Consensus

Consensus is an AI workspace and academic search engine for scientific research, available on the web, Android, iOS, and as an extension. Its search covers a database of over 220 million peer-reviewed papers that is updated weekly. Filters include publication date, open access, citations, journal rank, study design, population, sample size, duration, publisher, field, and country. Research Agent plans multi-step searches and can use tools such as citation crawling and DOI lookup to return citation-backed answers grounded in peer-reviewed work. Consensus says citations in AI summaries map to exact paper quotes, with source sections identified and PDF text highlighted when available. Medical Mode searches a curated collection of about 8 million papers and 50,000 clinical guidelines from the top 1,000 medical journals. Users can import Zotero libraries and export CSV or RIS files for reference managers. Consensus is also available in ChatGPT, Claude, and Microsoft 365 Copilot. API and MCP calls share plan allowances; paid plans can enable extra calls for $0.05 each, up to the plan limit. The Free Tier includes unlimited paper searches, limited Pro messages, three Deep reviews per month, ten Study Snapshots per month, and 30 API and MCP calls per month.

Consensus pairs academic search and paper filters with AI research tools and citation-linked summaries. The Free Tier includes search and limited monthly allowances; Pro is $20 per month or $144 per year billed annually, and Deep is $65 per month or $540 per year billed annually.

Consensus suits researchers, students, and clinicians looking for scientific papers and citation-backed research answers. Team plans are available for research groups, labs, and academic departments.

Overview

Consensus brings academic paper search and AI research tools together for students, researchers and clinicians who need answers tied to scientific literature. Its strongest case is the combination of detailed filters, focused medical coverage and citation-linked summaries; readers seeking a general-purpose search assistant may find its scholarly focus too narrow.

Key features

Search and medical coverage

The search engine covers more than 220 million peer-reviewed papers and is updated weekly. Filters for publication date, open access, citations, journal rank, study design, population, sample size, duration, publisher, field and country help researchers narrow results by both methodology and subject. That level of control is useful for targeted literature discovery, although it asks users to frame a scholarly question rather than search the wider web.

Medical Mode searches a curated collection of about 8 million papers and 50,000 clinical guidelines from the top 1,000 medical journals. It gives clinicians and health researchers a more focused starting point for medical questions, while the broader database is the better fit for work spanning other fields.

Research Agent and source tracing

Research Agent plans multi-step searches and can chain tools such as citation crawling and DOI lookup to produce answers grounded in peer-reviewed research. Consensus maps each citation in its AI summaries to an exact quote, identifies the source section and highlights PDF text when available. Those links make it easier to check how an answer relates to its paper, a useful safeguard when working with AI-generated summaries.

References and integrations

Users can import a Zotero library and export CSV or RIS files for reference managers including EndNote, Mendeley and Zotero. Consensus is also available in ChatGPT, Claude and Microsoft 365 Copilot. API and MCP calls use a shared monthly allowance, so integrations can draw down the same quota rather than separate pools.

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 includes unlimited Papers searches, limited Pro messages, 3 Deep reviews/month, 10 Study Snapshots/month and 30 API & MCP calls/month. It is a useful way to search papers, but the small monthly allowances constrain repeated AI-assisted research.

Pro costs $20 a month, billed $20/month or $144/year billed annually (equivalent to $12/month). It adds unlimited Pro messages, 15 Deep reviews/month, unlimited Study Snapshots and 250 API & MCP calls/month, while retaining unlimited Papers searches. Pro suits regular users who need more than the free AI and integration allowances without the Deep tier's larger research quota.

Deep costs $65 a month, billed $65/month or $540/year billed annually (equivalent to $45/month). It includes unlimited Papers searches and Pro messages, 200 Deep reviews/month, unlimited Study Snapshots and 1,000 API & MCP calls/month. The higher allowance is aimed at intensive research workflows; occasional users may not need that many Deep reviews.

Teams has custom pricing depending on team size. It includes Pro features, 50 Deep reviews per user/month, discounts up to 200 seats, centralized billing and 250 API & MCP calls per team member/month. Enterprise uses custom pricing by email for organizations with over 200 users, adding Team features, library integrations, product training and 250 API & MCP calls per user/month. Paid plans can enable extra API and MCP calls for $0.05 each up to their plan limit.

Platforms

Consensus is available on the web, Android and iOS, with browser extension and API access. Its mobile applications suit reading and searching away from a desktop; the available integrations also give research teams ways to work through other tools.

Who it's for

Consensus is a strong fit for students building literature reviews, researchers filtering scholarly papers and clinicians looking for medical literature and guidelines. Teams in research groups, labs and academic departments can use seat-based plans with centralized billing. Readers who mainly want broad web answers, or who need only occasional AI summaries, may get less from its specialized search and paid research quotas.

Pros and cons

• Pros: A weekly updated database of more than 220 million peer-reviewed papers gives scholarly searches substantial reach.
• Pros: Detailed study and population filters, plus a dedicated medical collection, support more targeted discovery.
• Pros: Citation-linked quotes, source sections and PDF highlighting make AI summaries easier to verify.
• Pros: Zotero import and CSV or RIS export connect paper discovery to common reference-management workflows.
• Cons: The Free Tier limits Pro messages and allows only 3 Deep reviews and 10 Study Snapshots per month.
• Cons: API and MCP calls share a monthly pool, which can limit usage across integrations.
• Cons: Deep costs $65 a month, a substantial step up from Pro for users who need its larger review allowance.

Alternatives

Perplexity is a freemium option with Android, API, iOS, macOS, web and Windows access; its free plan has limited daily use, while Pro costs $20 a month for serious work with expanded use.

Felo AI Research offers a free Standard plan with 200 bonus credits a day, unlimited high-speed search, 5 professional searches/day and 3 file analyses/day, for users who want those specific free allowances.

Gab AI Research Assistant is another freemium option with Android, browser extension, iOS, macOS and web access.

Genspark Design is a freemium option available across Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, web and Windows, with 100 credits per day on its free plan.

Liner offers a free plan with unlimited Advanced Search and access to image generation and Deep Research, alongside zero agent credits per month.

Praxa has a free plan while in beta, with 100 credits a day and access on iOS and web.

SciSpace has a free Basic plan with 100 monthly credits and access through a browser extension, iOS and web.

You.com offers a free plan with 100 queries/day and web and news results, and provides API access.

Verdict

Choose Consensus if your work depends on finding peer-reviewed papers and checking AI summaries against their cited passages. Its research filters, Medical Mode and reference-manager support make it particularly useful for scholarly and clinical workflows. Look elsewhere if you need a broad web search assistant or expect frequent deep reviews without paying for a higher monthly allowance.