Consensus vs OpenRead
We give Consensus a 3.2 GPA and OpenRead a 2.8, out of 4.0. Consensus grades higher on features and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Consensus
AI search engine that answers questions from peer-reviewed papers
Free plan
OpenRead
AI platform for searching, reading and comparing papers
Free plan
How we grade them
| 3.2GPAConsensusVery good | 2.8GPAOpenReadGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BWe can't put a number on it. The pricing page didn't show its paid prices on two readings, and Consensus's own pricing summary leaves the dollar amounts out. Pro has 15 Deep Searches a month and Deep has 200. Students and faculty can claim up to 40% off. | BWe can't say. The homepage shows a Pro option, but no price is on record, because the pricing page was behind a browser security check. With nothing to set against other tools, it gets the middle grade. |
| Free plan and trial | BBasic paper search across 400M+ papers is free, and the Citation Graph comes with every account. The AI part is rationed, though: 10 Pro messages and 3 Deep Searches a month. That's a taste, not a working allowance. | BThe homepage puts a Free label on its AI tools, so there's something to use without paying. What that includes, and where it stops, couldn't be confirmed. Sign up and see is the best we can offer. |
| Features | AAsk in plain language and get a summary tied to its source papers, with filters for study type, journal rank, sample size and year. Deep Search screens up to 1,000 papers and reports on the 50 most relevant. Add a citation graph, a library that imports from Zotero, an API and an MCP connector. | BSearch over papers or the open web, with new papers arriving every 5 minutes from more than 20,000 journals. A reading view with Paper Q&A, a related paper graph and notes, plus Paper Compare. Solid. But the listing shows no reference library and no citation export. |
| Ease of use | BNo App Store rating on record, so B is as high as we go. You type a question the way you'd ask a colleague, and the answer comes with its papers attached. | BNo App Store rating on record, so B is as high as we go. Search, reading, questions and notes sit in one place, so there's no hopping between tabs. The chat assistant, Oat, lets you pick the AI model. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb and an Android app, with an API and an MCP connector that puts Consensus search inside ChatGPT, Claude and Copilot. It imports from Zotero too. No iOS app was found on the US App Store when it was checked. | CA web app and nothing else. The homepage links to no mobile apps and no browser extension, and the listing shows no integrations with reference managers or anything else. |
| Best for | asking what the studies actually say | comparing papers side by side |
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: Consensus and OpenRead. How we grade
Where they differ
- Only Consensus lists an Android app.
- Consensus also covers AI agents and citations.
- OpenRead also covers chat assistant and notes.
In commonFree planWebAI searchResearch
At a glance
| Consensus | OpenRead | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | Not published | Not published |
| 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. | The homepage shows a Free label on its AI tools and a separate Pro option; what the free plan includes could not be confirmed. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Consensus NLP, Inc. | OpenRead, Inc. |
| Price read from | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| Checked | Oct 9, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Consensus
- Checking what peer-reviewed studies say about a specific question
- Students and researchers starting a literature review
- Teams that want cited paper search inside ChatGPT, Claude or their own tools
OpenRead
- Readers who want paper search, questions and notes in one place
- Comparing the findings of several papers side by side
- Keeping up with newly published and trending papers
Worth knowing
Consensus
- Paid prices could not be confirmed: the pricing page did not show them on two readings, and Consensus's own pricing summary leaves out dollar amounts.
- The free tier allows 10 Pro messages and 3 Deep Searches per month. Pro includes 15 Deep Searches, Deep 200 and Team 50 per seat.
- API calls beyond a plan's included credits cost $0.05 each; 500 are included on Pro, Team and Enterprise and 2,000 on Deep.
- An Android app is listed on Google Play. No iOS app was found on the US App Store when checked.
OpenRead
- Plan prices and free-plan limits are not recorded: the pricing and FAQ pages were behind a browser security check when this entry was researched.
- The homepage links only to the web app; it lists no mobile apps or browser extension.
Key features
Consensus
- Cited answers from 400M+ papers
- Ask a research question in plain language and get a summary tied to its source papers, with filters for study type, journal rank, citation count, sample size and year.
- Deep Search
- Builds and runs a search strategy, screens up to 1,000 papers and writes a report on the 50 most relevant. The monthly allowance depends on the plan.
- Research agent
- Chains citation crawling, DOI lookup, author search and similar-paper search, and can build a comparison table from the full text of the results.
- Citation Graph
- Starts from one or more seed papers and maps what they cite and what has cited them since. It is included with every account.
- Library with Zotero import
- Imports papers from Zotero, BibTeX, RIS or PDF, then searches the collection, looks for gaps in it and generates bibliographies.
- API and MCP connector
- The API returns ranked papers with metadata for use in other tools, and the MCP connector links Consensus search to ChatGPT, Claude and Copilot.
OpenRead
- Paper and web search
- AI search runs over papers or the open web. The homepage says new papers arrive every 5 minutes from more than 20,000 journals.
- Paper Compare
- Sets several papers side by side to compare their findings and spot contradictions, with options such as an expert review or a comparison of frameworks.
- Reading tools
- The reading view brings together Paper Espresso, Paper Q&A, a Related Paper Graph and note taking, so a paper can be read and annotated in one place.
- Oat chat assistant
- Oat, short for OpenRead AI Technology, is a chat assistant with a choice of AI models plus web access, diagram drawing and image editing.
- Trending papers
- A trending page lists the papers that other readers on the platform are opening most.
Plans
Consensus
Pricing could not be confirmed. See consensus.app.
OpenRead
Pricing could not be confirmed. See openread.academy.
Ways to pay less
Consensus
- Education
Up to 40% off for students, faculty and US clinicians
Students and faculty with a valid school email, and US clinicians with a valid NPI number, can claim up to 40% off. Consensus's pricing summary gives students 40% off for 12 months with a verified student email.
OpenRead
No public discounts listed.
