Edison Scientific vs Scite
We give Edison Scientific a 3.2 GPA and Scite a 2.8, out of 4.0. Edison Scientific 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.
Edison Scientific
AI agents for scientific research, led by the Kosmos AI Scientist
Free plan
Scite
Research assistant that shows how papers have been cited
Free trial · from $20/mo
How we grade them
| 3.2GPAEdison ScientificVery good | 2.8GPASciteGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BPrices aren't on the public site, so we can't compare it properly. The one figure on record is from the November 2025 launch: a Kosmos run cost 200 credits at $1 a credit, and the company said that rate would probably rise. Not pocket money, then. | 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 | BThe docs describe a free tier for academics, with paid plans for higher rate limits and extra features. That's welcome. But the current limits couldn't be read, and nothing on record says what someone outside a university gets. | 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 | AKosmos reads the literature, writes and runs analysis code and returns a cited report. Other agents search more than 175 million papers, trials and patents, turn lab data like RNA-seq results into figures, check if an idea has been tried before, and plan chemistry routes. | 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 give an agent a goal and it does the legwork. But plans only show after sign-up, and the public site steers you to a sales demo. | 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 | BA web platform that works with Slack and Microsoft Teams, plus a Python client that runs agent tasks from code with an API key. Enterprises can have it deployed on their own premises. No phone or desktop app is listed. | 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 | handing a whole research question to an agent | 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: Edison Scientific and Scite. How we grade
Where they differ
- Edison Scientific has a free plan. Scite does not, though it has a free trial.
- Only Scite lists a browser extension.
- Edison Scientific is self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Edison Scientific also covers AI agents.
- Scite also covers chat assistant and AI search.
In commonWebPublic APIResearchCitations
At a glance
| Edison Scientific | Scite | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | Not published | $20 per month, billed monthly |
| Free plan | The documentation describes a free tier for academics, with paid plans for higher rate limits and extra features. Current limits and 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 | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Edison Scientific | Scite LLC (Research Solutions) |
| Price read from | Not confirmed | scite.ai |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Edison Scientific
- Biology and drug-discovery teams analyzing large experimental datasets
- Academic researchers, for whom the docs describe a free tier
- Checking whether a research idea has already been tried
- Organizations that want research agents deployed in their own environment
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
Edison Scientific
- Prices are not published on the public site; plans appear inside the platform after sign-up.
- At its November 2025 launch a Kosmos run cost 200 credits at $1 a credit, and the company said that rate would probably rise.
- In the same launch post, Edison reported that 79.4% of Kosmos's conclusions were accurate.
- The public site is aimed at biopharma R&D, with demos booked through sales.
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
Edison Scientific
- Kosmos
- An autonomous AI scientist: given an objective and datasets, it reads literature, runs analysis code and writes a cited report. The docs say one run reads about 1,500 papers and executes about 42,000 lines of code.
- Literature
- Search and synthesis across more than 175 million papers, trials and patents, returning cited answers or a deep review of conflicting evidence.
- Analysis
- Processes experimental data such as flow cytometry and RNA-seq results into statistical analyses and publication-ready figures.
- Precedent
- Searches across fields to judge whether a research idea has been tried before, pointing out prior work and open gaps.
- Molecules
- A chemistry agent that predicts ADMET properties, plans retrosynthesis routes, runs safety assessments and searches databases such as ChEMBL.
- API client and enterprise deployment
- A Python client runs agent tasks programmatically with an API key. For enterprises, the company offers on-premises deployment and scientists embedded with the customer's team.
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
Edison Scientific
Pricing could not be confirmed. See edisonscientific.com.
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
Edison Scientific
No public discounts listed.
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.
