Litmaps

What is Litmaps?

Litmaps is a literature review tool that builds visual maps of academic papers. You pick one or more starting articles, then Litmaps searches a catalogue of 270+ million papers and uses citations and references to surface related work, plotted on a Litmap where your seeds are dark dots and the suggestions are white. You can save articles with More Like This and re-run the search, ignore recommendations, import a library from Zotero, BibTeX, RIS or PubMed, and share maps with colleagues, students or advisors. Monitor sends automatic emails when new papers match your topic. Litmaps Pro adds advanced search filters for date, keyword, author, journal, h-index and SJR quartile, unlimited maps and searches, and Zotero sync. A free plan limits search inputs and map size, students and staff get a 75% education discount, and prices vary by country.

Use cases

• Start a literature review from seed papers
• Find related research through citations
• Visualize how papers connect
• Get alerts when new papers appear
• Import a reference library to search on
• Share a citation map with a supervisor
• Teach literature review skills in class

Who it's for

• Researchers
• Students
• Academics
• Research labs and classrooms

Why use Litmaps

• Starting from a few known papers saves you from guessing keywords to find the rest of a field.
• A visual map shows how papers cite one another, so gaps and clusters are easier to spot.
• Monitor emails keep you current on your topic without repeating searches.
• You can search from your existing Zotero or exported library rather than starting from scratch.
• Educational licenses take 75% off the standard price, and annual billing gives 2 months free.

Litmaps features

• Search across 270+ million papers
• Citation-based maps seeded from starting articles
• More Like This to refine results
• Switchable search algorithms
• Advanced filters for date, keyword, author, journal, h-index and SJR
• Monitor email alerts for new papers
• Import from Zotero, BibTeX, RIS or PubMed
• Zotero sync on Pro
• Sharing of Litmaps with others
• Team licenses with Pro access for everyone

Litmaps integrations

• Zotero
• PubMed
• OpenAlex
• BibTeX
• RIS

How to get started with Litmaps

1. Create a free account and search for your topic or a paper you already know.
2. Select the relevant articles as starting points and choose Explore Related Articles.
3. Review the recommended papers on the map and in the sidebar, using More Like This or Ignore to refine.
4. Re-run the search, switch algorithm or add filters on Pro, and import a library to search on it.
5. Share the map and turn on Monitor to get emails about new papers.

Litmaps limitations

• Free plan limits search inputs to 20 and maps to 100 articles
• Advanced search filters, Zotero sync and unlimited maps need Pro
• Pro prices depend on your country and are shown in the app
• Building a map needs a larger screen than a phone

Litmaps pricing

Yes, Litmaps has a free plan.

Litmaps plans

• Free

  Free

  • Basic search, up to 20 inputs
  • 100 articles per map
  • Monthly summary alerts

• Pro

  $10*

  Annual or monthly; parity pricing shown in the app

  • Advanced search
  • Unlimited inputs, articles and Litmaps
  • Customizable Monitor alerts
  • Zotero Sync

• Team

  Price on vendor site

  • Everything in Pro
  • Team-wide collaboration
  • Pro access for each team member

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.

Litmaps alternatives

The main Litmaps alternatives listed on Debuly are Connected Papers, Elicit, Semantic Scholar, Scite, Keenious and AnswerThis. The table compares pricing and platforms; order is A–Z.

1. 

   AnswerThis

   AnswerThis is an AI research assistant that searches 250M+ papers, writes cited literature reviews and runs systematic reviews.

   Research and searchWriting
   FreemiumVisit AnswerThis (official site)
2. 

   Connected Papers

   Visual literature tool that builds a similarity graph of academic papers around one you choose, to explore a research field fast.

   Research and search
   FreemiumVisit Connected Papers (official site)
3. 

   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)
4. 

   Keenious

   Academic paper discovery tool with an AI companion and topic maps over about 174 million scholarly works, on the web, Word and Google Docs.

   Research and searchWritingProductivity
   FreemiumVisit Keenious (official site)
5. 

   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)
6. 

   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)

Litmaps 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 cdn.prod.website-files.com · fetched 24 Oct 2026 · Vendor trademark, used only to identify the product; removed on request
• Cover: none collected yet, so a generated tile is shown.

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