Consensus vs Scite
We give Consensus a 3.2 GPA and Scite a 2.8, out of 4.0. Consensus grades higher on the free plan. They get the same grade on value for money, features, ease of use 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
Scite
Research assistant that shows how papers have been cited
How we grade them
| 3.2GPAConsensusVery good | 2.8GPASciteGood | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | BBasic is $20 a month billed monthly, the dear end of typical for this category. It does include unlimited Assistant queries, full-text search and citation alerts. Patents, clinical trials and grants need Pro at $50. Annual billing is offered, but its price couldn't be confirmed. |
| 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. | DNo free plan is listed. New users get a 7-day free trial, and it rolls into whichever plan you chose at sign-up unless you cancel first. So set a reminder if you're only looking! |
| 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. | ASmart Citations show whether later papers support, contrast or just mention a finding, with the context around each one. The Assistant links every claim to a sentence, and search runs inside more than 280 million full-text articles under agreements with Wiley, SAGE and 30+ other publishers. |
| 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. The browser extension does the handy bit: it puts Smart Citation counts beside papers on Google Scholar and PubMed, so you barely change how you search. |
| 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 and a browser extension, plus a Zotero plugin, an API and an MCP connector that runs Scite inside Claude and ChatGPT. MCP use is capped by credits, at 250 a month on Basic. No phone or desktop app is listed. |
| Best for | asking what the studies actually say | checking if a paper's findings held up |
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 Scite. How we grade
Where they differ
- Consensus has a free plan. Scite does not, though it has a free trial.
- Only Consensus lists an Android app.
- Only Scite lists a browser extension.
- Consensus also covers AI agents.
- Scite also covers chat assistant.
At a glance
| Consensus | Scite | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | Not published | $20 per month, 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. | None |
| Free trial | None listed | 7-day free trial for new users; it rolls into the plan chosen at sign-up unless canceled first. |
| Web | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Consensus NLP, Inc. | Scite LLC (Research Solutions) |
| Price read from | Not confirmed | scite.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
Scite
- Checking whether a paper's findings were supported or disputed by later work
- Searching inside the full text of licensed journal articles
- Researchers who want cited answers inside Claude or ChatGPT
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.
Scite
- No free plan is listed; after the 7-day trial a paid subscription is needed.
- The pricing page also offers annual billing and a Team plan for labs; those prices could not be confirmed in page text and are left out here.
- Patent, clinical trial and grant search and Collections above 1,000 papers need the Pro plan.
- MCP use is capped by monthly credits: 250 on Basic and 2,500 on Pro.
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.
Scite
- Smart Citations
- Shows how later research has cited a paper: whether the citing statements support, contrast or simply mention its findings, with the surrounding context.
- Scite Assistant
- Answers questions from the scientific literature and links every claim back to the specific sentence in the paper it came from.
- Full-text search
- Searches inside more than 280 million full-text articles under agreements with Wiley, SAGE and 30+ other publishers, alongside preprints, books, patents and datasets.
- Collections and citation alerts
- Group papers into Collections of up to 1,000 papers on Basic or 10,000 on Pro, and get alerts about new citations.
- Browser extension
- Adds Smart Citation counts to paper listings on Google Scholar, PubMed and publisher sites. Clicking a badge opens the full Scite report.
- MCP, Zotero and API access
- Runs inside Claude, ChatGPT and other MCP-compatible assistants, plugs into Zotero and offers an API for teams building their own tools.
Plans
Consensus
Pricing could not be confirmed. See consensus.app.
Scite
Basic$20
per month, billed monthly
Unlimited Assistant queries, full-text search, Smart Citation reports, citation alerts, 250 MCP credits a month and Collections of up to 1,000 papers.
Pro$50
per month, billed monthly
Everything in Basic, plus 2,500 MCP credits a month, Collections of up to 10,000 papers, and search across patents, clinical trials and grants.
EnterpriseCustom
For organizations and universities: unlimited users with pooled usage, SAML/SSO, access by domain, IP or email, and regulatory and safety datasets.
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.
Scite
- Education
Student and academic discount on request
The pricing FAQ says students and academics who recommend Scite to their institution by email, copying Scite's sales and support addresses, are sent a discount code. The amount is not stated.
