Best Court Record Check APIs in India (2026)
How businesses check court records by API in India, what separates a reliable court record check API from a risky one, and how the main options compare in 2026.
Buyer’s Guide · Court Record Check API
When a bank, an NBFC, an HR team, or a legal ops team needs to check whether a person or a company has a pending or past court case, doing it by hand, one court website at a time, does not scale. A court record check API lets that lookup happen inside your own onboarding, underwriting, or vendor screening system, automatically. This guide is about that specific job: checking court records programmatically, by API. It explains why it is harder than it looks in India, what a reliable API needs to get right, and how the main options compare in 2026.
- Most named, transparent coverage: Vakeel360, with specific High Courts, district courts, and tribunal benches stated by name and count.
- Broadest bundled KYC feature set: Surepass, as part of a wider verification API suite, though pricing is quote-based.
- Best if you may need full case search or tracking too: Claw, backed by a platform covering 8200+ courts for tracking and 25 High Courts plus the Supreme Court for search, though API-specific pricing is not yet public.
- The deciding factor: whether you need a one-time check or a data source you will grow into.
01Why checking court records by API is hard in India
A court record check, in the API sense, means asking a system "does this person or this company have a court case against them, anywhere," and getting a structured answer back in code, not a PDF you have to read. In India that is a genuinely hard problem to solve well, for three reasons.
Court data is spread across hundreds of separate systems
India does not have one national database you can query for every case. Case data lives across district courts, High Courts, and tribunals like the NCLT, CAT, ITAT, CESTAT, and RERA, each with its own records. An API that only covers a handful of courts will miss cases that sit outside its coverage, which is a real risk if you are relying on the result for an onboarding or underwriting decision.
Matching a name to the right case is the hard part, not the search itself
Party names in Indian court records are rarely spelled consistently. A common name can belong to hundreds of different people, and a single person or company can appear under slightly different spellings across filings. An API that does plain, exact-text matching will either miss real matches (a false negative, which defeats the purpose of the check) or flag unrelated people with the same name (a false positive, which wastes a compliance team’s time). Confirming that a case actually belongs to the company or person you are checking is its own skill, separate from just finding a case with a matching name.
The data has to be fresh, and the legal status of that data matters
Court records change: new cases get filed, hearings get listed, orders get passed. A check run on stale data can miss a case filed last week. It also matters that court websites themselves are not always treated as the final, certified record for every legal purpose, so a serious API should be transparent about where its data comes from and how current it is, rather than implying it replaces a certified court record.
A different job: reading and citing a judgment
This guide is about checking whether court cases exist against a person or company, for onboarding and screening. If you instead need to search and cite case law for legal research, that is a different job. See our guide to the best case search tools in India. And for how this kind of API actually works end to end, see how a litigation check API works.
02What a good court record check API looks like
Five things separate a court record check API you can rely on from one that just looks good on a landing page.
- Named, specific coverage: which courts and tribunals it actually covers, stated by name and number, not just "all courts in India."
- Matching accuracy: whether it tolerates spelling variations and can help you confirm a case actually belongs to your subject, not just a same-named stranger.
- Data freshness: how current the underlying court data is, and how it is sourced.
- Integration effort: clean documentation, a sandbox or test key, and a response format your systems can consume without heavy custom work.
- Pricing transparency: whether the vendor publishes a real rate card or pricing model, or asks every buyer to talk to sales before they know what it costs.
In a court record check API, the hardest part is not finding a case with a matching name. It is being sure that case actually belongs to the person or company you are checking.
We used named coverage and pricing transparency as tie-breakers below, on top of core features, because a buyer evaluating these APIs deserves to know what they are actually getting and what it will cost, not just a features list.
03The best court record check APIs in India (2026)
The APIs below are ranked for the court record check job specifically: named coverage, matching quality, and how transparent the vendor is about pricing. We say honestly where a specialist leads.
Top pick
Vakeel360
A developer-focused Indian court case API with specifically named court and tribunal coverage.
