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Consensus vs scite

Two fact sheets from our own research, side by side — pricing, platforms, API access and status re-checked by us rather than quoted from the vendors.

The short answer

Free plan
Only Consensus (scite has paid plans only)
Public API
Both have one
Best fit
Consensus: Checking whether a specific claim has support across published studies · scite: Checking whether a paper you plan to cite has been disputed in later literature
Platforms
Consensus: Web, iOS, Android · scite: Web, Chrome extension
Trust score
About even — Consensus 90, scite 90

From our own records as of each tool's last check. Anything we have not confirmed is left out rather than guessed. How we verify

Side by side

FactConsensusscite
CategoryAcademic Search & Literature ReviewResearch & Citation Tools
Pricing modelFreemiumPaid
Starts at—$12/mo
Public APIYesYes
Trust score90 / 10090 / 100
PlatformsWeb, iOS, Android, APIWeb, Chrome extension, API
CompanyConsensus NLP, Inc.Research Solutions, Inc.
Launched20212018
Last verifiedOct 15, 2026Oct 15, 2026

What our research says

Consensus

Useful when you want to know what a body of literature actually concludes rather than reading one paper at a time, but it orients you, it does not replace reading them.

Pros

  • Every answer is tied to specific papers with study design and sample size
  • Free tier is a standing plan rather than a time-limited trial
  • The yes-or-no consensus meter is a fast orientation device
  • Covers a very large index of peer-reviewed literature

Cons

  • Summaries can flatten real disagreement between studies into false consensus
  • Coverage skews to indexed English-language biomedical work
  • Pricing cannot be verified from outside; the site blocks automated access
  • Free allowance of the deeper analyses runs out quickly in real use

scite

The citation-classification dataset is the moat — no other research assistant tells you a paper has been contradicted 14 times. Use it to vet sources, not to discover them; Elicit and Consensus are better at the initial sweep.

Pros

  • Supporting/contrasting/mentioning classification is genuinely unique among research tools
  • Zotero plugin, browser extension and MCP server carry the data into existing workflows
  • Pro plan includes API access to papers, tallies, citations and Reference Check
  • Backed by a public company since the 2023 acquisition, so it is unlikely to disappear

Cons

  • Classification quality depends on full-text access; low-coverage publishers yield sparse tallies
  • No permanent free plan any more, only a 7-day trial that converts automatically
  • The Assistant is competent but not clearly better than dedicated research chat tools
  • API access now requires the Pro plan, not Basic

Which one fits

Choose Consensus if you need

  • Checking whether a specific claim has support across published studies
  • Clinicians and students orienting quickly in an unfamiliar literature
  • Anyone who wants citations attached to every summarised claim

Choose scite if you need

  • Checking whether a paper you plan to cite has been disputed in later literature
  • Systematic reviews where you must justify why a source was included or dropped
  • Auditing your own manuscript's reference list before journal submission

Consensus vs scite: the questions people ask

Is Consensus cheaper than scite?

scite starts at $12/mo. Consensus has a free tier; what its paid plans cost is not confirmed by us yet.

Does Consensus or scite have a free tier?

Consensus has a free tier; scite has paid plans only.

Which has a public API, Consensus or scite?

Both ship a public API, so either can be built on; the fact table above shows the platforms each one runs on.

All Consensus alternatives →All scite alternatives →Browse all Academic Search & Literature Review →