LinkSquares vs. Gavel Exec: AI-Powered CLM or AI Contract Review in Word?

Do LinkSquares and Gavel Exec both redline against a playbook?

Yes. In the LinkSquares Finalize add-in for Word, you write drafting rules for each Finalize template type, with optional preferred language. When you run them, each rule comes back as OK or NEEDS REVIEW, and you can ask the AI to suggest edits that you apply automatically, insert at the cursor or copy; the edits follow Word’s Track Changes setting. AI Assist answers questions about the agreement, suggests edits across it and drafts new clauses. On the web platform, LinkSquares’ Review and Redlining Agent flags non-standard clauses and suggests in-line edits aligned to your preferred positions.

Gavel Exec redlines the whole agreement in Word as priority-ranked tracked changes and comments, based on your playbooks and precedent, with the reasoning behind each change. You accept or reject each one in Word, as with a colleague’s markup.

The setup differs. Gavel Exec starts from a built-in playbook or generates rules from checklists, spreadsheet playbooks or signed agreements. LinkSquares rules are written in the add-in or imported from its CSV template. Review the rules in either product before relying on them.

Illustration: reviewing a supplier’s services agreement for the customer

You’re in-house counsel at the customer. The supplier’s draft caps its total liability at the fees paid in the three months before the claim, and the cap also covers breaches of confidentiality. Your illustrative playbook calls for twelve months of fees and carves confidentiality and data-protection breaches out of the cap. The expected redline replaces “three (3) months” with “twelve (12) months” and adds the carve-out, with a comment explaining why. You decide whether to accept, edit or reject it, and check that the indemnity and insurance clauses still fit. Done by hand, this is a clause-by-clause read against your checklist. Both vendors document this rule-to-redline workflow; this is an evaluation scenario, not a test either product ran.

Market benchmarking: what Gavel Exec adds

Gavel Exec’s benchmarking compares each provision with market terms for the jurisdiction, industry and company size you choose, marks it on-market, off-market or missing, and suggests alternative language. It accepts PDF, .docx and .txt files. LinkSquares checks agreements against the playbook positions and preferred language your team sets, and its research agent answers legal questions with citations to statutes, regulations and case law; it doesn’t describe benchmarking clauses against outside market data. Either way, a lawyer decides whether a market position suits the deal.

What do you need to run LinkSquares or Gavel Exec in Word?

LinkSquares’ help center says you must already be a Finalize user and that your Customer Success Manager must enable the Word add-in for your organization. Its AI features in Word (agreement and redline summaries, AI Assist and AI-assisted redlining) must be requested and enabled separately, and AI Assist is described as an add-on. You sign in with your organization’s LinkSquares subdomain and work on agreements stored in Finalize. You may need your IT department to install the add-in.

Gavel Exec needs an account at exec.gavel.io; the web app works without a download. To redline a specific document, add the Word add-in from Microsoft AppSource. It runs in Word for Windows, Word for Mac (2016 or later), Word on the web and Microsoft 365; if IT manages Microsoft 365 centrally, an admin may need to enable it.

Languages: LinkSquares doesn’t list supported contract languages on the pages checked. Gavel Exec lets you set the country and state or province for drafting and review, and asks teams working with contracts in another language to talk to Gavel first.

Can I use the LinkSquares Word add-in without a LinkSquares subscription?

No. LinkSquares’ help center says you must already be a Finalize user, and your Customer Success Manager must enable the add-in for your organization. Gavel Exec works on its own, in Word or in the browser.

Does LinkSquares work in Word for Mac and Word on the web?

Yes. LinkSquares publishes install guides for Word on macOS and says its add-in works with the web version of Microsoft 365. On Windows desktop, Word must render add-ins with Edge WebView2, so Office 2013 and volume-licensed Office 2016 and 2019 are not supported. Gavel Exec runs in Word for Windows, Mac (2016 or later) and the web.

How much does LinkSquares cost vs. Gavel Exec?

Gavel Exec costs $160 per user per month, or $1,740 per user per year, with 1,000 queries per user per month, after 25 free queries per user with no credit card. Teams of 10 or more seats get team pricing.

LinkSquares’ pricing is not published; it’s quote-based. Its pricing page lists contract volume, number of users, selected modules, implementation and onboarding support, and custom integrations as the factors, and says implementation and onboarding costs are part of the quote. LinkSquares also says you can start small and add later.

Does LinkSquares publish its pricing?

No. LinkSquares’ pricing is not published; it’s quote-based and depends on contract volume, users, modules, implementation support and integrations. Gavel Exec publishes its per-seat price.

Does LinkSquares offer a free trial?

LinkSquares doesn’t list a free trial; its site offers a demo. Gavel Exec starts with 25 free queries per user and no credit card.

Security and data use: LinkSquares vs. Gavel Exec

LinkSquares’ security page lists SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, ISO 27701 and ISO 42001 certifications. It encrypts contract data at rest with AES-256, runs on U.S.-based Amazon Web Services infrastructure, and protects access with role-based permissions, SSO and audit logging.

Gavel Exec is SOC 2 Type II certified and has Zero Data Retention agreements with the AI model providers it uses, including OpenAI. Data is encrypted at rest with AES-256 in AWS data centers, in the United States by default, with European Union, Canada and Australia hosting available. Gavel security

Does Gavel Exec train AI models on my contracts?

No. Gavel doesn’t use customer data, prompts or document content to train AI models, and it has Zero Data Retention agreements with the AI providers it uses, including OpenAI.

Does LinkSquares train AI on my contracts?

LinkSquares says contract data is never shared with or used to train third-party LLM providers. It says LinkAI combines large language models with its own in-house models and doesn’t say whether those in-house models learn from customer data, so ask during procurement.

Who makes LinkSquares and Gavel Exec?

LinkSquares, Inc. is headquartered at 60 State Street in Boston and was founded by Vishal Sunak, who sits on its board. It made its all-agentic CLM platform generally available on June 16, 2026. Gavel is part of Relativity, which announced its acquisition of Gavel on June 12, 2026, and also offers e-discovery software. More than 2,000 legal organizations in 28 countries use Gavel, whose CEO and Founder, Dorna Moini, is a former Sidley Austin litigation associate.

Who owns LinkSquares?

LinkSquares, Inc. is a privately held, venture-backed company headquartered in Boston, founded by Vishal Sunak. Bill Hewitt, a board member, became interim CEO on March 10, 2026.

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Method: Gavel editorial review. Checked against LinkSquares’ and Gavel’s public pages on November 14, 2026, including LinkSquares’ help center. Gavel publishes this comparison and sells Exec; Gavel is part of Relativity. No hands-on comparative test of the two products was conducted.