# ezBriefs Alternative: A Free Table of Authorities, No Word Add-in

> ezBriefs by Benchly costs $600 a year and installs into Word for Windows. BriefAuthority builds your Table of Authorities free, in any browser on a Mac or PC, from the final PDF or .docx. Nothing is uploaded.

*Updated: 2026-09-28*

**The short answer:** if you don't already pay for ezBriefs, BriefAuthority is the best way to get a Table of Authorities. It's free, there's nothing to install, and it works in any browser on a Mac or a PC. It reads your **final PDF** (scans too) or your **Word .docx**, so the page numbers come from the pages you actually file, and your brief never leaves your computer. ezBriefs by Benchly is a good Word add-in for Windows that also checks cites and adds hyperlinks, for $600 a year for a solo. If all you need today is the table, you don't need a subscription, an installer or IT approval. Open the [generator](/table-of-authorities-generator) and drop in the brief.

**Fast facts**

- **Price:** BriefAuthority is free, with no account and no limit on authorities. Benchly lists ezBriefs at **$600/year** for solos, and firms get a quote.
- **Setup:** BriefAuthority is a web page. ezBriefs installs into Microsoft Word from an installer link sent by your Benchly account manager, and a firm-wide install needs admin rights. Each license activates **two devices**.
- **Mac:** BriefAuthority works on a Mac in Safari or Chrome, and can write the finished table into your Word file for Word for Mac. Benchly's install guide covers only Windows installers (EXE and MSI).
- **Page numbers:** BriefAuthority reads printed page numbers from your final PDF, including roman-numeral front matter, and uses paragraph numbers for courts that require them, such as North Dakota.
- **Accuracy:** on 370 public briefs from 118 courts, BriefAuthority found **98.8%** of the cases. On 35 briefs checked page by page, its case page lists were right **93.9%** of the time, against **85.6%** for the lawyers' own printed tables. When it lists a page, that page is right **99.1%** of the time.
- **Privacy:** the brief is processed in your browser. There is no upload step, and the app page blocks connections to other servers.

## ezBriefs vs BriefAuthority for the Table of Authorities

**At a glance**

|  | ezBriefs (Benchly) | BriefAuthority |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | $600/year for solos; firms by quote | **Free**, no account, no authority limit |
| Install | Word add-in from an installer link sent by Benchly; per-machine install needs admin rights; 2 device activations per license | **Nothing to install.** Open a web page |
| Mac | Windows installers (EXE/MSI) only in Benchly's install guide | **Yes**, in Safari or Chrome. The finished table goes into your Word file for Word for Mac, Pages or Google Docs |
| Where the brief goes | Runs inside Word. Benchly says the add-in reads only the legal citations and doesn't store or send other content; cite checks use Benchly's online case-law database | **Nowhere.** It's processed in your browser and never uploaded |
| Published accuracy | Not published | **Yes**: [370 briefs, 118 courts](/table-of-authorities-benchmark), with the data public |

**Building the table**

|  | ezBriefs (Benchly) | BriefAuthority |
| --- | --- | --- |
| What you give it | The open Word document | **Final PDF**, a **scanned PDF** (on-device OCR) or the **Word .docx** |
| Page numbers | Word's TA fields; Word computes pages from its own layout of the document | **Printed pages from the final PDF**, including roman-numeral front matter; paragraph numbers for paragraph-numbered courts |
| Id., supra and short forms | Found and linked under the full citation | Linked to the full citation, with their pages counted; a review screen with a PDF preview to confirm |
| Court formats | Bluebook or a state style manual; custom format profiles | **36 court presets** (Supreme Court, every federal circuit, 20 states), each with its heading and passim rule |
| Passim | On/off; when on, used at 5 or more citations, a fixed threshold | Off by default; turn it on only where your court allows it |
| Word output | Word TA fields and a Word TOA in the document | A formatted **.docx table**, the **finished table written into your .docx** (page numbers from the PDF), or **Word TA fields** for Word for Windows |
| After edits | Rescan in Word | Run the new PDF again in seconds; [compare two versions](/compare-brief-versions) or [check an existing table](/table-of-authorities-checker) |
| Cite checking and hyperlinks | **Yes**: checks citations against Benchly's case-law database and hyperlinks cases for the court | No. BriefAuthority builds the table; use a citator for good law |

ezBriefs facts come from Benchly's own pricing page, product page, trust center, install guide and ezBriefs User Manual v4.0, checked on 2026-09-28. Plans change, so confirm with Benchly before you buy.

## Why BriefAuthority is the better pick for the table itself

- **It costs nothing.** You don't need $600 a year for a job you do a few times a month. There's no trial clock and no device limit.
- **Nothing to install, no IT ticket.** It works on a locked-down work laptop, a home Mac or a courthouse computer, because it's just a web page.
- **It works on a Mac.** Microsoft says Word for Mac doesn't support tables of authorities. BriefAuthority writes the finished table straight into your .docx, so it opens complete in Word for Mac, Pages or Google Docs.
- **The page numbers match what you file.** Word add-ins count pages from Word's layout of the draft. BriefAuthority can read them from the final PDF, the version the court actually gets, including roman front matter and paragraph-numbered briefs.
- **Your brief stays on your computer.** No upload and no cloud account. You can check it yourself in the browser's Network panel.
- **Its accuracy is published.** Tested on 370 real briefs, with the results and data public.

