The Best Open Source Mendeley AlternativesTop Research Managers and other similar apps like Mendeley

Alternatives list

1. 

   

   Zotero

    471 likes

   Zotero is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, share research and cite your research sources directly in your favourite word processor, with 300 MB free online storage.

   79 Zotero alternatives

   Cost / License

   • Freemium (Subscription)
   • Open Source

   Application type

   • Research Manager

   Origin

   • United States

   Platforms

   • Mac
   • Windows
   • Linux
   • Android
   • iPhone
   • Android Tablet
   • iPad
   • Microsoft Edge
   • Google Chrome
   • Safari
   • Microsoft Word
   • Google Docs
   • LibreOffice
   • Mozilla Firefox

   

   

   

   +2

   

   More about Zotero  

   

   Is Zotero a good alternative to Mendeley?

    

   |

   3comments

   58users say it's a good alternative

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   Comments about Zotero as an Alternative to Mendeley

    

   Guest

   Positive comment•Dec 1, 2018

   9

   Amazing. Full featured; sqlite db, tagging, notes... Hey, knowledge at your fingertips

   Review by a new / low-activity user.

   Ron Bar-Ad

   Comment•Aug 23, 2023

   1

   Zotero is great for referencing and integrates well with browsers and word processors. It's not the same as Mendeley Reference Manager, which not only holds references but also pdfs, and has annotation and notebook features.

   Review by a new / low-activity user.

   Guest

   Positive comment•Jan 29, 2020

   -5

   Open source and made in the U.S.A!

   Review by a new / low-activity user.

   

   

   • Almost everyone thinks Zotero is a great Mendeley alternative.

   • Zotero is the most popular Windows, Android, Mac & iPhone alternative to Mendeley.

   • Zotero is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to Mendeley.

   • Zotero is Freemium and Open SourceMendeley is Freemium and Proprietary
   • Zotero is Privacy focusedMendeley is not according to our users
2. 

   

   Qiqqa

    422 likes

   Qiqqa is a free research and reference manager. Search for, read and annotate your PDFs. Then review your work, write up and create bibliographies instantly.

   60 Qiqqa alternatives

   Cost / License

   • Freemium (Subscription)
   • Open Source

   Application type

   • Research Manager

   Origin

   • United Kingdom

   Platforms

   • Windows

   

   

   

   +2

   

   More about Qiqqa  

   

   Is Qiqqa a good alternative to Mendeley?

    

   |

   2comments

   31users say it's a good alternative

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   Comments about Qiqqa as an Alternative to Mendeley

    

   Guest

   Positive comment•Jun 2, 2022

   0

   Has the feature to tag regions of a pdf with a keyword or add a note with a tag and later compile all occurrences of the tagged regions with a particular keyword across the whole library..

   Review by a new / low-activity user.

   Guest

   Positive comment•Oct 22, 2020

   0

   Differently from Qiqqa, Mendeley has no annotation report feature, meaning that it is not possible to gather all highlights/annotations on a paper into a single file. This is very useful for large pdf.

   Review by a new / low-activity user.

   

   

   • Almost everyone thinks Qiqqa is a great Mendeley alternative.

   • Qiqqa is Freemium and Open SourceMendeley is Freemium and Proprietary
4. 

   

   JabRef

    103 likes

   Bibliography reference manager. The native file format used by JabRef is BibTeX, the standard LaTeX bibliography format.

   50 JabRef alternatives

   Cost / License

   • Free
   • Open Source

   Application type

   • Research Manager

   Platforms

   • Mac
   • Windows
   • Linux
   • Microsoft Edge
   • Vivaldi
   • Google Chrome
   • Mozilla Firefox

   

   More about JabRef  

   

   Is JabRef a good alternative to Mendeley?

    

   |

   1comment

   14users say it's a good alternative

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   Comments about JabRef as an Alternative to Mendeley

    

   Guest

   Negative comment•Aug 22, 2019

   1

   JabRef only handles bibtex files.

   Review by a new / low-activity user.

   

   

   • Most users think JabRef is a great Mendeley alternative.

   • JabRef is Free and Open SourceMendeley is Freemium and Proprietary
5. 

   

   BibSonomy

    44 likes

   BibSonomy is a system for sharing bookmarks and lists of literature (BibTex format).

   Cost / License

   • Free
   • Open Source

   Application types

   • Research Manager
   • Bookmark Manager

   Origin

   • Germany
   • EU

   Platforms

   • Online

   

   More about BibSonomy  

   

   Is BibSonomy a good alternative to Mendeley?

    

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   • BibSonomy is the most popular Web-based alternative to Mendeley.

   • BibSonomy is Free and Open SourceMendeley is Freemium and Proprietary
6. 

   

   MyBib

    16 likes

   A new FREE citation generator. Automatically create bibliographies, references, and citations in APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, and over 8000 more styles with a totally free and no-ads citation generator.

   19 MyBib alternatives

   Cost / License

   • Free
   • Open Source

   Origin

   • International

   Platforms

   • Online
   • Google Chrome

   

   More about MyBib  

   

   Is MyBib a good alternative to Mendeley?

    
7. 

   

   KBibTeX

    9 likes

   KBibTeX is a reference management software primarily for BibTeX which is typically used in conjunction with TeX/LaTeX.

   Cost / License

   • Free
   • Open Source

   Application type

   • Research Manager

   Platforms

   • Linux

   

   

   

   More about KBibTeX  

   

   Is KBibTeX a good alternative to Mendeley?

    
9. 

   

   I, Librarian

    2 likes

   I, Librarian is an online service that will organize your collection of PDF and office files. The service focuses on central management of PDF documents suitable for real-time collaboration in research teams and companies.

   20 I, Librarian alternatives

   Cost / License

   • Subscription
   • Open Source

   Origin

   • United States

   Platforms

   • Self-Hosted
   • Software as a Service (SaaS)

   

   

   More about I, Librarian  

   

   Is I, Librarian a good alternative to Mendeley?

    

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   • I, Librarian is the most popular SaaS & Self-Hosted alternative to Mendeley.

   • I, Librarian is Paid and Open SourceMendeley is Freemium and Proprietary
10. 

    

    Peerlibrary

     9 likes

    PeerLibrary is an open source project developing a collaborative online community where scholars and researchers can discover, read, and discuss scholarly literature all within one site. This project focuses on expediting access to publications, enabling public recordings of...

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    • Research Manager

    Platforms

    • Online

    

    Is Peerlibrary a good alternative to Mendeley?

     
11. 

    

    Paperlib

     3 likes

    An open-source and simple academic paper management tool.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    • Research Manager

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Google Chrome
    • Mozilla Firefox
    • Safari

    

    More about Paperlib  

    

    Is Paperlib a good alternative to Mendeley?

     
12. 

    

    ZoteroBib

     12 likes

    ZoteroBib is a free service to help people quickly create bibliographies without installing any software or creating an account.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Origin

    • United States

    Platforms

    • Online

    

    

    More about ZoteroBib  

    

    Is ZoteroBib a good alternative to Mendeley?

     
13. 

    

    BibDesk

     24 likes

    BibDesk is a bibliographic reference manager for Mac OS X. BibDesk is designed to help organize and use bibliographic databases in BibTeX .bib format.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Mac

    

    

    

    More about BibDesk  

    

    Is BibDesk a good alternative to Mendeley?

     
14. 

    

    SCIENTILLA

     21 likes

    Scientilla is a new approach to give the scientific community an open, free, accurate, tidy and up-to-date production reporting solution.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    • Research Manager

    Origin

    • International

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux

    

    Is SCIENTILLA a good alternative to Mendeley?