Consensus vs scite

Consensus (AI-powered academic search over peer-reviewed papers.) and scite (AI research assistant with Smart Citations over 300M+ scholarly articles.) compared side by side: plans and prices, vendor-stated features, platforms and sign-in, with the date each fact was checked. Matches based on official product information.

Based on official vendor pages, linked below
Consensus pricing checked: 2026-10-27
scite pricing checked: 2026-10-31

At a glance

Consensus

AI research tools

What it does: AI-powered academic search over peer-reviewed papers.
Strong at: A good fit for research questions answered from peer-reviewed papers with citations.
Free plan: Yes - mixed free access
Paid plans from: US$20 / month

Pricing checked 2026-10-27 · Full Consensus record · Official site

scite

AI research tools

What it does: AI research assistant with Smart Citations over 300M+ scholarly articles.
Strong at: Strong fit for literature reviews and checking how scholarly articles are cited, using Smart Citations over 300M+ articles.
Free plan: No free plan
Paid plans from: US$20 / month

Pricing checked 2026-10-31 · Full scite record · Official site

Plans & pricing

Consensus plans & pricing

Checked 2026-10-27. · Vendor pricing page Confirm prices and terms with the vendor before buying.

Free

$0 / month

Pro

$20/month monthly-billed ($12/month billed annually, $144/year)

Deep

$65/month monthly-billed ($45/month billed annually, $540/year)

scite plans & pricing

Checked 2026-10-31. · Vendor pricing page Confirm prices and terms with the vendor before buying.

Basic

$20/month, or $12/month billed yearly ($144)

Full Assistant and Search access; 250 MCP credits/month; Smart Citation reports; collections up to 1,000 papers.

Pro

$50/month, or $40/month billed yearly ($480)

API access with $60 API credit (limited time per vendor); 2,500 MCP credits/month; collections up to 10,000 papers; patent, clinical trial and grant datasets.

Enterprise

Custom

Unlimited users with pooled usage; SSO/IP/domain access; regulatory and safety datasets.

Side-by-side facts

	Consensus	scite
Free plan	Yes - mixed free access	No free plan
Paid plans from	US$20 / month	US$20 / month
Sign-in	Account setup is documented.	Not stated

What each tool says it does

Consensus - vendor-stated features

Academic search
Deep reviews
Cited analysis

Worth knowing before you choose

Consensus - worth knowing

Monthly and annual-billed figures are listed separately.
Annual equivalents: Pro $12/mo ($144/yr), Deep $45/mo ($540/yr).
Plans include API & MCP uses (500/mo Pro, 2,000/mo Deep) with $0.05/use beyond included caps.
Student/faculty/clinician discount up to 40% (school email or US NPI).
Platform: web only; mobile is add-to-home-screen via Safari/Chrome - NO native app (vendor help).
API: self-serve on every plan; included calls/month Free 30, Pro 500 (max 1,000), Teams 500, Deep 2,000 (max 10,000), Enterprise custom; 1 req/sec; Free tier max 20 papers/request, no pagination past page 1, no full-text excerpts; shares monthly pool with Consensus MCP.
Key creation requires a signed-in account (API/MCP dashboard); core search signup requirement not checked.
"Consensus is free to use, with optional subscription plans available for additional features.
Not a trial.

scite - worth knowing

Pricing page.
Student/academic discount available by email per FAQ.
Enterprise custom.
API: key required (Pro, API Console) EXCEPT public Papers and Tallies endpoints - public endpoints do not mean the core product is free/anonymous.
Browser extension exists; which browsers are supported is not stated on the extension page.
Identity: 'AI for Research - Ask a question, get answers grounded in the scientific literature' (scite.ai homepage, 2026-10-27); 300M+ scholarly sources per vendor copy.

Common questions

Is Consensus or scite free to use?

Consensus: Yes - mixed free access (checked 2026-10-27). scite: No free plan (checked 2026-10-31).

What do Consensus and scite cost?

Consensus's entry paid plan is US$20 / month and scite's is US$20 / month, from each vendor's pricing page (2026-10-27 and 2026-10-31 respectively). The tables above list every plan each vendor published.

Which is better, Consensus or scite?

It depends on the job. Consensus: A good fit for research questions answered from peer-reviewed papers with citations. scite: Strong fit for literature reviews and checking how scholarly articles are cited, using Smart Citations over 300M+ articles. The feature and pricing tables above show where they differ.

Where do these facts come from?

Every fact on this page is read from the vendors' own product and pricing pages, with the checked date shown beside it. Links to both official pages are at the top of each column.

Keep comparing

This comparison is not a recommendation: it sets out what each vendor states on its own pages, with the dates those pages were checked. Prices and features change - confirm with the vendor before buying.