To use PACER, register for a free account at pacer.uscourts.gov, look up a case by number or party name, open the docket sheet, and download the filings you need. Most documents cost $0.10 a page with a $3.00 cap per document, and if your charges stay at or below $30 in a quarter, PACER waives them entirely. The rest of using PACER well is knowing which search to run, when to save instead of reopen, and which free tools sit alongside the paid system.
Register for an Account
Registration at pacer.uscourts.gov asks for your name, address, email, and a tax identification number, usually your Social Security number. PACER collects the tax ID only for federal debt collection if you leave charges unpaid and does not use it otherwise.1PACER: Federal Court Records. Register for an Account
You’ll also create a username and password and be offered the chance to enter a credit card. Enter one and your account activates immediately. Skip it and PACER mails a paper activation code that takes 7 to 10 business days to arrive, with no access in the meantime.1PACER: Federal Court Records. Register for an Account If you have a filing to find this week, put the card in now.
Find the Case
PACER gives you two ways to search, and picking the right one matters for both time and cost.
Use the Case Locator When You Don’t Know the Court
The PACER Case Locator indexes every federal appellate, district, and bankruptcy court. Search it by party name or case number, with optional filters for region and date range, when you don’t know which court is handling the matter or want to check whether someone is party to federal litigation anywhere in the country.2PACER: Federal Court Records. Search by National Index Clicking a case number in the results sends you to that court’s system for the full docket.
Query the Court Directly When You Already Know It
If you have the court and the case number, log in and use the Query option to go straight there. It’s faster and avoids the per-page charges that broad national searches can rack up when a common name returns dozens of results.3PACER: Federal Court Records. Search by a Specific Court vs Using the PACER Case Locator Searching by case number rather than party name is one of the simplest ways to keep costs down.
Read the Docket and Pull Documents
Once you’re in a case, the docket sheet is the map. It lists every filing and court action in chronological order, and each entry is hyperlinked to the underlying document. Click one and PACER shows a preview screen with the billable page count and the exact cost before anything hits your account.4PACER: Federal Court Records. Can Users Determine How Large a Document Is Before It Is Accessed in PACER and Before Being Charged
Once you confirm and the document opens, save or print it right away. You’re charged once for that first view, and the saved copy on your computer is yours to open as many times as you want. Clicking the same link on PACER a second time generates a fresh charge.
What You’ll Pay
PACER charges $0.10 per page for documents, docket sheets, and case-specific reports. Any single document or case-specific report is capped at $3.00, the equivalent of 30 pages, so a 300-page motion still costs $3.00.5United States Courts. Electronic Public Access Fee Schedule
The cap has real exceptions. It does not apply to transcripts of federal court proceedings, non-case-specific reports (like docket activity reports or name searches across the Case Locator), or audio files. Transcript pages keep charging with no ceiling.6PACER: Federal Court Records. Public Access to Court Electronic Records A transcript also does not appear on PACER until 90 days after the court reporter produces it; during that window, you can only inspect it at the clerk’s office or buy a copy from the reporter.7PACER: Federal Court Records. Are Transcripts of Court Proceedings Available on PACER Digital audio files of court hearings are a flat $2.40 per file.8PACER: Federal Court Records. PACER Pricing: How Fees Work
The $30 Quarterly Waiver
If your charges in a quarterly billing cycle come in at $30 or less, PACER waives them entirely. About 75 percent of users pay nothing in a given quarter, according to PACER.6PACER: Federal Court Records. Public Access to Court Electronic Records Cross $30 by a penny and you owe the full balance, not just the amount above the threshold. That matters if you have a burst of research at the end of a quarter.
PACER sends quarterly statements by email or mail based on your preference, and you can pay online, by phone with Visa, MasterCard, Discover, or American Express, or by mailing a check to the PACER Service Center.9PACER: Federal Court Records. How Often Am I Billed and How Can I Pay
Watch Your Usage in Real Time
Log into “Manage My Account” and click the Usage tab to see transactions broken down by date, court, and client code, along with past quarterly invoices.10Public Access to Court Electronic Records – PACER. PACER User Manual Checking mid-quarter is the simplest way to stay under the waiver.
Ways to Pay Less (or Nothing)
Judicial Opinions Are Free
All judicial opinions on PACER are free for registered users, with no per-page charge. You can also search opinions from more than 130 federal courts at govinfo.gov, dating back to April 2004.11PACER: Federal Court Records. Court Opinions Google Scholar carries a searchable database of federal appellate, district, tax, and bankruptcy opinions at no cost. If you only need an opinion, don’t pay for it.
Install RECAP Before You Start
RECAP is a free browser extension that works alongside PACER. When you buy a document through PACER with the extension running, RECAP uploads a copy to its public archive. When someone else has already bought the document you want, you can download it free from inside the PACER interface. The archive holds tens of millions of documents, including every free opinion on PACER, and you can also search it directly at CourtListener.com without logging into PACER.12Free Law Project. RECAP Suite — Turning PACER Around Since 2009
Courthouse Terminals
Every federal courthouse has public access terminals where you can view PACER records for free. You only pay if you print, at the standard $0.10 per page.5United States Courts. Electronic Public Access Fee Schedule For a large document review near a courthouse, this is the cheapest option.
Fee Exemptions
Courts can waive PACER fees case by case for people who can’t afford them, including pro se litigants and indigent individuals, when the court finds the exemption necessary to avoid an unreasonable burden and to promote public access. Researchers on defined scholarly projects can request exemptions across multiple courts, but those exemptions cannot be used to redistribute records commercially or republish them online.13PACER: Federal Court Records. Options to Access Records if You Cannot Afford PACER Fees Procedures vary, so contact the individual court’s clerk’s office.
Attorney Free Look
Attorneys of record get an email whenever a document is filed, with a hyperlink to view it once for free. The link expires after first use or 15 days, whichever comes first. If the attorney forwards the email without clicking, the recipient can use the free view instead.14PACER: Federal Court Records. How Do I Save the One Free Copy Save or print during that first view; every access after it costs money.
What PACER Won’t Show You
Not everything filed in federal court is publicly visible. Sealed documents and sealed cases are restricted from public view, and nothing on the docket sheet flags that they exist. Courts seal filings for reasons including ongoing investigations, national security, and protecting sensitive business information.
Certain personal details must be redacted from public filings under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5.2: Social Security and tax ID numbers to the last four digits, dates of birth to the year only, minor children to their initials, and financial account numbers to the last four digits. Redaction is the filer’s job, not the clerk’s, and if a filer includes unredacted personal information without sealing the document, protection is considered waived as to their own data.15Legal Information Institute (LII) / Cornell Law School. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 5.2 – Privacy Protection for Filings Made with the Court Compliance is imperfect in practice, so sensitive information does occasionally show up in public filings.