PACER Without the Bill
PACER posts the price. A free archive often already has the document. Read the docket before you buy a page.
NU commentary. This is an NU original explainer of the public fee schedule. It is not a bill, and it is not legal advice.
AI-assisted. Drafted with AI assistance. The dollar figures below are from PACER's own fee pages as checked on October 17, 2026. Confirm them there before you pay. Disclosure and law references.
The posted price
PACER's fee FAQ says access to case information costs $0.10 per page. The cost to access a single document is capped at $3, the equivalent of 30 pages. PACER says that cap does not apply to name-search results, reports that are not case-specific, or transcripts of federal court proceedings.
There is no registration fee. Usage is billed quarterly.
The quarterly waiver
The same FAQ says that if you accrue $30 or less in a quarter, fees are waived for that period. PACER's pricing page says you are billed for a quarter only if you accrue more than $30.
Check the free copy first
RECAP, from the Free Law Project, stores documents other users have already bought. Search CourtListener before you pay. If someone pulled the filing already, it is often there at no charge.
Read the docket before the document
Pull the docket sheet first and request only the filings you need. PACER charges for the pages a search or a document produces, not for whether you print them.
A longer walk through the free side is How to Read Federal Court Records for Free. How to tell a complaint from an order is Docket Basics.
Not legal advice. Fee rules change. The PACER pages linked here are the record for the price.