Paperguide vs Sharly AI (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Paperguide grades higher than Sharly AI: 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
Paperguide grades higher on features. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Paperguide
AI research platform for literature and systematic reviews
Sharly AI
AI workspace for summarizing, comparing and citing documents
Which one is for you
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
Pick Sharly AI if
- Fits if you compare several documents and need citations
- Works for someone who keeps documents in Notion, Google Docs or Dropbox
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free: 5 documents a day and 50 messages a month, if the plan card is right
- Skip it if you share work, as Pro is for one user and sharing needs Team
- Pricey if you need SSO, audit logs or private deployments, which are sales-only on Business
- Watch out: monthly-billing prices aren't visible on the pricing page
How we grade them
| 2.6GPAPaperguideGood | 2.2GPASharly AIFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | CPro is $12.50 a month billed yearly, the upper end of a category whose middle is $10. Team is $24 per seat. |
| Free plan and trial | 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. | CA free plan with 5 documents a day and 50 messages a month. The plan card says 5 a day, but the comparison table says 10 documents a month, so the cap is unclear. |
| Features | 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. | CSummaries, sourced answers, cross-document comparison and citation formats. Shared workspaces and annotations need Team, and SSO and audit logs are on a sales-only Business plan. |
| Ease of use | 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. | CNo store rating on record. You upload and connect documents and set up workspaces. |
| Platforms and integrations | 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. | BWeb only, with Notion, Google Docs and Dropbox. |
| Best for | search, references and reviews in one workspace | summarizing and comparing documents with citations |
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: Paperguide and Sharly AI. How we grade
Price against what you get
Paperguide starts at $12 a month for each person and scores 3.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Sharly AI starts at $12.50 a month and scores 2.3.
Paperguide scores higher and starts $0.50 a month lower. Of the other AI research tools on the chart, none scores higher than Paperguide for less, and 16 score higher than Sharly AI 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
- Paperguide also covers AI search, AI agents and long-form writing.
- Sharly AI also covers documents.
At a glance
| Paperguide | Sharly AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $12 per seat / month, billed annually ($8 with the academic discount) | $12.5 per month, billed yearly |
| Free plan | 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. | One user, 5 documents a day, fast answers and a 10k context length. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Paperguide | VOX AI Inc. |
| Price read from | paperguide.ai | sharly.ai |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
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.
Sharly AI
- The pricing page shows only yearly-billed prices; the monthly-billing prices are not visible, so the monthly cost of month-to-month billing is not confirmed.
- The free plan's limits are shown as 5 documents a day in the plan card but 10 documents a month in the comparison table, so the exact cap is unclear.
- Pro is for one user; shared workspaces and annotations need Team, which lists up to 100 seats.
- SSO / SAML, audit logs and private deployments are on the sales-only Business plan.
Key features
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.
Sharly AI
- Summaries and key insights
- Uploaded documents get an automatic summary, topics and highlights. PDF, DOCX, PPTX and Notion exports are listed as supported formats.
- Sourced answers
- Answers point back to the pages of the uploaded files they came from, and a docs-only mode restricts the assistant to your documents.
- Cross-document comparison
- Key metrics from several documents can be lined up in a table, with matches, conflicts and missing data flagged.
- Citation formats
- Citations can be switched between APA, MLA and Chicago styles. The comparison table lists a citation format switcher as a paid-plan feature.
- Team annotations
- The Team plan adds shared workspaces, annotations, and citation history for groups working across the same documents.
Plans
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.
Sharly AI
Free$0
One user with instant summaries and AI answers, 5 documents a day, PDF, DOCX and Notion uploads, 50 messages a month.
Pro$12.5
per month, billed yearly
For solo researchers: unlimited uploads, 1,000 messages a month, reasoning capabilities, a 50k context length, and a stated no-training-on-your-data policy.
Team$24
per seat / month, billed yearly
Up to 100 seats, unlimited documents and chats, team annotations, knowledge retention, semantic extraction, and analytics with citation history.
BusinessCustom
Unlimited seats, admin dashboard with role-based access, version history and audit logs, SSO / SAML, and private deployments. Sold through sales.
Ways to pay less
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.
Sharly AI
- Annual discount
20% off with yearly billing
The pricing page marks the Yearly option as 20% off; the prices shown are the yearly-billed ones.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Paperguide or Sharly AI?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Paperguide starts at $12 per seat / month, billed annually ($8 with the academic discount), and Sharly AI starts at $12.5 per month, billed yearly. 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, Paperguide or Sharly AI?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Paperguide and Sharly AI have a free plan.
Which platforms do Paperguide and Sharly AI run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Paperguide lists a browser extension. Both list a web app. 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.