AskYourPDF vs Explainpaper (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, AskYourPDF and Explainpaper share a 2.4 GPA, both have a free plan, and AskYourPDF starts cheaper, at $11.99 a month against $12 a month.
Checked Oct 5, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
AskYourPDF grades higher on platforms. Explainpaper grades higher on the free plan. They get the same grade on value for money, features and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
AskYourPDF
Chat with PDFs and other documents and get cited answers
Explainpaper
Highlight confusing text in a paper and get a plain explanation
Which one is for you
Pick AskYourPDF if
- Fits if you have one long paper or book and want answers with the page cited
- Works for Zotero users who want summaries and chat inside their library
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you need something to find the papers, as this only reads what you give it
- Tight if you're staying free, at 1 document a day of up to 100 pages and 15 MB, on GPT-5 Mini only
- Not for you if you like a way out, since the terms say all sales are final with no refunds
- Watch out: Claude and Gemini 2.5 Pro spend credits on every paid plan, and Premium includes only 10
- Watch out: the 3-day trial is called free on one page and $1 on another, and the API is billed apart at $49.99 a month
Pick Explainpaper if
- Fits if you're a student who hits a paragraph in a paper that makes no sense
- Works for readers who keep their papers in Zotero
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free: basic AI models only
- Pricey if you want figure and equation explanations, outlines or saved highlights, which are Pro at $12 a month
- Skip it if you want to search for papers, as it only helps you read one
- Watch out: the Teams plan has no published price, and there are no apps beyond the browser
How we grade them
| 2.4GPAAskYourPDFFair | 2.4GPAExplainpaperFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CPremium is $11.99 a month billed yearly, $14.99 monthly, which is this category's middle. You get 50 documents and 1,200 questions a day with Knowledge Bases and OCR, but the Claude models and Gemini 2.5 Pro run on credits and Premium hands you 10. | CPro is $12 a month billed yearly ($16 monthly), which puts it in the dearer quarter of a category whose middle is $10. |
| Free plan and trial | CFree for good, with 50 questions a day. The document cap is the limit: 1 a day, up to 100 pages and 15 MB, on GPT-5 Mini only. Caps you'll hit on your first real afternoon. The paid trial runs 3 days, and one page calls it free while another calls it a $1 trial. | BFree forever with unlimited highlight explanations, follow-up questions and Zotero import, on basic models. A student could live on it, but the stronger model is Pro. Pro has a 7-day trial. |
| Features | CIt does chat-with-your-document completely — PDF, DOCX, EPUB, text or a URL, answers citing the page, Knowledge Bases on paid plans for asking across many files at once. But that's the smaller half of research: it reads what you hand it and won't go and find the papers. | CExplanations, follow-ups, figures, equations, outlines and saved highlights. The listing shows figures, outlines and saved highlights as Pro-only, and it covers just reading a paper. |
| Ease of use | BNo store rating on record, so the B comes from what the listing shows, and it shows about the simplest thing in this category: upload a file, ask a question. What takes working out is the models, since some come with your plan and others spend credits. | BNo store rating on record. Upload a paper, highlight what you don't follow, and read the answer. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, iPhone, Android, a Chrome extension, a Zotero hook-up and a developer API. No Mac or Windows app, though, and that's what an A wants. The API is billed apart from the chat plans: free for 100 messages, then $49.99 a month. | CWeb only, with Zotero library import the single integration. No apps are listed. |
| Best for | asking questions of long documents | getting a plain explanation of a confusing paragraph |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: AskYourPDF and Explainpaper. How we grade
Price against what you get
AskYourPDF starts at $11.99 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Explainpaper starts at $12 a month and scores 2.3.
AskYourPDF scores higher and starts $0.01 a month lower. Of the other AI research tools on the chart, 3 score higher than AskYourPDF for less, and 13 score higher than Explainpaper for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- AskYourPDF also covers citations.
- Explainpaper also covers documents and highlights.
At a glance
| AskYourPDF | Explainpaper | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $11.99 per month, billed yearly ($14.99 billed monthly) | $12 per month, billed yearly ($16 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | 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. | Unlimited highlight explanations and follow-up questions, with basic AI models and Zotero library import. |
| Free trial | 3-day trial of Premium or Pro; the pricing page calls it a free trial, the chat-with-PDF page a $1 trial. | 7-day free trial of Pro |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Proton Labs | Explainpaper |
| Price read from | askyourpdf.com | explainpaper.com |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
AskYourPDF
- The free plan covers 1 document a day, capped at 100 pages and 15 MB, and uses GPT-5 Mini only.
