How are large eDiscovery buyers making deployment decisions in 2026, and are those decisions compatible with the AI adoption strategy their organizations are pursuing?
Survey of 200 senior U.S. eDiscovery buyers, fielded June 30 to July 9, 2026, with CensusWide
Executive Summary: Buyers want AI and deployment choice. Vendors are offering one or the other.
Legal technology is at an inflection point, and nowhere more than in eDiscovery. Agentic AI is reshaping how work gets done, by whom, and at what cost. At the same time, a forced deplatforming by the predominant incumbent is pushing organizations to make high-stakes infrastructure decisions inside a rapidly closing window.
We surveyed 200 senior eDiscovery buyers to understand how they are making those decisions. If the environment is murky, the results are anything but. The most conclusive findings show:
01
Buyers base platform decisions primarily on a technology’s ability to accommodate AI as its utility and power expand.
02
Buyers base platform decisions primarily on a technology’s ability to accommodate AI as its utility and power expand.
03
Nearly half of all matters already require private deployment, and 9 in 10 buyers say that share has risen in the last 24 months.
04
Buyers are highly skeptical of a single deployment approach and see their primary vendor’s commercial interest as the main driver of their options.
Key findings
100%
call running their own proprietary or fine-tuned AI models in their eDiscovery environment important
91%
say the share of matters requiring private deployment has increased in 24 months
46%
average share of matters that require on-premises or private deployment
68%
believe deployment recommendations serve vendors’ commercial interests rather than their needs
20%
average yearly growth in eDiscovery costs over the last three years
48%
expect to run a hybrid approach within 24 months, across public cloud and private environments
The public cloud-first future doesn’t match the matters buyers actually run
Share of matters requiring private deployment
On average, 46% of matters require private deployment today. n=200
Change in private deployment share, past 24 months
AI adoption strategy
60% describe their AI adoption as Active or Aggressive.
Top-two most important deployment factors
Up to two choices per respondent. Top 6 of 9 factors shown. n=200
Buyers who surrender deployment flexibility inherit someone else’s roadmap and someone else’s timeline.
2026 eDiscovery Buyers Report, Conclusion
With Relativity Server sunsetting, Reveal Private Deployment is the top destination
Relativity Server will no longer support new matters after January 2028. Among buyers migrating away, Reveal Private Deployment (RPD) is named more often than any other destination.
Migration destination from Relativity Server
Reveal Private Deployment31.1%
A proprietary or internally built platform24.2%
OpenText (EnCase / Accelerate)23.5%
Nuix21.2%
n=132 buyers migrating from Relativity Server
Methodology
Reveal conducted this research in partnership with CensusWide, a member of the Market Research Society, which invited respondents to complete a survey by email between June 30 and July 9, 2026. In total, 200 U.S.-based senior-level and executive legal tech decision-makers with direct involvement in eDiscovery platform selection, evaluation or procurement took part.
47% C-level executives · 22% Directors · 19.5% VPs. Client bases span 10 industries, led by financial services, energy and technology.
