Litmaps vs Scite

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

Scite

• Checking whether a paper's findings were supported or disputed by later work
• Searching inside the full text of licensed journal articles
• Researchers who want cited answers inside Claude or ChatGPT

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.

Scite

• No free plan is listed; after the 7-day trial a paid subscription is needed.
• The pricing page also offers annual billing and a Team plan for labs; those prices could not be confirmed in page text and are left out here.
• Patent, clinical trial and grant search and Collections above 1,000 papers need the Pro plan.
• MCP use is capped by monthly credits: 250 on Basic and 2,500 on Pro.

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.

Scite

Smart Citations

Shows how later research has cited a paper: whether the citing statements support, contrast or simply mention its findings, with the surrounding context.

Scite Assistant

Answers questions from the scientific literature and links every claim back to the specific sentence in the paper it came from.

Full-text search

Searches inside more than 280 million full-text articles under agreements with Wiley, SAGE and 30+ other publishers, alongside preprints, books, patents and datasets.

Collections and citation alerts

Group papers into Collections of up to 1,000 papers on Basic or 10,000 on Pro, and get alerts about new citations.

Browser extension

Adds Smart Citation counts to paper listings on Google Scholar, PubMed and publisher sites. Clicking a badge opens the full Scite report.

MCP, Zotero and API access

Runs inside Claude, ChatGPT and other MCP-compatible assistants, plugs into Zotero and offers an API for teams building their own tools.

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.

Scite

• Basic$20

  per month, billed monthly

  Unlimited Assistant queries, full-text search, Smart Citation reports, citation alerts, 250 MCP credits a month and Collections of up to 1,000 papers.

• Pro$50

  per month, billed monthly

  Everything in Basic, plus 2,500 MCP credits a month, Collections of up to 10,000 papers, and search across patents, clinical trials and grants.

• EnterpriseCustom

  For organizations and universities: unlimited users with pooled usage, SAML/SSO, access by domain, IP or email, and regulatory and safety datasets.

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.

Scite

• Education

  Student and academic discount on request

  The pricing FAQ says students and academics who recommend Scite to their institution by email, copying Scite's sales and support addresses, are sent a discount code. The amount is not stated.