Rayyan
Built for systematic reviews — thousands of abstracts screened by a team, with blinding and conflict resolution built into the workflow.
What Rayyan is best for
The categories Rayyan 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
Rayyan’s biggest strengths
Search, Research & AcademicsBuilt for systematic reviews — thousands of abstracts screened by a team, with blinding and conflict resolution built into the workflow.
Where it may not be the best fit
Search, Research & AcademicsOverkill for anything smaller than a formal review. Individual seats are cheap, but the institutional tier starts at 5 licenses for $2,500 a year. Rayyan's own page swaps the descriptions of Essential and Advanced between its billing tabs, so read the feature list rather than the blurb.
Rayyan pricing
Rayyan has a free plan. Free forever, pitched at your first systematic review rather than as a trial
FreeFree forever, pitched at your first systematic review rather than as a trial
$0EssentialBilled annually ($59.88 a year for one seat), or $8.33 a month billed quarterly ($24.99 a quarter)
$8.33/mo quarterly · $4.99/mo yearlyAdvancedBilled annually ($99.99 a year for one seat), or $13.33 a month billed quarterly ($39.99 a quarter). Marked most popular
$13.33/mo quarterly · $8.33/mo yearlyBusiness or AcademicBilled annually and starting at 5 licenses, so $2,500 a year to begin. This is the tier that names ResearchPilot AI, and academics are told discounts are available
$41.67/mo yearlyEnterpriseCustom, per license, billed annually
CustomIndividual plans can be billed quarterly, but the institutional tiers are annual onlyThat column greys out on the quarterly tab. Rayyan also rounds its per-month figures: $8.33 twelve times is $99.96, but the annual charge shown is $99.99
$8.33Checked by hand on 4 September 2026. Prices change often, so confirm on the provider’s own page before spending.
Who makes Rayyan
Rayyan began at the Qatar Computing Research Institute in 2014 and was spun out as a US company in 2020. It is used for systematic reviews at institutional scale.
CompanyRayyan Systems
Founded2020
Based inCambridge, US
SectorSearch & knowledge
ModelIn-house
StatusPrivate
Primary usersResearchers, Institutions
Free planYes
ComputeThird-party
Public listingNone announced
Best alternatives to Rayyan
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 →Elicit
Free
Searches actual papers and extracts findings into a table you can check, one row per study, rather than answering in prose.
View Elicit →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 →Rayyan by job
Where Rayyan 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 Rayyan
Is Rayyan free?
Yes — Free forever, pitched at your first systematic review rather than as a trial. The cheapest paid tier is Essential, at $8.33/mo quarterly month to month or $4.99/mo billed yearly.
What is Rayyan best at?
Built for systematic reviews — thousands of abstracts screened by a team, with blinding and conflict resolution built into the workflow. It is listed under Search, Research & Academics, and this is what it is built for.
What should I watch out for with Rayyan?
Overkill for anything smaller than a formal review. Individual seats are cheap, but the institutional tier starts at 5 licenses for $2,500 a year. Rayyan's own page swaps the descriptions of Essential and Advanced between its billing tabs, so read the feature list rather than the blurb.
What are the alternatives to Rayyan?
6 tools do comparable work: Connected Papers, Consensus, Elicit, EvidenceHunt, Gemini Deep Research, Gemini Notebook. 6 of them have a free plan.
How current is this Rayyan pricing?
Checked by hand on 4 September 2026. Prices change often — confirm on the provider's own page before spending.