At a glance
| Patent PreCheck | PQAI | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary job | Patentability prep for software builders | Open prior-art search |
| Primary input | Source code + disclosure | Natural-language query |
| USPTO pillar scores | Yes (§101–§112 + inventorship) | No — search results only |
| Code analysis | Core — region-level coaching | None — text query; no code parser |
| Prior art | 1,500,000+ corpus; teaser + deep paid search with overlap narrative | US + global patents + papers; combinational §103 search |
| Typical price | $0 score; $69.95 review | $0 free; PQAI+ from ~$20/month |
| Deliverable | Scores, coaching, Word/ZIP filing package | Saved search report; API on paid tier |
| Best for | Developers who need “is this code patentable?” | Researchers who need broad prior-art retrieval |
PQAI pricing and features based on public competitive research as of 2026; verify on projectpq.ai (or current PQAI site) before purchasing either product. PQAI measures prior-art retrieval — not full patentability coaching.
When Patent PreCheck is the better fit
- You have source code and need Alice / novelty / inventorship guidance, not only hit lists.
- You want coached edits that raise scores before attorney or drafting spend.
- You work in Cursor / Claude and want MCP scoring inside the IDE.
When PQAI may fit better
- You already know how to interpret prior art and mainly need freemium search breadth.
- You are exploring literature / patents without a codebase to coach.
Also compare: vs Google Patents · vs PowerPatent · prior art for code · full compare hub
Score your code — free in 60 seconds