alphaXiv vs ResearchRabbit

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

ResearchRabbit

• Citation chasing from a few key papers at the start of a literature review
• Students and researchers who want a free tool with no cap on searches
• People who prefer to see a field as a map of connected papers and authors

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.

ResearchRabbit

• Free accounts can use up to 50 seed articles per search; RR+ raises that to 300.
• Advanced search filters, multiple projects and Signals badges are only in RR+.
• Recommendations rely on citation and authorship links; ResearchRabbit says its core algorithms do not use large language models.
• Articles without open-access metadata are not indexed, so some papers and citations can be missing.

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.

ResearchRabbit

Seed-based paper search

Start from one or more papers you already know and find similar, earlier and later work. Free accounts search from up to 50 seed articles and RR+ from up to 300.

Citation maps

Interactive maps show how papers and authors connect through citations and references, which helps in tracing how an idea developed.

Collections

Save papers to collections and subcollections, mark them with notes, stickers and colors, and share a collection with collaborators or through a public link.

Zotero and BibTeX

The Zotero Importer brings in papers saved in Zotero, and articles can be imported and exported as BibTeX files. Both are part of the free tier.

Advanced search filters

RR+ adds filters for keywords, publication date, journal quality, open access and retractions, plus separate projects for different papers.

Signals risk badges

In RR+, each article carries a Signals badge marking no major risks, caution, alert or unable to check. The full report needs a free Signals account.

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.

ResearchRabbit

• Free$0

  Unlimited searches, library and collections, collection sharing, core search settings and up to 50 seed articles per search.

• ResearchRabbit+$10

  per month on the annual plan; $12.50 on the monthly plan

  Up to 300 seed articles, advanced search controls, multiple projects, Signals alerts and faster support responses.

• InstitutionCustom

  Everything in RR+ with volume discounts, LibKey library integration, management of thousands of users, usage statistics and dedicated support.

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.

ResearchRabbit

• Annual discount

  20% off with the annual plan

  RR+ is $10 a month on the annual plan against $12.50 on the monthly plan. The upgrade guide describes the annual option as 20% off.

• Other savings

  Country discounts in over 100 countries

  RR+ is priced by purchasing-power group. People in more than 100 eligible countries are shown a discount to apply at checkout; the US, UK and Canada pay the default price.