NERDY PICKS · RESEARCH & SEARCH
Best Research & Search tools
Find, read and summarize sources with cited answers.
Prices checked Oct 26, 2026
Which research & search tool should I start with?
If you want free, start with Elicit, ResearchRabbit, Liner. Find, read and summarize sources with cited answers. Below you'll find 27 tools with what each one does, the free plan and the cheapest solo plan in US dollars, checked Oct 26, 2026.
| Tool | What it does | Free plan | Paid from | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elicit | Searches millions of research papers and pulls out answers, summaries and data tables from them. | Yes | Pro: US$75/month, or US$49/month on a yearly plan (US$588/year) | Oct 26, 2026 |
| Scite | Shows whether later studies support or contradict a paper, with an AI assistant that answers from research. | No | Basic: US$20/month, or US$12/month on a yearly plan (US$144/year) | Oct 28, 2026 |
| Kagi | Paid, ad-free private search engine with an AI assistant built in. | No | Starter: US$5/month, or US$4.50/month on a yearly plan (US$54/year) | Oct 26, 2026 |
| ResearchRabbit | Finds related papers from a few starting ones and maps how research connects. | Yes | ResearchRabbit+: US$12.50/month, or US$10/month on a yearly plan (US$120/year) | Oct 26, 2026 |
| Liner | AI search and research assistant that answers with citations and gives access to many AI models. | Yes | Pro: US$17.99/month, or US$14.99/month on a yearly plan | Oct 26, 2026 |
| Undermind | AI research assistant that digs through the scientific literature to find the papers that match your question. | Yes | Pro: US$20/month, or US$16/month on a yearly plan (US$192/year) | Oct 26, 2026 |
| Paperguide | Finds, organizes and summarizes research papers and helps you write with citations. | Yes | Plus: US$19/month, or US$12/month on a yearly plan (US$144/year) | Oct 26, 2026 |
| AskYourPDF | Upload a PDF or document and ask questions about it in plain words. | Yes | Premium: US$14.99/month, or US$11.99/month on a yearly plan | Oct 26, 2026 |
| ChatPDF | Chat with any PDF to get summaries and answers with citations to the page. | Yes | Plus: US$19.99/month, or US$11.67/month on a yearly plan (US$139.99/year) | Oct 26, 2026 |
| Scholarcy | Turns research articles into short summaries and flashcards you can skim. | Yes | Scholarcy Plus: US$7.49/month, or US$5.63/month on a yearly plan (US$67.50/year) | Oct 26, 2026 |
| Jenni AI | AI writing assistant for academic writing and research papers, with autocomplete and citations. | Yes | Plus: US$30/month, or US$12/month on a yearly plan (US$144/year) | Oct 26, 2026 |
| Humata | Ask questions across your PDFs and documents and get answers that point to the source. | Yes | Expert: US$9.99/month | Oct 26, 2026 |
| Litmaps | Builds visual maps of related research and alerts you to new papers in your topic. | Yes | Pro: US$12.50/month, or US$10/month on a yearly plan (US$120/year) | Oct 26, 2026 |
| Consensus | AI search engine that answers questions using peer-reviewed studies. | Unclear | Pro: US$20/month, or US$12/month on a yearly plan (US$144/year) | Oct 26, 2026 |
| SciSpace | All-in-one research workspace for finding papers, chatting with PDFs and writing. | Unclear | Premium: US$20/month, or US$12/month on a yearly plan (US$144/year) | Oct 25, 2026 |
| Semantic Scholar | Free AI-powered search engine for scientific papers run by a nonprofit research institute. | Yes | Free | Oct 26, 2026 |
| Zotero | Free app that saves your research sources and builds citations and bibliographies in Word and Google Docs. | Yes | Storage 2 GB: US$1.67/month | Oct 26, 2026 |
| Felo | AI search engine that answers questions with sources in many languages and can turn results into slides. | Unclear | Felo Pro: US$14.99/month, or US$12.50/month on a yearly plan (US$149.99/year) | Oct 26, 2026 |
| QuillBot | Rewords, summarizes and checks writing; popular with students. | Yes | Premium: US$19.95/month, or US$8.33/month on a yearly plan (US$99.95/year) | Oct 26, 2026 |
| ChatGPT | General AI assistant for writing, questions, files, images and more. | Yes | Go: US$8/month | Nov 1, 2026 |
| Google Gemini | Google's AI assistant, built into Gmail, Docs and other Google apps. | Yes | Google AI Plus: US$4.99/month | Nov 1, 2026 |
