11 Elicit Alternatives and Competitors Compared

While Elicit has established itself as a powerful assistant for systematic literature reviews and academic paper discovery, researchers looking for more collaborative features, multimedia support, or specialized support for domains outside empirical research may find the Elicit app falls short. After thorough testing and analysis, we've compiled this list of the best Elicit alternatives that address feature gaps in Elicit's capabilities.

1. Anara (formerly Unriddle)

While Elicit excels at searching through its extensive database of academic papers, Anara takes a different approach. You can create a complete research ecosystem around your own curated library. Anara is particularly valuable Elicit alternative for researchers who need more than just paper discovery, especially those working in teams or handling diverse content types.

Anara differentiates itself from Elicit through its focus on building AI chat and analysis capabilities directly on your personal collection of documents. Its "source highlighting" feature links every AI insight to specific sources, which could significantly reduce hallucination risks compared to more general AI research tools.

Unlike Elicit's focus on academic papers, Anara supports multiple content types including PDFs, videos, audio, web pages, and images. This versatility makes it especially suitable for interdisciplinary research and multimedia content analysis, addressing a limitation in Elicit's more document-centric approach.

Why do researchers choose Anara over Elicit

• Trustworthy, verifiable sources: Unlike Elicit's database-focused approach, Anara builds its AI chat and analysis capabilities directly on your personal collection of documents with source highlighting that links every AI insight to specific sources, dramatically reducing hallucination risks.
• Multimedia versatility: While Elicit is limited to academic papers, Anara supports PDFs, videos, audio, web pages, and images – making it ideal for interdisciplinary research and multimedia content analysis.
• Built-in collaboration: Anara's shared workspace allows research teams to centralize knowledge, collaborate in real-time, and maintain a unified research repository – a capability Elicit lacks with its primarily individual-focused workflow.
• Integrated writing environment: Unlike Elicit's focus on discovery and extraction, Anara includes a specialized text editor with robust citation management, allowing researchers to move seamlessly from research to writing publication-ready documents.
• Agent-powered workflows: Anara's developing "Agent mode" that aims to automate complex end-to-end research tasks like literature reviews, taking automation beyond Elicit's more structured data extraction approach.

For researchers who need to collaborate effectively, work with diverse content types, or want a platform that supports the entire research lifecycle from discovery to publication, Anara represents the most comprehensive alternative to Elicit currently available.

Pricing

• Free Plan with limited AI words and uploads a day. No credit card needed.
• Pro Plan at €11/month (billed yearly) offers unlimited AI words, uploads, and recordings. Additionally, access premium AI models like GPT-4.1 and Claude 3.5.
• Team Plan at €17/seat/month (billed yearly) includes shared workspaces, collaborative editing, and admin controls.

2. Paperguide

Paperguide is an all-in-one Elicit alternative that combines an AI research assistant, AI writer, and reference manager. It’s good at literature reviews, PDF analysis, and citation management, making it a robust choice for academic researchers.

Its integration with 1000+ citation styles eliminates the need for separate reference managers like Zotero or Mendeley—a significant workflow advantage over Elicit.

Academic researchers particularly value Paperguide's ability to generate publication-ready literature review sections with properly formatted citations, saving hours of writing time while maintaining academic rigor.

Related: Papers vs Zotero comparison guide.

Best features

• AI-powered literature review and research assistant
• Chat with PDF and extract key data from documents
• Integrated AI writer and reference manager
• Supports 1000+ citation styles

Pricing

• Free plan available with generous usage limits
• Paid plans start at $9/month (billed annually), with advanced plans at $16/month
• Team and institutional plans available

Unlike other Elicit alternatives focusing on searching academic databases, Anara builds intelligence around your personally curated library. In a recent case study, a researcher working on cancer navigation in Africa demonstrated how importing papers into a personal AI library allowed them to extract specific information without reading entire documents, dramatically accelerating their literature review process.

Explore the full use case →

3. Connected Papers

Connected Papers is a visual exploration tool that maps relationships between academic papers based on citation patterns. Unlike Elicit's query-based approach, Connected Papers creates interactive visualizations showing how research evolves and connects across a field. This approach can reveal influential papers that keyword-based tools like Elicit might miss due to terminology differences between fields.

This visualization-first approach helps researchers understand the broader "conversation" happening in their field rather than just finding individual papers. Many users report that visual exploration helps them discover connections between papers they might otherwise miss with traditional search methods.

Best features

• Visual mapping of paper relationships based on citations and references
• Papers are positioned by similarity, revealing connections even without direct citations
• Literature Connector tool for bridging interdisciplinary gaps
• Intuitive interface requiring minimal learning curve

Pricing

• Free with basic features
• Pro plan at $9.99/month with advanced features and unlimited searches

4. Iris.AI

Iris.AI offers research mapping and systematic review capabilities, leveraging over a decade of experience in AI-driven knowledge management. Its visual approach to literature exploration is paired with sophisticated data extraction tools.

