Keenious vs Researcher.Life (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Keenious grades higher than Researcher.Life: 2.6 against 1.6 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 5, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Keenious grades higher on the free plan, ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money and features.
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
Researcher.Life
One subscription for Paperpal, R Discovery and other researcher tools
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 Researcher.Life if
- Fits if you want writing help and paper finding under a single bill
- Works for researchers who would use the journal finder and skill courses
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want to try before paying, because no free plan or trial is listed
- Not for you if you want one deep tool, as this is a bundle of separate ones
- Watch out: the page shows $12 a month beside $144, and which is billed monthly is not confirmed
- Tight if you want flexibility: multi-year terms do not auto-renew but are paid up front
How we grade them
| 2.6GPAKeeniousGood | 1.6GPAResearcher.LifeWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | CPrime is $12 a month, between the category's $10 middle and $14 dearer quarter. The $144 shown beside it is not clear, and multi-year is $9 a month for 3 years. |
| 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. | FNo free plan or trial is listed, only the Prime plan. |
| 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. | CLiterature recommender, writing assistant, illustration tool, journal finder and courses. A bundle of separate tools, so each does less than a product built for that one job. |
| 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, and several tools to learn behind one account. |
| 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. | CWeb only, with no API or integrations listed on the pricing page. |
| Best for | finding sources that match your draft | one subscription for writing and finding papers |
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 Researcher.Life. 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. Researcher.Life starts at $12 a month and scores 2.0.
Keenious scores higher and starts $2 a month lower. Of the other AI research tools on the chart, 3 score higher than Keenious for less, and 27 score higher than Researcher.Life 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 chat assistant.
- Researcher.Life also covers grammar & style.
At a glance
| Keenious | Researcher.Life | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Paid |
| Starts at | $10 per month, billed annually ($20 billed monthly) | $12 per month (shown as $144, billed monthly) |
| Free plan | All search results, 3 conversations a day with 5 AI responses each, and PDF uploads of up to 3 MB. | None |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Keenious AS | Editage |
| Price read from | keenious.com | researcher.life |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Nov 13, 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.
Researcher.Life
- Only a Prime plan is shown; no free plan was listed on the pricing page.
- The page shows $12 a month beside a $144 figure; whether $144 is monthly-billed or annual was not confirmed.
- Multi-year terms do not auto-renew.
- Pauses and cancellation are offered per the pricing page.
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.
Researcher.Life
- Literature recommender
- AI search across 300M+ papers, per the site, with collections and collaboration.
- Academic writing assistant
- Subject-specific language suggestions, plagiarism check and translation into 30+ languages.
- Scientific illustration tool
- Drag-and-drop editor with 75,000+ illustrations across 80+ fields.
- Journal finder
- Recommends journals from an abstract using a publisher-neutral database.
- Research skill courses
- A library of over 120 courses.
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.
Researcher.Life
Prime$12
per month; billing basis not fully shown
Academic writing assistant, scientific illustration tool, literature recommender, research skill courses, journal finder and research project assistant.
Prime (Multi-year)$9
per month for 3 years, $289 paid once, with no auto-renewal
The same benefits on a 2-year or 3-year term.
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.
Researcher.Life
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Keenious or Researcher.Life?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Keenious is cheaper to start with: $10 a month, against $12 a month for Researcher.Life. Keenious starts at $10 per month, billed annually ($20 billed monthly), and Researcher.Life starts at $12 per month (shown as $144, billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, Keenious or Researcher.Life?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Keenious has a free plan. Researcher.Life does not.
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.