Relex & Claude vs Ironclad
Own your clients, your data and your firm.
Ironclad calls itself the enterprise-grade AI CLM that unlocks intelligence from every contract, built for in-house legal and business teams and quoted through sales. Relex is built for the professional who owns the client. A contract is one artifact of a matter, not the whole of it, so Relex runs the matter end to end, from the first message a client sends through to signature and invoice, with client identities sealed in your browser and the Claude you already pay for doing the reasoning.
At a glance
| Dimension | Relex | Ironclad |
|---|---|---|
| Where client data goes | Encrypted in your browser before anything leaves your device. The model only ever sees [Party 1]. | Reports SOC 1 and SOC 2 Type II and GDPR terms. Its AI product states zero data retention agreements with OpenAI and other third-party AI providers. |
| Whose AI runs it | Bring your own Claude or Claude for Legal over MCP and OAuth. You own the reasoning. | Jurist, its AI contract partner, leverages multiple LLMs that Ironclad selects. Ironclad does not publicly describe bringing your own model or agent into the CLM. |
| Try it today | Sign up and run a real case in minutes. Free to try, no card. | Custom quote. No public pricing. |
| Who owns the client | Partner Network: own the client and keep 100%, at 0% commission. | Its partner program is implementation and technology consulting. No client referral marketplace or take rate is publicly described. |
| Case structure | A formal ontology of parties, issues, claims, statutes, and facts. | Contract workflows and a searchable contract repository. |
| Your know-how | A private per-tenant index the model searches. Never a copy it keeps or trains on. | Clause libraries and templates inside the platform. |
| Getting started | In the browser in minutes, standalone or with your own Claude. | Sales process and implementation. |
This comparison reflects each product’s own public positioning as of July 2026. Ironclad is a trademark of its respective owner, and this page is an independent comparison.
The opposite bet
Ironclad is the bet that contracting is an enterprise operations problem, solved by procurement and standardised across business teams. Relex takes the opposite bet. The unit of work is the matter, not the document. The reasoning belongs to the Claude you already pay for. The client’s identity never reaches a model. And the professional, not the platform, owns the client and keeps 100% of what they are paid.
Why the pairing wins
A contract repository can tell you what you signed. It cannot tell you why, against whom, under which statute, or what you argued last time. Relex gives your Claude the whole matter: parties, issues, claims, statutes and facts as a formal ontology, plus a private index of your own know-how it can search but never keeps. Connect over MCP and OAuth, and Claude drafts and redlines inside that structure while the real names stay encrypted in your browser. The model sees [Party 1] and still knows exactly what is at stake.
Own the intake, own the client
Contracts arrive inside relationships. Clients reach your practice by email, by WhatsApp or SMS message, or through a guest link you send them, and what they tell you becomes a structured case the agent picks up without asking them to repeat it. Intake, drafting, native cryptographic e-signature and invoicing run in one workspace. Through the Partner Network you stay the merchant of record through Stripe, at a flat $99 per month and 0% commission on what your clients pay you.
Relex is a software platform. It is not a law firm, it does not replace lawyers, and it does not provide legal advice.
Questions people ask
Is Relex a CLM like Ironclad?
No. Relex models the whole matter as a formal ontology of parties, issues, claims, statutes and facts, and a contract is one artifact inside it. If your problem is high-volume contract operations across business teams, that is what a CLM is for. If your problem is running matters for clients you own, end to end, with an AI that never learns who they are, that is Relex.
Ironclad writes about MCP. Is that the same as bringing my own Claude?
It is a different thing. Ironclad’s model-agnostic and MCP writing describes Rivet, its separate open-source developer tool, rather than a way for a customer to run the CLM on a model they bring. In Relex the MCP surface is the product: you connect the Claude you already pay for over OAuth, and it works your real matters directly.
Can Relex handle contract drafting and signature?
Yes. Drafting and redline run against the case ontology and your own playbooks, clause enforceability is flagged for a human to decide, and agreements are signed with native cryptographic signing and sealing, with a certificate of completion. Invoicing and delivery close the loop in the same workspace.
Which one can I try today?
Relex. Signing up is free, takes one click, and needs no credit card. Ironclad’s own pricing page directs you to work with their team for a quote.
More comparisons
Automate the work around the law. Stay the lawyer.
Own your clients, your data, and your firm. Start in the browser, or bring your own Claude in one step. No key to paste.