Vern vs Ironclad
Ironclad is a full enterprise contract lifecycle management platform. Vern is focused AI contract risk review you can start using in two minutes. You don't need a CLM. You need to know what's risky before you sign.
Do you need contract infrastructure, or contract intelligence?
Ironclad is built for enterprises that need to design, deploy, automate, and manage contracts across entire organisations. It's contract infrastructure — a system for the full lifecycle. Vern solves a different problem entirely: you have a contract in front of you, and you need to know what's risky before you sign it. That's contract intelligence. One takes months to roll out. The other takes minutes.
Two different tools for two different problems
Vern You are here
AI contract risk review. Upload a contract, get a clause-by-clause risk report with traffic-light ratings, enforceability scores, and plain-English explanations. Custom playbooks, email-in submission, Word add-in. Start in minutes. Transparent pricing, free tier available.
Ironclad
Enterprise contract lifecycle management platform. Design, deploy, and manage digital contracts at scale. AI-driven insights, cross-team collaboration, workflow automation, and contract data mining. Used by enterprise organisations. Demo-based pricing, weeks-to-months implementation.
How they stack up
| Feature | Vern | Ironclad |
|---|---|---|
| Primary function | Contract risk review | Enterprise CLM |
| AI contract review | As part of CLM | |
| Contract creation / design | — | |
| Workflow automation | — | |
| Contract storage / repository | — | |
| Approval workflows | — | |
| Custom risk playbooks | — | |
| Traffic-light risk ratings | — | |
| Enforceability scoring | Vern Score per clause | — |
| AI chat per contract | — | |
| Email-in submission | Forward & forget | — |
| Word add-in | — | |
| Review speed | Under 10 minutes | Varies |
| Implementation time | Minutes | Weeks to months |
| Self-serve signup | — Demo required | |
| Free tier | 1 contract/month | — |
| Transparent pricing | Free + £249/month | Not publicly available |
| UK/EU data residency | 100% guaranteed | Not disclosed |
| SOC 2 | Type 2 | |
| GDPR compliant |
What sets them apart
Contract infrastructure vs risk intelligence
Ironclad is a platform for managing the entire contract lifecycle — creation, negotiation, approval, storage, renewal. Vern does one thing: tells you what's risky in the contract you're about to sign. If you need a system, choose Ironclad. If you need an answer, choose Vern.
Enterprise rollout vs 2-minute setup
Ironclad requires a demo, a sales process, IT involvement, and weeks or months of implementation. Vern? Sign up, upload a contract, get a risk report. The entire process takes minutes, not quarters.
Hidden pricing vs transparent
Ironclad doesn't publish pricing. You'll need to talk to sales and negotiate a custom enterprise contract. Vern's pricing is on the website: free tier, £249/month for Pro. No surprises, no procurement headaches.
Legal teams vs everyone
Ironclad is designed for enterprise legal and operations teams with dedicated contract management workflows. Vern is built for anyone who signs contracts — ops managers, commercial teams, procurement leads, founders — people who need risk visibility without a law degree.
Which one is right for you?
Choose Vern if
- You need to understand contract risk before signing — not manage the entire lifecycle
- You want to start today, not in three months after an implementation project
- Your team isn't legal-trained and needs plain-English risk reports
- You want transparent pricing you can see before talking to anyone
- You need UK/EU data residency and SOC 2 Type 2 compliance
- You want to forward a contract by email and get a risk report back automatically
Choose Ironclad if
- You need end-to-end contract lifecycle management across your enterprise
- You want to design, deploy, and manage contracts in a single platform
- You have complex cross-team approval workflows that need automation
- You need a central contract repository with AI-driven data mining
- You have budget for enterprise CLM and IT resource for implementation
Pricing comparison
Vern
1 contract/month, forever
Pro plan: 25 contracts, 10 users
- No credit card needed
- No demo required
- Cancel anytime
- Published on the website
Ironclad
Enterprise sales process required
Custom contracts based on organisation size and needs
Demo and discovery calls before any pricing discussion
Know your risk before
you sign.
You don't need a CLM to understand what's in your contracts. Upload one now and see for yourself.