# Connected Papers

> Visual graphs of similar academic papers for literature search

Connected Papers is a web tool that builds a visual graph of the papers most closely related to one you choose. Papers are placed by similarity, measured through co-citation and bibliographic coupling, so related work clusters together even when the papers do not cite each other. It draws on the Semantic Scholar corpus, and separate views list the prior and derivative works for the starting paper.

- **Category:** AI Research Tools
- **Made by:** Connected Papers
- **Website:** https://www.connectedpapers.com
- **Runs on:** Web
- **Facts last checked:** Oct 9, 2026

## Pricing

Connected Papers has a free plan. Paid plans start at $6 per month, billed annually ($72).

- **Pricing model:** Free plan
- **Free plan:** 5 graphs per month with every feature included, among them prior and derivative works, multi-origin graphs, saved papers and graph history.
- **Free trial:** None listed.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free | $0 | 5 graphs per month, with all features included. |
| Academic | $6 per month, billed annually ($72); $10 billed quarterly ($30) | Unlimited graphs for academics, non-profits and personal use. Commercial use is not allowed on this plan. |
| Business | $20 per month, billed annually ($240); $30 billed quarterly ($90) | Unlimited graphs for commercial use in business and industry. |

Connected Papers's own pricing page could not be read; these figures come from https://web.archive.org/web/20261001042426/https://iprest.connectedpapers.com/price_listing on Oct 9, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Connected Papers before buying.

## Ways to pay less

- **Annual billing costs up to 40% less** (Annual discount): Academic works out to $6 a month billed annually against $10 billed quarterly, and Business to $20 against $30. The pricing page offers both billing cycles. Source: https://www.connectedpapers.com/pricing
- **Scholarship program for those who cannot pay** (Other savings): The pricing FAQ says researchers who cannot afford a subscription can email the scholarships address to request a discounted or free Premium plan. Source: https://www.connectedpapers.com/pricing
- **Lower price shown to buyers in India** (By country): On October 9, 2026 the pricing page showed Academic at $3 a month, billed annually ($36), to a reader in India. Its US price data, archived on October 1, 2026, gives $72 a year ($6 a month). Source: https://www.connectedpapers.com/pricing

## Key features

- **Similarity graphs:** Each graph is built by analyzing about 50,000 papers and keeping the few dozen most strongly connected to the origin paper, arranged so that similar papers sit close together.
- **Prior and derivative works:** The Prior Works view lists important ancestor papers in the field, and the Derivative Works view lists literature reviews and recent papers that followed the origin paper.
- **Multi-origin graphs:** A paper found in a graph can be added as another origin, so that one graph is built around several starting papers instead of one.
- **Saved papers and graph history:** Papers can be saved to a list and earlier graphs reopened from a history. Graphs, saved papers and history can each be downloaded as a .bib file.
- **Search by title or identifier:** Start a graph from keywords, a paper title, a DOI, or a paper URL from arXiv, Semantic Scholar or PubMed.
- **Group plans:** On group plans, administrators assign premium access to members from a pool of purchased seats on one invoice, at the same price per seat. Seats added mid-cycle are charged pro rata.

## Good for

- Getting a visual overview of an unfamiliar research field from one known paper
- Checking a bibliography for important papers that were missed
- Occasional users who need no more than 5 graphs a month

## Worth knowing

- Free accounts are limited to 5 graphs per month; unlimited graphs need a paid plan.
- Prices are set by visitor location. The US prices here come from an Internet Archive copy of the pricing page's own price data, captured on October 1, 2026.
- The Academic plan is restricted to academic, non-profit and personal use; for-profit work needs the Business plan.
- Subscriptions run for a full year or quarter and renew automatically, and the terms allow refunds only for overlapping coverage.

## Works with

Semantic Scholar, arXiv, PubMed

**Tags:** Research, Citations

## Alternatives

- [ResearchRabbit](https://toolgpa.com/tools/researchrabbit): Literature discovery tool that maps how papers connect. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/connected-papers-vs-researchrabbit)
- [Litmaps](https://toolgpa.com/tools/litmaps): Literature review tool that maps papers by their citations. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/connected-papers-vs-litmaps)
- [Inciteful](https://toolgpa.com/tools/inciteful): Free citation-network tools for exploring academic papers. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/connected-papers-vs-inciteful)
- [Semantic Scholar](https://toolgpa.com/tools/semantic-scholar): Free AI-powered search engine for scientific literature. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/connected-papers-vs-semantic-scholar)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 9, 2026:

- https://web.archive.org/web/20261001042426/https://iprest.connectedpapers.com/price_listing
- https://www.connectedpapers.com/pricing
- https://www.connectedpapers.com
- https://www.connectedpapers.com/about
- https://www.connectedpapers.com/terms

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/connected-papers
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).