alphaXiv vs R Discovery

alphaXiv

• Following new machine learning and AI research on arXiv
• Asking questions about a paper while reading it
• Reading papers on an iPhone or iPad
• Developers who want paper search inside a coding agent

R Discovery

• Researchers who want a daily feed of new papers in their field
• Reading on a phone: the iOS and Android apps include audio versions of papers
• Readers who want papers translated into their own language
• Paperpal users who want search and writing tools on one subscription

alphaXiv

• The site has no public pricing page; plans and prices are shown on the Subscription/Usage page in account settings.
• The free plan limits the assistant to preset models with strict usage limits; choosing any model needs alphaXiv Pro.
• alphaXiv Go raises limits on open-source models only and does not include Pro-tier models.
• There is an iPhone and iPad app and a Chrome extension; the site lists no Android or desktop app.

R Discovery

• Free accounts get 3 AI Assistant uses and 3 Chat PDF uses a day, with 5 file uploads a month.
• Literature maps, content feeds, multiple projects and Zotero or Mendeley sync are listed for paid plans only.
• The site bills in local currencies, so prices vary by country. The US prices here are from the pricing page's own price data and agree with the US App Store listing.
• Refunds are limited to 30 days after purchase on annual plans and 7 days on monthly plans.

alphaXiv

Trending feed

A feed of research curated by what the community is reading, with a short summary for each paper and a view tailored to your research interests.

AI assistant

Answers research questions and produces literature reviews grounded in the underlying papers, and can point to who is working on a topic.

Paper reader

Read a paper with highlights and personal notes, chat with the assistant about a highlighted section, and add other papers to the conversation with an @ mention.

AI visual blogs

Turns a paper into a blog-style explanation with figures, equations and key insights in one click, readable in several languages.

Library

Bookmark papers to read later with BibTeX citations generated automatically, and upload a paper that is missing to get the same assistant and overviews.

MCP server

Gives AI agents 19 tools to search and read papers, analyze PDFs, explore paper codebases and find researchers. It works with clients such as Claude Code, Cursor and VS Code.

R Discovery

Ask R Discovery

An AI assistant that answers research questions with references drawn from more than 300 million papers. Free accounts get 3 uses a day.

Chat PDF

Upload a paper, or pick one already on R Discovery, and ask questions about it. The free plan allows 3 uses a day and 5 file uploads a month.

Literature Review

Finds relevant papers and synthesizes findings, gaps and themes across them. The feature page says it is available only on a desktop or laptop.

Personalized feed and alerts

A feed of papers matched to chosen interests, with alerts for new publications in a field. Personalized recommendations and curated content feeds are part of Prime.

Audio papers and translation

Listen to papers read aloud and read them in more than 30 languages. Use is limited on the free plan and unlimited on Prime.

Library and reference manager sync

Save papers to reading lists. Prime syncs those lists to Zotero or Mendeley automatically and lets collaborators share them.

alphaXiv

• Free$0

  For occasional reading and quick follow-up questions: chat with any arXiv paper on preset models, under strict usage limits.

• alphaXiv Go$8

  per month

  Higher limits on lower-cost open-source models; Pro-tier models are not included. $5 a month for student researchers.

• alphaXiv Pro$20

  per month

  Higher assistant usage limits, a choice of any model, longer context windows and early access to beta features.

• alphaXiv Pro 5× usage$100

  per month

  The Pro plan with 5 times the assistant usage and priority routing.

R Discovery

• Free$0

  Standard recommendations, 3 AI Assistant uses a day, and 3 Chat PDF uses a day with 5 file uploads a month. No credit card required.

• Prime$69

  per year (shown as $6 a month, billed yearly); $12 billed monthly

  Unlimited AI Assistant, Chat PDF and Literature Review, literature maps and Zotero or Mendeley sync. Crossed-out prices: $119 a year and $19 a month.

• Paperpal Prime$144

  per year (shown as $12 a month, billed yearly); $25 billed monthly

  Everything in Prime plus Paperpal writing tools, plagiarism and reference checks, Mind the Graph illustrations and research skill courses.

alphaXiv

• Education

  alphaXiv Go at $5 a month for student researchers

  Linking a recognized academic email, such as an .edu address, to the account lowers alphaXiv Go from $8 to $5 a month.

R Discovery

• Annual discount

  Yearly billing costs about half of monthly

  In the US price data, Prime is $69 a year against $12 a month, and Paperpal Prime is $144 a year against $25 a month. Both work out to about 52% less over a year.