Elicit
Searches actual papers and extracts findings into a table you can check, one row per study, rather than answering in prose.
What Elicit is best for
The categories Elicit is listed in, and how strong a fit it is in each.
Search, Research & Academics
Web research, deep research, books, academic papers, citations, news, fact-checking.
Built for this
Elicit’s biggest strengths
Search, Research & AcademicsSearches actual papers and extracts findings into a table you can check, one row per study, rather than answering in prose.
Where it may not be the best fit
Search, Research & AcademicsCoverage is strongest in empirical fields. Extraction is a starting point for a literature review, not the review. Prices split by audience: the academic ladder starts at $11 and the industry one at $49, for tiers of the same name.
Elicit pricing
Elicit has a free plan. Basic plan, free on both tabs: limited use of the Research Agent and Research Reports, but unlimited search across more than 138 million papers, unlimited summaries and unlimited chat with papers at full text
FreeBasic plan, free on both tabs: limited use of the Research Agent and Research Reports, but unlimited search across more than 138 million papers, unlimited summaries and unlimited chat with papers at full text
$0Academic PlusStandard Research Agent, Reports and systematic review usage, export to RIS, CSV, BIB, PDF and DOCX, and 5 table columns at a time
$19/mo · $11/mo yearlyAcademic Pro5x usage, the dedicated systematic review workflow that screens 5,000 papers, and 20 columns at a time
$69/mo · $39/mo yearlyAcademic Scale9x usage, extraction and interpretation of figures, and live real-time collaboration
$149/mo · $89/mo yearlyIndustry ProStandard usage, the systematic review workflow, 20 columns and reports drawing on up to 135 data sources
$75/mo · $49/mo yearlyIndustry Scale5x usage, figure extraction, live collaboration and up to 200 data sources
$279/mo · $169/mo yearlyEnterpriseCustom usage, unlimited paper alerts, no training on your data by default, screening of 40,000 papers with 40 columns, and PRISMA-grade screening and extraction accuracy. Academic and industry are separate ladders — academics get an extra Plus tier and pay less at every step
CustomChecked by hand on 4 September 2026. Prices change often, so confirm on the provider’s own page before spending.
Who makes Elicit
Built by a research non-profit and shaped by that: it prefers to show you the papers rather than summarise them into a confident paragraph.
CompanyElicit
Founded2021
Based inOakland, US
SectorSearch & knowledge
ModelLiterature search
StatusPrivate
Primary usersResearchers, Analysts
Free planYes
ComputeThird-party
Public listingNone announced
Best alternatives to Elicit
Tools that do comparable work, best fit first, drawn from the catalogue rather than hand-picked. Every one is listed whether or not there is money in it for us.
Connected Papers
Free
Builds a similarity graph from citation data rather than from a language model, so nothing in the output is generated and there is nothing to hallucinate.
View Connected Papers →Consensus
Free
Searches published papers and tells you how many of them support a claim, which turns a yes-or-no question into a count you can inspect.
View Consensus →EvidenceHunt
Free
Scoped to clinical evidence and built with practising clinicians, so the filters match how medical literature is actually appraised.
View EvidenceHunt →Gemini Deep Research
Free
Runs a multi-step search across dozens of sources and returns a structured, referenced report. Strong first pass on an unfamiliar field.
View Gemini Deep Research →Gemini Notebook
Free
You upload the sources and it answers only from them, linking every sentence to the passage it came from. The strongest verification pattern here.
View Gemini Notebook →Litmaps
Free
Draws a citation map you can steer, so the shape of a literature becomes visible rather than being a list of titles.
View Litmaps →Elicit by job
Where Elicit sits in the wider category pages.
Best AI for Research
Built for this — Web research, deep research, books, academic papers, citations, news, fact-checking.
Questions about Elicit
Is Elicit free?
Yes — Basic plan, free on both tabs: limited use of the Research Agent and Research Reports, but unlimited search across more than 138 million papers, unlimited summaries and unlimited chat with papers at full text. The cheapest paid tier is Academic Plus, at $19/mo month to month or $11/mo billed yearly.
What is Elicit best at?
Searches actual papers and extracts findings into a table you can check, one row per study, rather than answering in prose. It is listed under Search, Research & Academics, and this is what it is built for.
What should I watch out for with Elicit?
Coverage is strongest in empirical fields. Extraction is a starting point for a literature review, not the review. Prices split by audience: the academic ladder starts at $11 and the industry one at $49, for tiers of the same name.
What are the alternatives to Elicit?
6 tools do comparable work: Connected Papers, Consensus, EvidenceHunt, Gemini Deep Research, Gemini Notebook, Litmaps. 6 of them have a free plan.
How current is this Elicit pricing?
Checked by hand on 4 September 2026. Prices change often — confirm on the provider's own page before spending.