Google Pinpoint vs Paperguide (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Google Pinpoint and Paperguide share a 2.6 GPA, both have a free plan, and Google Pinpoint has no paid plan to buy, against $12 a month for each person for Paperguide.
Checked Oct 5, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Google Pinpoint grades higher on value for money and the free plan. Paperguide grades higher on features and platforms. They get the same grade on ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Google Pinpoint
Free Google tool for searching large document collections
Paperguide
AI research platform for literature and systematic reviews
Which one is for you
Pick Google Pinpoint if
- Fits if you are a journalist sifting through large document dumps
- Works for academics who need to search their own transcripts and PDFs
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you need instant sign-up, as full access to create collections is by request
- Skip it if you want to search published papers, since it searches only what you upload
- Watch out: a work or school Google account may be blocked by your administrator
- Too light for citations or a paper library, as it has neither
Pick Paperguide if
- Fits if your team runs systematic reviews and needs every screening decision documented
- Works for students and academics, who get 30% off with a university email
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you're staying free, with 20 AI searches and 2,000 credits a month, and no systematic reviews or shared workspaces
- Pricey if you need dual-reviewer screening, which sits on Evidence at $89 a seat a month billed annually
- Watch out: every AI feature draws on one monthly credit pool, 12,500 on Plus and 50,000 on Pro
- Skip it if you were counting on image and table extraction, as that's still marked coming soon
- Not for you if you want a phone or desktop app, as only a web app and browser extension are listed
How we grade them
| 2.6GPAGoogle PinpointGood | 2.6GPAPaperguideGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AFree, and Google says it charges no fee for read-only or full access. | CPlus is $12 a seat a month billed annually, or $19 monthly, which is the middle of this category exactly. It does carry systematic reviews of up to 1,000 papers, unlimited AI searches and 12,500 credits a month, and a university email takes 30% off. Dual-reviewer screening is another matter: Evidence, at $89. |
| Free plan and trial | BNo payment at any level, but only read-only access to public collections is open to anyone. Making your own collections needs full access, which Google grants on request. | CFree gives you 2,000 AI credits and 20 AI searches a month, 500 MB of reference storage and extraction tables of up to 10 papers and 5 columns. Enough to learn the tool, not to run a project on: there are no systematic reviews and no shared workspaces. |
| Features | CDocument collections, search filters, transcription, Gemini answers and tables to spreadsheets. It covers your own files only, not scholarly literature. | ATwo parts rivals like Elicit and Consensus don't list: screening that ends in a PRISMA diagram with dual-reviewer checking, and a full reference manager with 1,000-plus citation styles. Then AI search across 200 million papers, extraction tables, an agent and a writer. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record, and you build collections and upload files before it is useful. | CNo store rating on record, and the work is front-loaded: a protocol to define for screening, columns to set up for extraction, and one monthly credit pool that every AI feature draws on. It does import a Zotero or Mendeley library, so your references don't start from nothing. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb only, with Google Drive and Gemini as the connections. No API or apps are listed. | BA web app with a browser extension, plus a Search API at 10 requests a month on Free and 500 on Pro. It imports from Zotero and Mendeley and connects to Claude and ChatGPT. No phone or desktop app is listed, so that API is what earns the B. |
| Best for | searching big piles of documents | search, references and reviews in one workspace |
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: Google Pinpoint and Paperguide. How we grade
Price against what you get
Google Pinpoint has no paid plan and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Paperguide starts at $12 a month for each person and scores 3.0.
Paperguide scores higher, and starts $12 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other AI research tools on the chart, none scores higher than Google Pinpoint for less, and none scores higher than Paperguide for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Google Pinpoint also covers transcription and documents.
- Paperguide also covers chat assistant, AI agents, citations and long-form writing.
At a glance
| Google Pinpoint | Paperguide | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free plan |
| Starts at | Free | $12 per seat / month, billed annually ($8 with the academic discount) |
| Free plan | Google states it charges no fee to use Pinpoint, with either read-only or full access. | 2,000 AI credits and 20 AI searches a month, 500 MB of reference storage, extraction tables of up to 10 papers and 5 columns, and 10 Search API requests a month. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Paperguide | |
| Price read from | support.google.com | paperguide.ai |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Google Pinpoint
- Creating and editing collections needs full access, which Google offers to journalists, academics and content creators on request.
