What is Paperpile?
Paperpile is a reference manager for collecting, organizing, annotating and citing research papers. It runs as a web app with a browser extension, iOS and Android apps, and Google Docs and Microsoft Word plugins.
Who it's for
Paperpile says more than 200,000 researchers use it, and it sells to individuals, teams, and companies, universities and research institutions. It suits people who write and cite in Google Docs, Word or LaTeX.
Pros & cons
Strengths
- Paperpile lists a Google Docs plugin, a Microsoft Word plugin, and BibTeX and LaTeX support for citations and bibliographies.
- Its pricing page comparison table lists unlimited storage for research PDFs on the plans it compares.
- Paperpile lists a 30 day free trial with all features and no credit card required, per its subscription help page.
- Expert adds full-text search across PDFs, notes and PDF annotations, shared folders and libraries, any file type, and custom citation styles, per the pricing page.
- Enterprise and Institutions adds SAML single sign-on, advanced security and privacy settings, a custom MSA and SLA, vendor security reviews and HIPAA, per the pricing page.
- Paperpile says it signs in with your Google Account, never accesses or stores your password, and will not share your email address.
Limitations
- There is no permanent free plan; after the 30 day trial a subscription is required.
- All plans are billed annually and renew automatically until canceled; monthly billing and lifetime licenses are not offered, and multi-year terms are arranged through support.
- Regular leaves out full-text search, PDF annotations, shared folders and custom citation styles; these start at Expert, and a license cannot mix Regular and Expert.
- Enterprise and Institutions has no public price (custom quote), and enterprise features cannot be turned on in the app.
- The pricing page and the subscription pop-up show $4.15 and $5.75 a month without saying whether this includes the 50% academic discount, which another page describes as a separate option; the struck-through $8.30 and $11.50 are not labeled.
- Help pages did not state a refund policy, and the pricing FAQ does not address commercial use.
Plans and pricing
- Free trial: $0. 30 days, all features, no credit card required; not a permanent free plan.
- Regular: $4.15 a month, billed annually. Pricing page shows $8.30 struck through. Reference management, PDF storage and reading, citing in major styles, BibTeX, basic integrations. No full-text search, PDF annotations, shared folders or custom styles.
- Expert: $5.75 a month, billed annually. Pricing page shows $11.50 struck through. Everything in Regular plus full-text search, notes and annotations, shared folders and libraries, any file type, advanced integrations and custom citation styles. Group discount up to 20% on Expert.
- Enterprise and Institutions: Custom quote. Everything in Expert plus SAML SSO, security and privacy settings, custom MSA and SLA, vendor security reviews and HIPAA. Site license or fixed paid seats.
- Paperpile Classic: Not listed. Discounted plan for subscribers active before March 2026, switchable under Settings > Billing; not offered to new customers per the help center.
Prices were read from the official pricing page and the subscribe help page (both show $4.15 and $5.75 a month, billed annually, taxes may apply, currency USD). The pages do not say whether these already include the 50% academic discount, so confirm on the live pricing page. Older Academic ($2.99) and Business ($9.99) plans were discontinued with the March 2026 pricing change, per the help center.
Details checked October 2026 against the vendor's own pages. Prices and limits change, so confirm before you buy. Official pricing page ↗
Sources
This profile was compiled from these public pages. We have not run hands-on tests.
Paperpile — at a glance
Paperpile is a reference manager for collecting, organizing, annotating and citing research papers. It runs as a web app with a browser extension, iOS and Android apps, and Google Docs and Microsoft Word plugins.
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