Keenious vs Mendeley (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Keenious grades higher than Mendeley: 2.6 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 5, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Keenious grades higher on value for money and ease of use. They get the same grade on the free plan, features and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Keenious
Academic search that recommends papers from your own text
Mendeley
Reference manager from Elsevier, with paid AI add-ons
Which one is for you
Pick Keenious if
- Fits if you have a draft essay and need sources that match it
- Works for people who write in Word or Google Docs and want papers suggested in the sidebar
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you're staying free, at 3 conversations a day with 5 AI responses each and 3 MB uploads
- Pricey if you pay monthly, at $20 against $10 a month on the annual plan
- Watch out: Plus has no free trial, and the FAQ says early cancellations aren't refunded
- Not for you if you want to keep your chats, as uploads and conversations are deleted after 1 day
- Skip it if you want a review written for you or a choice of AI model, as results are retrieved and chat runs on Gemini only
Pick Mendeley if
- Fits if you want a no-cost reference library and don't need AI
- Works for researchers already using Scopus or ScienceDirect
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you want its AI features, at $26 a month billed yearly
- Not for you if you're buying for a company, since Elsevier says the plans aren't for corporate use
- Watch out: Mendeley Premium is now part of LeapSpace, per the pricing page
- Watch out: AI in the free LeapSpace tier runs unlimited for 14 days, then limited and not inside Mendeley
How we grade them
| 2.6GPAKeeniousGood | 2.2GPAMendeleyFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CPlus is $10 a month if you pay the year up front ($120), which is where this category's prices start rather than below them. Month by month it's $20, the dear end here, and Plus has no trial, so you're committing blind. Students get 30% off the annual plan. | DThe AI features are on LeapSpace Individual at $26 a month billed yearly, more than twice the research middle of $10 and inside the dearest tenth, which starts at $20. The free LeapSpace tier excludes the AI inside Mendeley. |
| Free plan and trial | BEvery search result is free, and searching is the main product here, with no credits to count. The caps are on the chat: 3 conversations a day with 5 AI responses each, and uploads stop at 3 MB. One person could genuinely work on this. | BThe reference manager is free with 2 GB of storage, and a person can live on it. The LeapSpace free tier has unlimited AI for only 14 days, then limits. |
| Features | CIts own trick: paste or upload a draft and get related papers from 250 million works, as a list and as a map by research area. But the chat only explains methods and terms, results are retrieved rather than written up for you, and conversations are deleted after 1 day. | CA reference library, Ask My Library, a Reading Assistant, Compare Experiments and a Word add-in. The AI bits sit behind the paid plan, and desktop support couldn't be confirmed from the pages read. |
| Ease of use | BNo App Store rating on record, so this rests on the listing: there's no query to craft, you paste what you've already written, and the Word and Google Docs sidebars are add-ins you switch on. It works in nearly 100 languages, so a question in one can find research in another. | CNo store rating on record. A reference manager means importing a library, setting up folders and a plug-in. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, plus sidebars inside Microsoft Word and Google Docs, with results exported as citations for a reference manager. Universities can wire it to their library holdings through EBSCO or Primo. No phone or desktop app on the listing, and no API. | BListed as web only, because desktop apps couldn't be confirmed. It has a Word add-in and connects to Scopus and ScienceDirect. |
| Best for | finding sources that match your draft | managing a reference library for free |
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: Keenious and Mendeley. How we grade
Price against what you get
Keenious starts at $10 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Mendeley starts at $26 a month and scores 2.3.
Keenious scores higher and starts $16 a month lower. Of the other AI research tools on the chart, 3 score higher than Keenious for less, and 21 score higher than Mendeley 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
- Keenious also covers AI search.
- Mendeley also covers highlights.
At a glance
| Keenious | Mendeley | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $10 per month, billed annually ($20 billed monthly) | $26 per month, billed annually ($32 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | All search results, 3 conversations a day with 5 AI responses each, and PDF uploads of up to 3 MB. | Mendeley's reference manager is free, with 2 GB of storage. LeapSpace has a free tier whose AI features are unlimited for 14 days, then limited. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Keenious AS | Elsevier |
| Price read from | keenious.com | researcher.elsevier.com |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
Mendeley
- AI features inside Mendeley need a paid LeapSpace plan; the free LeapSpace tier excludes them.
- The pricing page says Mendeley Premium is now part of LeapSpace.
- Platform support for desktop apps could not be confirmed from the pages read, so only web is listed.
- Elsevier says the plans are not for corporate use.
Key features
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.
Mendeley
- Reference library
- Add PDFs to a library, organize them with collections and tags, then read, highlight and annotate in one place.
- Ask My Library
- On the paid plan, search, summarize and compare PDFs across your saved library; this works in Mendeley Reference Manager.
- Reading Assistant
- Summarize or question a saved document, with suggested follow-up questions.
- Compare Experiments
- Pull goals, methods and results from several studies into a table that exports as CSV.
- LeapSpace search
- Searches Scopus-indexed literature and builds Deep Research reports, with Trust Cards that show supporting sources.
- Word add-in
- The Individual plan lists a Microsoft Word add-in for inserting citations.
Plans
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.
Mendeley
LeapSpace Free$0
Search and other AI features free for 14 days, then with limits; does not include AI features in Mendeley.
LeapSpace Individual$26
per month, billed annually ($32 billed monthly)
Adds AI features in Mendeley and the Word add-in. Bills $320 yearly, $30 a month for 3-month terms.
LeapSpace OrganizationCustom
Institution-wide access, admin console and SSO; price on request.
Ways to pay less
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.
Mendeley
- Annual discount
Save $64 with yearly billing
The LeapSpace page shows $320 billed every 12 months against $32 a month billed monthly, labeled as saving $64.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Keenious or Mendeley?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Keenious is cheaper to start with: $10 a month, against $26 a month for Mendeley. Keenious starts at $10 per month, billed annually ($20 billed monthly), and Mendeley starts at $26 per month, billed annually ($32 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, Keenious or Mendeley?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Keenious and Mendeley have a free plan.
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.