Zotero AlternativesOnly apps categorised as Academic Research Tools

The best Academic Research Tool alternative to Zotero is ReadCube Papers. It's not free, so if you're looking for a free alternative, you could try Research or Paperlib. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to Zotero and 11 are Academic Research Tools so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting Academic Research Tool alternatives to Zotero are MyInfo, Raxter, Afforai and AnswerThis.

filter to find the best alternatives

Zotero alternatives are mainly Academic Research Tools, but if you're looking for Research Managers or AI Writing Tools you can filter on that. Other popular filters include Open Source, Mac, Research Manager and 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 Zotero.
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Alternatives list

  1. ReadCube Papers icon
     71 likes
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    Papers helps you collect and curate the research material that you're passionate about. This award-winning reference manager will improve the way you find, organize, read, cite, and share.

    Cost / License

    • Subscription
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Online
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • iPad
    • Microsoft Edge
    • Google Chrome
    • Safari
    • Firefox
     
  2. Research icon
     4 likes
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    The Research app is designed to streamline your workflow, offering a minimalist yet powerful platform for collecting, organizing, and analyzing research materials.

    Cost / License

    • Freemium (Subscription)
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Mac
    • Linux
     
  3. Paperlib icon
     3 likes
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    An open-source and simple academic paper management tool.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Google Chrome
    • Mozilla Firefox
    • Safari
     
  4. Raxter icon
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    RAx helps researchers with literature review and analysis, critical reading, finding insight/educational resources, organizing, and collaboration. RAx’s AI-enabled features help you with resource exploration, literature review, critical reading, collaboration, and organizing.

    Cost / License

    • Subscription
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Google Chrome
     
  5. Afforai icon
     1 like
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    Afforai is the AI-powered reference manager for modern researchers, helping researchers manage, annotate, cite papers and conduct literature reviews with AI reliably. Afforai was built to assist every kind of researcher, whether you are a student, professor, or researcher of 50-years.

    Cost / License

    • Freemium (Subscription)
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Software as a Service (SaaS)
     
  6. AnswerThis icon
     1 like
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    Advanced AI tool for academic research delivers in-depth literature reviews, citing over 200 million sources, summarizing findings, supporting uploads, chat-based queries, user libraries, editable reviews, and free or pro access for various needs.

    16 AnswerThis alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium (Subscription)
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Online
     
  7. Crescis icon
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    Crescis an AI-powered research assistant that creates citation ready literature reviews from either your uploaded PDFs or AI-powered searches across millions of scholarly articles.

    Cost / License

    • Freemium (Subscription)
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
     
  8. Anara icon
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    Advanced AI workspace tailored for students, scientists, and teams, enabling academic paper search, passage extraction, citation finding, organizing projects, creating quizzes, flashcards, and ensuring reliable answers from major databases and uploaded materials.

    Cost / License

    • Freemium (Subscription)
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Google Chrome
     
  9. Sciscoper icon
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    Sciscoper is an AI-powered SaaS for STEM researchers that turns research papers into structured, searchable knowledge. It accelerates literature reviews, extracts key insights, and generates accurate citations to streamline scientific discovery.

    Cost / License

    • Subscription
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
     
  10. Zetaref icon
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    Zetaref is a comprehensive research and reference management platform built to simplify the way researchers collect, organize, and analyze academic materials. From journal articles and conference papers to books and reports, Zetaref provides a centralized space to keep all your...

    Cost / License

    • Subscription
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
     
11 of 11 Zotero alternatives