Paperpile vs Scholarcy (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Scholarcy grades higher than Paperpile: 2.6 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 5, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Scholarcy grades higher on value for money and ease of use. 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.
Paperpile
Reference manager built around Google Drive, Docs and Word
Scholarcy
Summarizes research papers into interactive flashcards
Which one is for you
Pick Paperpile if
- Fits if you write in Google Docs and keep your files in Drive
- Works for students and researchers who want citations dropped into Word
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a plan that stays free, as there is only a 30-day trial
- Tight if you pay monthly, as there is no monthly billing and all plans bill annually
- Watch out: full-text PDF search, notes, annotations and shared libraries need Expert
- Watch out: sign-up is through a Google account, and the page says only Chrome can be used to sign up
- Skip it if you use Safari or Firefox, as support is described as a beta coming later
Pick Scholarcy if
- Fits if you have a stack of papers and need to decide which ones to read in full
- Works for building a literature matrix or one bibliography from many papers
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you need a tool that finds papers, as this one summarizes what you give it
- Tight if you're staying free, with 10 summaries on the pricing page or 1 a day in the FAQ, and 11 MB files
- Watch out: the 7-day trial of Plus starts billing unless you cancel first
- Not for you if you want summaries in your own language or a phone app: enhanced summaries are in English, and no app is listed
- Watch out: the site turns automated readers away, so the prices here come from archived copies from March and April 2026
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAPaperpileFair | 2.6GPAScholarcyGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CRegular is $8.30 a month on annual billing, above the $7.92 that starts the cheaper quarter of research tools. Expert is $11.50. | BScholarcy Plus is $90 a year, which works out at $7.50 a month, or $9.99 billed monthly. That sits in the cheapest quarter of this category, and summaries are unlimited. One caution: Scholarcy's site turns automated readers away, so these prices come from archived copies from March and April 2026. |
| Free plan and trial | CA 30-day free trial, with the page not saying a card is needed, and no free plan after it. | CThere's a free Article Summarizer, but its limit is given two ways: 10 summaries on the pricing page, 1 a day in the FAQ. Either way you'll hit it. Files are capped at 11 MB too, and the 7-day trial of the paid plan starts billing unless you cancel first. |
| Features | CSaving papers, a library, citations in Word and Docs, PDF reading and BibTeX. Full-text search, notes, annotations and shared libraries are not in Regular. | CIt summarizes: flashcards with key concepts and highlights, seven rewrite styles from school level to researcher, a comparison with earlier research, a paper's tables as one Excel file, several cards combined into a literature matrix. That's one job, though. It won't find a paper for you. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. Sign-up is through a Google account and Chrome. | BNo store rating on record, so B is the ceiling. There's nothing to set up, though: import a file or paste a link and a flashcard comes back, and the extensions summarise whatever page you have open. Worth knowing that enhanced summaries come out in English whatever the source language. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, an extension, iPhone and Android, with Docs, Word, Drive, Overleaf, OneDrive, Scopus and Web of Science. No desktop app. | BA web app with extensions for Chrome, Edge and Firefox. It imports from Zotero, Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive, and exports to Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Markdown for Obsidian, Roam and Notion. No phone or desktop app is on the listing. |
| Best for | a reference manager for Google Docs and Word | deciding which papers to read in full |
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: Paperpile and Scholarcy. How we grade
Price against what you get
Paperpile starts at $8.30 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Scholarcy starts at $7.50 a month when paid by the year and scores 2.7.
Scholarcy scores higher and starts $0.80 a month lower. Of the other AI research tools on the chart, 12 score higher than Paperpile for less, and 2 score higher than Scholarcy 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
- Paperpile also covers web clipper and highlights.
At a glance
| Paperpile | Scholarcy | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free plan |
| Starts at | $8.30 per month, billed annually | $90 per year, or $9.99 per month billed monthly |
| Free plan | None | Free Article Summarizer: the pricing page lists a limit of 10 summaries with flashcards exported one at a time, and its FAQ gives the limit as 1 summary per day. |
| Free trial | 30-day free trial | 7-day free trial of the paid plan; billing starts afterward unless you cancel first. |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Paperpile LLC | Scholarcy Limited |
| Price read from | paperpile.com | web.archive.org (not the vendor's own page) |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Paperpile
- All plans are billed annually; the pricing page says there is no monthly billing.
