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Liner 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

Cheaper paid plan
scite — $12/mo vs $14.99/mo for Liner
Free plan
Only Liner (scite has paid plans only)
Public API
scite has one; not confirmed by us for Liner
Best fit
Liner: Graduate students building literature reviews · scite: Checking whether a paper you plan to cite has been disputed in later literature
Trust score
About even — Liner 86, 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

LinerAI search and research agent that ties every sentence of an answer to a source, with a scholar mode for finding papers.sciteCitation index that shows whether papers support or contradict

Side by side

FactLinerscite
CategoryAcademic Search & Literature ReviewResearch & Citation Tools
Pricing modelFreemiumPaid
Starts at$14.99/mo$12/mo
Public APINot confirmedYes
Trust score86 / 10090 / 100
PlatformsWeb, Chrome extensionWeb, Chrome extension, API
CompanyLiner, Inc.Research Solutions, Inc.
Launched20152018
Last verifiedOct 29, 2026Oct 15, 2026

What our research says

Liner

Liner is a good fit for students and researchers who want cited answers and a paper finder in one subscription, and who will actually click through the sources. Casual users happy with a general chatbot, or anyone who dislikes ads and tight credit limits on the free plan, will find less value.

Pros

  • Sentence-level citations make answers checkable
  • Scholar mode focuses search on academic papers
  • Paid plans include many third-party chat and image models
  • Annual billing brings Pro under $15 a month

Cons

  • Free credits run out after a few tasks and answers show ads
  • No refunds on subscriptions
  • Product spans search, scholar and writing, which can blur what each plan unlocks

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 Liner if you need

  • Graduate students building literature reviews
  • Professionals fact-checking claims before publishing
  • Students who want citations attached to every answer

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

Liner vs scite: the questions people ask

Is Liner cheaper than scite?

On published entry prices, scite starts lower — $12/mo against $14.99/mo for Liner. Entry price is the lowest paid plan as we last verified it; what each plan includes differs.

Does Liner or scite have a free tier?

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

Which has a public API, Liner or scite?

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

More comparisons

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