minicounsel vs OpenCase

The accuracy problem

OpenCase tries to cover 8 jurisdictions across 4 continents. That breadth comes at a cost: in our testing, OpenCase produces frequent hallucinations — fabricated cases that don't exist, incorrect citations, and inaccurate summaries of real decisions.

For Ontario lawyers, this is not an abstract quality concern. Citing a hallucinated case in court means professional embarrassment, potential sanctions from the bench, and malpractice risk. You need to trust what your research tool gives you.

minicounsel takes the opposite approach: deep focus on one jurisdiction. Every case in our Ontario database is verified against actual content. That's how we achieve 99.9% accuracy with zero hallucinations.

Breadth vs depth

OpenCase covers 8 countries:

Covering 8 legal systems means building and maintaining 8 separate databases, each with different court hierarchies, citation formats, and legal principles. When you spread that thin, accuracy suffers — and our testing confirms it.

minicounsel covers one jurisdiction deeply: Ontario (OCJ, SCJ, ODC, OCA) plus the Supreme Court of Canada. Every case is verified — going back to 1980. That focus is a feature, not a limitation — it's why lawyers trust the results enough to cite them in court.

Pricing

Feature comparison

Who should use which?

Common questions

Does OpenCase cover Canadian law?

OpenCase lists Canada as one of 8 countries it covers, alongside the US, UK, Australia, South Africa, Ireland, Philippines, and India. But spreading across 8 jurisdictions means none get deep, focused coverage. minicounsel is built exclusively for Ontario courts (OCJ, SCJ, ODC, OCA, SCC) with verified case content back to 1980. That focus is why we hit 99.9% accuracy.

Does OpenCase hallucinate?

Yes. In our testing, OpenCase produces frequent hallucinations — fabricated cases, incorrect citations, and inaccurate summaries of real decisions. This is the core risk with any tool that tries to cover many jurisdictions without deep verification infrastructure. minicounsel Plus has zero hallucinations in testing and customer usage because every case is verified against actual content.

Is minicounsel more accurate than OpenCase?

minicounsel Plus has a 99.9% accuracy rate on Ontario case law in testing and customer usage, with zero hallucinations. OpenCase has not published independent accuracy data, and in our testing it hallucinates frequently. For Ontario lawyers, citing a hallucinated case means professional embarrassment, sanctions, or malpractice risk.

Both are around $99/month — what's the difference?

minicounsel is $99 CAD/month. OpenCase is $99 USD/month — roughly $140 CAD. But price isn't the main difference. minicounsel is purpose-built for Ontario with 99.9% accuracy and zero hallucinations. OpenCase covers 8 countries and produces frequent hallucinations in our testing. If you practice in Ontario and need results you can trust in front of a judge, minicounsel is the tool for the job.

Can I switch from OpenCase to minicounsel?

Yes. Sign up for minicounsel Plus — $99 CAD/month, no contracts, cancel anytime. It works inside ChatGPT and Claude — no new platform to learn.