- Sign-up is through a Google account, and the page says only Chrome can be used to sign up.
- Full-text PDF search, notes, annotations and shared libraries are not in the Regular plan.
- Safari and Firefox support is described as a beta that is coming later.
Scholarcy
- Scholarcy's site turned automated readers away, so prices come from Internet Archive copies of its price data (April 2026) and pricing page (March 2026).
- The free Article Summarizer is limited to 10 summaries on the pricing page and 1 summary per day in its FAQ.
- Free accounts can import files of up to 11 MB; a subscription raises the limit to 50 MB.
- The synopsis and enhanced summaries are written in English even when the source is in another language.
Key features
Paperpile
- Save papers from the web
- A browser extension saves papers and PDFs from publisher pages and academic databases, and extracts metadata from PDFs you upload.
- Library organization
- Folders, labels, duplicate detection and merging, and automatic fixing of missing metadata keep a large library tidy.
- Citations in Word and Google Docs
- Plugins insert citations and bibliographies in more than 10,000 styles. Custom styles need the Expert plan.
- PDF reading and annotation
- Highlight and note PDFs in the app. Notes and PDF annotations are Expert features, as is collaborative annotation.
- BibTeX and LaTeX
- Export and import BibTeX, customize citation keys, and on Expert keep a .bib file synced to Google Drive or Overleaf.
- Sharing
- Share with private links on every plan. Shared folders and shared libraries with access permissions are on Expert.
Scholarcy
- Summary flashcards
- Each imported document becomes a structured flashcard with key concepts, highlights, a summary and a sidebar of important points that jump to the relevant section.
- Enhance modes
- A summary can be rewritten in seven styles, among them school level, general reader, undergrad level, researcher, a bulleted list, a one-liner or around your own question.
- Research comparison
- Shows how a study differs from, builds on, confirms or counters earlier research. References carry Scite data on how often a cited paper has been supported or disputed.
- Tables, figures and references
- Extracts figures with their captions, downloads a paper's tables as one Excel file, and exports the reference list as RIS or BibTeX for a reference manager.
- Import and browser extensions
- Takes PDF, Word, PowerPoint, HTML, XML, LaTeX and text files, article and YouTube URLs, and imports from Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive and Zotero. Extensions summarize the page you have open.
- Export and literature matrix
- Flashcards export to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, RIS and Markdown for Obsidian, Roam and Notion. Several flashcards can be combined into a literature matrix or one bibliography.
Plans
Paperpile
Regular$8.30
per month, billed annually
Reference collection, PDF storage, citations in all major styles and BibTeX, and basic Word and Google Docs integrations.
Expert$11.50
per month, billed annually
Adds full-text search across PDFs, notes and annotations, shared folders and libraries, and any file type.
Enterprise and InstitutionsCustom
Everything in Expert plus SAML single sign-on, a custom MSA and SLA, vendor security reviews and HIPAA support.
Scholarcy
Free Article Summarizer$0
Imports a range of file formats, with a limit of 10 summaries and flashcards exported one at a time.
Scholarcy Plus$9.99
per month, billed monthly; $90 billed yearly
Unlimited and enhanced summaries, a saved flashcard library with notes and highlights, export of up to 100 flashcards at once and literature matrices.
Ways to pay less
Paperpile
- Education
50% academic discount
Students, faculty, researchers and eligible nonprofits get 50% off, so Regular is $4.15 and Expert $5.75 per month billed annually.
- Other savings
Group discount on Expert
Expert plans get an automatic group discount of up to 20%, growing with the number of seats.
Scholarcy
- Annual discount
25% off with yearly billing
The archived pricing page labels the yearly Scholarcy Plus plan with a 25% discount: $90 a year against $9.99 a month.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Paperpile or Scholarcy?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Scholarcy is cheaper to start with: $7.50 a month when paid by the year, against $8.30 a month for Paperpile. Paperpile starts at $8.30 per month, billed annually, and Scholarcy starts at $90 per year, or $9.99 per month billed monthly.
Which has a free plan, Paperpile or Scholarcy?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Scholarcy has a free plan. Paperpile does not, though it has a free trial.
Which platforms do Paperpile and Scholarcy run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Paperpile lists iOS and Android apps. Both list a web app and a browser extension. 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.