Keenious vs Zotero (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Zotero grades higher than Keenious: 2.8 against 2.6 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 ease of use. Zotero grades higher on value for money. 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
Zotero
Free, open-source reference manager from a nonprofit
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 Zotero if
- Fits if you want a no-cost reference library that works with Word or Google Docs
- Works for a group that wants shared libraries on a nonprofit tool
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want AI summaries or chat, as none is described on its pages
- Tight if you sync lots of PDFs: 300 MB is free, then $20 a year for 2 GB
- Watch out: group libraries draw on the group owner's storage
- Watch out: no web app is listed in the platforms
How we grade them
| 2.6GPAKeeniousGood | 2.8GPAZoteroGood | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | AThe app is free and open source, with every feature in the free version. Paid plans only buy storage: $20 a year for 2 GB, $60 for 6 GB and $120 for unlimited. |
| 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 full app is free, with 300 MB of synced file storage. A few hundred PDFs will go past that, but you can use it unsynced. |
| 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. | CCollects from the web, collections, tags, saved searches, citations in your editor, sync and shared libraries. As an AI research tool it has a gap, since no built-in AI chat or summaries are described. |
| 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. You install the app, a browser connector and a word processor plug-in, and learn collections and tags. |
| 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. | BMac, Windows, Linux, iPhone and Android, with Word, LibreOffice and Google Docs. |
| Best for | finding sources that match your draft | collecting and citing sources 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 Zotero. 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. Zotero starts at $1.67 a month when paid by the year and scores 2.3.
Keenious scores higher, and starts $8.33 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other AI research tools on the chart, 3 score higher than Keenious for less, and 2 score higher than Zotero 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
- Zotero is open source, according to its own site.
- Keenious also covers chat assistant and AI search.
- Zotero also covers web clipper, highlights and file sync.
At a glance
| Keenious | Zotero | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $10 per month, billed annually ($20 billed monthly) | $20 per year for 2 GB of file storage |
| Free plan | All search results, 3 conversations a day with 5 AI responses each, and PDF uploads of up to 3 MB. | The app is free; syncing files uses 300 MB of free storage. Group libraries draw on the group owner's storage. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Keenious AS | Corporation for Digital Scholarship |
| Price read from | keenious.com | zotero.org |
| 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.
Zotero
- Only 300 MB of file storage is free; larger PDF collections need a paid storage plan.
- The pages read for this entry describe no built-in AI chat or summarizing feature.
- Paid plans buy storage only; every feature of the app is already in the free version.
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.
Zotero
- Collect from the web
- Zotero senses articles, books and news stories on pages you browse and saves the full reference with one click.
- Collections, tags and saved searches
- Sort items into collections, tag them with keywords, or create saved searches that fill automatically as you add material.
- Citations in your editor
- Inserts references and bibliographies in Word, LibreOffice and Google Docs, with more than 9,000 citation styles.
- Optional sync
- Syncs your library and files across devices, and lets you open your research from any web browser.
- Shared libraries
- Share a library with as many people as you like at no cost, for co-writing or course materials.
- Open source
- The vendor describes Zotero as open source and run by a nonprofit with no financial interest in your data.
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.
Zotero
Free$0
The full app, with 300 MB of file storage for syncing PDFs, images and snapshots.
2 GB$20
per year ($1.67 per month)
2 GB of file storage.
6 GB$60
per year ($5 per month)
6 GB of file storage.
Unlimited$120
per year ($10 per month)
Unlimited file storage.
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.
Zotero
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Keenious or Zotero?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Zotero is cheaper to start with: $1.67 a month when paid by the year, against $10 a month for Keenious. Keenious starts at $10 per month, billed annually ($20 billed monthly), and Zotero starts at $20 per year for 2 GB of file storage.
Which has a free plan, Keenious or Zotero?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Keenious and Zotero have a free plan.
Which platforms do Keenious and Zotero run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Keenious lists a web app and only Zotero lists macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android apps. 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.