| Perplexity | AI search engine that answers questions with cited sources. | Yes | Pro: US$20/month, or US$17/month on a yearly plan (US$200/year) | Oct 31, 2026 |
| Paperpal | Academic writing assistant that checks grammar and language in research papers and academic writing. | Yes | Prime: US$25/month, or US$8.40/month on a yearly plan (US$100.80/year) (promo) | Oct 30, 2026 |
| Grok | xAI's AI assistant with live web and X search, plus image and video creation. | Yes | Plus (The X Subscription): US$8/month, or US$6.67/month on a yearly plan (US$80/year) | Oct 28, 2026 |
| Kimi | AI assistant from Moonshot AI that handles long documents, research and coding. | Yes | Plus: US$19/month, or US$15/month on a yearly plan (US$180/year) | Oct 26, 2026 |
| Duck.ai | DuckDuckGo's private, anonymized chat with several popular AI models. | Yes | DuckDuckGo Subscription Plus: US$9.99/month, or US$8.33/month on a yearly plan (US$99.99/year) | Oct 26, 2026 |
| Julius AI | Upload a spreadsheet or connect data and ask questions in plain words to get charts and analysis. | Yes | Plus: US$20/month, or US$16/month on a yearly plan (US$192/year) | Oct 26, 2026 |
All 27 tools
Elicit
Searches millions of research papers and pulls out answers, summaries and data tables from them.
Free plan: Yes: Basic plan: unlimited paper search and summaries, limited Research Agent and reports.
Paid from: Pro: US$75/month, or US$49/month on a yearly plan (US$588/year)
Discounts: Annual billing saves 35% on Pro.
Cheaper or similar: ResearchRabbit, Semantic Scholar
Checked Oct 26, 2026
Scite
Shows whether later studies support or contradict a paper, with an AI assistant that answers from research.
Free plan: No
Paid from: Basic: US$20/month, or US$12/month on a yearly plan (US$144/year)
Discounts: Yearly billing shown as saving $96 on Basic and $120 on Pro; student and academic discount codes on request.
Cheaper or similar: Elicit, Consensus
Some details on this one weren't confirmed on the official pricing page, so we left them blank.
Checked Oct 28, 2026
Kagi
Paid, ad-free private search engine with an AI assistant built in.
Free plan: No
Paid from: Starter: US$5/month, or US$4.50/month on a yearly plan (US$54/year)
Discounts: Annual billing shown as 10% off; no charge for months you don't use it.
Cheaper or similar: Perplexity, Duck.ai
Checked Oct 26, 2026
ResearchRabbit
Finds related papers from a few starting ones and maps how research connects.
Free plan: Yes: Free forever: unlimited searches and collections, up to 50 seed articles.
Paid from: ResearchRabbit+: US$12.50/month, or US$10/month on a yearly plan (US$120/year)
Cheaper or similar: Litmaps, Semantic Scholar
Checked Oct 26, 2026
Liner
AI search and research assistant that answers with citations and gives access to many AI models.
Free plan: Yes: Free plan with limited credits, 1 file upload/day, answers with ads.
Paid from: Pro: US$17.99/month, or US$14.99/month on a yearly plan
Discounts: Save up to 17% with annual billing.
Cheaper or similar: Perplexity, Elicit
Checked Oct 26, 2026
Undermind
AI research assistant that digs through the scientific literature to find the papers that match your question.
Free plan: Yes: Free plan for exploratory research with standard limits.
Paid from: Pro: US$20/month, or US$16/month on a yearly plan (US$192/year)
Discounts: Lower per-month price with annual billing.
Cheaper or similar: Elicit, ResearchRabbit
Checked Oct 26, 2026
Paperguide
Finds, organizes and summarizes research papers and helps you write with citations.
Free plan: Yes: Free plan with limited AI credits and searches.
Paid from: Plus: US$19/month, or US$12/month on a yearly plan (US$144/year)
Cheaper or similar: Elicit, SciSpace
Some details on this one weren't confirmed on the official pricing page, so we left them blank.
Checked Oct 26, 2026
AskYourPDF
Upload a PDF or document and ask questions about it in plain words.
Free plan: Yes: Free plan: 1 document/day, 100 pages per document, 50 questions/day.
Paid from: Premium: US$14.99/month, or US$11.99/month on a yearly plan
Discounts: Annual billing shown as 25% off.
Cheaper or similar: ChatPDF, Humata
Some details on this one weren't confirmed on the official pricing page, so we left them blank.
Checked Oct 26, 2026
ChatPDF
Chat with any PDF to get summaries and answers with citations to the page.
