NoteGPT vs Paperguide (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Paperguide grades higher than NoteGPT: 2.6 against 2.0 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 5, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Paperguide grades higher on features and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
NoteGPT
AI notes, video summaries, transcription and research in one app
Paperguide
AI research platform for literature and systematic reviews
Which one is for you
Pick NoteGPT if
- Fits if you want summaries, notes and mind maps from videos in one app
- Works for someone who wants a browser extension for YouTube notes
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want to know the free plan's limits first, as the pricing page doesn't state them
- Watch out: refunds are available only within 24 hours of a first purchase, and discounted buys aren't refundable
- Watch out: transcription, image, voice and video generation all draw on the premium credits
- Watch out: prices shown are annual-billed amounts next to limited-time labels
Pick Paperguide if
- Fits if your team runs systematic reviews and needs every screening decision documented
- Works for students and academics, who get 30% off with a university email
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you're staying free, with 20 AI searches and 2,000 credits a month, and no systematic reviews or shared workspaces
- Pricey if you need dual-reviewer screening, which sits on Evidence at $89 a seat a month billed annually
- Watch out: every AI feature draws on one monthly credit pool, 12,500 on Plus and 50,000 on Pro
- Skip it if you were counting on image and table extraction, as that's still marked coming soon
- Not for you if you want a phone or desktop app, as only a web app and browser extension are listed
How we grade them
| 2.0GPANoteGPTFair | 2.6GPAPaperguideGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CPro is $9 a month billed yearly, between the research cheaper quarter at $7.50 and the middle at $10. The pricing page shows crossed-out monthly figures and limited-time labels, so the real monthly price wasn't visible. | CPlus is $12 a seat a month billed annually, or $19 monthly, which is the middle of this category exactly. It does carry systematic reviews of up to 1,000 papers, unlimited AI searches and 12,500 credits a month, and a university email takes 30% off. Dual-reviewer screening is another matter: Evidence, at $89. |
| Free plan and trial | CA free plan exists, but its limits aren't on the pricing page, so we can't say how far you get. | CFree gives you 2,000 AI credits and 20 AI searches a month, 500 MB of reference storage and extraction tables of up to 10 papers and 5 columns. Enough to learn the tool, not to run a project on: there are no systematic reviews and no shared workspaces. |
| Features | CSummaries, transcription, deep research, mind maps, notes and creation tools across multiple models. The listing says basic and premium credits are mixed, and heavy transcription or generation runs through the allowance. | ATwo parts rivals like Elicit and Consensus don't list: screening that ends in a PRISMA diagram with dual-reviewer checking, and a full reference manager with 1,000-plus citation styles. Then AI search across 200 million papers, extraction tables, an agent and a writer. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. Many tools in one app means a lot to learn. | CNo store rating on record, and the work is front-loaded: a protocol to define for screening, columns to set up for extraction, and one monthly credit pool that every AI feature draws on. It does import a Zotero or Mendeley library, so your references don't start from nothing. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb and a Chrome extension, with YouTube the only integration. | BA web app with a browser extension, plus a Search API at 10 requests a month on Free and 500 on Pro. It imports from Zotero and Mendeley and connects to Claude and ChatGPT. No phone or desktop app is listed, so that API is what earns the B. |
| Best for | summarizing YouTube videos and making notes | search, references and reviews in one workspace |
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: NoteGPT and Paperguide. How we grade
Price against what you get
NoteGPT starts at $9 a month and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Paperguide starts at $12 a month for each person and scores 3.0.
Paperguide scores higher, and starts $3 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other AI research tools on the chart, 13 score higher than NoteGPT for less, and none scores higher than Paperguide 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
- NoteGPT also covers transcription, notes, mind mapping and text to speech.
- Paperguide also covers AI search, AI agents, citations and long-form writing.
At a glance
| NoteGPT | Paperguide | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $9 per month, billed annually | $12 per seat / month, billed annually ($8 with the academic discount) |
| Free plan | A Free plan exists, but the pricing page does not state its limits. | 2,000 AI credits and 20 AI searches a month, 500 MB of reference storage, extraction tables of up to 10 papers and 5 columns, and 10 Search API requests a month. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | NoteGPT | Paperguide |
| Price read from | notegpt.io | paperguide.ai |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Worth knowing
NoteGPT
- The prices on the page are annual-billed amounts shown with crossed-out monthly figures and a limited-time label; the monthly-billing prices were not shown in the page text.
- Plans mix basic and premium credits, and the premium ones cover transcription, image, voice and video generation, so heavy use of those runs through the monthly allowance quickly.
- The pricing page does not state the Free plan's limits.
- Refunds are available only within 24 hours of a first purchase, and discounted purchases are not refundable.
