For Australian law students
Compare CaseSharp with what you already use
Every Australian law student already has research tools, and most of them are free. Three of the four services on this page cost a student nothing, and one of them is paid for by your university library. These comparisons say what each one is good at before they say anything about CaseSharp, because a comparison that does not concede the obvious is not worth reading.
How to read these
None of these pages argue that you should stop using the other thing. Most students end up using two or three of them in the same week, and that is the sensible outcome. What the pages set out is which job each one is built for, so you can pick the right one at 11pm the night before something is due.
The four comparisons
- CaseSharp and ChatGPTA general assistant is very good at explaining a doctrine from scratch, drafting things that are not legal writing, and working through your non-law subjects.CaseSharp answers from a corpus of audited Australian decisions searched at the moment you ask, pins every claim to the paragraph it came from, and carries a citation graph on the authority itself showing what cites it and what it cites, ranked by influence.Use it instead when: You are trying to understand something rather than cite it.
- CaseSharp and AustLIIAustLII is free to everyone, it is where a great deal of Australian material is publicly readable, and on the open web an AustLII link is often the citation of record.CaseSharp gives you a plain-English entry point for when you do not yet know which case you need, an IRAC brief with each part linked back to its paragraph, AGLC4 output, and a citation graph you can read while you go.Use it instead when: You know exactly which case you want, or you need something handed down after the CaseSharp coverage date.
- CaseSharp and JadeJade has a free registered tier, JADE Professional is available free to law students with a university email address, and it is a fast, well-liked lookup and citator tool.CaseSharp is organised around a semester rather than around a collection: briefs, AGLC4 footnotes, and the citation graph on each authority across a whole exam scaffold rather than one case at a time.Use it instead when: You want a quick, free lookup on a case you can already name.
- CaseSharp and Lexis+ AULexis+ AU is a deeper practitioner research platform with authorised report series, commentary and a mature citator, and your university library has already paid for it.CaseSharp is built around the student jobs, and the account belongs to you rather than to the institution, so it does not stop working the week your results are released.Use it instead when: You need commentary, authorised reports, or the research skills your degree is actually marking you on.
What any of this costs a student
AustLII is free. Jade has a free registered tier and JADE Professional is available free to law students with a university email address, though arrangements vary by institution. Lexis+ AU and Westlaw AU are funded by your university library and cost you nothing while you are enrolled. CaseSharp has a free plan that does not expire and does not need a card. Nothing on this site argues that you should replace a free tool you already like.
The one thing worth knowing early is that library access ends when your enrolment does, usually within weeks of your final result. That is the difference students notice, and it is the subject of the Lexis+ AU comparison.
Where to go instead
If you are not comparing tools and just want the substance, the subject pages cover all eleven Priestley subjects, and the law school pages cover degree structures and 2026 dates.
73,000 audited Australian decisions, current to the end of April 2026. CaseSharp is a research and study tool. It is not legal advice.