Consensus vs Paperguide
We give Consensus and Paperguide the same GPA: 3.2 out of 4.0. They get the same grade on all five counts.
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
Paperguide
AI research platform for literature and systematic reviews
How we grade them
| 3.2GPAConsensusVery good | 3.2GPAPaperguideVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | BPlus is $12 a seat a month billed annually, or $19 monthly, which is right at typical. It includes systematic reviews of up to 1,000 papers, unlimited AI searches and 12,500 AI credits a month. A university email takes 30% off, making it $8. Dual-reviewer screening is another matter: that's Evidence at $89. |
| 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. | BFree gives you 2,000 AI credits and 20 AI searches a month, 500 MB of reference storage and extraction tables of up to 10 papers and 5 columns. Enough to learn the tool. There are no systematic reviews or shared workspaces on it, though. |
| 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. | ASearch that answers from more than 200 million papers with each claim linked to its source, a reference manager with more than 1,000 citation styles, tables that pull the same data points out of many papers, a research agent and a writer. The systematic review workflow ends in a PRISMA diagram. |
| 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. You ask in plain language, and it imports a Zotero or Mendeley library, so starting is painless. Credits are the thing to learn, since the AI features all draw on one monthly pool. |
| 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. | BA web app with a browser extension. It imports from Zotero and Mendeley, connects to Claude and ChatGPT, and has a Search API with 10 requests a month on Free and 500 on Pro. No phone or desktop app is listed. |
| Best for | asking what the studies actually say | search, references and reviews in one workspace |
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 Paperguide. How we grade
Where they differ
- Only Consensus lists an Android app.
- Only Paperguide lists a browser extension.
- Paperguide also covers chat assistant and long-form writing.
At a glance
| Consensus | Paperguide | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | Not published | $12 per seat / month, billed annually ($8 with the academic discount) |
| 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. | 2,000 AI credits and 20 AI searches a month, 500 MB of reference storage, extraction tables of up to 10 papers and 5 columns, and 10 Search API requests a month. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Consensus NLP, Inc. | Paperguide |
| Price read from | Not confirmed | paperguide.ai |
| 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
Paperguide
- Teams running systematic reviews that need documented screening decisions
- Researchers who want search, references and writing in one workspace
- Students and academics, who get 30% off with a university email
- Pulling the same data points out of many papers into one table
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.
Paperguide
- The Free plan has no systematic reviews or shared workspaces and is limited to 20 AI searches and 2,000 AI credits a month.
- AI features draw on a monthly credit pool: 12,500 on Plus, 50,000 on Pro and 150,000 on Evidence.
- Dual-reviewer screening for systematic reviews needs the Evidence plan, at $89 per seat / month billed annually.
- Image and table extraction is marked as coming soon on the pricing page.
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.
Paperguide
- AI Search
- Ask a research question in plain language and get a synthesized answer drawn from more than 200 million papers, with each claim linked to its source.
- Systematic reviews
- Screens papers against a predefined protocol with cited evidence for each criterion, then produces verified extraction tables, a report and a PRISMA diagram. Dual-reviewer screening is on the Evidence plan.
- Reference manager
- Imports from Zotero or Mendeley, or by DOI, URL, PDF, BibTeX or RIS, fetches metadata and open-access PDFs, and formats citations in more than 1,000 styles.
- Extract Data
- You define the columns and the AI fills them across the selected papers, with every value linked to the statement it came from. Tables export to CSV or Excel.
- Research Agent
- Investigates a topic across the paper database and your library, answers questions about one or several PDFs, and can generate a literature review of up to 50 papers.
- AI Writer
- Drafts and edits documents with citations from your library and the paper database, and exports them as Word, PDF or LaTeX files.
Plans
Consensus
Pricing could not be confirmed. See consensus.app.
Paperguide
Free$0
2,000 AI credits and 20 AI searches a month, 500 MB of reference storage, and extraction tables of up to 10 papers and 5 columns.
Plus$12
per seat / month, billed annually ($144); $19 billed monthly
12,500 AI credits a month, systematic reviews of up to 1,000 papers, unlimited AI searches and reference storage, and shared workspaces.
Pro$29
per seat / month, billed annually ($348); $49 billed monthly
50,000 AI credits a month, systematic reviews of up to 5,000 papers and 500 Search API requests a month.
Evidence$89
per seat / month, billed annually ($1,068); $149 billed monthly
150,000 AI credits a month, PRISMA-grade dual-reviewer screening, a dedicated support channel and 1,500 Search API requests a month.
EnterpriseCustom
Custom AI credits, systematic reviews of up to 20,000 papers, dual-reviewer screening and a dedicated support channel.
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.
Paperguide
- Annual discount
Save up to 41% with yearly billing
Billed yearly, Plus is $12 a seat per month against $19 billed monthly, Pro is $29 against $49 and Evidence is $89 against $149. The pricing page labels the saving as 41%.
- Education
30% academic discount with a university email
Verifying a university email takes 30% off: Plus becomes $8, Pro $20 and Evidence $62 per seat / month billed yearly, or $13, $34 and $104 billed monthly.
