Folio
What it is
Folio is an integrated workspace for research, reading, writing, citations, and proof of work. Folio Search sends one query across papers, books, the web, and video, while its Synthesizer cites retrieved material. Writers can insert citations from their source library and have the bibliography built automatically. Libraries can be imported from Zotero, and reference files are supported in BibTeX, RIS, CSL-JSON, MODS, and EndNote XML formats. Folio provides an MCP connector for Claude, ChatGPT, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, and other compliant clients. Its browser extension supports Chrome, Edge, Brave, and Arc; Firefox and Safari are not supported yet. The Scholar plan is free forever and includes unlimited documents and sources, with listed limits on searches, checks, briefs, AI answers, and proofreading. Fellow costs $9.99/mo, or $99 a year, and adds unlimited literature search, Research Radar, and version history. Chair costs $25.00/mo, or $250 a year, and adds supervisor and team features, more discovery agents, unlimited proofreading, and priority support. Folio is available through the web, extension, and API. Native iOS and Android apps are not available yet. Users can export data or delete accounts, and Folio says it does not sell user data or train models on users’ writing.
For and against
For
- Free Scholar plan
- Searches papers, books, web, and video
- Automatic bibliography creation
- Zotero and reference-file imports
- MCP connector for AI clients
Against
- No native iOS or Android apps
- Firefox and Safari extensions unsupported
- No free trial
- Paid plans start at $9.99/mo
The verdict
Folio combines source discovery, citation handling, writing, and research records across web tools and integrations. Check browser support and plan quotas if your workflow depends on a particular device or volume.
Who it suits
Folio suits researchers, writers, supervisors, and teams who need linked source searching, citations, writing tools, and proof-of-work records. Its plans target individual scholars as well as field-focused and supervisory use.
Plans and prices
Scholar
Unlimited documents and sources · 40 literature searches/day · 3 Research & start briefs/month · 10 Scholar AI answers/month
Read 15 Oct 2026 · usefolio.co
Fellow
Unlimited certificates · 20 citation/claim checks/day · Document Audit 1/day · 3 Discovery Agents
Read 15 Oct 2026 · usefolio.co
Chair
At least 2× Fellow AI limits · Unlimited proofreading · 10 Discovery Agents · Deep Scan
Read 15 Oct 2026 · usefolio.co
Standalone and extracurricular institutions
Tutoring centers, academies, bootcamps and test-prep programs
Read 15 Oct 2026 · usefolio.co
Higher education
University, college or faculty deployment
Read 15 Oct 2026 · usefolio.co
K–12 school or district
Institution deployment
Read 15 Oct 2026 · usefolio.co
On the record
- Academic search
- Its search spans OpenAlex, Crossref, Semantic Scholar, arXiv, Europe PMC, DOAJ and other sources, with results saved directly to a library.usefolio.co · read 15 Oct 2026
- AI assistant integration
- Folio provides an MCP connector for Claude, ChatGPT, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, and other compliant clients.usefolio.co · read 8 Oct 2026
- AI writing boundary
- The product says its AI does not write into documents; it searches, checks citations, reviews arguments and proofreads instead.usefolio.co · read 15 Oct 2026
- Audience
- Folio presents Scholar as a free plan for writing and proving work, Fellow for keeping up with a field, and Chair for supervisors and teams.usefolio.co · read 8 Oct 2026
- Browser extension
- The free extension saves papers, pages and links, verifies page references and lets users ask questions about a page.usefolio.co · read 15 Oct 2026
- Changelog news
- The September 25, 2026 release added clearer failed-search messages, safer BibTeX and Chicago exports, Qualtrics import, Prolific completion handling, scheduled retraction checks and video submission receipts.usefolio.co · read 15 Oct 2026
- Chrome extension coverage
- The extension listing says it supports sources including arXiv, Nature, Science, PubMed, IEEE, books, government pages, YouTube and general web pages.chromewebstore.google.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Chrome extension details
- The listing identifies version 1.4.3, updated July 18, 2026, with a 174 KiB package and developer Tarek Gara.chromewebstore.google.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Chrome privacy disclosure
- The Chrome listing says the extension handles personally identifiable information, authentication information and website content.chromewebstore.google.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Classroom
- Folio Classroom is free for individual instructors and attaches a verifiable writing-process record to each student submission.usefolio.co · read 15 Oct 2026
- Company facts
- The opened official and founder pages do not state a legal entity name, headquarters location or founding year.usefolio.co · read 15 Oct 2026
- Compliance
- Folio describes its posture as GDPR-aligned, offers a data-processing agreement on request and publishes a subprocessor register.usefolio.co · read 15 Oct 2026
- Data control
- Users can export their data in machine-readable formats or permanently delete their account from settings.usefolio.co · read 8 Oct 2026
- Discovery synthesis
- Discovery follows citation links and can assemble a structured synthesis matrix whose cells link back to sources.usefolio.co · read 15 Oct 2026
- Documentation
- The help center lists 126 articles covering account setup, imports, citations, audits, surveys, institutions and technical integrations.usefolio.co · read 15 Oct 2026
- Export formats
- Library exports include BibTeX, RIS and CSL-JSON, while documents can be exported as DOCX, PDF, LaTeX or web pages.usefolio.co · read 15 Oct 2026
- Founder
- Tarek Gara identifies himself as building Folio and provides a usefolio.co contact address on his personal site.tarekgara.com · read 15 Oct 2026
- Identity integrations
- Institution single sign-on supports OpenID Connect and SAML 2.0, with SCIM provisioning.usefolio.co · read 15 Oct 2026