- Work or school Google accounts may be blocked by the organization's administrator.
- Pinpoint is not covered by Google Workspace terms of service; Google's general terms apply.
- It searches your own uploaded documents, not scholarly literature databases.
Paperguide
- The Free plan has no systematic reviews or shared workspaces and is limited to 20 AI searches and 2,000 AI credits a month.
- AI features draw on a monthly credit pool: 12,500 on Plus, 50,000 on Pro and 150,000 on Evidence.
- Dual-reviewer screening for systematic reviews needs the Evidence plan, at $89 per seat / month billed annually.
- Image and table extraction is marked as coming soon on the pricing page.
Key features
Google Pinpoint
- Document collections
- Upload files from a computer or Google Drive into private collections of PDFs, images, handwritten pages, emails and audio.
- Search and filters
- Advanced search supports exact match and exclusions, and documents can be filtered by the people, organizations and places found in them.
- Audio and video transcription
- Turns recordings into searchable text and lets you jump from selected text to the matching point in the audio.
- Gemini research answers
- Uses Gemini to answer research questions with supporting evidence from the documents in a collection.
- Tables to spreadsheets
- Converts scanned tables or many similarly structured documents into sortable spreadsheets without code.
- Sharing and public collections
- Share collections with colleagues, or explore public collections published by news organizations.
Paperguide
- AI Search
- Ask a research question in plain language and get a synthesized answer drawn from more than 200 million papers, with each claim linked to its source.
- Systematic reviews
- Screens papers against a predefined protocol with cited evidence for each criterion, then produces verified extraction tables, a report and a PRISMA diagram. Dual-reviewer screening is on the Evidence plan.
- Reference manager
- Imports from Zotero or Mendeley, or by DOI, URL, PDF, BibTeX or RIS, fetches metadata and open-access PDFs, and formats citations in more than 1,000 styles.
- Extract Data
- You define the columns and the AI fills them across the selected papers, with every value linked to the statement it came from. Tables export to CSV or Excel.
- Research Agent
- Investigates a topic across the paper database and your library, answers questions about one or several PDFs, and can generate a literature review of up to 50 papers.
- AI Writer
- Drafts and edits documents with citations from your library and the paper database, and exports them as Word, PDF or LaTeX files.
Plans
Google Pinpoint
Free$0
Read-only access to public collections for any Google account; creating collections needs full access.
Paperguide
Free$0
2,000 AI credits and 20 AI searches a month, 500 MB of reference storage, and extraction tables of up to 10 papers and 5 columns.
Plus$12
per seat / month, billed annually ($144); $19 billed monthly
12,500 AI credits a month, systematic reviews of up to 1,000 papers, unlimited AI searches and reference storage, and shared workspaces.
Pro$29
per seat / month, billed annually ($348); $49 billed monthly
50,000 AI credits a month, systematic reviews of up to 5,000 papers and 500 Search API requests a month.
Evidence$89
per seat / month, billed annually ($1,068); $149 billed monthly
150,000 AI credits a month, PRISMA-grade dual-reviewer screening, a dedicated support channel and 1,500 Search API requests a month.
EnterpriseCustom
Custom AI credits, systematic reviews of up to 20,000 papers, dual-reviewer screening and a dedicated support channel.
Ways to pay less
Google Pinpoint
No public discounts listed.
Paperguide
- Annual discount
Save up to 41% with yearly billing
Billed yearly, Plus is $12 a seat per month against $19 billed monthly, Pro is $29 against $49 and Evidence is $89 against $149. The pricing page labels the saving as 41%.
- Education
30% academic discount with a university email
Verifying a university email takes 30% off: Plus becomes $8, Pro $20 and Evidence $62 per seat / month billed yearly, or $13, $34 and $104 billed monthly.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Google Pinpoint or Paperguide?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Google Pinpoint is cheaper to start with: it is free, against $12 a month for each person for Paperguide. Google Pinpoint is free, and Paperguide starts at $12 per seat / month, billed annually ($8 with the academic discount).
Which has a free plan, Google Pinpoint or Paperguide?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Google Pinpoint and Paperguide have a free plan.
Which platforms do Google Pinpoint and Paperguide run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Paperguide lists a browser extension. 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.