Free plan: Yes: Free plan: 2 documents per day.
Paid from: Plus: US$19.99/month, or US$11.67/month on a yearly plan (US$139.99/year)
Cheaper or similar: AskYourPDF, Humata
Some details on this one weren't confirmed on the official pricing page, so we left them blank.
Checked Oct 26, 2026
Scholarcy
Turns research articles into short summaries and flashcards you can skim.
Free plan: Yes: Free Article Summarizer: up to 10 summaries.
Paid from: Scholarcy Plus: US$7.49/month, or US$5.63/month on a yearly plan (US$67.50/year)
Discounts: 25% discount with yearly billing.
Cheaper or similar: Paperguide, Elicit
Checked Oct 26, 2026
Jenni AI
AI writing assistant for academic writing and research papers, with autocomplete and citations.
Free plan: Yes: Free plan: 10 AI autocompletes/day, limited edits and chat.
Paid from: Plus: US$30/month, or US$12/month on a yearly plan (US$144/year)
Discounts: Save 60% with annual billing.
Cheaper or similar: Paperpal, QuillBot
Checked Oct 26, 2026
Humata
Ask questions across your PDFs and documents and get answers that point to the source.
Free plan: Yes: Free plan for up to 60 pages.
Paid from: Expert: US$9.99/month
Cheaper or similar: AskYourPDF, ChatPDF
Checked Oct 26, 2026
Litmaps
Builds visual maps of related research and alerts you to new papers in your topic.
Free plan: Yes: Free plan: basic search, up to 20 inputs, limited maps.
Paid from: Pro: US$12.50/month, or US$10/month on a yearly plan (US$120/year)
Discounts: Lower per-month price with annual billing.
Cheaper or similar: ResearchRabbit, Semantic Scholar
Checked Oct 26, 2026
Consensus
AI search engine that answers questions using peer-reviewed studies.
Free plan: Unclear: Not shown on the pricing page as read.
Paid from: Pro: US$20/month, or US$12/month on a yearly plan (US$144/year)
Discounts: Annual billing saves 40% (page badge).
Cheaper or similar: Elicit, Scite
Some details on this one weren't confirmed on the official pricing page, so we left them blank.
Checked Oct 26, 2026
SciSpace
All-in-one research workspace for finding papers, chatting with PDFs and writing.
Free plan: Unclear: Not shown on the pricing page as read.
Paid from: Premium: US$20/month, or US$12/month on a yearly plan (US$144/year)
Discounts: Lower per-month price with annual billing.
Cheaper or similar: Elicit, Paperguide
Checked Oct 25, 2026
Semantic Scholar
Free AI-powered search engine for scientific papers run by a nonprofit research institute.
Free plan: Yes: Free to use; no paid plan.
Price: Free
Checked Oct 26, 2026
Zotero
Free app that saves your research sources and builds citations and bibliographies in Word and Google Docs.
Free plan: Yes: Free and open source; developed by a nonprofit.
Paid from: Storage 2 GB: US$1.67/month
Cheaper or similar: Paperguide, Scholarcy
Checked Oct 26, 2026
Felo
AI search engine that answers questions with sources in many languages and can turn results into slides.
Free plan: Unclear: Not readable on the pricing page.
Paid from: Felo Pro: US$14.99/month, or US$12.50/month on a yearly plan (US$149.99/year)
Discounts: Annual subscription saves $29.89 a year.
Cheaper or similar: Perplexity
Checked Oct 26, 2026
QuillBot
Rewords, summarizes and checks writing; popular with students.
Free plan: Yes: Paraphrase up to 125 words at a time in 2 modes; humanizer 125 words, 6 times/day.
Paid from: Premium: US$19.95/month, or US$8.33/month on a yearly plan (US$99.95/year)
Discounts: Big discount on annual billing; quarterly option; volume discount for 5+ members; can pause plan.
Cheaper or similar: Grammarly
Checked Oct 26, 2026
ChatGPT
General AI assistant for writing, questions, files, images and more.
Free plan: Yes: Free tier with limited access to the latest models and tools, including the built-in browser and limited ChatGPT Work access on the desktop app; cloud browser (agent browsing) excludes Free and Go.
Paid from: Go: US$8/month
Discounts: No annual plan for individuals; nonprofits up to 75% off Business/Enterprise; ChatGPT for Teachers free for US K-12 educators through June 2027.
Cheaper or similar: Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot · cheaper ChatGPT alternatives
Checked Nov 1, 2026
Google Gemini
Google's AI assistant, built into Gmail, Docs and other Google apps.
