Explainpaper

What Explainpaper is

Explainpaper is a web-based AI reader for research papers. Readers can highlight confusing passages and receive explanations with adjustable complexity, support for more than 50 languages, and context from the full paper. Paper chat answers questions using the paper’s content, supports follow-up questions and can summarize findings. Its answers can cite specific sections, helping readers locate the relevant material. The product also generates smart outlines, extracts key points and shows relationships between concepts.

The Free plan is available indefinitely and includes unlimited highlight explanations, follow-up questions, Zotero library import and basic AI models. Pro costs $16/month and adds Math Explain for formulas and figures, advanced AI models, whole-paper summaries, saved highlights and explanations, and questions about a paper. A 7-day Pro trial is available, and a card is required to start it. Teams includes Pro features, team management, priority support and volume discounts. Subscriptions are billed monthly or annually according to the selected plan, and payments are processed through Stripe. Explainpaper describes its audience as researchers and says more than 400,000 researchers use it.

Who it suits

Explainpaper suits researchers who want help interpreting difficult passages, asking questions about papers and finding key ideas. The Free plan supports individual reading and Zotero imports, while Pro adds formula and figure explanations, fuller summaries and saved material.

Limits

The Free plan includes basic AI models. Math Explain, advanced AI models, whole-paper summaries, saved highlights and explanations, and paper questions are listed under Pro.

Getting started

1. Visit the Explainpaper website.
2. Start with the Free plan or choose Pro for its additional features.
3. To try Pro, start the 7-day trial and provide a card.
4. Use Explainpaper on the web.
5. Import a Zotero library on the Free plan, or highlight confusing text to request an explanation.

Verdict

Choose Explainpaper if you want an AI reader that explains passages in context and lets you ask questions about a paper. The Free plan covers core explanations and Zotero imports; look at Pro for Math Explain, advanced models and whole-paper summaries.