Elicit vs Consensus
Elicit and Consensus side by side: what each one is, what it costs to start, and whether you can try it free. Everything below comes from the vendors' own sites and other public sources, not from hands-on testing.
At a glance
| Elicit | Consensus | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Research & Search | Research & Search |
| Starting price | Free; paid plans from $49/mo (checked October 2026) | Free; paid plans from $12/mo (checked October 2026) |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Profile | Read profile | Read profile |
Prices are in US dollars unless shown otherwise. Confirm the current price on the vendor's site before you buy.
Key differences
Both list a free tier, so you can try each before paying.
Consensus has the lower starting price ($12/mo against $49/mo for Elicit). The cheapest plan rarely has the same limits or features, so compare plans before choosing on price.
Both are in our Research & Search category.
About each tool
Elicit
AI research assistant that searches 138M+ papers, summarizes them, extracts data and writes cited reports and systematic reviews. Free Basic plan; Pro reported at $49 a month billed annually.
Who it is for
Researchers, students and teams that do literature reviews, evidence synthesis or data extraction from papers. Higher tiers add team collaboration and admin controls.
Strengths
- Elicit says search across 138M+ academic papers is unlimited on the free Basic plan
- Summaries and chat with full-text papers are listed as unlimited on Basic
- The systematic review workflow covers paper gathering, screening, data extraction and a report, and extracted cells show supporting quotes
- Zotero import is listed on all plans, and API access on Pro
- A single review can hold up to 5,000 papers on Pro, 20,000 on Scale and 40,000 on Enterprise, per Elicit's help center
Limitations
- Basic gives 'limited' Research Agent and Research Report usage, and the pricing page publishes no numbers
- All plans share one monthly usage pool across the Research Agent, Reports and Systematic Reviews. It resets monthly, even on annual plans, and unused usage does not roll over
- Larger inputs use more of the pool: long PDFs, more extraction columns and more thorough screening
- Extra usage on Pro and Scale is billed in $100 increments up to a monthly limit you set
- Elicit's privacy policy page shows a last update of September 2023 and does not mention model training. Enterprise lists 'no training on your data by default'
Consensus
AI search engine that answers questions from scholarly papers, with a citation on each sentence. Free plan; Pro is $144 a year (about $12 a month) or $20 monthly.
Who it is for
Researchers at any level, from people starting a first project to experienced publishers, according to the Consensus docs. Team and Enterprise plans cover organizations and universities.
Strengths
- Consensus says paper search is unlimited on every plan, including Free
- Consensus says retracted papers are flagged and not used in answers
- Deep review is an agent that plans sub-questions and runs up to 20 searches, typically analyzing up to 50 papers and up to 100 when a larger set helps
- It can also be reached from ChatGPT, Claude and Copilot, and through an API
Limitations
- The Free plan lists 10 Pro messages, 3 Deep reviews, 10 Study Snapshots and 30 API or MCP calls a month
- Pro allows 15 Deep reviews a month, and Pro Analysis summarizes up to 20 papers per search
- Each Deep review uses one Deep credit, and each Skill such as Literature Review or Verify Citations also uses one
- The plan with 200 Deep reviews a month is the separate Deep tier at a higher price
- Consensus's own pages disagree on some figures, such as coverage (400 million versus 220 million papers) and the Free message count (10 versus 15), so we leave coverage out
