Elicit vs Paper Digest (2026): which should you pick?

Pick Elicit if

• Fits if you're running a systematic review and want the screening and data extraction automated
• Works for students and casual readers, since free search, summaries and paper chat are unlimited

Look elsewhere if

• Pricey if you're outside a university, with Pro at $49 a user a month billed yearly and $75 monthly
• Skip it if you want real-time collaboration or extraction from figures on a budget, as both need Scale at $229 a user a month billed yearly, $375 monthly
• Tight if your workload is lumpy, because monthly usage doesn't roll over and extra is billed in $100 steps
• Watch out: the pricing page opens on industry rates, and the $11 academic Plus plan shows only once you switch
• Too light for phone or desktop use, with a web app and Chrome extension only, and an integration list that stops at Zotero

Pick Paper Digest if

• Fits if you want a cited literature review draft for a topic
• Works for someone who wants a daily digest of new papers in their field

Look elsewhere if

• Not for you if you want a price, since the pricing page showed placeholders only
• Skip it if you want a desktop or phone app, as only the web is described
• Watch out: free limits aren't stated, only that some features work without signing in
• Watch out: the default literature review uses large language models for its prose

Elicit

• The pricing page defaults to industry rates; the $11 Plus plan appears only when Academic is selected.
• The systematic review workflow, Routines and API access start at the Pro plan.
• Monthly usage does not roll over. Extra usage on Pro and Scale is billed in $100 increments, up to a limit you set.
• Real-time collaboration, extraction from figures and the admin panel need Scale or Enterprise.

Paper Digest

• No pricing page could be read: the site's pricing URL shows a template table with placeholder values, so no plans or prices are recorded.
• The homepage says some features can be tried without signing in and labels several daily digests free, but the limits are not stated.
• The default literature review uses large language models for the final prose; the no-LLM version is a separate option.
• Only a web version is described; no desktop or mobile app is listed.

Elicit

Research Agent

Gathers evidence from scientific databases, journals, public data sources and uploaded documents, then produces cited reports, tables, figures and slides.

Paper and clinical trial search

Semantic search over more than 138 million papers from Semantic Scholar, PubMed and OpenAlex, plus about 545,000 clinical trials, so a query does not depend on exact keywords.

Research reports

Generates research briefs through a process modeled on systematic reviews. You can change which papers and what information a report covers.

Systematic review workflow

Automates screening and data extraction, with a Pro workflow that can screen 5,000 papers. A Chrome extension fetches full texts through your institution's journal access.

Library and Zotero import

Stores sources in collections with tags so they can be reused across projects, and takes in papers from Zotero, PDFs, and .ris or .bib files.

Routines and API

Routines rerun Research Agent work to pick up new evidence, and an API covers search, reports and systematic reviews. Both start at the Pro plan.

Paper Digest

Literature review

Takes a topic and writes a review from the most influential papers, patents, grants and trials around it, with a citation for each sentence. An option avoids large language models.

Deep research reports

Gathers evidence from the index and other sources into a cited report, with a claim-verification mode that collects evidence for and against an argument.

Academic reader

Upload a PDF or text file, or paste a link, and ask for a summary, the method, the results or any free-form question, answered beside the document.

Daily and conference digests

Follows new papers by topic, venue or keyword, including arXiv, bioRxiv, PubMed and ClinicalTrials.gov feeds, and sends daily updates.

Reference manager export

Reviews and reports can be exported as RIS or Markdown for Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote and Obsidian.

Research library

Members can save documents with notes, tags and reading status, and publish a reading list or researcher profile.

Elicit

• Basic$0

  Unlimited paper search, summaries and chat with papers, Zotero import, and limited Research Agent and report usage.

• Pro$49

  per user / month, billed annually ($588); $75 billed monthly

  Standard usage, a systematic review workflow that screens 5,000 papers, 20 table columns at a time, Routines and API access.

• Scale$229

  per user / month, billed annually ($2,748); $375 billed monthly

  5x the usage of Pro, real-time collaboration, extraction from figures, 30 table columns at a time and an admin panel with seat management.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Custom usage, SSO and SAML, screening of 40,000 papers, 40 extraction columns, custom data sources and unlimited API access.

Paper Digest

Pricing could not be confirmed. See paperdigest.org.

Elicit

• Annual discount

  Save 35% to 39% with annual billing

  On industry pricing, Pro is $49 a month billed annually against $75 billed monthly, and Scale is $229 against $375. The pricing page labels these as savings of 35% and 39%.

• Education

  Academic pricing from $11 per user / month

  Choosing Academic on the pricing page shows Plus at $11, Pro at $39 and Scale at $89 per user / month, billed annually, or $19, $69 and $149 billed monthly.

• Nonprofit

  Nonprofits can use the academic plans

  Elicit has no separate nonprofit discount, but its help center says nonprofits can subscribe to the academic plans, its lowest pricing tier.

Paper Digest

No public discounts listed.