Strengths
- States its coverage in specific, named terms rather than vague marketing language: named High Courts, a stated count of district courts, and named tribunal benches across NCLT, CAT, ITAT, CESTAT, and RERA.
- Publishes its pricing model upfront: fixed monthly plans with no setup fee and no per-call charges, rather than a pure "contact sales" wall.
- Returns case status, hearing details, orders, and cause lists as structured JSON, with API-key authentication and documentation.
Keep in mind
- The exact rupee rate card still depends on your usage tier and requires contacting them.
- Coverage, while named specifically, is still narrower than a full pan-India district court sweep, so confirm your target courts are included before relying on it.
Best for Developers and compliance teams who want clearly stated coverage and a predictable, non-per-call pricing model.
Surepass
A broader KYC and verification API platform whose court record check sits alongside Aadhaar, PAN, GST, and other identity checks.
Strengths
- Built for exactly this use case: banks, NBFCs, and employers using it for customer onboarding, pre-loan litigation checks, and employee background verification.
- Feature set includes bulk search across multiple cases at once, advance filters by case type and state, and automatic form-filling to cut manual data-entry errors.
- Sits inside a wider suite of identity and verification APIs, which can simplify integration if you already need other KYC checks.
Keep in mind
- The court coverage is described in general terms ("any pending or disposed case," "any city in India") rather than a named list of courts, so the exact scope is harder to verify upfront.
- Pricing is not published. You need to request a key and talk to sales to learn the cost.
Best for Teams that already use, or want, a single KYC and verification API provider covering identity checks beyond just court records.
Claw
An all-in-one legaltech platform with a live API for programmatic access to court and litigation data.
Strengths
- Claw offers a live public/partner API for programmatic access to court and litigation data, so a court record check can be built into your own systems rather than done by hand.
- The underlying platform tracks case activity across 8200 plus courts, including all states, tribunals, and district courts, alongside the Supreme Court, and its case search separately covers 25 High Courts and the Supreme Court with name-tolerant matching built to handle spelling variation in party names.
- Claw does not use customer case documents to train AI models, which matters if your use case involves sending sensitive litigation or KYC data through an API.
Keep in mind
- For court record checks specifically, Claw is newer to the developer/API-buyer market than Vakeel360 and Surepass, and API-specific pricing and technical documentation are not yet publicly detailed.
- The published Rs 1,099 per month (Premium) pricing is for Claw’s case search and management product, not confirmed as the API price.
Best for Teams that want a court record check API from a vendor whose underlying data also powers full case search and case tracking, and that may want to expand into those later.
04Side-by-side comparison
| API | Coverage named | Matching / fraud tools | Pricing model | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vakeel360 | Yes, specific courts and tribunal benches named | Name and CNR-based lookup | Published: fixed monthly, no per-call charges | Predictable, named coverage |
| Surepass | General terms, not a named list | Bulk search, form-fill automation, fraud checks | Not published: contact sales | Bundled KYC and verification needs |
| Claw | Platform-wide: 8200+ courts (tracking), 25 High Courts + Supreme Court (search) | Name-tolerant matching (proximity/phonetic) | Not yet public for API access | Buyers who may also want full case search and tracking |
05What it costs
Pricing transparency is uneven across this category, which is itself worth knowing before you evaluate any of these APIs.
- Vakeel360: publishes its pricing model, fixed monthly plans with no setup fee and no per-call charges, though the exact rate depends on your usage tier and requires talking to them.
- Surepass: no pricing published on its court record check page. You request an API key and get a quote from sales.
- Claw: the wider Claw platform has public pricing, Premium at Rs 1,099 per month per seat, plus a free plan for individual advocates, but this is for the case search and management product. API-specific pricing for court record checks is not yet confirmed.
