Free Google Scholar AlternativesAcademic Research Tools and other similar apps like Google Scholar

The best free alternative to Google Scholar is Semantic Scholar. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 25 alternatives to Google Scholar and many of them is free so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting free alternatives to Google Scholar are WorldCat, ResearchGate, Scinapse and Connected Papers.

filter to find the best alternatives

Google Scholar alternatives are mainly Academic Research Tools, but if you're looking for Ebook Libraries or Research Managers you can filter on that. Other popular filters include Free. You can also filter by region, for example EU-based alternatives if you prefer software developed in the European Union. These are just examples - use the filter bar below to find more specific alternatives to Google Scholar.
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Alternatives list

  1. Semantic Scholar (paywall free) is a science publication aggregator that collects citation-data from PubMed, CiteSeer, IEEE etc and rank each article according to the percieved number of impactful citations.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
     
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    1
    Semantic Scholar vs Google Scholar Comments
    pkalnai
    Positive
    1

    SemanticScholar has a large corpus of works.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    • Semantic Scholar is Free and ProprietaryGoogle Scholar is also Free and Proprietary
  2. WorldCat icon
     21 likes

    WorldCat is the world's largest network of library content and services. WorldCat libraries are dedicated to providing access to their resources on the Web, where most people start their search for information.

    63 WorldCat alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • iPad
    • Android Tablet
     
  3. ResearchGate icon
     27 likes

    Enables users to upload and share scientific papers, connect with researchers globally, discover and follow research topics, access datasets, send direct messages, participate in discussions, track citation metrics, and explore academic job opportunities.

    40 ResearchGate alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Online
    • iPhone
     
  4. Scinapse icon
     13 likes

    Scinapse is a free search engine for academic papers. As of September 2018, it indexes more than 200 million articles from more than 40,000 journals.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
     
    |
    1
    Scinapse vs Google Scholar Comments
    Mohamed Usman
    Positive
    0

    Compared to other similar website, scinapase seems like, close alternative to google scholar. If they introduce scholar profile section which is under beta will make it more appealing.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    • Scinapse is Free and ProprietaryGoogle Scholar is also Free and Proprietary
  5. Connected Papers is a unique, visual tool to help researchers and applied scientists find and explore papers relevant to their field of work.

    22 Connected Papers alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
     
    |
    1
    Connected Papers vs Google Scholar Comments
    Guest
    Positive
    0

    gives a brief view of papers associated with searched paper

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    • Connected Papers is Freemium and ProprietaryGoogle Scholar is Free and Proprietary
  6. BASE is one of the world's most voluminous search engines especially for academic web resources. BASE provides more than 300 million documents from more than 10,000 content providers. You can access the full texts of about 60% of the indexed documents for free (Open Access).

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
     
  7. Thomson Reuters Web of KnowledgeSM is a research platform that gives you access to objective content and powerful tools to search, track, measure and collaborate in the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Online
     
  8. AMiner icon
     2 likes

    ArnetMiner (AMiner) is designed to search and perform data mining operations against academic publications on the Internet, using social network analysis to identify connections between researchers, conferences, and publications.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
     
  9. Elicit icon
     7 likes

    Elicit is an AI-powered research assistant designed to help users efficiently discover, organize, and analyze academic papers and insights.

    24 Elicit alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Online
     
  10. LENS icon
     2 likes

    The Lens serves almost all the patents and scholarly work in the world as a free, open and secure digital public good, with user privacy a paramount focus.

    15 LENS alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Online
     
  11. OA.mg icon
     2 likes

    OA.mg is a search engine for academic papers. Whether you are looking for a specific paper, or for research from a field, or all of an author’s works – OA.mg is the place to find it.

    17 OA.mg alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
     
12 of 30 Google Scholar alternatives