Directory / AI for a task / Literature reviews
The best AI to do a literature review
Elicit, because it turns a fortnight of reading into an afternoon: it searches 138M+ papers and extracts methods, sample sizes and outcomes into a table you can compare. Search, summaries and chat with papers are unlimited on the free plan. When you need a quick read of what the evidence says, Consensus shows where the science agrees.
- 01 Elicit: Systematic reviews across many papers
- 02 Consensus: Evidence-backed answers from academic literature
- 03 SciSpace: Getting through a paper outside your field
Top pick
Elicit
Free · $49/user/mo (billed annually)
Built for systematic reviews: extraction into a comparable table, with its working shown so you can check it. Free for unlimited search and summaries; paid is $49/user/mo billed annually.
- Free tier
- Unlimited search across 138M+ papers, unlimited summaries, unlimited chat with papers; limited Research Agent/Research Reports usage
- Entry plan
- $49/user/mo (billed annually, $588/yr)
Pick 02
Consensus
Free · from $9/mo
Answers backed by peer-reviewed papers, with a meter showing where studies agree and filters for sample size, study design and journal quality. Free for unlimited basic search; $9/mo for unlimited Pro Analyses.
- Free tier
- Unlimited basic search; AI features capped, roughly 10 Pro Analyses/month, 10 Study Snapshots/month, up to 3 Deep Reviews/month
- Entry plan
- $9/mo, unlocks unlimited Pro Analyses and Study Snapshots, Copilot, and advanced filtering
Pick 03
SciSpace
Free · from $12/mo (annual) / $20/mo (monthly)
A reading companion for the papers you find: highlight a passage and it explains it in context. Weak at discovering what to read in the first place. Free for about 5 lit-review searches a month; Premium is $12/mo billed annually.
- Free tier
- Basic, $0, capped usage - roughly 5 lit-review searches, 5 PDF chats, 10 writer actions, 20 citations/month
- Entry plan
- $12/mo billed annually or $20/mo billed monthly (Premium) - unlimited lit-review searches, higher-quality model, unlimited PDF chat/writing/citations, exports to RIS/CSV/BIB/Excel/XML
Skip if
Skip these in a field without a real body of published literature: they can only summarise what has been studied.
The free option
Elicit's free plan has unlimited search across 138M+ papers, unlimited summaries and unlimited chat with papers; only the Research Agent is capped. Elicit profile.
Prices side by side
Is there a free AI to do a literature review?
Elicit's free plan has unlimited search across 138M+ papers, unlimited summaries and unlimited chat with papers; only the Research Agent is capped.
When is Elicit the wrong choice?
Any field without a real body of published literature.
Deciding between these
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