AI Research Tools
Free AI research tools
26 of the 28 AI research tools in this directory are free or have a free plan.
4 have no paid plan at all. The rest pair a free plan with paid ones, and the table says what each free plan includes.
Listings checked up to Oct 9, 2026 · Where the facts come from
| Tool | Price | What is free |
|---|---|---|
| ElicitAI research assistant for literature search and systematic reviews | Free plan · from $49/mo | Basic plan: unlimited search over 138 million papers, unlimited paper summaries and chat with papers, Zotero import, and limited Research Agent and report usage. |
| ConsensusAI search engine that answers questions from peer-reviewed papers | Free plan | Basic paper search across 400M+ papers, plus 10 Pro messages and 3 Deep Searches per month. Paid tiers are Pro, Deep, Team and Enterprise; their prices could not be read. |
| Semantic ScholarFree AI-powered search engine for scientific literature | Free | Everything. There is no paid plan. |
| SciSpaceAI research platform for literature review and reading papers | Free plan · from $12/mo | Third-party listings report a free tier, but its current limits could not be read: SciSpace's site turned automated readers away, and the archived pricing data covers paid plans only. |
| ResearchRabbitLiterature discovery tool that maps how papers connect | Free plan · from $10/mo | Free forever: unlimited searches across 310+ million articles, unlimited library and collections, shared collections, Zotero import, and searches from up to 50 seed articles. |
| Connected PapersVisual graphs of similar academic papers for literature search | Free plan · from $6/mo | 5 graphs per month with every feature included, among them prior and derivative works, multi-origin graphs, saved papers and graph history. |
| LitmapsLiterature review tool that maps papers by their citations | Free plan · from $10/mo | Basic search with up to 20 input articles, 2 Litmaps of up to 100 articles each, and monthly literature alerts. No collaboration features. |
| UndermindAI literature search agent that reads hundreds of papers | Free plan · from $16/mo | Chat, deep searches and reports with standard rate limits, shared workspaces and agent connections. Searches cover abstracts and metadata, not full texts. |
| ChatPDFAsk questions about PDFs and get answers with citations | Free plan · from $89.99/yr | 2 documents a day, usable without an account. A free account adds saved history and multi-file folders. Free files are capped at 120 pages or 10 MB. |
| HumataDocument Q&A with cited answers across your uploaded files | Free plan · from $9.99/mo | 1 user and 60 free pages a month with basic features. The homepage also limits it to 10 answers. |
| ScholarcySummarizes research papers into interactive flashcards | Free plan · from $90/yr | Free Article Summarizer: the pricing page lists a limit of 10 summaries with flashcards exported one at a time, and its FAQ gives the limit as 1 summary per day. |
| PaperguideAI research platform for literature and systematic reviews | Free plan · from $12/mo | 2,000 AI credits and 20 AI searches a month, 500 MB of reference storage, extraction tables of up to 10 papers and 5 columns, and 10 Search API requests a month. |
| AnaraAI research assistant that cites the exact source passage | Free plan · from $8/mo | a daily allowance of AI usage and uploads, files of up to 20 MB or 120 pages each, and the Zotero and Mendeley connectors. No credit card required. |
| AskYourPDFChat with PDFs and other documents and get cited answers | Free plan · from $11.99/mo | 1 document a day of up to 100 pages and 15 MB, with 50 questions and 3 conversations a day on the GPT-5 Mini model. |
| KeeniousAcademic search that recommends papers from your own text | Free plan · from $10/mo | All search results, 3 conversations a day with 5 AI responses each, and PDF uploads of up to 3 MB. |
| R DiscoveryPaper discovery app with an AI assistant, PDF chat and audio | Free plan · from $69/yr | Standard recommendations, 3 AI Assistant uses a day, 3 Chat PDF uses a day with 5 file uploads a month, and limited audio and translation. |
| Ai2 AstaAI research assistant for finding papers and analyzing data | Free | Everything. There is no paid plan. |
| LinerAI search with cited answers, research agents and a writer | Free plan · from $14.99/mo | Unlimited Advanced Search with ads in the answers, 1 file upload a day of up to 25 MB and 10 Research Assistant uses a day. |
| LogicallyAI workspace for references, PDF notes and paper writing | Free plan · from $12/mo | Every product with standard AI models, 5 AI chat messages, 5 AI commands and 5 autosuggestions a day, 5 queries per Mini Tool a day, and 100 MB of storage. |
| IncitefulFree citation-network tools for exploring academic papers | Free | Everything. There is no paid plan. |
| AnswerThisAI literature review assistant with a library and writer | Free plan · from $14/mo | Search across 250M+ papers with cited answers and summaries, 5 saved projects and export to Zotero, Mendeley and EndNote. No card required. |
| OpenReadAI platform for searching, reading and comparing papers | Free plan | The homepage shows a Free label on its AI tools and a separate Pro option; what the free plan includes could not be confirmed. |
| alphaXivarXiv reading and discovery site with an AI research assistant | Free plan · from $8/mo | Chat with any arXiv paper, with preset models only and strict usage limits on the assistant. |
| OtioAI research workspace for chatting across many sources | Free plan · from $7/mo | Limited AI usage with every model, 10 uploads a day, 25 MB per file and 50 MB in total, 1 space and 2 parallel chats. |
| Edison ScientificAI agents for scientific research, led by the Kosmos AI Scientist | Free plan | The documentation describes a free tier for academics, with paid plans for higher rate limits and extra features. Current limits and prices could not be read. |
| STORMOpen-source AI that writes Wikipedia-style reports with citations | Free | Everything. There is no paid plan. |
Common questions
Which AI research tools are free?
26 of the 28 AI research tools in this directory are free or have a free plan. They are Elicit, Consensus, Semantic Scholar, SciSpace, ResearchRabbit, Connected Papers, Litmaps, Undermind, ChatPDF, Humata, Scholarcy, Paperguide, Anara, AskYourPDF, Keenious and 11 more.
Which AI research tools are free with no paid plan?
Semantic Scholar, Ai2 Asta, Inciteful and STORM have no paid plan. The others on this page limit the free plan and sell paid ones.
When was this checked?
Each listing shows its own date. On this page they run from Oct 5, 2026 to Oct 9, 2026. Vendors change prices and plans without notice, so confirm on their site before you buy.
This page is built from the listings. A tool is here because its listing says so, and each listing names the pages it was read from.