Consensus
research
Consensus is an AI-powered academic search engine that allows researchers to search and analyze over 200 million peer-reviewed research papers
Pricing
Free plan
Rating
—
Votes
0
Head-to-head comparison
Consensus vs Elicit
Compare Consensus and Elicit side by side across pricing, features, ratings, pros, cons, best-fit use cases, and alternatives.
Elicit
research
Elicit is an AI research assistant designed for academic and scientific researchers, providing semantic search across 138 million academic papers and 545,000 clinical trials
Pricing
Free plan
Rating
—
Votes
0
Feature comparison
Feature
Consensus
Elicit
Category
research
research
Pricing
Free plan
Free plan
Free plan
API access
Mobile app
Browser extension
Team collaboration
Custom training
Self-hosted option
Offline mode
Multi-language support
Consensus pros and cons
Access to 250M+ peer-reviewed research papers including licensed full-text content from leading publishers like Sage and ACS
Deep Search feature automates literature review by building comprehensive search strategies, expanding key terms, identifying conflicting arguments, and exploring citation graphs
Institutional adoption with partnerships at 170+ university libraries and 10 million active users including researchers, students, and clinicians
Browser extension integration brings results directly into Google Scholar and PubMed search workflows
Note: Open-ended questions or queries requiring numbers, explanations, or logical reasoning may not produce excellent results as of 2025
Note: Free tier provides only essential search functionalities with limited access to advanced features
Note: Deep Search is limited to 15 searches per month even on the Pro plan, which may be restrictive for heavy users
Elicit pros and cons
High accuracy validated in peer-reviewed research: achieved 95% search recall, 97% abstract screening, 99% full-text screening, and 96% extraction across 994 Cochrane reviews
Massive database coverage with semantic search across 138 million academic papers and 545,000 clinical trials, eliminating the need to know exact keywords
Comprehensive workflow support from quick searches to systematic reviews, with dedicated systematic review workflow that can screen 5,000 papers (Pro plan)
Sentence-level citations provide specific source attribution, reducing hallucination risks compared to other AI research tools
Note: Lower search sensitivity compared to traditional methods—may miss some relevant papers according to comparative studies
Note: Free tier is quite limited with only 2 automated reports per month and restricted column additions (2 at a time)
Note: Significant price jump between tiers: Basic at $10/month to Pro at $49/month (annual billing), making it expensive for individual researchers needing advanced features
Which one should you choose?
Best overall signal
Consensus
Selected using Toolglade popularity signals such as views and votes.
Best value signal
Consensus
Selected using free-plan availability and engagement signals.
Best for
Consensus
- Academic researchers conducting systematic literature reviews who need to analyze large volumes of peer-reviewed papers
- University students and faculty at institutions with library partnerships seeking evidence-based research
- Clinicians looking for quick answers to clinical questions backed by peer-reviewed evidence
- Researchers asking specific yes/no or relationship-based questions about scientific topics
- finding peer-reviewed evidence
Elicit
- Academic researchers conducting systematic reviews or meta-analyses who need validated accuracy and comprehensive screening workflows
- Scientists and PhD students performing literature reviews who want to accelerate evidence synthesis with AI assistance
- Research teams requiring collaboration features and API access for integrating literature search into existing workflows (Scale plan at $169/month)
- systematic literature reviews
- extracting data from papers
FAQ
Is Consensus better than Elicit?
It depends on your use case. Compare category fit, pricing, feature availability, and ratings before choosing.
Which tool has a free plan?
Consensus and Elicit offer a free plan based on current Toolglade data.