Operations
AI research tools tools
AI research tools help you find, read and summarise sources, from web pages to academic papers to your own documents, and show where each claim came from. The citations are the point: they let you check the answer instead of trusting it.
Gemini Notebook
Google's source-grounded research notebook, renamed Gemini Notebook in 2026
Elicit
AI research assistant that searches and summarises academic papers
Consensus
AI search engine for peer-reviewed research papers
scite
Research tool that shows how papers have been cited, with an AI assistant
Side by side
| Tool | Free plan | Starting price | Open source | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini Notebook | $4.99/mo | No | Web | |
| Elicit | $49/user/mo | No | Web, API | |
| Consensus | $12/mo | No | Web, API | |
| scite | $20/mo | No | Web, API |
How to choose
- 1
What are you searching: the open web, academic literature, or documents you upload?
- 2
Does every claim link to a source you can open and check?
- 3
Can you export or share what you find with your team?
- 4
Do you need it to work in languages other than English?
Also worth a look
Tools listed elsewhere that do this job too.
Perplexity
AI answer engine that replies with cited sources from the web
Julius AI
AI workspace for analysing data and turning it into charts, reports and slides
Guides
Questions
What are AI research tools?
AI research tools help you find, read and summarise sources, from web pages to academic papers to your own documents, and show where each claim came from. The citations are the point: they let you check the answer instead of trusting it.
Which AI research tools have a free plan?
Of the 4 listed here, 4 have a free plan: Gemini Notebook, Elicit, Consensus and scite. Free plans are limited; each tool's page lists the limits.
Which of these AI research tools costs least to start?
Of the tools here with a published price, the lowest entry price is Gemini Notebook's Google AI Plus plan at $4.99/mo, as published on its pricing page on 23 September 2026. The cheapest plan is not always the best value: check what each plan includes.