# DistillerSR review (2026): is it worth $19.95 a month? > Literature review software for systematic reviews and surveillance Checked Nov 13, 2026 ยท graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA. DistillerSR is a web platform for managing literature-based research such as systematic reviews, from reference import and screening through data extraction and reporting. It is sold to companies and government bodies by quote, with published monthly plans for students and academics. It lists an AI feature that reorders references by relevance. - **Category:** AI Research Tools - **Made by:** DistillerSR Inc. - **Website:** https://www.distillersr.com - **Runs on:** Web - **Who should skip it:** Skip it if you want to try before paying, because no free tier or trial is stated. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 13, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 13, 2026, DistillerSR is a paid product, starting at $19.95 per month (Student). - **Pricing model:** Paid - **Free plan:** None. - **Free trial:** None listed. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | Student | $19.95 per month, billing basis not stated | Three subscriptions for the price of one; 1 project and standard support; the page lists 3 users. | | Faculty | $94 per month, billed annually | One faculty user with 5 projects and standard support; bought through sales. | | Research Project | $194 per month, billed annually | One faculty member plus 4 students and 5 projects; bought through sales. | | Departmental | Custom | Manage multiple subscriptions across a department, with 20 to 45 projects; contact sales. | | Institutional | Custom | Capabilities for an entire institution, with 80 to 150 projects; request a quote. | | Corporate and Government | Custom | No published price; a quote form is used for companies and public-sector teams. | Read from https://www.distillersr.com/pricing/student-pricing on Nov 13, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with DistillerSR before buying. ## Ways to pay less - **Student and academic pricing** (Education): Discounted plans from $19.95 a month for students, with faculty and research-project plans billed annually. Source: https://www.distillersr.com/pricing/student-pricing ## Key features - **Review lifecycle management:** Centrally manages importing references, screening, extraction and reporting with a configurable workflow. - **AI-assisted screening:** Reorders references by predicted relevance and can double-check exclusion decisions; plan availability is shown only as icons. - **Audit trail:** Integrated audit trail and version control, which the vendor presents as making evidence traceable. - **Reference database alerts:** LitConnect brings in new articles from databases such as EBSCO, OVID and PubMed; it is not on the Student or Faculty plans. - **BI and API integration:** Connects to business-intelligence tools such as Power BI and Tableau, and exposes an API as a paid module. - **Full-text retrieval:** Links references to source material through DOI.org and works with the Unpaywall plugin. ## Good for - Pharma, device and public-sector teams running regulated literature reviews - Universities buying seats for students and faculty - Organizations that need audit trails across many reviews ## Worth knowing - Corporate and government pricing is not published; it is quote-only through a form. - No free tier or free trial is stated on the pages read. - The Student plan is limited to 1 project, and faculty and project plans to 5 projects. - Faculty and Research Project plans are bought by contacting sales, not self-serve checkout. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 1.8 out of 4**, graded Nov 13, 2026. DistillerSR covers a systematic review from screening to reporting, with an audit trail and AI-assisted screening. The cheapest plan is $19.95 a month, for one project, and the faculty and project plans go through sales. No free plan or trial is stated. - **Value for money: D.** Student is $19.95 a month, Faculty $94 and Research Project $194, against a category middle of $10. Corporate pricing is quote only. - **Free plan and trial: F.** No free tier or free trial is stated on the pages read. - **Features: B.** Review lifecycle management, AI screening, an audit trail, reference alerts, full-text retrieval and BI and API links. The listing names no gap in the core review work. - **Ease of use: C.** No store rating on record, and a review project has to be configured before use. - **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web, with links to PubMed, EBSCO, OVID, Power BI and Tableau, and an API. No phone or desktop apps are listed. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from DistillerSR's own pages on 13 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among AI research tools - DistillerSR's GPA of 1.8 is higher than 5 of the 69 other AI research tools we grade, and level with 2. - It stands best on features (B, above 53 of 69) and worst on free plan and trial (F, above 0). - Its paid plans start at $19.95 a month, against a middle price of $10 for the category: 40 of the 48 others that charge start lower. - On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.7 out of 4. 5 tools score higher and cost less. The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/ai-research ## Keep it, or make your own? **Keep it.** To replace DistillerSR you would be making a library of papers and sources to search. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 62 of the 69 other AI research tools grade higher. It costs $239.40 a year. - You could make: Reports: an app builder makes this well. - You could not: A library of papers and sources to search. - You could not: Several people working in it at the same moment. - You could not: It plugs into other products, PubMed, EBSCO and OVID among them. - You could not: AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself. - You could not: The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. ## Works with PubMed, EBSCO, OVID, Power BI, Tableau, Unpaywall **Tags:** Research, AI features, Reports, Real-time collaboration ## Alternatives - [Covidence](https://toolgpa.com/tools/covidence): Web platform for screening and extracting data in systematic reviews. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/covidence-vs-distillersr) - [Rayyan](https://toolgpa.com/tools/rayyan): Systematic review screening with AI relevance predictions. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/distillersr-vs-rayyan) - [Nested Knowledge](https://toolgpa.com/tools/nested-knowledge): Systematic review and meta-analysis platform with AI screening. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/distillersr-vs-nested-knowledge) - [Laser AI](https://toolgpa.com/tools/laser-ai): AI-assisted screening and data extraction for systematic reviews. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/distillersr-vs-laser-ai) - [Silvi](https://toolgpa.com/tools/silvi): Literature review platform with AI screening and data extraction. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/distillersr-vs-silvi) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 13, 2026: - https://www.distillersr.com/ - https://www.distillersr.com/pricing - https://www.distillersr.com/pricing/student-pricing - https://www.distillersr.com/pricing/corporate-and-government-pricing Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/distillersr Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).