Keenious vs Litmaps

Keenious

• Students looking for sources that match a draft essay or assignment
• Writers who want paper recommendations inside Word or Google Docs
• Researchers searching for literature across languages and disciplines
• Universities that want campus-wide access linked to library holdings

Litmaps

• Literature reviews that start from a handful of known papers
• Students and academics, who get 75% off Pro with an academic email
• Zotero users who want collections kept in sync while they search
• Researchers who want email alerts when related papers are published

Keenious

• The free plan allows 3 conversations a day with 5 AI responses each, and PDF uploads stop at 3 MB.
• Keenious Plus has no free trial, and the pricing FAQ says early cancellations are not refunded.
• Uploaded files and conversations are deleted automatically after 1 day.
• The site lists a web app and add-ins for Microsoft Word and Google Docs, but no mobile or desktop apps.

Litmaps

• The free plan allows 20 input articles per search and 2 Litmaps of up to 100 articles each.
• Advanced search filters, customizable Monitor alerts and Zotero Sync all need Litmaps Pro.
• The $10 Education price needs an academic email address; the standard Commercial license is $40 a month, billed annually.
• The homepage tells visitors on small screens that creating a Litmap needs a bigger screen, and no mobile app is listed.

Keenious

Search from your own text

Type a question, paste text or upload a PDF, and Keenious returns related papers. Results are retrieved from its index by meaning and keyword ranking; they are not written by a language model.

Chat about papers

Chat explains methods, statistics and terminology, including text you highlight in a paper. It runs on Google's Gemini 3.5 Flash, and there is no choice of model.

Search map

Shows each result as a dot placed by meaning, colored by research area and sized by citation count. Selecting an area filters the map and the list together.

Word and Google Docs add-ins

Keenious runs as a sidebar in Microsoft Word and Google Docs, so related research appears beside the document being written.

Search across languages

The site says Keenious can be used in nearly 100 languages, and a question in one language can find research written in another.

Bookmarks and citation export

Papers can be bookmarked, and results or bookmarks exported as citations for a reference manager; the help center points EndNote users to the RIS format.

Litmaps

Citation-network search

Start from one or more articles and Litmaps returns the most connected papers among their citations, references and co-citations, from a database of 270+ million articles.

Three search algorithms

Shared Citations & References is the default. Common Authors finds other work by the same collaborators, and Similar Text uses AI semantic analysis of titles and abstracts.

Visual literature maps

Results are shown as a Litmap of articles linked by citation. A map can be shared through a public link, with specific email addresses or as an exported image.

Monitor alerts

Monitor reruns a map's search and emails you about newly published articles. Every user can enable it; Pro users can set the frequency, algorithm and filters.

Import, export and Zotero Sync

Import BibTeX, RIS or PubMed files and export as BibTeX, RIS or CSV. Zotero Sync, a Pro feature, keeps Zotero collections and Litmaps Tags matched in both directions.

Advanced search filters

Pro users can narrow results by publication date, keyword, author, journal title, journal h-index and SJR quartile.

Keenious

• Free$0

  All search results, 5 AI responses per conversation, 3 conversations a day and a 3 MB file upload limit.

• Plus for Individuals$10

  per month, billed annually ($120); $45 quarterly or $20 monthly

  Unlimited conversations and responses, export of all results in formats such as RIS and BibTeX, and 20 MB file uploads.

• Plus for Teams$20

  per user / month, billed annually ($240); $90 quarterly or $40 monthly

  All Plus features with an admin console, centralized billing, two-factor authentication and dedicated support.

• InstitutionsCustom

  Access for all students and faculty with SSO, SAML or IP-based access, library collection links and a data processing agreement.

Litmaps

• Free$0

  Basic search with up to 20 inputs, 2 Litmaps of up to 100 articles each and monthly literature alerts.

• Pro (Education)$10

  per month, billed annually ($120); $12.50 billed monthly

  Needs an academic email address. Unlimited inputs, articles and Litmaps, advanced search and configurable alerts.

• Pro (Commercial)$40

  per month, billed annually ($480); $50 billed monthly

  The same Pro features on the standard license, for people without an academic affiliation.

• TeamCustom

  Pro features for every member in shared Team Workspaces, bought by the seat. The pricing page gives no public price.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Institution-wide and customizable licensing, arranged with the sales team.

Keenious

• Annual discount

  Annual billing is half the monthly rate

  The pricing page's price data lists Plus for Individuals at $120 a year, $45 a quarter or $20 a month, and Plus for Teams at $240, $90 or $40 per user.

• Education

  30% off annual billing for students

  The pricing FAQ offers students a 30% annual discount. They email the verification address from their institution's email account and receive a discount code.

Litmaps

• Annual discount

  Save 20% with annual billing

  Pro costs $10 a month billed annually against $12.50 billed monthly on an Education license, and $40 against $50 on a Commercial one. The pricing page labels the annual price as a 20% saving.

• Education

  75% off with an Educational License

  Students, professors and others affiliated with an educational institution qualify for the Educational License, which is 75% off the standard price.

• Other savings

  Country discounts in over 100 countries

  People doing most of their research in an eligible low or middle income country are shown a discount code when they upgrade in the app. More than 100 countries qualify.

• Nonprofit

  Special rates for nonprofits on request

  The Litmaps Pro help article invites nonprofits, publicly funded research and government education research to contact the company about special rates.