A LawDepot alternative for people who need exactly one letter
Document libraries are priced for people who need documents all year. If you need a security deposit demand once and never again, that pricing works against you. Here's the pay-once version, and the cases where a library still beats it.
One-time payment · No account required · No subscription, ever
The short answer
LetterRight is a pay-once alternative to subscription document sites like LawDepot. A person answers questions about their situation, an AI drafts a state-specific letter with the governing statute cited by section number, and a single $19 payment releases the PDF and Word files. There is no account, no trial period and no monthly plan.
That's the whole difference. Both routes end with a letter in your hand. One of them also ends with a recurring charge you have to remember to stop.
The verdict in four lines
Need one letter? Pay once. $19 buys a drafted, state-specific letter with the statute cited, in PDF and Word, with no account and nothing running afterwards.
Need thirty documents over a year? A library plan will cost you less per document. That's arithmetic, not marketing, and we'd rather you did it before you buy from us.
Need a lawyer to read your case? Neither option is that. We're a self-help document service. A one-page letter is inside our lane; a contested eviction is not.
Want to avoid a subscription entirely? That's the reason this product exists. We wrote down exactly what we'll never do in the no-subscription promise.
The comparison table
The left column describes the standard pattern across free-template document sites — a builder you can use without paying, then a recurring plan to download what you built. It is not a quote of LawDepot's current price.
| What you're comparing | Subscription document sites (the usual pattern) | LetterRight |
|---|---|---|
| Price to get one letter | $0, then a monthly plan | $19, once |
| Card required before you see it | Yes | No |
| Account required | Yes | Optional and free |
| State statute cited in the letter | Rarely | Always, with section number |
| How you cancel | Phone or chat agent | Nothing to cancel |
| Rewrites | Re-download the template | Free, unlimited |
Check the numbers yourself. Pricing in this category moves, and we're not going to put a figure next to a competitor's name that might be wrong by the time you read this. Open LawDepot's own pricing page, find the download terms, and then compare. We'd rather lose the sale than misquote someone.
Four ways to get one letter
Every route below produces a letter you can post. They differ on cost, on how much of your evening they take, and on whether the letter names the law.
A document library on a plan
Good at: breadth. Hundreds of document types, from an NDA to a bill of sale, all under one recurring charge.
The catch for one-letter people: the plan is the product. You build the document free, then the download is behind the plan, and the plan renews until you stop it.
Limitation: a fill-in template can't know your state's return deadline, so most of them don't cite one.
LetterRight
Good at: one letter, done properly. 306 hand-curated state rule sets sit behind six letter types, so the draft names your deadline and the section it comes from.
What you pay: $19, once. You read roughly 60% of the draft before that, so you can check it's right before spending anything.
Limitation: six letter types at launch. If you need an NDA or a will, we don't have one and won't pretend otherwise.
A lawyer
Good at: judgement. A lawyer can tell you whether to send the letter at all, which no software can.
What you pay: an hour of billable time for a one-page letter, usually with an intake call first.
When it's right: the money is large, the facts are contested, or someone has already sued you.
A free template you fill in
Good at: costing nothing.
The catch: the blanks are where the work is. A template can't tell you that Florida gives a landlord 15 days and Virginia gives 45, and a demand with the wrong deadline in it reads as a bluff.
When it's right: you already know your statute and just want a layout.
If you're on route 4 and want the deadlines, they're all listed with citations in the state-by-state deposit deadline guide. Structure and tone are covered in how to write a demand letter.
How we compared them
We compared on the job, not the feature list. The job is: one person, one dispute, one letter that has to be posted this week.
- Cost to complete the job once. Not the headline price — the amount leaving your account before you hold the file.
- What has to be true first. A card on file, an account, an email verification, a trial you have to remember.
- Whether the letter names the law. We looked for a statute section number in the output, because a demand that cites Fla. Stat. § 83.49 reads differently to one that doesn't.
- How you stop paying. A link in settings, an email, or a phone call with someone whose job is to keep you.
What we deliberately didn't do: quote a competitor's price. Those change, we'd get it wrong, and a comparison page built on a stale figure is worth nothing to you.
In Florida a landlord has 15 days to return a deposit if no deductions are claimed, and 30 days to send written notice of a claim (Fla. Stat. § 83.49). A landlord who misses the notice deadline forfeits the right to deduct.
A letter that names the date and the section is harder to file under "deal with later" than one that says "please return my deposit promptly".
When LawDepot is the better buy
Here's the honest part. A subscription is not a trap when you use it. It's a trap when you buy it for one thing and keep paying for eleven months of nothing.