Iris.AI may be one of the best Elicit alternatives for handling complex systematic reviews. It provides sophisticated analysis capabilities that may be particularly relevant for fields requiring rigorous methodology assessment.

For researchers overwhelmed by literature volume, Iris.AI's automated filtering and analysis tools may provide more comprehensive organization than Elicit's approach. The platform's longevity in the field (founded in 2015) also suggests more refined algorithms for specific disciplines compared to newer Elicit competitors.

Best features

• Visual mapping of academic research with sophisticated relationship analysis
• Advanced systematic review capabilities with structured data extraction
• Cross-language support for analyzing diverse sources
• Enterprise-grade security for sensitive research data
• Decade-long expertise in scientific text understanding

Pricing

• Free for basic research features
• Premium plans with custom pricing for advanced features
• Enterprise solutions available

5. SciSpace

SciSpace is an AI research software designed to help users read, understand, and write academic papers. It offers deep PDF analysis, instant explanations, and collaborative features.

Based on SciSpace's documentation, the platform appears to handle discipline-specific terminology and jargon effectively. The platform's contextual explanations of complex concepts within papers provides a level of comprehension support that differs from Elicit's approach.

The collaborative features make SciSpace potentially valuable for research teams—addressing a gap in Elicit's primarily single-user focus. Multiple researchers can annotate the same document and share insights in real-time, which could enhance team productivity during group literature reviews.

Best features

• AI-powered explanations and Q&A for academic texts
• Unlimited output previews and bibliography downloads (on paid plans)
• Collaborative features for teams with real-time annotation
• Manuscript formatting and editing tools

Pricing

• Free plan with limited features
• Researcher plan at $20/month
• Team plan at $12/user/month
• Lifetime access option for $149

If SciSpace doesn’t check all the boxes for your project, explore these SciSpace alternatives to enhance your research process.

6. Research Rabbit

Research Rabbit is a free Elicit alternative for academic literature discovery and visualization. It’s often described as the "Spotify for research papers" and is a popular tool among student researchers It helps users build collections, track new papers, and visualize relationships between studies.

What makes Research Rabbit distinct from Elicit is its recommendation algorithm that learns from your reading habits. Its adaptive suggestions help surface relevant papers that standard keyword searches in apps like Elicit might miss.

The platform's social discovery aspects enable serendipitous findings through author networks and related papers—a different discovery paradigm than Elicit's more direct query approach. One limitation to note is that its database (based on Microsoft Academic Graph) was last updated in 2021, making it less suitable for current research but still valuable for foundational literature exploration.

Best features

• Visual mapping of research topics and author networks
• Personalized recommendations based on user collections and reading patterns
• Collaboration and sharing of paper libraries
• Alerts for new publications in tracked areas

Pricing

• Free to use

If Research Rabbit isn't meeting all your needs, explore this guide to Research Rabbit alternatives that excel in different research tasks.

7. Semantic Scholar

Semantic Scholar is an AI-powered academic search engine developed by the Allen Institute for AI. With over 200 million papers indexed, it offers sophisticated citation analysis and recommendation capabilities.

In direct comparison with Elicit, Semantic Scholar's database size provides broader coverage (200M+ papers vs. Elicit's 125M), which could be particularly important for interdisciplinary research. Its influence metrics go beyond simple citation counts to identify papers with meaningful impact in their fields.

For researchers exploring Elicit alternatives with better paper quality evaluation, Semantic Scholar's citation analysis provides helpful heuristics for identifying influential work. The platform's focus on tracking citation patterns may help identify important papers that might be missed in keyword-based searches.

Best features

• Access to over 200 million research papers across all academic disciplines
• AI-powered search with sophisticated citation and influence analysis
• Paper recommendations based on citation patterns and semantic similarity
• Completely free and open access

Pricing

• Free

8. Zendy

Zendy is a digital research platform focused on making academic literature accessible and affordable. It combines AI-powered search and summarization with a vast library of academic articles.

Researchers often choose Zendy as Elicit alternative to get access to full papers. While Elicit helps identify relevant papers, it doesn't solve the paywall problem. Zendy Plus provides cost-effective access to premium content without requiring institutional subscriptions.

The AI assistant (ZAIA) offers summarization abilities with the potential advantage of having full-text access to analyze papers. This could lead to more comprehensive summaries, particularly for papers where key findings aren't fully described in the abstract. (Elicit will use the full text if available via open access or the abstract if not.)

Best features

• Search and access 37M+ open access articles (free) and premium content (paid)
• AI-powered literature review and summarization
• Key phrase highlighting and reading list organization
• Chat with AI assistant (ZAIA)

Pricing

• Zendy Open (free) for open access content
• Zendy Plus at $35/month for premium content
• Discounts for groups and sponsored users

9. Scite

Scite is a citation analysis platform that evaluates how papers are cited by classifying citations as supporting, contrasting, or merely mentioning. This unique approach helps researchers find active areas of research or uncover debates.

Unlike many Elicit competitors that focus on finding papers, Scite helps evaluate the quality and reception of research.The platform can identify papers with significant methodological criticisms that might be missed by tools that only summarize content.

