Ai2 Asta
AI research assistant for finding papers and analyzing data
Ai2 Asta report card
Very good · out of 4.0 · graded Oct 9, 2026
Best for free paper search that explains its picks
Asta is a free research assistant from the nonprofit Ai2, and it does three jobs: finds papers and says why each one fits, writes a cited report from lots of them, and runs Python on data you upload. There's no paid plan and you don't even need an account. The catch? Reports only cover computer science, medicine, environmental science and biology, and it lives in a browser tab.
Who Ai2 Asta is for
- Great if you want a stated reason for every paper a search turns up
- Handy when you have a spreadsheet of results and want the analysis code left in view
- Good for developers building or testing science agents, since the agents and benchmarks are open source
Who Ai2 Asta is not for
- Skip it if you want reports outside computer science, medicine, environmental science and biology
- Not for you if your data is sensitive or regulated, which Ai2 says needs a self-hosted setup
- Tight if you come back to a dataset later, as explorations lock after 24 hours and uploads go after 7 days
Why Ai2 Asta gets a 3.4
Five grades, each with its reason. The GPA is their average: an A is 4 points, an F is none.
- AValue for moneyIt's free. Ai2 is a nonprofit and offers no paid plans, so there's nothing to weigh up here. Tools like this usually start around $12 a month.
- AFree plan and trialAll three agents work without an account, and signing in (also free) keeps your history. Two limits to know: a data exploration goes read-only after 24 hours, and uploaded datasets are deleted after 7 days.
- BFeaturesFind papers gives a reason for each result, reports carry inline citations with excerpts, and Analyze data writes and runs Python on your files. It searches about 108 million abstracts and 12 million full-text papers. But the getting started guide says reports only draw on four fields.
- BEase of useThere's no App Store rating to go on, so B is as high as we go. Nothing to install and no sign-up needed: open the page and type a question. Uncited text in a report is labelled as model-generated, which helps.
- BPlatforms and integrationsWeb only, with no phone app or extension on the listing. It ties into Semantic Scholar, though, and Ai2 publishes the agents as open source, so developers can run their own copy.
What these grades rest on. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Ai2's own pages on 5 October 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. How we review and grade.
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<a href="https://toolgpa.com/tools/ai2-asta#review"><img src="https://toolgpa.com/badge/ai2-asta.svg" alt="Ai2 Asta: 3.4 GPA on ToolGPA" width="196" height="56"></a>What is Ai2 Asta?
Asta is a scholarly research assistant from Ai2, the nonprofit Allen Institute for AI. It has three agents: Find papers searches the literature and explains why each result is relevant, Generate a report writes a cited answer drawn from many papers, and Analyze data runs Python analyses on datasets you upload. It searches about 108 million abstracts and 12 million full-text papers, and Ai2 publishes the agents and their benchmark suite as open source.
Ai2 Asta is free to use. See every plan
Good for
- Researchers who want a stated reason for each paper a search returns
- Getting a cited overview of a question that spans many papers
- Exploring a tabular dataset with analysis code that stays visible
- Developers building or evaluating scientific AI agents
Worth knowing
- Ai2 publishes no pricing page; the app runs without an account, and its credit panel lists no credit cost for the three main agents.
- The getting started guide says Generate a report searches computer science, medicine, environmental science and biology papers.
- Data explorations stay active for 24 hours and then become read-only, and uploaded datasets are deleted after 7 days.
- Ai2 says not to upload sensitive or regulated data to the hosted version; that requires a self-hosted deployment.
Key features
- Find papers
- Breaks a query into parts, searches, follows citations and judges relevance, then lists papers with a note on why each fits. A slower deep search mode handles complex questions.
- Generate a report
- Answers questions that need many papers with a structured report: expandable sections, comparison tables and inline citations with excerpts. Uncited text is labeled as model-generated.
- Analyze data
- Upload CSV, TSV, Excel, JSON, HDF5 or Parquet data and ask questions in plain language. Asta writes and runs Python and returns findings with charts, the code and a methods section.
- Follow-ups and sharing
- Reports can be refined over several turns, with specific papers referenced by an @ mention. A Share button copies a link to the results of any query.
- AstaLabs prototypes
- Hosted previews include AutoDiscovery, which generates and tests hypotheses on a dataset, and Paper + Figure QA, which answers questions about figures and tables in papers.
- Open-source agents and AstaBench
- Ai2 publishes open-source versions of the agents behind the three tools, along with AstaBench, a benchmark suite and leaderboard for scientific AI agents.
Ai2 Asta pricing
- Starts at
- Free
- Free plan
- No paid plans are offered. The three agents can be used without an account; signing in saves queries and results so they can be reopened later.
- Free trial
- None listed
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Find papers, Generate a report and Analyze data, usable anonymously or with a free sign-in that keeps a history of queries. |
Read from asta.allen.ai on Oct 5, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Ai2 Asta before you buy.
Works with
- Semantic Scholar
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Common questions
Is Ai2 Asta free?
Yes. Ai2 Asta is free to use. No paid plans are offered. The three agents can be used without an account; signing in saves queries and results so they can be reopened later.
How much does Ai2 Asta cost?
Ai2 Asta lists one plan. Free: $0. Prices were read from asta.allen.ai on Oct 5, 2026.
What platforms does Ai2 Asta work on?
Ai2 Asta is available on Web.
Does Ai2 Asta have an Android app?
No Android app was listed when its pages were read on Oct 5, 2026. Ai2 Asta is listed for Web.
Does Ai2 Asta have an iPhone app?
No iPhone app was listed when its pages were read on Oct 5, 2026. Ai2 Asta is listed for Web.
Is Ai2 Asta open source?
Yes. Ai2 Asta is open source, according to its own site. It can also be run on a server of your own.
What does Ai2 Asta integrate with?
Ai2 Asta's listing names Semantic Scholar. A listing names up to eight integrations, so it may connect to more.
Who makes Ai2 Asta?
Ai2 Asta is made by Allen Institute for AI (Ai2). It dates from 2025.
What are the alternatives to Ai2 Asta?
The closest alternatives to Ai2 Asta in our directory are Undermind, Elicit, Edison Scientific, Consensus and Semantic Scholar. Each one has a side-by-side comparison with Ai2 Asta.
Sources for this page
The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 5, 2026.