Elicit vs Science42: DORA

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

Cheaper paid plan: Science42: DORA — $17/mo vs $49/mo for Elicit
Free plan: Both have one
Public API: Elicit has one; not confirmed by us for Science42: DORA
Higher Trust score: Elicit — 94 vs 82 for Science42: DORA
Best fit: Elicit: Systematic reviews and evidence synthesis where every included paper needs the same fields pulled · Science42: DORA: Biomedical and scientific researchers drafting papers with heavy citation needs

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

ElicitLiterature review workflow that extracts data into tables

Science42: DORADesktop app that drafts cited academic and biomedical research papers, from Insilico Medicine.

Side by side

Fact	Elicit	Science42: DORA
Category	Academic Search & Literature Review	Research & Citation Tools
Pricing model	Freemium	Freemium
Starts at	$49/mo	$17/mo
Public API	Yes	Not confirmed
Trust score	94 / 100	82 / 100
Platforms	Web, API	Windows, macOS
Company	Elicit	Insilico Medicine
Launched	2021	—
Last verified	Oct 15, 2026	Oct 15, 2026

What our research says

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

Science42: DORA

DORA is aimed at researchers who want database-connected citation and drafting help for scientific papers specifically, backed by Insilico Medicine's biomedical focus. It is a desktop-only download rather than a web app, and the current low price reflects an active discount rather than the standard rate.

Pros

Direct integration with scientific and biomedical databases for citations
Includes AI editing/review passes and visualization generation, not just drafting
Open-source self-hosted option avoids the subscription entirely

Cons

Desktop-only, no browser version currently offered
Listed price reflects a temporary 50% discount, not the standard rate
No API for the hosted version

Which one fits

Choose Elicit if you need

Systematic reviews and evidence synthesis where every included paper needs the same fields pulled
Researchers screening hundreds of abstracts against defined inclusion criteria
Pharma, policy and academic teams that need an auditable trail back to sources

Choose Science42: DORA if you need

Biomedical and scientific researchers drafting papers with heavy citation needs
Teams wanting an open-source, self-hosted alternative to hosted AI writing tools
Users comfortable installing a desktop application