Consensus vs SciSpace
We give Consensus and SciSpace 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
SciSpace
AI research platform for literature review and reading papers
How we grade them
| 3.2GPAConsensusVery good | 3.2GPASciSpaceVery 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. | BPremium is $12 a month billed annually, or $20 monthly, which is typical here. It comes with 1,200 credits a month and up to 4 tasks at once. Need more and it's a big step: Advanced is $70 for 10,000 credits. These prices are from an archived copy of the pricing page, captured on September 30, 2026. |
| 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. | BA free tier is reported, but SciSpace's site turned automated readers away, so its limits couldn't be confirmed on a SciSpace page. We'd sign up and look before planning a project around it. |
| 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. | ALiterature Review answers from more than 270 million papers with references, Chat with PDF explains a single paper, and Extract Data pulls the findings out of several PDFs so you can compare them. Add agents, an AI writer, a paraphraser and a citation generator with more than 2,300 styles. |
| 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. Ask in plain language, or highlight a bit of maths or a table and have it explained. The part to learn is credits, since the agents draw on a monthly allowance. |
| 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, an iPhone and iPad app, and a Chrome extension that explains highlighted text on any page and replies in 13 languages. No Android app was found on Google Play in the US when checked, and the listing shows no integrations with other tools. |
| Best for | asking what the studies actually say | search, reading and writing in one place |
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 SciSpace. How we grade
Where they differ
- Only Consensus lists an Android app.
- Only SciSpace lists an iOS app.
- Only SciSpace lists a browser extension.
- SciSpace also covers chat assistant.
At a glance
| Consensus | SciSpace | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | Not published | $12 per month, billed annually ($20 billed monthly) |
| 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. | Third-party listings report a free tier, but its current limits could not be read: SciSpace's site turned automated readers away, and the archived pricing data covers paid plans only. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Consensus NLP, Inc. | PubGenius Inc. |
| Price read from | Not confirmed | web.archive.org (not the vendor's own page) |
| 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
SciSpace
- Students and researchers who want search, reading and writing tools in one place
- Getting plain-language explanations of dense papers, equations and tables
- Research teams of 2 to 300 people billed per user
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.
SciSpace
- SciSpace's site blocked automated reading, so prices come from an Internet Archive copy of its pricing page captured on September 30, 2026.
- The limits of the free tier could not be confirmed on a SciSpace page.
- Paid plans meter usage in monthly credits: 1,200 on Premium, 10,000 on Advanced and 40,000 or more on Max.
- The mobile app is listed for iPhone and iPad; no Android app was found on Google Play (US) when checked.
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.
SciSpace
- Literature Review
- Ask a research question in plain language and get answers drawn from a repository of more than 270 million papers, each with references to its sources.
- Chat with PDF
- Ask questions about a paper or PDF and get answers backed by citations that point to where in the source they came from.
- SciSpace Agent and Biomedical Agent
- Agents take on research tasks and draw on the plan's monthly credits. Each plan also caps how many tasks run at once: 4 on Premium, 8 on Advanced and 16 on Max.
- Writing and citation tools
- AI Writer, Paraphraser and AI Detector sit beside a Citation Generator that formats references in APA, MLA and more than 2,300 other styles.
- Extract Data
- Pulls the summary, conclusions and findings out of several PDFs at once so papers can be compared side by side.
- Chrome extension
- Explains highlighted text, math and tables on any web page or PDF, answers follow-up questions with citations and replies in 13 languages.
Plans
Consensus
Pricing could not be confirmed. See consensus.app.
SciSpace
Premium$12
per month, billed annually ($144); $20 billed monthly
1,200 credits a month and up to 4 concurrent tasks.
Teams (Premium)$15
per user / month, billed annually ($180); $25 billed monthly
For 2 to 300 users, each with 1,200 credits a month and up to 4 concurrent tasks.
Advanced$70
per month, billed annually ($840); $90 billed monthly
10,000 credits a month and up to 8 concurrent tasks.
Teams (Advanced)$75
per user / month, billed annually ($900); $100 billed monthly
For 2 to 300 users, each with 10,000 credits a month and up to 8 concurrent tasks.
MaxFrom $160
per month, billed annually ($1,920); from $200 billed monthly
Priced by credit tier, from 40,000 credits a month up to 300,000, with up to 16 concurrent tasks.
Teams (Max)$175
per user / month, billed annually ($2,100); $220 billed monthly
For 2 to 300 users, each with 40,000 credits a month and up to 16 concurrent tasks.
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.
SciSpace
- Annual discount
Save 20% to 40% with annual billing
Annual billing brings Premium from $20 to $12 a month (40% off), Advanced from $90 to $70 (22% off) and the entry Max tier from $200 to $160 (20% off).
