing against set standards
4. Casetext with CoCounsel
Casetext, particularly through CoCounsel, offers AI tools for legal research, document analysis, and drafting. Its capabilities can support due diligence tasks that require factual review and research.
What it does:
- Summarizes long documents
- Answers questions about legal texts
- Identifies key facts and issues
- Drafts preliminary legal memos
- Helps process documents, transcripts, and case law
Why it is useful:
CoCounsel is helpful when due diligence includes litigation history, regulatory investigations, or detailed factual background. It can quickly synthesize large amounts of information and support preliminary legal research on transaction-related risks.
Best fit/use case:
Law firms and legal departments that need deeper factual investigation, litigation review, or regulatory context as part of due diligence.
Pros:
- Strong language understanding and generation
- Useful across multiple legal tasks
- Good for research and summarization
- Continues to evolve quickly
Cons:
- Less specialized for due diligence than dedicated contract tools
- Nuanced legal interpretation still needs human oversight
- Subscription pricing may be a factor
5. Relativity Trace
Relativity is widely known for e-discovery, and Relativity Trace extends that strength into identifying and reviewing sensitive information in large datasets.
What it does:
- Flags sensitive information such as PII, IP, financial data, and confidential business information
- Uses AI and machine learning to identify concepts and themes
- Helps categorize large volumes of electronic documents
Why it is useful:
In due diligence, especially where privacy, IP, or data handling is important, Trace can help teams review large datasets for sensitive content and potential liabilities. It is especially relevant when assessing data security posture or handling post-acquisition cleanup.
Best fit/use case:
Corporate legal departments, law firms, and compliance teams working on transactions where sensitive data, privacy, or IP ownership is a major concern.
Pros:
- Built for large data volumes
- Strong detection of sensitive and confidential information
- Solid audit trails and defensibility
Cons:
- Not a full contract review platform
- Can be complex to implement
- Often requires specialized expertise
6. AuditBoard
AuditBoard is not a pure due diligence tool, but its audit, risk, and compliance platform includes AI-powered features that can support operational and financial due diligence.
What it does:
- Centralizes internal controls, risk assessments, and compliance workflows
- Helps analyze financial data and operational processes
- Flags anomalies and potential control weaknesses
Why it is useful:
For buyers assessing a target’s internal controls, reporting processes, and operational risk, AuditBoard can help organize and analyze relevant information. It is useful for identifying issues that may require further investigation during a transaction.
Best fit/use case:
Corporate finance teams, internal audit functions, and transaction advisors evaluating operational and financial health.
Pros:
- Broad view of risk and controls
- Supports audit and compliance workflows
- Useful for anomaly detection and process review
Cons:
- Less focused on legal document review
- Better suited to ongoing compliance than pure transactional contract analysis
- Works best when paired with financial and operational data
How to Choose the Right AI Tool for Due Diligence
The right tool depends on your transaction type, document volume, and the issues you need to uncover. Start by narrowing your primary use case.
Consider the following:
- Scope of due diligence: Are you focused on contracts, compliance, financial controls, or a mix of these?
- Document type: Does the tool handle standard agreements, complex bespoke contracts, or unstructured materials like emails and transcripts?
- Integration: Will it fit into your current document management, e-discovery, or legal tech stack?
- Ease of use: How much training will your team need?
- Customization and scale: Can the platform adapt to your review requirements and document volume?
- Budget and value: Does the time saved and risk reduced justify the cost?
For contract-heavy reviews, Kira and Cognito are strong options. For standard contract compliance review, LawGeex may be a better fit. For research and factual analysis, CoCounsel can add value. For sensitive data review, Relativity Trace stands out. For operational and financial controls, AuditBoard may be the better choice.
Pricing and Value Considerations
AI due diligence tools are typically priced by subscription, usage, user count, data volume, or custom enterprise agreement. Some vendors also offer per-project pricing.
When evaluating cost, look beyond the license fee and consider total value:
- Time savings: How many review hours can the tool reduce?
- Risk reduction: What is the cost of missing a critical issue?
- Deal throughput: Can the team handle more matters or close faster?
- Training and support: How much time and effort will implementation require?
Smaller firms or teams with simpler needs may find accessible entry points in tools like LawGeex or CoCounsel. Larger firms and in-house teams handling high-volume transactions may get more value from specialized platforms like Kira or Cognito.
Frequently Asked Questions About AI for Due Diligence
Can AI completely replace human due diligence reviewers?
No. AI is best used as an assistant. It can automate repetitive work and flag issues, but human lawyers are still needed for judgment, context, and strategic analysis.
How accurate are AI tools for contract analysis?
Accuracy has improved significantly, especially in leading platforms. Results still depend on document quality, complexity, and the specific use case. Human review remains important for critical findings.
What types of due diligence tasks can AI help with?
AI can assist with contract review, risk identification, compliance checks, factual investigation, document analysis, legal research, and some aspects of data review.
Is AI due diligence technology expensive?
Pricing varies widely. Some enterprise tools can be costly, but tiered pricing and subscription models make many platforms accessible to smaller teams as well.
How do I protect privacy and security when using AI tools?
Vet vendor security practices, data handling policies, and compliance standards carefully. Make sure data is encrypted, access is controlled, and the platform aligns with your organization’s requirements.
What is the difference between AI for e-discovery and AI for due diligence?
E-discovery AI is generally focused on finding relevant documents for litigation or investigations. Due diligence AI is more focused on transaction risk, contractual obligations, and business value.
Conclusion
AI is now a practical part of modern due diligence. The best AI tools for due diligence can help legal teams work faster, review more consistently, and surface risks earlier in the process.
The right platform depends on your needs. Kira Systems and Cognito are strong for contract-heavy diligence. LawGeex works well for standard agreement review. CoCounsel is useful for research and factual analysis. Relativity Trace is valuable for sensitive data review, and AuditBoard is useful for operational and financial risk assessment.
AI does not replace human judgment, but it can make due diligence faster, more scalable, and more effective. For legal teams and deal professionals, that can make a meaningful difference in transaction outcomes.