What is the difference between the PACER system and the CM/ECF system?
PACER is the service offered by the U.S. Courts that allow persons who have signed up with the PACER Billing Center to VIEW case information. With this service, users are charged a fee per page for all information viewed. A single PACER account allows the user to view case information from any participating court’s PACER system. Filing of documents can not be performed using a PACER account login. Any person can request a PACER account through the PACER Billing Center. CM/ECF is a service offered by each individual court that allows users to electronically file documents with the court. There is no fee charged for using CM/ECF, however accounts are maintained by each court. Registered electronic filers must meet the prerequisites for that court prior to receiving an account. A CM/ECF login is only valid within the specific court applied to. If users need to use CM/ECF to file documents in multiple courts, they will need to request logins and passwords from each individual court. When p
