Consensus

Overview

Consensus is an AI workspace for searching and working with scientific literature. It is best suited to researchers, students and clinicians who need scholarly answers they can trace to papers. Its strongest case is the combination of broad academic search and passage-linked citations; readers seeking a general-purpose search assistant may prefer a broader tool.

Key features

Search and medical coverage

Consensus searches more than 220 million peer-reviewed papers in a database updated weekly. Filters for date, open access, citations, journal rank, study design, population, sample size, duration, publisher, field and country give users useful ways to narrow results for a focused literature search. That depth is valuable for academic questions, though the product’s emphasis is not general web search.

Medical Mode searches a curated subset of about 8 million papers and 50,000 clinical guidelines from the top 1,000 medical journals. It gives clinicians and health-focused researchers a more targeted starting point than searching across every discipline, while the broader database may suit interdisciplinary questions better.

Research Agent and citations

Research Agent plans multi-step searches, using tools such as citation crawling and DOI lookup, then returns answers backed by peer-reviewed research. Consensus says each citation in its AI summaries maps to an exact paper quote, with the source section identified and PDF text highlighted when available. That traceability helps readers check how an answer relates to its source rather than treating an AI summary as a substitute for reading.

Reference workflows and integrations

Users can import a Zotero library and export CSV or RIS files compatible with EndNote, Mendeley and Zotero. Consensus is also available in ChatGPT, Claude and Microsoft 365 Copilot. These options make it easier to bring literature into existing reference and AI workflows; API and MCP usage draws from the same monthly allowance, so integrations still need to fit within plan quotas.

Consensus says content sent for AI processing is not used to train its own or third-party models, and account identifiers are not attached to that content. Support is available through in-product Support Chat and at [email protected].

Pricing

The free tier costs nothing. It allows unlimited Papers searches, but limits Pro messages, Deep reviews to 3 per month, Study Snapshots to 10 per month and API & MCP calls to 30 per month. It is a practical way to search papers without a search cap, but users who rely on the deeper research tools may reach the monthly limits.

Pro costs $20 a month, billed at $20/month or $144/year billed annually (equivalent to $12/month). It includes unlimited Papers searches and Pro messages, 15 Deep reviews per month, unlimited Study Snapshots and 250 API & MCP calls per month. It suits regular individual use, although the Deep review allowance remains modest compared with the Deep plan.

Deep costs $65 a month, billed at $65/month or $540/year billed annually (equivalent to $45/month). It keeps unlimited Papers searches and Pro messages, raises Deep reviews to 200 per month, and includes unlimited Study Snapshots and 1,000 API & MCP calls per month. It is aimed at people whose research work needs substantially higher Deep and integration quotas; occasional searchers are unlikely to need that capacity.

Teams uses custom pricing depending on team size. It includes Pro features, 50 Deep reviews per user per month, discounts up to 200 seats, centralized billing and 250 API & MCP calls per team member per month. Enterprise requires a custom quote by email and is for organizations with over 200 users; it adds team features, library integrations, product training and 250 API & MCP calls per user per month.

Paid plans can enable additional API and MCP calls for $0.05 each, up to the plan limit. Team buyers should weigh per-person allowances and seat discounts against their group’s usage, while larger organizations can look to Enterprise for library integrations and training.

Platforms

Consensus is available on the web, Android and iOS, as well as through an extension and API. Its mobile apps extend access beyond desktop research workflows, while API access supports programmatic use within the plan’s shared monthly call allowance.

Who it's for

Consensus is a strong fit for researchers, students and clinicians who search peer-reviewed work and want citations tied to source passages. Its filters, Medical Mode and reference-manager support are especially relevant to structured literature work. Teams are available for research groups, labs and academic departments. People looking mainly for broad web answers, or who need high volumes of AI research without a paid plan, should consider alternatives.

Pros and cons

• Pros: A database of more than 220 million peer-reviewed papers, updated weekly, gives academic searches broad coverage.
• Pros: Extensive filters and a dedicated medical collection help focus searches by study characteristics or clinical subject matter.
• Pros: Citations linked to exact quotes, with section references and PDF highlighting when available, make AI answers easier to verify.
• Pros: Zotero import, CSV and RIS exports, and integrations with ChatGPT, Claude and Microsoft 365 Copilot support existing research workflows.
• Cons: The free tier caps Pro messages, Deep reviews, Study Snapshots and API & MCP calls, even though Papers searches are unlimited.
• Cons: Higher Deep review and API & MCP allowances require more expensive plans, while Teams and Enterprise use custom pricing.

Alternatives

Elicit is worth comparing for research-focused work: its Basic plan has unlimited search across more than 138 million papers, unlimited summaries and unlimited chat with papers, though Research Agent and Research Reports use limited allowances.

Perplexity is a freemium option for people who want a broader search assistant across web and desktop platforms; its free plan has limited daily use, while Pro costs $20 a month for serious work with expanded use.

Andi AI offers a free-forever Andi Search plan with unlimited searches and tools to read, summarize and explain, making it an option for readers who want general search without a paid subscription.

Arc Search is a free mobile browser for readers who want search within a browser rather than an academic research workspace.

Felo Search is another freemium search option, with a free plan capped at 5 professional searches per day and up to 3 file analyses.

You.com is a freemium alternative with 100 queries per day and web and news results on its free plan.

Yahoo Scout is free to try and use without a paid subscription at launch, though some features require a Yahoo account.

Genspark Design has a free plan with 100 credits per day, making it an alternative for readers considering a credit-based product rather than Consensus’s academic research focus.

Explore more options in AI Research Assistants and AI Search Engines.

Verdict

Choose Consensus if your work depends on finding peer-reviewed research and checking AI answers against cited passages. Its broad paper database, precise filters and academic integrations make it a focused research tool, while unlimited Papers searches keep the free tier useful for discovery. Look elsewhere if you need a general-purpose search assistant or higher Deep and API usage without stepping up to a paid plan.