# Sourcely review (2026): is the free plan enough? > Paste an essay and find academic sources to cite Checked Nov 12, 2026 ยท graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA. Sourcely takes pasted text and searches a database of more than 200 million papers for sources to support it, with summaries, citation export and a personal library. A free version exists, limited mostly to English-language sources. Paid plans add deep searches and source credibility checks. - **Category:** AI Research Tools - **Made by:** Sourcely - **Website:** https://www.sourcely.net - **Runs on:** Web - **Who should skip it:** Tight if you do a lot of searching: 10 deep searches a month on Pro, 30 on Ultra. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 12, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 12, 2026, Sourcely has a free plan, and paid plans start at $9 per month, billed annually ($17 billed monthly). - **Pricing model:** Free plan - **Free plan:** A free version exists, limited mostly to English-language sources; its other limits are not on the pricing page. - **Free trial:** None listed. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | Pro | $9 per month, billed annually ($17 billed monthly) | 10 deep searches and 25 source credibility checks a month, plus MCP support. | | Ultra | $19 per month, billed annually | 30 deep searches and 100 credibility checks a month, on a smarter AI model. | Read from https://www.sourcely.net/pricing on Nov 12, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Sourcely before buying. ## Ways to pay less - **Save 50% with yearly billing** (Annual discount): The pricing page shows a Yearly toggle labeled as saving 50% against monthly billing. Source: https://www.sourcely.net/pricing ## Key features - **Source finding from text:** Paste an essay or paragraph and Sourcely highlights citation-worthy parts and suggests sources. - **Deep search:** Quick and Deep modes; paid plans include a monthly number of deep searches. - **Summaries and chat:** Gives a summary of each source and lets you ask questions about it. - **Citation export:** Exports references in more than 700 citation styles and saves sources to a library. - **Filters:** Narrow results by publication year, authorship and relevance. - **MCP support:** Paid plans list MCP support for ChatGPT, Claude and similar assistants. ## Good for - Students looking for sources to back an essay - Writers who want citations exported in many styles ## Worth knowing - Deep searches are capped monthly on both paid plans. - The free version is mostly limited to English-language sources. - The monthly price for Ultra is not shown on the pages read. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 2.4 out of 4**, graded Nov 12, 2026. Sourcely takes pasted text and finds academic sources to cite. Pro is $9 a month billed yearly for 10 deep searches a month, and the free version is mostly limited to English-language sources. - **Value for money: C.** Pro is $9 a month billed yearly ($17 monthly), in the middle of the research range. Ultra is $19. - **Free plan and trial: C.** A free version exists, but its limits aren't on the pricing page beyond being mostly English-language sources. - **Features: C.** Source finding from text, deep search, summaries, chat, citation export and filters. Deep searches are capped monthly on both paid plans: 10 on Pro, 30 on Ultra. - **Ease of use: B.** No store rating on record. Paste your text and get sources back, with nothing to set up. - **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web only, with MCP support for ChatGPT and Claude. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Sourcely's own pages on 12 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among AI research tools - Sourcely's GPA of 2.4 is higher than 19 of the 49 other AI research tools we grade, and level with 13. - It stands best on ease of use (B, above 29 of 49) and worst on features (C, above 1). - Its paid plans start at $9 a month, against a middle price of $10 for the category: 12 of the 35 others that charge start lower. - On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.7 out of 4. 3 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 Sourcely 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. It costs $108 a year. - You could not: A library of papers and sources to search. - You could not: A search engine with an AI model behind it. - You could not: An AI model, which you can rent by the request but not make. - You could not: Citation records for millions of papers. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. ## Works with ChatGPT, Claude **Tags:** AI features, Research, Citations, AI search, Chat assistant ## Alternatives - [Keenious](https://toolgpa.com/tools/keenious): Academic search that recommends papers from your own text. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/keenious-vs-sourcely) - [SciSpace](https://toolgpa.com/tools/scispace): AI research platform for literature review and reading papers. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/scispace-vs-sourcely) - [Elicit](https://toolgpa.com/tools/elicit): AI research assistant for literature search and systematic reviews. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/elicit-vs-sourcely) - [Paperguide](https://toolgpa.com/tools/paperguide): AI research platform for literature and systematic reviews. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/paperguide-vs-sourcely) - [AnswerThis](https://toolgpa.com/tools/answerthis): AI literature review assistant with a library and writer. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/answerthis-vs-sourcely) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 12, 2026: - https://www.sourcely.net/ - https://www.sourcely.net/pricing - https://www.sourcely.net/about Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/sourcely Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).