Free Reference Manager AlternativesResearch Managers and other similar apps like Reference Manager

The best free alternative to Reference Manager is Zotero, which is also Open Source. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 25 alternatives to Reference Manager and many of them is free so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting free alternatives to Reference Manager are Mendeley, Qiqqa, JabRef and Zoho Notebook.

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Alternatives list

  1. Zotero icon
     494 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.

    88 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
     
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  2. Mendeley icon
     294 likes

    Mendeley helps manage and share academic knowledge: Mendeley Desktop is free academic software (Windows, Mac, Linux) for organizing and sharing research papers and generating bibliographies with 1GB of free online storage to automatically back up and synchronize your library...

    89 Mendeley alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
     
  3. Qiqqa icon
     426 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.

    69 Qiqqa alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
     
  4. JabRef icon
     107 likes

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

    57 JabRef alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Microsoft Edge
    • Vivaldi
    • Google Chrome
    • Mozilla Firefox
     
  5. Zoho Notebook icon
     91 likes

    Web-based tool for integrating text, images, audio, and video with syncing across devices, real-time collaboration, handwriting input, AI-powered summaries, checklists, scanning, reminders, search in handwritten notes, and advanced organization.

    329 Zoho Notebook alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • iPad
    • Apple Watch
     
  6. BibSonomy icon
     45 likes

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

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Online
     
  7. Citavi icon
     53 likes

    Reference management and knowledge organization with integrated task planner. Solution for work groups with data sharing in intranet available.

    42 Citavi alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Windows
     
  8. EasyBib icon
     17 likes

    Automatic works cited and bibliography formatting for MLA, APA and Chicago/Turabian citation styles. Now supports 7th edition of MLA.

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Chrome OS
    • Google Drive - Docs
     
  9. KBibTeX icon
     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
     
  10. wizdom.ai icon
     24 likes

    wizdom.ai (formerly colwiz) is a free and comprehensive research management software for researchers, academics and students. With the wizdom.ai android app, you can search, add and manage publications in your wizdom.ai library on the go. Sync instantly across wizdom.

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • iPad
     
  11. Peerlibrary icon
     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

    Platforms

    • Online
     
  12. BibDesk icon
     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.

    36 BibDesk alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
     
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