Consensus vs Scopus AI (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Consensus grades higher than Scopus AI: 2.6 against 1.6 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 9, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Consensus grades higher on the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money.
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
Scopus AI
Elsevier's AI summaries and concept maps over the Scopus database
Paid
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 Scopus AI if
- Fits if your university or company already subscribes to Scopus
- Works for people who want concept maps over Scopus results
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you are an individual, as it is sold to institutions through Elsevier sales
- Skip it if you want a price on the page, as none is published
- Not for you if you want answers from the wider web, as it uses only Scopus content
- Watch out: the page says it uses OpenAI's model hosted on Microsoft Azure, with an agreement against training use
- Skip it if you want to try it free, as no plan or trial is listed
How we grade them
| 2.6GPAConsensusGood | 1.6GPAScopus AIWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| 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 is published, and the page's call to action is Contact us. |
| 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. | FNo free plan and no trial are listed, so nothing can be tried without paying. |
| 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. | CSummaries, follow-up questions, foundational documents, concept maps and emerging themes. Answers come only from Scopus content. |
| 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. It sits inside an institutional Scopus login. |
| 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. | CWeb only, with no integrations or apps listed. |
| Best for | asking what the studies actually say | AI summaries over the Scopus database |
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 Scopus AI. How we grade
Where they differ
- Consensus also covers AI agents.
- Scopus AI also covers chat assistant.
In commonWebAI searchResearchCitations
At a glance
| Consensus | Scopus AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Paid |
| 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. | Elsevier |
| Price read from | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| Checked | Oct 9, 2026 | Nov 13, 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.
Scopus AI
- No price is published; the page's call to action is Contact us, so it is sold through Elsevier sales.
- Answers draw only on content in Scopus, not on the wider web.
- The page says it uses OpenAI's model hosted on Microsoft Azure, with an agreement against training use.
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.
Scopus AI
- Topic and expanded summaries
- A query returns summaries with references to the Scopus documents used and an indication of the tool's confidence in their relevance.
- Follow-up questions
- Suggests Go deeper questions and takes conversational follow-ups, with a history of earlier topics to resume.
- Foundational documents
- Lists high-impact papers cited by the papers behind the summaries, mined from the full Scopus database.
- Concept maps
- Keywords from research abstracts produce an interactive map of a topic and its links to neighboring research areas.
- Emerging themes
- Groups a query's themes as established, rising or novel, to point to gaps for publications, collaborations and funding.
Plans
Consensus
Pricing could not be confirmed. See consensus.app.
Scopus AI
Pricing could not be confirmed. See elsevier.com.
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.
Scopus AI
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Consensus or Scopus AI?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Consensus has no price we could confirm, and Scopus AI has no price we could confirm.
Which has a free plan, Consensus or Scopus AI?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Consensus has a free plan. Scopus AI does not.
Which platforms do Consensus and Scopus AI run on?
As of Nov 13, 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.