Elicit vs Paperguide

Elicit

Elicit is the only one of these tools that treats a literature review as a structured extraction job rather than a chat, which is exactly right for the work. The price assumes you are billing someone else for the hours it saves.

Pros

• +Column-per-field extraction into a table is the correct shape for review work and rare elsewhere
• +Free tier is unusually generous: unlimited search, summaries and full-text chat
• +Every claim links back to the paper it came from
• +API access is included from the first paid tier rather than sold separately

Cons

• −The $49 to $169 jump is steep and Scale is priced for institutions, not labs
• −Free tier's limits on the Research Agent and Reports are not quantified anywhere on the pricing page
• −Extraction accuracy still needs spot-checking against the source PDF
• −Coverage is paper-centric, so grey literature and preprint-heavy fields are thinner

Paperguide

Unusually complete for this category: most tools do search or reference management or extraction, and Paperguide does all three plus PRISMA-grade systematic review screening. That breadth is worth the $29 if you actually run reviews. Credits meter everything, and some headline features are still labelled as coming.

Pros

• +Search across a stated 200M papers with citation-grounded answers
• +Imports existing libraries from Zotero, Mendeley or DOI
• +Data extraction into structured, cited tables rather than free text
• +Systematic review module with PRISMA reporting
• +Free tier of 1,000 credits a month to evaluate properly

Cons

• −Image and table extraction and dual-reviewer screening are still marked as coming soon
• −Everything is metered in AI credits, so heavy review work hits limits
• −Advertised low prices assume annual billing; month-to-month is roughly 70% more
• −No named legal entity — the terms only give a Georgia, US jurisdiction

Is Elicit cheaper than Paperguide?

On published entry prices, Paperguide starts lower — $29/mo against $49/mo for Elicit. Entry price is the lowest paid plan as we last verified it; what each plan includes differs.

Does Elicit or Paperguide have a free tier?

Both: Elicit has a free tier, and Paperguide has a free tier.

Which has a public API, Elicit or Paperguide?

Elicit ships a public API, as of our last verification. A public API for Paperguide is not confirmed by us — check its developer docs before you plan an integration.