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Records request software for municipal clerks

Public records requests, without the scramble.

Track every request, deadline, redaction, and release in one place. Plans start at $99 a month, with document redaction included.

Start your free 30-day trial Watch the 6-minute demo

Set up in an afternoon · No credit card · For eligible government agencies

CivicRecordsOnline staff dashboard with open-request counts and a deadline funnel.

The staff dashboard, showing the fictional City of Paldam.

The price is on the page $99 to $499 a month. Not "request a demo." Not a custom quote.
P-card friendly Every tier is under $500/mo. No RFP, no council item.
Redaction included The full privacy scanning suite is in every plan, from $99 a month.
Pattern-based, staff-reviewed Same result every time. Your records never train an outside AI model.
The current system

Sound familiar?

Most records offices run on a spreadsheet, an email folder, and a marker. It works until the week it doesn't.

Tracking deadlines in a spreadsheet

One sick day, one vacation, and nobody knows what's due Friday.

Digging through email for status

The request is in there somewhere, between everything else in the inbox.

Blacking out details page by page

Print, marker, rescan, and hope you caught every Social Security number.

Fulfilling the same request again

The same budget file, pulled and released for the fourth time this year.

CivicRecordsOnline replaces the spreadsheet, the email folder, and the marker.

Product demo

Watch the 6-minute demo

The whole product in six minutes. No sign-up and no sales call to watch it. The walkthrough shows the fictional City of Paldam.

  • Intake and the deadline clock
  • Redaction, from scan to Permanent Safety Lock
  • Release and the public portals
Included in every plan

The redaction suite other platforms sell separately.

Open a document in the browser, run the scan, review every draft box, and release a locked copy. Nothing is published on a guess.

A City of Paldam personnel record shown two ways: the draft boxes the scan proposed over the address, phone, Social Security number and date of birth, and the released copy with those details blacked out.
  • Instant Privacy Scan Looks for Social Security numbers, phone numbers, emails, addresses, and other structured details, and drafts a redaction box over each match.
  • Find & Fix Everywhere Type a name once and it is marked on every page. Staff confirm each match before release.
  • Sensitive Details Check Flags possible health details and names of minors for closer review.
  • Permanent Safety Lock Approved redactions are baked into a separate release copy. The source file stays unchanged while it is retained.
  • Scanned-paper reading Makes supported scanned PDFs and images searchable, so old paper records work too.

Pattern matching plus staff review, not generative AI. Every suggestion stays a draft until someone in your office approves it, and your records never train an outside model.

See how redaction works
How it works

From "it came in" to "it's closed."

Every request follows the same path, so you always know where things stand and what needs attention today.

A resident submitting a public records request on the portal intake form.

Request comes in

Through the public portal, a forwarded email, or entered by hand. The deadline clock starts from your state's rules.

A request assigned to a department and lead clerk.

Route and track

Assign a department and a lead clerk. Color-coded deadlines and daily reminders keep it moving.

Redacting a document in the browser, with draft boxes to confirm before the release copy is locked.

Gather, redact, release

Upload files, run the Instant Privacy Scan, tag each box with its exemption code, and release through a secure link.

Annual public records report figure: 119 requests received.

Report when asked

Response times and volumes by department, ready when council or the state asks.

See the full product tour

What it does

Also in every plan.

Everything you need to manage records requests. Nothing you do not.

Deadlines that track themselves

Business-day math, holiday calendars, paused-clock reasons, and color-coded countdowns.

Requesters check their own status

Submit and follow a request through the public portal, no staff account needed.

Stop fulfilling duplicates

Already released it? The next person downloads it from the Released Records Portal.

A complete paper trail

Every request keeps a record of who did what, and when. Export its audit trail as a PDF.

Email under your agency's name

Requesters see your agency's name, and replies come back to your office. Town and higher plans can send from your own domain.

Fees tracked, no card data

Assess copy fees and mark them due, paid, or waived. Your agency collects payment its own way.

48 states + D.C.

Built for the letter of your state's law.

Not "configurable for your state." Configured.
Pick your state at setup and the deadlines, fee limits, and request-form questions your law calls for are already in place - ready for your office to review before going live.

See your state's setup, statute by statute

Switching from NextRequest, GovQA, JustFOIA, FOIAXpress, or MyGovHub?

Bring your request history with you
Pricing

$990 to $4,990 a year. Not $15,000 to $50,000.

Enterprise records platforms typically run $15,000 to $50,000 a year in published city contracts, with implementation fees and paid redaction modules on top. Here, the full redaction suite and both public portals are in every tier.

District

$99/mo

$990/yr

Special districts and small towns.

  • 300 included requests per year
  • 5 staff seats
  • 100 GB document storage
  • Full redaction suite and both public portals
  • Built-in helpdesk for your team
  • Sign in with Microsoft or Google
Start free trial

Town

$199/mo

$1,990/yr

Growing clerk offices and small counties.

  • 1,500 included requests per year
  • 15 staff seats
  • 500 GB document storage
  • Everything in District
  • Custom request forms
  • Custom email sending domain
  • Priority helpdesk queue
Start free trial
Most common for city halls

City

$299/mo

$2,990/yr

Active city halls.

  • 3,000 included requests per year
  • Unlimited staff seats
  • 2 TB document storage
  • Everything in Town
  • Advanced reporting
Start free trial

Metro

$499/mo

$4,990/yr

High-volume consolidated agencies.

  • Unlimited requests per year
  • Unlimited staff seats
  • 5 TB document storage
  • Everything in City
  • Custom reports
Start free trial

Running past your plan's yearly request count never blocks intake - the public can always file. Admins see usage warnings in the app, and if usage reaches the plan's yearly count and stays there for 30 days, the subscription moves up to the next plan and every administrator is notified of the change. No paid redaction module, no setup fee, no annual contract required. Prefer to pay by yearly invoice? Email billing@civicrecordsonline.com.

Free trial

Try the plan you'd actually buy, free for 30 days.

  • Set up a real workflow in an afternoon. Choose your state, review the included settings, add staff, and configure the public request form.
  • Run real requests through it. Track requests, upload documents, try the redaction tools, and preview the requester experience.
  • No card and no contract. Choose a monthly plan only when you are ready to keep using it.
Start your free 30-day trial

Most city email addresses start the same day after email verification · other agencies submit their information for a one-business-day review

Security review

For your IT director and city attorney.

The boring details, ready to forward: hosting, encryption, access control, and how your data comes back out.

US-hosted on Microsoft Azure Encrypted at rest and in transit over HTTPS.
Browser only, nothing to install No VPN, no firewall rules. Staff sign in with Microsoft or Google.
Role-based access Roles and department scope control access; activity lands in protected audit history.
Export your data anytime Requests, audit history, metadata, retained source files, and redacted copies.

Read the full IT & security overview

Get started

Take your next request in CivicRecordsOnline.

Create an account, verify your email, and set up an eligible agency. No sales call, no contract, no credit card.

Start your free 30-day trial

Most city email addresses start the same day after email verification · other agencies submit their information for a one-business-day review