Consensus vs Paper Digest (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Consensus grades higher than Paper Digest: 2.6 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 9, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Consensus grades higher on features and ease of use. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan and platforms.
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
Paper Digest
Cited literature reviews, deep research and daily paper digests
Free plan
Which one is for you
Pick Consensus if
- Fits if you want to know what peer-reviewed studies say about one specific question
- Works for teams that want cited paper search inside ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot or their own tools
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you need the price before you sign up, as the paid prices couldn't be read
- Tight if you're staying free, with 10 Pro messages and 3 Deep Searches a month
- Tight if you lean on Deep Search, with 15 a month on Pro and 50 a seat on Team
- Watch out: API calls past your plan's credits cost $0.05 each, with 500 included on Pro and Team
- Not for you if you want an iPhone app, since none was found on the US App Store
Pick Paper Digest if
- Fits if you want a cited literature review draft for a topic
- Works for someone who wants a daily digest of new papers in their field
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want a price, since the pricing page showed placeholders only
- Skip it if you want a desktop or phone app, as only the web is described
- Watch out: free limits aren't stated, only that some features work without signing in
- Watch out: the default literature review uses large language models for its prose
How we grade them
| 2.6GPAConsensusGood | 2.2GPAPaper DigestFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CNobody can put a number on this one. The pricing page didn't show its paid prices on two readings, and Consensus's own pricing summary leaves the dollar amounts out, so it lands where every unpriced tool lands. Pro has 15 Deep Searches a month, Deep has 200, and students get up to 40% off. | CNo price could be read: the pricing URL showed a template table with placeholder values. With nothing to compare against the category's $10 middle, it sits at C. |
| Free plan and trial | CBasic paper search across 400M+ papers is free and the Citation Graph comes with every account, which is more than nothing. But the AI is rationed to 10 Pro messages and 3 Deep Searches a month, so the bit you came for runs out in an afternoon. | CThe homepage says some features can be tried without signing in and labels several digests free, but the limits aren't stated. |
| Features | BIt covers the whole job: plain-language questions answered from their source papers, filters for study type, journal rank and sample size, Deep Search across 1,000 papers, a citation graph, a Zotero library, an API and an MCP connector. Its rivals cover the same ground, mind, several of them screening more papers. | CLiterature reviews, deep research, a reader, daily digests and reference manager export. The default review uses large language models for the final prose, with a no-LLM version as a separate option. |
| Ease of use | BNo store rating on record either way, so this rests on the product: you type a question the way you'd ask a colleague, and the answer comes back with its papers attached. Nothing to connect or configure first. | CNo store rating on record. Several separate tools sit on one site and you choose between them. |
| 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. | BWeb only, with export to Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote and Obsidian. |
| Best for | asking what the studies actually say | cited literature reviews and daily paper digests |
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 Paper Digest. How we grade
Where they differ
- Consensus also covers AI search and AI agents.
- Paper Digest also covers chat assistant and documents.
In commonWebResearchCitations
At a glance
| Consensus | Paper Digest | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | None |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Consensus NLP, Inc. | Paper Digest |
| Price read from | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| Checked | Oct 9, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
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.
Paper Digest
- No pricing page could be read: the site's pricing URL shows a template table with placeholder values, so no plans or prices are recorded.
- The homepage says some features can be tried without signing in and labels several daily digests free, but the limits are not stated.
- The default literature review uses large language models for the final prose; the no-LLM version is a separate option.
- Only a web version is described; no desktop or mobile app is listed.
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.
Paper Digest
- Literature review
- Takes a topic and writes a review from the most influential papers, patents, grants and trials around it, with a citation for each sentence. An option avoids large language models.
- Deep research reports
- Gathers evidence from the index and other sources into a cited report, with a claim-verification mode that collects evidence for and against an argument.
- Academic reader
- Upload a PDF or text file, or paste a link, and ask for a summary, the method, the results or any free-form question, answered beside the document.
- Daily and conference digests
- Follows new papers by topic, venue or keyword, including arXiv, bioRxiv, PubMed and ClinicalTrials.gov feeds, and sends daily updates.
- Reference manager export
- Reviews and reports can be exported as RIS or Markdown for Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote and Obsidian.
- Research library
- Members can save documents with notes, tags and reading status, and publish a reading list or researcher profile.
Plans
Consensus
Pricing could not be confirmed. See consensus.app.
Paper Digest
Pricing could not be confirmed. See paperdigest.org.
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.
Paper Digest
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Consensus or Paper Digest?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Consensus has no price we could confirm, and Paper Digest has no price we could confirm.
Which has a free plan, Consensus or Paper Digest?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Consensus has a free plan. Paper Digest does not.
Which platforms do Consensus and Paper Digest run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Consensus lists an Android app. 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.