Paperguide
- The Free plan has no systematic reviews or shared workspaces and is limited to 20 AI searches and 2,000 AI credits a month.
- AI features draw on a monthly credit pool: 12,500 on Plus, 50,000 on Pro and 150,000 on Evidence.
- Dual-reviewer screening for systematic reviews needs the Evidence plan, at $89 per seat / month billed annually.
- Image and table extraction is marked as coming soon on the pricing page.
Key features
NoteGPT
- YouTube and media summaries
- Summarizes YouTube videos, audio, PDFs and more into notes, and the extension works on pages in the browser. Plans differ in how many videos can be processed at once.
- Transcription
- Transcribes audio and video with timestamps and separates speakers. Basic transcription is unlimited on the Unlimited and Max plans; premium transcription draws on premium credits.
- Deep research reports
- The AI agent produces research reports with cited sources, and can search the web, analyze data and make charts.
- Mind maps and notes
- Summaries can be turned into mind maps, translated, and kept in a My Notes area.
- Creation tools
- The same credits pay for slides, images, speech, podcasts and video generation, plus an AI detector and humanizer.
- Multiple models
- The agent routes work across GPT, Claude, Gemini and DeepSeek models, and the plans cap how many chats with premium models are included.
Paperguide
- AI Search
- Ask a research question in plain language and get a synthesized answer drawn from more than 200 million papers, with each claim linked to its source.
- Systematic reviews
- Screens papers against a predefined protocol with cited evidence for each criterion, then produces verified extraction tables, a report and a PRISMA diagram. Dual-reviewer screening is on the Evidence plan.
- Reference manager
- Imports from Zotero or Mendeley, or by DOI, URL, PDF, BibTeX or RIS, fetches metadata and open-access PDFs, and formats citations in more than 1,000 styles.
- Extract Data
- You define the columns and the AI fills them across the selected papers, with every value linked to the statement it came from. Tables export to CSV or Excel.
- Research Agent
- Investigates a topic across the paper database and your library, answers questions about one or several PDFs, and can generate a literature review of up to 50 papers.
- AI Writer
- Drafts and edits documents with citations from your library and the paper database, and exports them as Word, PDF or LaTeX files.
Plans
NoteGPT
Pro$9
per month, billed annually
1,000 basic quotas and 100 premium credits a month, 5 YouTube videos at once, 1 GB per local file. Shown with a crossed-out $9.99 a month and a Save 10% label.
Unlimited$19.92
per month, billed annually
Unlimited basic quotas, 2,800 premium credits a month, 10 YouTube videos at once and 5 GB per local file. Shown with a crossed-out $29 a month and a limited-time Save 30% label.
Max$69
per month, billed annually
Unlimited basic quotas, 10,000 premium credits a month, 20 YouTube videos at once and 5 GB per local file. Shown with a crossed-out $99 a month and a limited-time Save 30% label.
Paperguide
Free$0
2,000 AI credits and 20 AI searches a month, 500 MB of reference storage, and extraction tables of up to 10 papers and 5 columns.
Plus$12
per seat / month, billed annually ($144); $19 billed monthly
12,500 AI credits a month, systematic reviews of up to 1,000 papers, unlimited AI searches and reference storage, and shared workspaces.
Pro$29
per seat / month, billed annually ($348); $49 billed monthly
50,000 AI credits a month, systematic reviews of up to 5,000 papers and 500 Search API requests a month.
Evidence$89
per seat / month, billed annually ($1,068); $149 billed monthly
150,000 AI credits a month, PRISMA-grade dual-reviewer screening, a dedicated support channel and 1,500 Search API requests a month.
EnterpriseCustom
Custom AI credits, systematic reviews of up to 20,000 papers, dual-reviewer screening and a dedicated support channel.
Ways to pay less
NoteGPT
- Annual discount
Annual billing priced below monthly
The pricing page's default Annually view carries a Save 30% label, and each plan shows its yearly total next to the crossed-out monthly-rate total, for example $239 a year against $348 for Unlimited.
Paperguide
- Annual discount
Save up to 41% with yearly billing
Billed yearly, Plus is $12 a seat per month against $19 billed monthly, Pro is $29 against $49 and Evidence is $89 against $149. The pricing page labels the saving as 41%.
- Education
30% academic discount with a university email
Verifying a university email takes 30% off: Plus becomes $8, Pro $20 and Evidence $62 per seat / month billed yearly, or $13, $34 and $104 billed monthly.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, NoteGPT or Paperguide?
As of Nov 12, 2026, NoteGPT starts at $9 per month, billed annually, and Paperguide starts at $12 per seat / month, billed annually ($8 with the academic discount). One is priced for each person and the other is not, so which costs less depends on how many of you use it.
Which has a free plan, NoteGPT or Paperguide?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both NoteGPT and Paperguide 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.