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

The best open source alternative to Mendeley is Zotero. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to Mendeley and many of them is open source so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting open source alternatives to Mendeley are Qiqqa, JabRef, BibSonomy and MyBib.

More about Mendeley
Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard
Mendeley alternatives page was last updated

Alternatives list

  1. Zotero icon

    Zotero

     482 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.

    82 Zotero alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • iPad
    • Microsoft Edge
    • Google Chrome
    • Safari
    • Microsoft Word
    • Google Docs
    • LibreOffice
    • Mozilla Firefox
    Zotero screenshot 1
     
    |
    3
    Zotero vs Mendeley Comments
    Guest
    Positive
    9

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

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Ron Bar-Ad
    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
    -5

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

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    • Zotero is Freemium and Open SourceMendeley is Freemium and Proprietary
    • Zotero is Privacy focusedMendeley is not according to our users
  2. Qiqqa icon

    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.

    63 Qiqqa alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Qiqqa screenshot 1
     
    |
    2
    Qiqqa vs Mendeley Comments
    Guest
    Positive
    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
    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.
    • Qiqqa is Freemium and Open SourceMendeley is Freemium and Proprietary
  4. JabRef icon

    JabRef

     105 likes

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

    53 JabRef alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Microsoft Edge
    • Vivaldi
    • Google Chrome
    • Mozilla Firefox
    JabRef screenshot 1
     
    |
    1
    JabRef vs Mendeley Comments
    Guest
    Negative
    1

    JabRef only handles bibtex files.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    • JabRef is Free and Open SourceMendeley is Freemium and Proprietary
  6. MyBib icon

    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.

    21 MyBib alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Google Chrome
    MyBib screenshot 1
     
  7. ZoteroBib icon

    ZoteroBib

     13 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

    Platforms

    • Online
    ZoteroBib screenshot 1
     
  9. KBibTeX icon

    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

    Platforms

    • Linux
    KBibTeX screenshot 1
     
  10. I, Librarian icon

    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.

    Cost / License

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • Software as a Service (SaaS)
    Organize PDFs.
     
  11. Peerlibrary icon

    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...

    31 Peerlibrary alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
     
  12. BibDesk icon

    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
    BibDesk screenshot 1
     
  14. SCIENTILLA icon

    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

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
     
12 of 20 Mendeley alternatives