The two tools do not meet exactly the same need.
Harvey is an international platform built for large organisations and complex matters. Silex is designed for legal research and analysis in Swiss law, with a particular focus on verifiable sources and data protection.
The main comparison criteria are therefore legal sources, confidentiality, document analysis, integration with the firm’s tools and pricing.
Two tools designed for different uses
Harvey AI is an artificial intelligence platform for law firms and companies that want to automate several types of legal tasks in a single environment.
It can be used in particular for drafting, document analysis and managing complex processes.
Silex focuses more on Swiss law. It is designed to help professionals search for sources, analyse legal questions and prepare answers suited to federal and cantonal law.
Legal sources
The quality of a legal AI depends largely on the sources it uses.
Harvey works with a broad body of legal data and places particular emphasis on the needs of international firms.
Silex states that it has more than 800,000 Swiss legal sources, including federal and cantonal legislation and case law.
These sources are consulted at the time of the search in order to provide an answer tied to the applicable law.
Silex also accompanies its answers with references that the legal professional can check before using them in a case file.
The specific features of Swiss law
Swiss law has several specific features: federal law coexists with cantonal law, decisions come from different courts and texts are available in several languages.
Legal research may therefore need to switch from French to German or Italian while keeping the same legal meaning.
Silex is designed to work with these specific features and with the terminology used in Swiss law.
For a professional, the key point remains being able to check that the rule cited actually matches the canton, the court and the situation under consideration.
Data hosting and professional secrecy
For a law firm or an in-house legal department, data security is an essential criterion.
Harvey highlights several security measures, including certifications such as SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001. According to the provider, client data is not used by default to train its models.
Data location, however, depends on the configuration and the environment used.
Silex states that it hosts its clients’ data in Switzerland with Infomaniak and does not use uploaded files to train its models.
Details are presented on the security page and in our article AI and data protection.
Analysing documents
Among its tools, Harvey offers Vault, which is designed to store, organise and analyse large volumes of documents.
This feature can be used to extract information from contracts, compare documents or spot certain risks across many files.
Silex gears its analysis more towards Swiss law. It can relate the content of a document to the relevant legal texts and decisions.
This approach makes it possible, for example, to analyse a clause in light of the Swiss Code of Obligations or the Swiss Civil Code.
The features are detailed on the product page and in our article on AI-assisted legal analysis.
Automating legal tasks
Both solutions offer automation, but with different approaches.
Harvey is designed to automate complex and sometimes lengthy processes, such as:
- due diligence;
- the analysis of numerous contracts;
- the preparation of reports;
- certain compliance processes.
Silex focuses more on day-to-day legal tasks, such as:
- searching for case law;
- preparing an analysis;
- summarising a decision;
- checking a question of Swiss law;
- preparing a legal document.
In both cases, the professional remains responsible for final validation.
Integration with the firm’s tools
Harvey offers integrations with tools such as iManage, NetDocuments or SharePoint. This approach is aimed in particular at large organisations that already use several document systems.
Silex can integrate with tools used by Swiss professionals.
The integration of Silex into WinLex and SkyLex, for example, makes it possible to run a search without leaving the usual working environment.
The partnership with MCR Solutions also aims to integrate AI into existing processes.
You can also read the announcements about Silex and EXPERTsuisse and Bordier & Cie.
Silex and legal databases
Traditional legal databases provide access to laws, decisions and legal commentaries. However, they often require documents to be searched and compared manually.
Silex aims to simplify this step by preparing a summary based on the sources found.
The legal professional can then consult the references, check the analysis and add to the answer where necessary.
Pricing
Harvey generally offers packages tailored to large organisations. The price depends on the number of users, the features chosen and the level of integration.
Silex offers several monthly plans:
- Solo: CHF 149 per month;
- Team: CHF 490 per month;
- Enterprise: CHF 895 per month.
The plans are detailed on the pricing and solutions pages.
Harvey AI or Silex: the main differences
To compare other solutions, see our article on legal AI alternatives and our comparison Legora or Silex.
In short
Harvey AI is mainly designed for large organisations that want to automate complex legal processes and work on international matters.
Silex focuses on research and analysis in Swiss law, with verifiable sources and data hosted in Switzerland.
The choice therefore depends mainly on the type of matters handled, the legal sources required, confidentiality requirements and the firm’s working environment.
To test Silex on a real legal question, you can book a demo.
FAQ
Does Silex use client data to train its models?
According to Silex, no. Client data is not used to train its models.
Where is Silex data hosted?
According to Silex, it is hosted in Switzerland with Infomaniak.
Is Silex suitable for large companies?
Yes. Among its plans, Silex offers an Enterprise plan for larger law firms and legal departments.
For personal use, see our article on legal AI for individuals.
