Consensus vs R Discovery
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
R Discovery
Paper discovery app with an AI assistant, PDF chat and audio
Where they differ
- Only R Discovery lists an iOS app.
- Only R Discovery lists a browser extension.
- Consensus also covers AI agents.
- R Discovery also covers chat assistant.
At a glance
| Consensus | R Discovery | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | Not published | $69 per year, or $12 billed monthly (US prices) |
| Free plan | Basic paper search across 220M+ 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. | Standard recommendations, 3 AI Assistant uses a day, 3 Chat PDF uses a day with 5 file uploads a month, and limited audio and translation. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Consensus NLP, Inc. | Cactus Communications |
| Price read from | Not confirmed | discovery.researcher.life |
| Checked | Oct 5, 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
R Discovery
- Researchers who want a daily feed of new papers in their field
- Reading on a phone: the iOS and Android apps include audio versions of papers
- Readers who want papers translated into their own language
- Paperpal users who want search and writing tools on one subscription
Worth knowing
Consensus
- Paid prices could not be confirmed: the pricing page did not show them when read, 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.
R Discovery
- Free accounts get 3 AI Assistant uses and 3 Chat PDF uses a day, with 5 file uploads a month.
- Literature maps, content feeds, multiple projects and Zotero or Mendeley sync are listed for paid plans only.
- The site bills in local currencies, so prices vary by country. The US prices here are from the pricing page's own price data and agree with the US App Store listing.
- Refunds are limited to 30 days after purchase on annual plans and 7 days on monthly plans.
Key features
Consensus
- Cited answers from 220M+ 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.
R Discovery
- Ask R Discovery
- An AI assistant that answers research questions with references drawn from more than 300 million papers. Free accounts get 3 uses a day.
- Chat PDF
- Upload a paper, or pick one already on R Discovery, and ask questions about it. The free plan allows 3 uses a day and 5 file uploads a month.
- Literature Review
- Finds relevant papers and synthesizes findings, gaps and themes across them. The feature page says it is available only on a desktop or laptop.
- Personalized feed and alerts
- A feed of papers matched to chosen interests, with alerts for new publications in a field. Personalized recommendations and curated content feeds are part of Prime.
- Audio papers and translation
- Listen to papers read aloud and read them in more than 30 languages. Use is limited on the free plan and unlimited on Prime.
- Library and reference manager sync
- Save papers to reading lists. Prime syncs those lists to Zotero or Mendeley automatically and lets collaborators share them.
Plans
Consensus
Pricing could not be confirmed. See consensus.app.
R Discovery
Free$0
Standard recommendations, 3 AI Assistant uses a day, and 3 Chat PDF uses a day with 5 file uploads a month. No credit card required.
Prime$69
per year (shown as $6 a month, billed yearly); $12 billed monthly
Unlimited AI Assistant, Chat PDF and Literature Review, literature maps and Zotero or Mendeley sync. Crossed-out prices: $119 a year and $19 a month.
Paperpal Prime$144
per year (shown as $12 a month, billed yearly); $25 billed monthly
Everything in Prime plus Paperpal writing tools, plagiarism and reference checks, Mind the Graph illustrations and research skill courses.
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 1 year free, then 40% off until graduation.
R Discovery
- Annual discount
Yearly billing costs about half of monthly
In the US price data, Prime is $69 a year against $12 a month, and Paperpal Prime is $144 a year against $25 a month. Both work out to about 52% less over a year.