For researchers concerned with finding reliable sources, Scite's ability to show whether subsequent research supported or contradicted a paper's findings provides context that Elicit cannot. This is particularly valuable in the fields where initial findings may be later refuted.

Best features

• Analysis of 1.2 billion citation statements from 181 million sources
• Classification of citations as supporting, contrasting, or mentioning
• Citation context display showing how papers are referenced
• Advanced search for finding evidence supporting or contradicting specific claims

Pricing

• Basic features free
• Premium features at $11.99/month
• Institutional plans available

Need a tool that does more than Scite? Explore this guide to Scite AI alternatives for features like improved verification and multi-format support.

10. Consensus

Consensus is an AI search engine designed for scientific questions. Rather than just finding papers, it synthesizes findings across studies to present consensus views on research questions.

Where Consensus fundamentally differs from Elicit is in its focus on answering specific questions rather than just finding relevant papers.

Though currently limited to six topic areas (economics, sleep, social policy, medicine, mental health, and health supplements), Consensus excels at providing evidence-based answers with proper citations—making it ideal for quickly understanding the state of research on specific questions within these domains.

Best features

• Question-focused search that provides direct answers from research
• Synthesis of findings across multiple studies to identify consensus views
• Clear citation of source papers for all claims
• Focus on high-quality, peer-reviewed research

Pricing

• Free tier with basic features
• Premium plan at $16.67/month (billed annually)

11. Gatsbi

This Elicit competitor is designed to automate and accelerate the entire research workflow, from ideation to generating publication-ready manuscripts and patent disclosures. It integrates agentic workflows, citing all outputs tailored to academic standards.

Like other Elicit alternatives on this list, Gatsbi difrentiates ifocuses on end-to-end research production rather than just discovery. For researchers working with sensitive data, the local storage option provides security advantages that cloud-only tools like Elicit cannot match.

Best features

• Automated generation of research papers and patent drafts, including equations, tables, charts, and diagrams
• Integrated, up-to-date referencing using Google Scholar
• Idea expansion and actionable research planning
• Local data storage for privacy (desktop app) and web access

Pricing

• Paid subscription starts at $9.99/month
• Free trial available

Frequently Asked Questions

How reliable is Elicit?

Elicit acknowledges that users should "assume around 90% of the information you see in Elicit is accurate." While 90% accuracy is relatively high for AI tools, this still means potentially one in ten outputs contains errors. This level of accuracy may be insufficient for high-stakes research, especially in fields like medicine, where errors could have significant consequences. Additionally, the accuracy isn't uniform—it tends to be higher for well-represented empirical fields and lower for theoretical domains or niche research areas.

What is better than Elicit?

No single tool is universally "better" than Elicit, but depending on your specific research needs, several alternatives may provide advantages in particular aspects of the research workflow:

1. For team-based research

Anara offers collaborative features and a more comprehensive shared workspace for teams that need to work with diverse content types beyond just academic papers.

2. For multimedia and interdisciplinary research

Anara stands out for researchers working with mixed content types like PDFs, videos, audio, web pages, and images—going beyond Elicit's focus on academic papers.

3. For comprehensive literature reviews

Consider combining Research Rabbit for discovery with Scite for quality assessment and SciSpace for deep reading. This combination of tools could help identify relevant papers and provide better context about their quality and reception.

4. For manuscript preparation

Paperguide or Gatsbi go beyond Elicit's focus on discovery and extraction, providing end-to-end support from literature review through writing, with Gatsbi appearing particularly suited to STEM fields requiring complex equations and visualizations.

5. For understanding research landscapes

Connected Papers offers visualization of research networks, potentially valuable for interdisciplinary work or entering new fields where terminology might not be standardized.

Many researchers report that using a combination of these tools provides more comprehensive results than relying on any single platform. The ideal combination depends on your specific research methodology, discipline, and collaborative needs.

Is Elicit enough for a complete research workflow?

Elicit provides a valuable starting point for AI-assisted research, particularly for paper discovery and basic data extraction. However, its self-acknowledged 90% accuracy rate and domain-specific performance suggest it may be insufficient as a standalone solution for comprehensive research workflows.

Many researchers report finding value in supplementing Elicit with specialized alternatives. Most Elicit competitors offer free tiers or trials, allowing experimentation to find the combination that best supports your specific research methodology and discipline.

What's the future of AI-assisted research tools?

The AI research tool landscape is shifting toward specialized solutions that support the full research lifecycle, not just discovery. Anara is leading this shift by offering an integrated environment where researchers can search, verify, and write in one place.

One key strength is its end-to-end workflow support, from literature discovery to manuscript preparation and research team collaboration tools. Unlike single-purpose tools, Anara handles diverse content types (PDFs, videos, web pages) and adapts to different stages of the research process.

Another standout feature is linking every AI-generated output directly to its source, providing transparency and verifiability that traditional tools often lack.

Rather than relying on fragmented or limited platforms, researchers can use Anara to streamline their entire workflow with accuracy, transparency, and collaboration built in.