Elicit is a search engine for scientific papers. You ask a question, and it finds the studies that address it among more than 138 million papers, summarizes them, and organizes them in a table you can compare column by column. It also writes a full report, with the list of studies cited.
Elicit has a free plan. The recommended plan to start with: Basic, $0. Prices checked on October 3, 2026 on the vendor’s official page.
ElicitWhat the scientific studies say, organized in a tableWho it’s for: people who need to back a decision or a case with serious studies: HR, healthcare, quality, marketing, consulting, leadership.
You ask a question in plain language. Elicit searches more than 138 million scientific papers and returns a summary of the most relevant ones, then a table. It understands the meaning of the question, not just the words.
You give it a question, and Elicit writes a detailed report that answers it, with references to the studies used. You download it as a PDF or a Word file.
You pick a few papers and ask them your questions, as if you were talking to their authors. You can ask for a comparison, a summary of the method, or a critique.
Also
Prices published in dollars, for yearly payment. “Research Agent,” reports, and systematic reviews draw on a single monthly quota, which resets every month and does not roll over. Once the quota is used up, “Find papers” remains available. The pricing page also offers a lower academic rate, open to nonprofits.
| Plan | Price | Who it’s for |
|---|---|---|
| Basic Recommended to start | $0 | Discovering, searching now and then |
| Pro | $49 per user per month, billed yearly ($588) | Regular literature reviews |
| Scale | $169 per user per month, billed yearly ($2,028) | Teams that work together |
| Enterprise | Custom pricing | Companies and institutions |
Paper search, summaries, and chat with papers are unlimited (4 papers at a time in chat). “Research Agent” and reports are included in small quantities each month. Import from Zotero is included.
Stay on the free plan: searching, reading summaries, and asking a few papers questions is enough for a one-off need. Pro is only justified if literature reviews are part of your job, and its price is high for occasional use.
Your data. Your PDFs stay private and do not join the paper database, but everything is hosted in the United States.
What it does less well
Find what the studies say about a work questionElicitThe prompt to copy
Does remote work affect employee productivity?
In the starter kit for 4 jobs.
Simpler for a quick answer: what the studies say, in a few lines.
For a general question, with sources taken from across the web and not only from scientific journals.
If you already have your documents and mostly want to ask them questions, including in French.
To ask questions of a single PDF, without learning anything beyond it.
Basic: $0; Pro: $49 per user per month, billed yearly ($588); Scale: $169 per user per month, billed yearly ($2,028); Enterprise: custom pricing. Prices checked on October 3, 2026 on the vendor’s official page.
Yes. Paper search, summaries, and chat with papers are unlimited (4 papers at a time in chat). “Research Agent” and reports are included in small quantities each month. Import from Zotero is included.
Your PDFs stay private and do not join the paper database, but everything is hosted in the United States.
Consensus: Simpler for a quick answer: what the studies say, in a few lines. Perplexity: For a general question, with sources taken from across the web and not only from scientific journals. Gemini Notebook: If you already have your documents and mostly want to ask them questions, including in French. ChatPDF: To ask questions of a single PDF, without learning anything beyond it.
Page checked on October 3, 2026. Brands are named to identify the tools. No affiliation.