A document library is the better choice if any of these describe you:
- You need many different document types over months. A landlord with a portfolio, an operator drawing up contractor agreements, someone running a small company. Divide a year of plan fees by the number of documents you'll pull. If that number lands under $19, the library wins on price and you should buy it.
- You need a document we don't make. We have six letter types. Wills, leases, NDAs, incorporation paperwork, bills of sale — none of those are ours, and a library covers all of them.
- You want one login holding everything. We hand you files and get out of the way. That's the point, and it's a downside if you'd rather have a locker.
- You'll use it again inside the billing period. Two documents in one month on a plan usually beats two letters at $19 each.
For a repeat sender who's specifically doing landlord notices, we do have a $9/month Landlord Pack. It's the only place on this site where an account is required, and it's the only recurring charge we sell. If you're sending one letter, ignore it.
Four questions that decide it
How many documents will you pull this year?
One or two: pay per letter. Ten or more of different types: buy a library. The break-even is arithmetic you can do in your head — annual plan cost divided by documents used, against $19.
Does your letter need to cite a law?
A deposit demand, a debt validation request and a habitability complaint all land harder with a section number. A thank-you note doesn't. Ours carry the citation because the rules dataset is the product.
Will you remember to cancel?
Be honest. Most people won't, which is why the model exists. If you know you'll forget, the $19 route removes the question.
Is this dispute bigger than a letter?
If the amount is large, or you've been served, or there's a contract fight underneath, get a lawyer. We're a document service and we'll say so rather than sell you a letter that won't help.
Once the letter is written, posting it correctly is the next thing that matters. Certified mail with return receipt costs about $6 and is what turns "I sent it" into proof. If they ignore you, small claims court is the step after that.
What $19 gets you
Not a blank template. A drafted letter with your dates, your numbers and your state's rule in it, formatted to look like it came off a typewriter rather than a web page.
Re: Return of security deposit — 418 Hayes St, Apt 3
I vacated the above unit on 12 June 2026 and provided a forwarding address on the same date. My security deposit of $2,400 has not been returned, and I have received no itemized statement of deductions.
Under Fla. Stat. § 83.49, you had 15 days from the end of the tenancy to return the deposit, or 30 days to send written notice of a claim against it. That deadline passed on 27 June 2026.
I ask that you return $2,400 within 14 days of the date of this letter.
You'll see about 60% of your own draft before paying, including the statute line and the computed deadline — enough to check we got your state right. Rewrites before payment are free and unlimited.
One-time payment · No account required · No subscription, ever
Common questions
Is LetterRight cheaper than LawDepot?
For a single letter, $19 once is cheaper than any recurring plan you'd keep for more than a month. Past a handful of documents a year, a library plan wins on cost per document.
Work out how many documents you'll pull in twelve months, then divide. Check LawDepot's current pricing page for their side of that sum — we won't quote a number that might have changed.
Do I have to create an account to buy a letter?
No. You give an email address so we can send the download link, and that's the whole of it. No password, no profile, no verification step.
The one exception is the $9/month Landlord Pack, which needs an account because it saves your properties and tenants between letters.
What do I have to cancel afterwards?
Nothing. A one-time PayPal payment doesn't create a recurring authorisation, so there's no plan sitting behind your purchase.
That's the design, not a promotion. It's written out in full in the no-subscription promise.
Can I see the letter before I pay?
You see roughly 60% of it, including the opening, your dates and amounts, and the statute citation with the computed deadline. The closing paragraphs are covered until payment.
If something's wrong, change your answer and we redraft it. Rewrites before payment cost nothing and there's no limit on them.
Is an AI-written letter as good as a lawyer's?
For a routine demand it's close enough that the difference rarely shows. The letter follows the same structure a paralegal would use and cites the same statute, because the citation comes from a hand-curated dataset rather than the model's memory.
For anything contested, get a lawyer. We're a self-help document service and we don't review your facts.
Which letters can LetterRight write?
Six at launch: security deposit demand, notice to vacate, demand for payment, debt validation request, visa invitation, and a complaint letter to a landlord. Four of the six are state-specific.
If your document isn't on that list, a general document library is the right place to look.
What files do I get for $19?
A print-ready PDF, an editable Word file, and a next-steps sheet covering how to send it, what to keep, and the date to diary if they don't reply.
The download links are signed and work on any device without logging in.
Write the letter. Pay once. Post it this week.
Answer the questions, read most of the draft free, and pay $19 only if it's right. Your state's deadline and its statute number go in automatically.
One-time payment · No account required · No subscription, ever
Self-help document service. Not a law firm, and not legal advice. We do not review your letter or represent you. Statutes and deadlines change — confirm the current text of any section cited here before relying on it.