Rayyan vs Undermind (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Rayyan grades higher than Undermind: 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, the free plan and features. Undermind grades higher on ease of use and platforms.
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
Undermind
AI literature search agent that reads hundreds of papers
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 Undermind if
- Fits if your question is too tangled for keyword search to find the right papers
- Works for academics, who pay $16 a month on annual billing against $60 for industry
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you work in industry: Pro is $60 a month billed annually ($75 monthly), and Team is $60 a seat from 3 seats
- Tight if you're staying free and need full texts read, since free searches cover abstracts and metadata only
- Not for you if you want an answer in seconds, as a deep search takes about 2 minutes
- Watch out: the free plan's rate limits have no published numbers, and charges aren't refunded once a billing period starts
- Skip it if you want a phone or desktop app, or writing tools, as it's a web app for searching
How we grade them
| 2.6GPARayyanGood | 2.2GPAUndermindFair | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | DPro at the academic rate is $16 a month billed annually, or $20 monthly, which already puts it in the dearest tenth of a category whose middle is $10. Industry is another world: $60 a month billed annually for the same Pro, five times the dear end here. |
| 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. | CFree covers chat, deep searches, reports, shared workspaces and agent connections. The rate limits are only described as standard, with no numbers given, and free searches read abstracts and metadata rather than full texts. |
| 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. | CA deep search reads and ranks hundreds of papers from a database of over 200 million, follows citation trails and comes back with a report carrying in-line citations, then chat, custom tables and alerts. Searching is all it does: no reading tools, no writing. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. You set up a review, invite reviewers and run the samples. | BNo store rating on record, so B is the ceiling. There's nothing to configure, though: describe what you're working on in plain language, answer a few follow-up questions, and it goes off to read. Then you wait, because a deep search takes about 2 minutes. |
| 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, with an MCP server so Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, VS Code and Copilot can run Undermind searches for you, and that's included on the Free plan. No phone or desktop app is on the listing. |
| Best for | screening papers for systematic reviews | hard questions keyword search can't crack |
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 Undermind. 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. Undermind starts at $16 a month and scores 2.7.
Undermind scores higher, and starts $11.01 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 5 score higher than Undermind 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
- Undermind also covers chat assistant, AI search and AI agents.
At a glance
| Rayyan | Undermind | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $4.99 per seat / month, billed annually ($8.33 billed quarterly) | $16 per month, billed annually, at the academic rate ($60 for industry) |
| Free plan | Free forever: 3 active reviews, 2 free reviewers, 1 sample, duplicate detection and AI relevance predictions. | Chat, deep searches and reports with standard rate limits, shared workspaces and agent connections. Searches cover abstracts and metadata, not full texts. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Rayyan | Undermind AI, Inc. |
| Price read from | rayyan.ai | undermind.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.
Undermind
- Free-tier searches read abstracts and metadata only; full-text search of open-access papers and preprints needs Pro.
- Industry pricing is far higher than academic: Pro is $60 a month billed annually against $16.
- A deep search typically takes about 2 minutes to finish, so results are not instant.
- Charges are non-refundable once a billing period has begun, except where the law requires a refund.
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.
Undermind
- Deep literature search
- You describe a research goal in plain language and answer follow-up questions. Undermind then reads and evaluates hundreds of papers and follows citation trails; a typical search takes about 2 minutes.
- Reports with in-line citations
- Findings come back as a report in which statements carry in-line citations that lead to the source paper, alongside a paper list you can sort and filter to judge relevance.
- Chat and custom tables
- After a search you can brainstorm with an assistant grounded in the papers it found, extract details from full texts and generate custom tables.
- Alerts for new papers
- Undermind keeps track of your areas of interest and notifies you when relevant papers are published.
- Agent connections over MCP
- An MCP server lets assistants and coding agents such as Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and VS Code run Undermind searches. Connecting agents is included in the Free plan.
- Full-text search on Pro
- The Free tier searches abstracts and metadata. Pro adds compute to search the full texts of nearly all open-access and preprint articles.
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.
Undermind
Free$0
Chat, deep searches and reports with standard rate limits, shared workspaces and agent connections over MCP.
Pro (Academic)$16
per month, billed annually ($192); $20 billed monthly
The newest AI models, full-text analysis, 10x higher usage limits, and unlimited workspaces, files and paper libraries.
Pro (Industry)$60
per month, billed annually ($720); $75 billed monthly
The same Pro features at the industry rate.
Team (Academic)$15
per person / month, billed annually; $18.70 billed monthly
From 3 seats. Pro features plus member management, priority support and central billing. Falls to $12.50 per person at 60 or more seats.
Team (Industry)$60
per person / month, billed annually; $75 billed monthly
From 3 seats at the industry rate, with member management, priority support and central billing.
EnterpriseCustom
Increased compute, sitewide organizational login, an admin dashboard, onboarding seminars, and custom terms, SLA and security review.
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.
Undermind
- Annual discount
Save 20% with annual billing
Pro is $16 a month billed annually against $20 billed monthly at the academic rate, and $60 against $75 at the industry rate. The pricing section labels this a 20% saving.
- Education
Academic pricing from $16 a month
Choosing Academic in the pricing section shows Pro at $16 a month billed annually or $20 billed monthly, against $60 and $75 under Industry.
- Other savings
Volume pricing on academic Team plans
On annual billing the academic Team price per person is $15 for 3 to 10 seats, $14.17 for 11 to 25, $13.33 for 30 to 50 and $12.50 for 60 to 200.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Rayyan or Undermind?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Rayyan starts at $4.99 per seat / month, billed annually ($8.33 billed quarterly), and Undermind starts at $16 per month, billed annually, at the academic rate ($60 for industry). 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 Undermind?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Rayyan and Undermind 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.