- Knowledge Bases, OCR and Chrome extension access appear only in the benefits of the paid plans.
- Claude 4.5 Sonnet, Claude 4.5 Opus and Gemini 2.5 Pro need credits on every paid plan; Premium includes 10 and Pro 30.
- The terms say all sales are final, with no refunds or pro-rata credits.
Explainpaper
- Free accounts get basic AI models; the stronger model needs Pro.
- Saved highlights and figure explanations are Pro only.
- The Teams plan has no published price.
Key features
AskYourPDF
- Chat with documents
- Upload a PDF, DOCX, EPUB or TXT file, or paste a URL, and ask questions in plain language. Each answer cites the page it came from, and the site says it works in more than 100 languages.
- Knowledge Bases
- Premium and Pro group documents into a Knowledge Base, so that one question draws a single cited answer from every file in it.
- Choice of AI models
- The free plan runs on GPT-5 Mini. Paid plans add GPT-5, GPT-5.2 and Gemini 2.5 Flash, while Claude 4.5 Sonnet, Claude 4.5 Opus and Gemini 2.5 Pro draw on credits.
- AI Agent for websites
- Trains a chatbot on your website and uploaded files and embeds it with one line of code. Visitors can open a support ticket when the agent cannot answer.
- AI form filler
- Fills fillable and non-fillable PDF forms using data taken from another PDF, a text file or pasted content.
- Developer API
- Adds documents by upload or URL and answers questions about them. API plans are separate: free with 100 messages, or $49.99 a month for 6,000 messages and 60,000 pages.
Explainpaper
- Highlight to explain
- Select text in an uploaded paper and receive a simpler explanation of that passage.
- Follow-up questions
- Ask further questions about a passage; available on the free plan.
- Figures and equations
- On Pro, click a graph, figure or equation to get it explained.
- Paper outlines
- Pro generates an outline with clickable page references.
- Saved highlights
- Pro keeps your highlights and the explanations you received.
- Zotero import
- Bring in your Zotero library on any plan.
Plans
AskYourPDF
Free$0
1 document a day of up to 100 pages and 15 MB, with 50 questions and 3 conversations a day on GPT-5 Mini.
Premium$11.99
per month, billed yearly; $14.99 billed monthly
50 documents a day of up to 2,500 pages and 31 MB, 1,200 questions a day, Knowledge Bases, OCR, the Chrome extension and 10 credits.
Pro$14.99
per month, billed yearly; $19.99 billed monthly
150 documents a day of up to 6,000 pages and 877 MB, longer replies, priority support and 30 credits.
EnterpriseCustom
Unlimited pages per document and unlimited questions, up to 1,000 documents a day and custom credits. Sold through sales.
Explainpaper
Free$0
Unlimited highlight explanations, follow-up questions and Zotero import, on basic AI models.
Pro$12
per month, billed yearly ($16 billed monthly)
Explains graphs, figures and equations; automatic outlines; saved highlights; questions about the paper.
TeamsCustom
Everything in Pro, plus team management, priority support and volume discounts.
Ways to pay less
AskYourPDF
- Annual discount
Up to 25% off with annual billing
The pricing page labels annual billing as 25% off. Premium is $11.99 a month billed yearly against $14.99 billed monthly, and Pro is $14.99 against $19.99.
Explainpaper
- Annual discount
Save 25% with yearly billing
The pricing page lists Pro at $12 a month billed yearly against $16 a month billed monthly, labeled as a 25% saving.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, AskYourPDF or Explainpaper?
As of Nov 12, 2026, AskYourPDF is cheaper to start with: $11.99 a month, against $12 a month for Explainpaper. AskYourPDF starts at $11.99 per month, billed yearly ($14.99 billed monthly), and Explainpaper starts at $12 per month, billed yearly ($16 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, AskYourPDF or Explainpaper?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both AskYourPDF and Explainpaper have a free plan.
Which platforms do AskYourPDF and Explainpaper run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only AskYourPDF lists iOS and Android apps and a browser extension. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.