So the honest summary is this: if predictable, published pricing matters to your budgeting, Vakeel360 currently discloses the most about its pricing model. If you need a broader KYC and verification suite and are comfortable with a sales conversation, Surepass is a reasonable fit. If you want an API vendor whose data also supports full case search and case tracking, Claw is worth evaluating, but confirm API-specific pricing and technical details directly before committing.
06How to choose
Match the API to what you are actually checking, and how much certainty you need before a court record check is complete.
If predictable, published pricing matters most, start with a vendor that discloses its pricing model upfront rather than gating everything behind a sales call. If you already run KYC checks for Aadhaar, PAN, or GST, a bundled verification API can simplify integration. If you expect to need full case search or ongoing case tracking later, not just a one-time check, favour a vendor whose court record API sits on top of a broader case data platform, so you are not switching vendors as your needs grow.
Whichever API you choose, build in a step to confirm a returned case actually belongs to your subject before you act on it. See how to verify a court case belongs to a company and how a litigation check API works for the mechanics.
07Where Claw fits
Claw is an all-in-one legaltech platform for Indian advocates, law firms, and corporate legal teams, combining AI-based case search, an AI legal assistant (Legal GPT), case management, and compliance automation across all Indian courts and tribunals. It is positioned as India’s first all-in-one legaltech platform of this kind.
For a standalone court record check, Claw is not the most established, developer-first option today, and its API-specific coverage and pricing details are not yet fully public. Where Claw fits well is for a team that wants that check backed by a platform with real depth: case tracking across 8200 plus courts including tribunals and district courts, a separate AI-based case search covering 25 High Courts and the Supreme Court with name-tolerant matching, and a stated commitment not to use customer case documents to train its AI models. If a single API call today is all you need, evaluate it against Vakeel360 and Surepass directly. If you expect to grow into full case search or case tracking, Claw is worth the comparison. See Claw vs Surepass and Claw vs Vakeel360 for a closer look.
08Sources and further reading
The vendors discussed here, linked to their official sources:
- Vakeel360: vakeel360.com/api
- Surepass: surepass.io
- Claw: clawlaw.in
- eCourts India (official court data portal): ecourts.gov.in
This is not an exhaustive list of vendors. Coverage figures and pricing are as published at the time of writing and should be confirmed with each vendor before you build against them.
09Frequently asked questions
What is a court record check API?
A court record check API lets a business ask, in code, whether a person or a company has a pending or past court case, and get a structured answer back automatically. It is built for onboarding, underwriting, and background-check workflows, rather than for a lawyer reading and citing a judgment.
How much does a court record check API cost in India?
It varies, and not every vendor publishes pricing. Vakeel360 states a fixed monthly, no-per-call pricing model, though the exact rate needs a conversation. Surepass is quote-based on request. Claw has public pricing for its wider case search and management platform, but API-specific pricing for court record checks is not yet confirmed.
How do these APIs make sure a case actually belongs to the right person or company?
The better ones use name-tolerant matching that accounts for spelling variation, plus identifiers like CNR numbers, rather than a plain exact-text search. Even so, a returned case should be confirmed against your specific subject before you act on it, since common names can produce false matches.
Which courts and tribunals do these APIs cover?
Coverage differs by vendor. Vakeel360 names specific High Courts, a stated number of district courts, and tribunal benches across NCLT, CAT, ITAT, CESTAT, and RERA. Surepass describes its coverage more generally. Claw’s wider platform tracks activity across 8200 plus courts including tribunals and district courts, with a separate case search product covering 25 High Courts and the Supreme Court. Always confirm your specific target courts are covered before relying on any of them.
Does Claw offer a court record check API?
Yes. Claw has a live public/partner API for programmatic access to court and litigation data. Specific technical details, such as endpoints, authentication, and API-specific pricing, are not yet fully public, so confirm these directly with Claw before building against them.
Is data from a court record check API legally official?
Court websites and the APIs built on them are useful for finding and screening cases quickly, but they are generally treated as informational rather than a certified court record for every legal purpose. For anything that needs to hold up formally, confirm the case directly with the court.