Rayyan vs Scite (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Rayyan grades higher than Scite: 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
Rayyan grades higher on value for money and the free plan. Scite grades higher on features and platforms. They get the same grade on ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Rayyan
Systematic review screening with AI relevance predictions
Scite
Research assistant that shows how papers have been cited
Which one is for you
Pick Rayyan if
- Fits if you're a student or researcher screening for a review without a budget
- Works for small review teams that need the duplicate check and AI ranking
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free: 3 active reviews and 2 free reviewers
- Pricey if you're an institution, as ResearchPilot AI is Business at $2,500 a year from 5 licenses
- Watch out: PRISMA diagrams need Essential, and PICO extraction needs Advanced
- Watch out: SSO and API access are on the Enterprise plan only
- Watch out: the mobile app is limited on Free, and its platforms aren't listed
Pick Scite if
- Fits if you need to know whether a finding held up in later research
- Works for researchers who want cited answers inside Claude or ChatGPT through the MCP connector
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a free plan, as there's only a 7-day trial that rolls into a paid one
- Pricey if you need patent, clinical trial or grant search, or Collections past 1,000 papers, which start on Pro at $50 a month
- Tight if you lean on it through Claude or ChatGPT, with 250 MCP credits a month on Basic
- Watch out: annual billing and a Team plan are offered, but their prices couldn't be confirmed
- Not for you if you want a phone or desktop app, as only the web app and a browser extension are listed
How we grade them
| 2.6GPARayyanGood | 2.2GPASciteFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BEssential is $4.99 a seat a month billed yearly, and Advanced is $8.33. That's in the cheapest quarter, which starts at $7.50 for the category. Business is $41.67 per license, from 5 licenses. | DBasic is $20 a month billed monthly, which lands in the dearest tenth of a category whose middle is $10. Unlimited Assistant queries, full-text search and citation alerts are in. Patents, clinical trials, grants and Collections past 1,000 papers need Pro at $50. Annual billing exists at a price we couldn't confirm. |
| Free plan and trial | BFree forever with 3 active reviews, 2 free reviewers, a sample, duplicate detection and AI relevance predictions. One reviewer can live on that. | DNo free plan at all. New users get a 7-day trial, and it rolls into whichever plan you chose at sign-up unless you cancel first, so your card is in from the start. Set a reminder if you're only looking! |
| Features | BScreening, duplicate detection, team samples, PRISMA diagrams, PICO extraction and risk-of-bias tools. Nothing in the listing shows a gap in screening itself, but PRISMA and PICO sit on paid plans. | AScite's citation reports show whether later papers supported a finding, contrasted it or only mentioned it, with the context around each one, and nothing else in this category does that. The Assistant links every claim to a sentence, and search runs inside 280 million full-text articles under publisher agreements. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. You set up a review, invite reviewers and run the samples. | CNo store rating on record. The browser extension is the easy part, putting Scite's citation counts beside papers on Google Scholar and PubMed. The rest asks more of you: no free plan to practice on, Collections with size caps to watch, and MCP use running on a monthly credit count. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb, with a mobile app mentioned but no platforms listed. SSO and API access are Enterprise only, and no integrations are listed. | BA web app and a browser extension, plus a Zotero plugin, an API and an MCP connector that runs Scite inside Claude and ChatGPT. MCP use is capped at 250 credits a month on Basic. No phone or desktop app is listed, so those connectors are what earn the B. |
| Best for | screening papers for systematic reviews | checking if a paper's findings held up |
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: Rayyan and Scite. How we grade
Price against what you get
Rayyan starts at $4.99 a month for each person and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Scite starts at $20 a month and scores 3.0.
Scite scores higher, and starts $15.01 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other AI research tools on the chart, 2 score higher than Rayyan for less, and none scores higher than Scite 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
- Scite also covers chat assistant and AI search.
At a glance
| Rayyan | Scite | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $4.99 per seat / month, billed annually ($8.33 billed quarterly) | $20 per month, billed monthly |
| Free plan | Free forever: 3 active reviews, 2 free reviewers, 1 sample, duplicate detection and AI relevance predictions. | None |
| Free trial | None listed | 7-day free trial for new users; it rolls into the plan chosen at sign-up unless canceled first. |
| Web | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Rayyan | Scite LLC (Research Solutions) |
| Price read from | rayyan.ai | scite.ai |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Rayyan
- The free plan stops at 3 active reviews and 2 invited free reviewers.
- ResearchPilot AI, 250 reviewers and organization-wide management need the Business / Academic plan, sold from 5 licenses.
- SSO / SAML and API access are listed only on the Enterprise plan.
- The site mentions a mobile app, but the pages read do not say which platforms it covers.
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.
Key features
Rayyan
- Screening with AI relevance predictions
- Reviewers include or exclude references while the tool predicts relevance. Every plan, including the free one, lists AI relevance predictions.
- Duplicate detection
- Duplicate detection is on every plan. Auto-resolving duplicates is listed from the Essential plan up.
- Team workbench and samples
- Reviews can be divided between team members and randomized into samples, with more than 15 workbench facets for analyzing decisions.
- PRISMA diagrams and PICO extraction
- PRISMA flow diagrams start on Essential. Advanced adds AI extraction of PICO data.
- Risk-of-bias tools
- The Advanced plan lists the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale and the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool, and the site announces a Risk of Bias feature.
- ResearchPilot for institutions
- The Business / Academic plan and above include ResearchPilot, which the site describes as AI search, screening and extraction for institutions.
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.
Plans
Rayyan
Free$0
3 active reviews, 2 free reviewers, 1 sample, limited mobile app access, duplicate detection and AI relevance predictions.
Essential$4.99
per seat / month, billed annually ($8.33 billed quarterly)
Adds PRISMA flow diagrams, 5 free reviewers, auto-resolved duplicates and unlimited mobile app access.
Advanced$8.33
per seat / month, billed annually ($13.33 billed quarterly)
9 active reviews, 10 free reviewers, unlimited samples, AI extraction of PICO data, priority support and extra risk-of-bias tools.
Business / Academic$41.67
per license / month, billed annually
Starts at 5 licenses ($2,500 a year), sold through sales. Adds ResearchPilot AI, 250 free reviewers and 50 organization-wide reviews.
EnterpriseCustom
Unlimited reviews, SSO / SAML, API access, a management console and dedicated support.
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.
Ways to pay less
Rayyan
- Annual discount
Save up to 40% with annual billing
The pricing page says annual plans save up to 40% against quarterly billing; Essential is $4.99 a seat annually against $8.33 quarterly.
- Education
Discounts for academic institutions
The pricing page notes that discounts are available for academics on the Business / Academic plan.
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.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Rayyan or Scite?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Rayyan starts at $4.99 per seat / month, billed annually ($8.33 billed quarterly), and Scite starts at $20 per month, billed monthly. 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, Rayyan or Scite?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Rayyan has a free plan. Scite does not, though it has a free trial.
Which platforms do Rayyan and Scite run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Scite 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.