NextRequest earned a strong reputation as a clean public-records portal, and after its acquisition it now lives inside the CivicPlus suite. It remains a solid records tool. Whether it is the right tool for a small government handling FOIA and open meetings together is a different question. Here is the honest comparison.
NextRequest is a public-records request portal: intake, tracking, communication with requesters, and document release. It is sold by CivicPlus[1] as one product in a large municipal suite, with flat agency-wide pricing and no per-seat fees. In the public record, small agencies pay $7,300–$13,300 per year[2] [3], and the City of Los Angeles standardized 40 departments on it for $103,000[4].
For a records-only workflow at a mid-size city, that is a workable tool. The gaps show up at the small-government end: the meetings side of compliance is a separate product with a separate price, and redaction is a review-assist, not a finished capability.
| Dekree | NextRequest (CivicPlus) | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing published on the website | ||
| Records-request software, documented price | FOIA from $199/mo ($2,388/yr), Starter tier | $7,300–$13,300/yr for small agencies in public records[2] [3] |
| Redaction | Included: permanent, server-side; clerk approves every release | Flags sensitive content for manual review[5] |
| Unlimited users | ||
| FOIA + open meetings from one vendor | Yes: both products on one platform, priced a la carte; full suite capped at $499/mo (Starter) | Separate CivicPlus products, quoted separately |
| Drafts your responses with statute citations | Yes: Dekree drafts, you approve | |
| Michigan statute logic built in | Fee worksheet math per MCL 15.234, business-day deadlines with state holidays, statutory fee caps enforced | General-purpose configuration |
| Implementation fee | None | Varies by deal |
Competitor figures are deal-specific public contract prices, not a vendor price list. Configurations differ and may include scope the Dekree number does not cover. Ask every vendor for an itemized, five-year quote.
CivicPlus has published the argument that automated redaction alone is not enough, and that a person must review what goes out the door[5]. On that point, we agree completely. The difference is what happens after the review. In NextRequest’s model, the software flags content and the clerk does the work. In Dekree, the redaction work is done for the clerk: suggested redactions arrive pre-marked with the exemption citation, and the clerk’s job is to review and approve. When they do, the redaction is permanent and server-side. The text is removed from the released file’s content stream, not drawn over it. Nothing is ever released without a human decision. That is not a compromise between speed and safety; it is both.
The strongest reason small governments outgrow a records-only portal is not the portal. It is everything around it. The clerk who answers FOIA requests is the same person posting meeting notices under the 18-hour rule, assembling packets, writing minutes, and applying retention schedules. Dekree is built around that person: one platform with published a la carte prices (dekree.ai/pricing), FOIA from $199/mo, Open Meetings from $199/mo, and the full suite capped at $499/mo for organizations under 5,000 residents. No implementation fee. The migration, including importing your existing request log, is covered in the switch plan.
An honest read. Different tools fit different organizations, and the right answer depends on your size, budget, and how much of the work you want the software to do.
The product is public. Watch it run, do the math on your own numbers, and click through the same screens a clerk uses, before you ever book a call.
CivicPlus does not publish NextRequest pricing. Public records show small agencies paying $7,300–$13,300 per year for flat agency-wide subscriptions, and the City of Los Angeles paying $103,000 for a 40-department enterprise rollout.
No. NextRequest was acquired by CivicPlus and is sold as part of the CivicPlus product family, alongside its agenda, codification, and archiving products.
CivicPlus describes its approach as flagging sensitive content for manual review. In Dekree, redaction is permanent and server-side: the redacted text is removed from the released file itself, the original is preserved in admin-restricted storage, and a clerk approves every release. Nothing goes out without a human decision.
No, it is a records-request product. Meeting agendas, notices, and minutes are separate CivicPlus products with separate pricing. Dekree sells Open Meetings a la carte on the same platform as FOIA, with the full suite capped at $499/mo for organizations under 5,000 residents.
Competitor pricing reflects publicly available procurement documents and published materials as of the date above. Contract pricing varies by configuration; confirm current figures with each vendor. Dekree pricing is published in full at dekree.ai/pricing.