Consensus

What is Consensus?

Consensus is a research search engine. You ask a question and it looks through more than 400 million scholarly articles, including about 350 million peer-reviewed papers, before AI summarizes only what it found, with each sentence in the answer linked to the paper behind it. Hovering a citation shows the exact quote, retracted papers are flagged and left out of answers, and the company says it does not train models on your searches or uploads. Pro messages summarize up to 20 papers, Deep reviews run a literature review across up to 50 papers, and Study Snapshots show a paper's methodology, sample size and duration. A Library keeps saved papers together, and an API and MCP server let other AI assistants query the same index. The Free plan costs $0 with unlimited paper searches. Pro is $20 a month or $144 a year, and Deep is $65 a month or $540 a year. Teams and Enterprise are quoted on request.

Use cases

• Answer research questions from peer-reviewed papers
• Run a literature review across many papers
• Check a claim against the cited paper
• Compare study methods and sample sizes
• Keep saved papers in a library
• Query scholarly sources from another AI assistant
• Find where studies disagree

Who it's for

• Researchers
• Students
• Clinicians
• Universities
• Research teams

Why use Consensus

• Search runs before the AI step, so answers rest on papers Consensus actually found and say so when nothing relevant turns up.
• Hovering a citation shows the exact quote, which makes claims quick to verify.
• Study Snapshots and Deep reviews compress screening work during a literature review.
• Paper searches are unlimited even on the Free plan.

Consensus features

• Search over 400 million scholarly articles
• Answers with citations linking each sentence to a paper
• Pro messages that summarize up to 20 papers
• Deep reviews across up to 50 papers
• Study Snapshots with methodology, sample size and duration
• Retracted papers flagged and excluded from answers
• Library for saving and organizing papers
• API and MCP server with monthly call allowances
• Team plans with centralized billing

Consensus integrations

• ChatGPT
• Microsoft 365 Copilot
• Microsoft Copilot Studio

How to get started with Consensus

1. Go to consensus.app and ask a research question in plain language.
2. Review the papers found and the AI-written answer with linked citations.
3. Open Study Snapshots or a Deep review for methods, sample size and findings.
4. Save useful papers to your Library.
5. Connect Consensus to another AI assistant or the API if you want the same search elsewhere.

Consensus limitations

• Free plan includes 10 Pro messages, 3 Deep reviews and 10 Study Snapshots a month
• Free API and MCP use is limited to 30 calls a month
• Pro includes 15 Deep reviews a month and Deep includes 200
• Extra API and MCP calls on paid plans cost $0.05 per call

Consensus pricing

Yes, Consensus has a free plan. Paid plans start at $12 per month, according to the official pricing page on 24 Oct 2026.

Consensus plans

• Free

  $0

  • Unlimited Papers searches
  • 10 Pro messages per month
  • 3 Deep reviews per month
  • 10 Study Snapshots per month
  • 30 API & MCP calls per month

• Pro

  $20/month

  or $144/year, billed annually

  • Unlimited Pro messages
  • 15 Deep reviews per month
  • Unlimited Study Snapshots
  • 500 API & MCP calls per month

• Deep

  $65/month

  or $540/year, billed annually

  • Everything in Pro
  • 200 Deep reviews per month
  • 2,000 API & MCP calls per month

• Teams

  Custom

  depends on team size

  • 50 Deep reviews per user per month
  • Centralized billing
  • Discounts for up to 200 seats

• Enterprise

  Custom

  • Manage thousands of users
  • Library integrations
  • Training and search optimization sessions

Plans as listed on the official pricing page on 24 Oct 2026. Prices can change and may vary by country or exclude tax. Check the official pricing page.

Consensus alternatives

The main Consensus alternatives listed on Debuly are Elicit, Scite, Perplexity, Undermind, Semantic Scholar and Chat with PDF by Copilot.us. The table compares pricing and platforms; order is A–Z.

1. 

   Chat with PDF by Copilot.us

   AI PDF assistant that answers questions about one or several PDFs or Google Drive files and points to the source page.

   Research and searchProductivity
   Free trialVisit Chat with PDF by Copilot.us (official site)
2. 

   Elicit

   AI research assistant that searches 138 million papers, extracts data into tables and runs systematic reviews and cited reports.

   Research and searchProductivityWriting
   FreemiumVisit Elicit (official site)
3. 

   Perplexity

   AI answer engine that searches the web, cites sources inline and offers deep research, multi-step tasks and a choice of top models on paid plans.

   Research and searchChat assistantsProductivity
   FreemiumVisit Perplexity (official site)
4. 

   Scite

   Research platform that shows whether papers support or contrast a study through Smart Citations, with an AI assistant, MCP access and an API.

   Research and searchProductivityDeveloper platforms
   FreemiumVisit Scite (official site)
5. 

   Semantic Scholar

   Free AI-powered academic search engine from Ai2 with paper TLDRs, citation insights, research feeds and a public API for developers.

   Research and searchProductivityDeveloper platforms
   FreeVisit Semantic Scholar (official site)
6. 

   Undermind

   AI research assistant that searches scientific papers, follows citations and builds sourced reports on your topic.

   Research and searchProductivity
   FreemiumVisit Undermind (official site)

Consensus FAQ

Sources & verification

Facts on this page come from the official sources below, each with the date we read it. Written by Debuly; the vendor did not review this page.

Image credits

• Logo: from consensus.app · fetched 23 Oct 2026 · Vendor trademark, used only to identify the product; removed on request
• Cover: from consensus.app · fetched 23 Oct 2026 · Vendor marketing image from the official site; removed on request

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