Elicit vs Scite
Cheapest paid tier each vendor publishes. Free plans are listed above; tiers priced on request are not plotted because there is no figure to plot.
Where they differ
Only on Scite
- Lower entry price: $12/mo against $49/mo
- Answer engine
- Also on API
From the pricing tiers and capability tags we track. A capability missing on one side means we have not recorded it there, not that the tool cannot do it.
At a glance
Elicit and Scite both appear in this directory's search listings. Prices below were read from the vendors' own pages, most recently on October 25, 2026. Paid plans start at $49/mo on Elicit and $12/mo on Scite. Elicit has a free plan and Scite does not. We track summarization on Elicit and answer engine on Scite; both cover research and citations. No score and no winner: the facts do the picking.
Capability tags are factual labels we assign when a tool is added; they describe what a tool does, not how well it does it.
Checked against the vendors. Written from each vendor's own site and last re-checked there: Elicit (under review since October 19, 2026) · Scite on October 25, 2026. Vendors change pricing and features without notice, so confirm anything that decides your purchase on the vendor's page.
Elicit
AI research assistant for literature review and paper analysis
Elicit searches academic papers across the Semantic Scholar database of over 200 million publications to accelerate literature reviews. It extracts data, methodology details, and outcomes into customizable comparison tables. Users can also upload custom PDF documents to extract specific answers across multiple papers at once.
Scite
AI platform discovering and evaluating scientific literature through Smart Citations
Scite indexes over 300 million scholarly sources to help researchers assess scientific literature. Its Smart Citations classify references as supporting, contrasting, or mentioning rather than simply counting them. The platform also provides an AI Assistant that outputs answers backed by direct citations to full-text sources.
Also in search
A tool we have an affiliate relationship with. It is not part of the comparison above and we are not calling it the better pick.
- Finding and synthesizing peer-reviewed research papers
- Visualizing scientific agreement on specific research questions
- Connecting AI agents to verified scientific citations via MCP or REST API
Elicit and Scite in action
Each vendor's own walkthrough, from its homepage or official YouTube channel. We don't make these videos and we don't rate them.
Elicit
Scite
Key features
Elicit
- Semantic Scholar literature search across 200M+ papers
- Custom PDF upload and batch data extraction
- Tabular paper comparison and synthesis
- Direct citation linking to source excerpts
Scite
- Smart Citations showing context and supporting or contrasting evidence
- Scite Assistant answering research questions with source citations
- Reference Check for retractions, notices, and contrasting claims in manuscripts
- Literature search across full texts, patents, datasets, and clinical trials
- Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for external AI tools like Claude and ChatGPT
What each one does well
Elicit
- ✓ Synthesizing findings across dozens of academic papers
- ✓ Extracting methodology details into comparison tables
- ✓ Screening literature for systematic reviews
Scite
- ✓ Evaluating whether scientific studies have been supported or contradicted
- ✓ Screening manuscript references for retractions and editorial notices
- ✓ Grounding LLM outputs in verified scholarly literature via MCP
People also ask
Which is cheaper, Elicit or Scite?
Scite is cheaper: paid plans start at $49/mo for Elicit and $12/mo for Scite.
Does Elicit or Scite have a free plan?
Elicit has a free plan, and Scite publishes no free plan.
What is the difference between Elicit and Scite?
Elicit and Scite are both tracked for research, citations, ai-search. Of the capabilities they do not share, only Elicit is tracked for summarization, documents, and only Scite is tracked for answer-engine, developer-api.
How much do Elicit and Scite cost?
Elicit: free plan, then $49/mo. Scite: from $12/mo.
Answers are generated from the tracked plans and capability tags shown above, so they move when the vendors' pages do.
Full fact sheets, FAQs, and discussion links: Elicit · Scite · all search tools