## When to choose which

- **Choose BriefAuthority** if you don't have an ezBriefs license, work on a Mac, have the final PDF or a scan, can't install software, or can't send the brief anywhere. It's also the fastest way to double-check a table made any other way.
- **Keep ezBriefs** if your firm already pays for it and you want cite checking and court-ready hyperlinks inside Word for Windows. Even then, BriefAuthority is a free second check of page numbers against the final PDF before you file.

> **Where BriefAuthority fits:** Drop your **[final PDF](/table-of-authorities-from-pdf)** or **.docx** into the [free Table of Authorities generator](/table-of-authorities-generator). You get a formatted table in seconds, with every entry ready to review beside the page it came from. There's no account, and the brief is [never uploaded](/table-of-authorities-without-uploading).

## Frequently asked

**Is there a free alternative to ezBriefs?**

Yes. BriefAuthority is free, with no account and no limit on authorities. It builds the Table of Authorities in your browser from the final PDF, a scanned PDF or the Word .docx, and exports a formatted .docx table. It can also write the finished table into your own Word file, or write Word TA fields for Word for Windows. It doesn't check citations or add hyperlinks the way ezBriefs does.

**How much does ezBriefs cost?**

Benchly's pricing page lists $600 a year for solos. Firm pricing is by quote, and both plans include ezBriefs, hyperlinking and training. BriefAuthority is free.

**Does BriefAuthority work on a Mac?**

Yes. It runs in Safari or Chrome on a Mac with nothing to install. Give it the final PDF and you get a formatted .docx table. Give it your .docx and its final PDF and the finished table is written into your Word file, ready for Word for Mac, Pages or Google Docs. Benchly's install guide describes only Windows installers for ezBriefs, and Microsoft says Word for Mac doesn't support tables of authorities.

**Is my brief uploaded?**

No. BriefAuthority opens the file in your browser and processes it there. There is no upload endpoint for the brief, and the app page's security policy blocks connections to other servers. You can confirm this in the browser's Network panel, or by going offline once the page has loaded.

**Does BriefAuthority handle Id. and short forms?**

Yes. Short forms, Id. and supra are linked to the full citation, and their pages are counted under it. You can confirm each link on the review screen beside the page it came from. Across 370 public briefs, BriefAuthority found 98.8% of the cases. On 35 briefs checked page by page, its case page lists were right 93.9% of the time, against 85.6% for the lawyers' own printed tables, and a page it lists is right 99.1% of the time.

**Can BriefAuthority update the table after I edit the brief?**

Run the new PDF or .docx again; it takes seconds. To see exactly what moved, [compare two versions](/compare-brief-versions) of the brief. To audit a table you already have, use the [Table of Authorities checker](/table-of-authorities-checker).

**Does BriefAuthority check whether my citations are good law?**

No. It builds the Table of Authorities: it finds every authority, groups it, and lists its pages. For good law, use a citator such as Shepard's or KeyCite, or a cite-checking tool like ezBriefs if your firm has one.

**How we compared.** ezBriefs is described only from Benchly's own public pages and documentation, listed below. We don't report accuracy figures for ezBriefs because Benchly doesn't publish any. BriefAuthority's figures come from its [public benchmark](/table-of-authorities-benchmark). The 35 page-by-page tables were built from each brief's own text under a written protocol, and a blind re-read agreed 95.8% at page level. BriefAuthority is independent and not affiliated with Benchly.

**Keep reading**

- [Table of Authorities generator](/table-of-authorities-generator): Free, in your browser, from the final PDF or .docx.
- [Clearbrief alternative](/clearbrief-alternative): The Table of Authorities without a $300/month platform.
- [Best Authority alternatives](/best-authority-alternative): Options when you don't have a Best Authority license.
- [Compare every TOA tool](/compare): Thirteen tools side by side: price, uploads, Mac.
- [Make a TOA on a Mac](/how-to-make-a-table-of-authorities-on-a-mac): No Word for Windows needed.
- [Id. and supra in the table](/id-supra-table-of-authorities): Which pages to list for short forms.
- [Accuracy benchmark](/table-of-authorities-benchmark): 370 briefs from 118 courts, with the data.

**Sources**

- [Benchly: Pricing (ezBriefs for Solos $600/year; firms by quote), accessed 2026-09-28](https://benchly.com/pricing)
- [Benchly: ezBriefs Table of Authorities Generator, accessed 2026-09-28](https://www.benchly.com/table-of-authorities-generator)
- [Benchly: Trust Center (add-in data handling, SOC 2 Type II), accessed 2026-09-28](https://www.benchly.com/trust-center)
- [Benchly Knowledge Base: Benchly Installation Guide (per-user and per-machine installers), accessed 2026-09-28](https://support.benchly.com/portal/en/kb/ezbriefs/benchly-installation-guide)
- [Benchly Knowledge Base: Getting Started with Benchly (two device activations), accessed 2026-09-28](https://support.benchly.com/portal/en/kb/ezbriefs/getting-started-with-benchly)
- [Benchly Knowledge Base: ezBriefs User Manual v4.0 (TA fields, passim, Rescan, hyperlinks), accessed 2026-09-28](https://support.benchly.com/portal/en/kb/ezbriefs/benchly-user-manual)
- [Benchly Knowledge Base: How to Build a Table of Authorities, accessed 2026-09-28](https://support.benchly.com/portal/en/kb/ezbriefs/how-to-build-a-table-of-authorities)
- [Microsoft Support: Create a table of authorities (not supported in Word for Mac or the web)](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/word/create-a-table-of-authorities)
- [BriefAuthority: Table of Authorities accuracy benchmark (v2.1, 2026-09-28)](https://briefauthority.com/table-of-authorities-benchmark)