Connected Papers vs Litmaps
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Connected Papers
Visual graphs of similar academic papers for literature search
Litmaps
Literature review tool that maps papers by their citations
Where they differ
- Connected Papers starts at $6 per month, billed annually ($72). Litmaps starts at $10 per month, billed annually, with an academic email ($40 commercial).
At a glance
| Connected Papers | Litmaps | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $6 per month, billed annually ($72) | $10 per month, billed annually, with an academic email ($40 commercial) |
| Free plan | 5 graphs per month with every feature included, among them prior and derivative works, multi-origin graphs, saved papers and graph history. | Basic search with up to 20 input articles, 2 Litmaps of up to 100 articles each, and monthly literature alerts. No collaboration features. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Connected Papers | Litmap Limited |
| Price read from | web.archive.org (not the vendor's own page) | litmaps.com |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Connected Papers
- Getting a visual overview of an unfamiliar research field from one known paper
- Checking a bibliography for important papers that were missed
- Occasional users who need no more than 5 graphs a month
Litmaps
- Literature reviews that start from a handful of known papers
- Students and academics, who get 75% off Pro with an academic email
- Zotero users who want collections kept in sync while they search
- Researchers who want email alerts when related papers are published
Worth knowing
Connected Papers
- Free accounts are limited to 5 graphs per month; unlimited graphs need a paid plan.
- Prices are set by visitor location. The US prices here come from an Internet Archive copy of the pricing page's own price data, captured on October 1, 2026.
- The Academic plan is restricted to academic, non-profit and personal use; for-profit work needs the Business plan.
- Subscriptions run for a full year or quarter and renew automatically, and the terms allow refunds only for overlapping coverage.
Litmaps
- The free plan allows 20 input articles per search and 2 Litmaps of up to 100 articles each.
- Advanced search filters, customizable Monitor alerts and Zotero Sync all need Litmaps Pro.
- The $10 Education price needs an academic email address; the standard Commercial license is $40 a month, billed annually.
- The homepage tells visitors on small screens that creating a Litmap needs a bigger screen, and no mobile app is listed.
Key features
Connected Papers
- Similarity graphs
- Each graph is built by analyzing about 50,000 papers and keeping the few dozen most strongly connected to the origin paper, arranged so that similar papers sit close together.
- Prior and derivative works
- The Prior Works view lists important ancestor papers in the field, and the Derivative Works view lists literature reviews and recent papers that followed the origin paper.
- Multi-origin graphs
- A paper found in a graph can be added as another origin, so that one graph is built around several starting papers instead of one.
- Saved papers and graph history
- Papers can be saved to a list and earlier graphs reopened from a history. Graphs, saved papers and history can each be downloaded as a .bib file.
- Search by title or identifier
- Start a graph from keywords, a paper title, a DOI, or a paper URL from arXiv, Semantic Scholar or PubMed.
- Group plans
- On group plans, administrators assign premium access to members from a pool of purchased seats on one invoice, at the same price per seat. Seats added mid-cycle are charged pro rata.
Litmaps
- Citation-network search
- Start from one or more articles and Litmaps returns the most connected papers among their citations, references and co-citations, from a database of 270+ million articles.
- Three search algorithms
- Shared Citations & References is the default. Common Authors finds other work by the same collaborators, and Similar Text uses AI semantic analysis of titles and abstracts.
- Visual literature maps
- Results are shown as a Litmap of articles linked by citation. A map can be shared through a public link, with specific email addresses or as an exported image.
- Monitor alerts
- Monitor reruns a map's search and emails you about newly published articles. Every user can enable it; Pro users can set the frequency, algorithm and filters.
- Import, export and Zotero Sync
- Import BibTeX, RIS or PubMed files and export as BibTeX, RIS or CSV. Zotero Sync, a Pro feature, keeps Zotero collections and Litmaps Tags matched in both directions.
- Advanced search filters
- Pro users can narrow results by publication date, keyword, author, journal title, journal h-index and SJR quartile.
Plans
Connected Papers
Free$0
5 graphs per month, with all features included.
Academic$6
per month, billed annually ($72); $10 billed quarterly ($30)
Unlimited graphs for academics, non-profits and personal use. Commercial use is not allowed on this plan.
Business$20
per month, billed annually ($240); $30 billed quarterly ($90)
Unlimited graphs for commercial use in business and industry.
Litmaps
Free$0
Basic search with up to 20 inputs, 2 Litmaps of up to 100 articles each and monthly literature alerts.
Pro (Education)$10
per month, billed annually ($120); $12.50 billed monthly
Needs an academic email address. Unlimited inputs, articles and Litmaps, advanced search and configurable alerts.
Pro (Commercial)$40
per month, billed annually ($480); $50 billed monthly
The same Pro features on the standard license, for people without an academic affiliation.
TeamCustom
Pro features for every member in shared Team Workspaces, bought by the seat. The pricing page gives no public price.
EnterpriseCustom
Institution-wide and customizable licensing, arranged with the sales team.
Ways to pay less
Connected Papers
- Annual discount
Annual billing costs up to 40% less
Academic works out to $6 a month billed annually against $10 billed quarterly, and Business to $20 against $30. The pricing page offers both billing cycles.
- Other savings
Scholarship program for those who cannot pay
The pricing FAQ says researchers who cannot afford a subscription can email the scholarships address to request a discounted or free Premium plan.
Litmaps
- Annual discount
Save 20% with annual billing
Pro costs $10 a month billed annually against $12.50 billed monthly on an Education license, and $40 against $50 on a Commercial one. The pricing page labels the annual price as a 20% saving.
- Education
75% off with an Educational License
Students, professors and others affiliated with an educational institution qualify for the Educational License, which is 75% off the standard price.
- Other savings
Country discounts in over 100 countries
People doing most of their research in an eligible low or middle income country are shown a discount code when they upgrade in the app. More than 100 countries qualify.
- Nonprofit
Special rates for nonprofits on request
The Litmaps Pro help article invites nonprofits, publicly funded research and government education research to contact the company about special rates.
