Microsoft Purview eDiscovery
eDiscovery software
Legal software
- Features
- Ease of use
- Ease of management
- Quality of support
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- Market presence
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$12.00 per user per month
Free Trial
Free version unavailable
Small
Medium
Large
- Education and training
- Healthcare and life sciences
- Public sector and nonprofit organizations
What is Microsoft Purview eDiscovery
Microsoft Purview eDiscovery is an eDiscovery and legal hold capability within the Microsoft Purview compliance suite for identifying, preserving, collecting, and reviewing electronically stored information in Microsoft 365. It is used by legal, compliance, and IT teams to manage litigation, investigations, and regulatory requests across Exchange, SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, and related Microsoft 365 services. The product emphasizes in-place preservation and collection within the Microsoft cloud and integrates with Microsoft Purview content search, auditing, and information governance features. It is typically deployed by organizations that standardize on Microsoft 365 and want eDiscovery workflows aligned to their tenant security and compliance controls.
Native Microsoft 365 coverage
It provides direct access to core Microsoft 365 data sources such as Exchange mailboxes, SharePoint sites, OneDrive accounts, and Teams content, reducing the need for separate connectors for those repositories. Legal hold and collection actions occur within the tenant, which can simplify chain-of-custody documentation and reduce data movement. This native approach is particularly useful when most relevant data resides in Microsoft 365. It also benefits from Microsoft 365 identity, role-based access control, and audit logging.
Integrated compliance workflow
The product sits within Microsoft Purview, enabling eDiscovery work to align with adjacent compliance capabilities such as auditing, retention, and information protection policies. Teams can use consistent permissions and administrative controls across compliance tasks rather than managing a separate eDiscovery platform. This integration can reduce operational overhead for organizations already using Purview. It also supports collaboration between legal and IT through centralized case management constructs.
In-place preservation and collection
Legal holds can preserve content without exporting it first, which helps limit duplication and reduces the risk of altering evidence during handling. Collections can be scoped using Microsoft 365 search and filtering capabilities, supporting targeted preservation and retrieval. This can shorten early-stage eDiscovery steps for common matters and internal investigations. It is well-suited to repeatable workflows where Microsoft 365 is the primary system of record.
Limited non-Microsoft sources
Coverage is strongest for Microsoft 365 workloads; organizations with significant data in third-party SaaS apps, endpoints, or niche repositories may need additional tools or processes to collect and normalize that content. This can create fragmented workflows across multiple systems for a single matter. Cross-platform review and analytics may require exporting data to other environments. As a result, it may be less suitable as a single end-to-end solution in heterogeneous data landscapes.
Advanced review may require add-ons
While it supports core eDiscovery tasks, organizations that need extensive review features (for example, large-scale document review workflows, advanced analytics, or specialized production requirements) may find gaps compared with purpose-built review platforms. Teams often export collected data for downstream processing and review when matters become complex or high-volume. This adds time and introduces additional governance steps. Licensing tiers and feature availability can also affect what is practical in production.
Complex licensing and administration
Capabilities vary by Microsoft 365 and Purview licensing levels, which can make it difficult to predict costs and ensure consistent access across legal, compliance, and IT users. Administration requires familiarity with Microsoft 365 security/compliance roles, tenant configuration, and data location considerations. Multi-geo, retention, and Teams data structures can add operational complexity to scoping and collection. Organizations may need dedicated compliance administrators to run the tool effectively.
Plan & Pricing
Pricing model: Combination — subscription + pay-as-you-go
Subscription (includes eDiscovery): Microsoft Purview Suite — $12.00 per user/month (paid yearly; annual commitment). Includes Purview eDiscovery capabilities as part of the suite.
Pay-as-you-go (eDiscovery Premium): $20 USD per GB processed and stored per month (billed based on amount of data processed/stored in Premium cases).
eDiscovery Graph API Standard: 50 GB of export capacity included per tenant per month at no cost; additional export usage is billed (Microsoft communications indicate $10/GB for additional export volume on the Graph API Standard offering).
Notes:
- eDiscovery billing is a combination of your Microsoft 365 subscription/add-ons plus pay-as-you-go charges for non-Microsoft 365/AI app data and certain API/export usage.
- Trials: Microsoft advertises a "Try for free" option for Purview Suite (trial initiation requires admin role and prerequisites).
Seller details
Microsoft Corporation
Redmond, Washington, United States
1975
Public
https://www.microsoft.com/
https://x.com/Microsoft
https://www.linkedin.com/company/microsoft/