Free plan: Yes: Free Gemini app with basic model access.
Paid from: Google AI Plus: US$4.99/month
Discounts: Family sharing included. Google AI Pro billed yearly is US$199.99/year (about US$16.67/month) on Google One's official US plans page; the yearly price of Google AI Plus (US$4.99/month, 400 GB) is still not published. US college students: 12 months of Google AI Pro free (redeem by Dec 31, 2026; student verification and a payment method required; renews at US$19.99/month).
Cheaper or similar: Microsoft Copilot, DeepSeek
Some details on this one weren't confirmed on the official pricing page, so we left them blank.
Checked Nov 1, 2026
Perplexity
AI search engine that answers questions with cited sources.
Free plan: Yes: Free tier with basic searches, 3 Pro Searches a day, 1 Research query a month and no Comet Assistant agent queries.
Paid from: Pro: US$20/month, or US$17/month on a yearly plan (US$200/year)
Discounts: Limited time: 4,000 bonus Computer credits with Pro (shown as +US$40) and 35,000 with Max, one-time, expiring about 30 days after they're granted; no end date stated. Education Pro $10/month for verified students and educators. Comet Plus launched at US$5/month (Aug 2025) and was included in Pro and Max; current availability unconfirmed.
Cheaper or similar: Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot
Checked Oct 31, 2026
Paperpal
Academic writing assistant that checks grammar and language in research papers and academic writing.
Free plan: Yes: Free plan at $0/month to try every tool with limits.
Paid from: Prime: US$25/month, or US$8.40/month on a yearly plan (US$100.80/year) (promo)
Discounts: Limited-time up to 30% off select plans (annual Prime $100.80, was $144); multi-year one-time plans ($229 for 2 years, $289 for 3 years).
Cheaper or similar: QuillBot, Grammarly
Checked Oct 30, 2026
Grok
xAI's AI assistant with live web and X search, plus image and video creation.
Free plan: Yes: Free tier at $0 under The X Subscription.
Paid from: Plus (The X Subscription): US$8/month, or US$6.67/month on a yearly plan (US$80/year)
Discounts: Intro offers on grok.com: 25% off for 6 months on Plus, 50% off the first month on higher tiers.
Cheaper or similar: ChatGPT, Google Gemini
Checked Oct 28, 2026
Kimi
AI assistant from Moonshot AI that handles long documents, research and coding.
Free plan: Yes: Free 'Adagio' plan at $0.
Paid from: Plus: US$19/month, or US$15/month on a yearly plan (US$180/year)
Discounts: Annual billing saves up to $480 (on top tier).
Cheaper or similar: DeepSeek, Mistral Le Chat
Checked Oct 26, 2026
Duck.ai
DuckDuckGo's private, anonymized chat with several popular AI models.
Free plan: Yes: Free access to several models with daily limits; chats are anonymized.
Paid from: DuckDuckGo Subscription Plus: US$9.99/month, or US$8.33/month on a yearly plan (US$99.99/year)
Discounts: Subscription bundles a VPN, personal-info removal (US) and identity theft restoration.
Cheaper or similar: Poe, Microsoft Copilot
Checked Oct 26, 2026
Julius AI
Affiliate link: we may earn a commission if you sign up through this link, at no extra cost to you.
Upload a spreadsheet or connect data and ask questions in plain words to get charts and analysis.
Free plan: Yes: Free plan with a daily credit allowance.
Paid from: Plus: US$20/month, or US$16/month on a yearly plan (US$192/year)
Discounts: Save 20% with annual billing.
Cheaper or similar: Rows, Quadratic, Better Analyst (formerly Formula Bot)
Checked Oct 26, 2026
Other jobs
FAQ
What's the best free research & search tool?
22 of the 27 research & search tools here have a free plan, including Elicit, ResearchRabbit, Liner, Undermind. Start with the one whose job description matches yours, and check the free-plan limits in each card before you commit.
What's the cheapest paid research & search tool?
Of the prices we could confirm, Zotero is cheapest: its Storage 2 GB plan is US$1.67/month. Next is Kagi: its Starter plan is US$5/month, or US$4.50/month on a yearly plan (US$54/year). Prices are in US dollars before tax, checked Oct 26, 2026.
How do you check these prices?
We read each tool's official pricing page (or the maker's own help pages) in US dollars before tax, and note the date. If a price isn't shown clearly, we leave it blank rather than guess.
Want to spend less? Tick the tools you pay for in the Nerdy Savings calculator.