Free Zotero Alternatives
The best free alternative to Zotero is Obsidian. It's not free, so if you're looking for a free alternative, you could try Mendeley or Qiqqa. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to Zotero and many of them is free so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting free alternatives to Zotero are Polar, JabRef, TheBrain and Paperwork.
Zotero alternatives are mainly Research Managers but may also be Note-taking Tools or Document Managers. Filter by these if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of Zotero.
- Freemium • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- iPhone
- iPad
- Microsoft Edge
- Google Chrome
- Safari
- Microsoft Office Word
- Google Drive - Docs
- LibreOffice
- Firefox
- Free Personal • Proprietary
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Android
- iPhone
- Android Tablet
- iPad
Powerful knowledge base that works on top of a local folder of plain text Markdown files.
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...
Mendeley vs Zotero opinions
JohnFastmanMendeley differs from Zotero like this: 1) It is not open source, but it's still free (as in beer); 2) it has better features for annotating pdf files; 3) It emphasizes connections between academics working in similar areas, which helps in discovery of references. Zotero doesn't do that. However, Zotero is better at extracting meta data from pdf files and has the superior browser plugin.
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.
Qiqqa vs Zotero opinions
phytographerQiqqa does not have:
- Chrome connector for gathering citations
- Google Docs integration
- LibreOffice Integration
They both manage PDFs and allow you to do reference management and bilbiographies.
altenativetoThe open source transparency and the WebDav sync make Zotero a better option for Users with a certain degree of Data control/ privacy needs.
- Freemium • Proprietary
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Electron / Atom Shell
- Chrome OS
Polar is a powerful desktop app for managing all your web content, books, and notes. Polar keeps all your content in one place, supports tagging, annotation, highlighting and keeps track of your reading progress.
- Free • Open Source
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Firefox
- Google Chrome
- Vivaldi Browser
- Microsoft Edge
Bibliography reference manager. The native file format used by JabRef is BibTeX, the standard LaTeX bibliography format.
JabRef vs Zotero opinions
Open source, clean, robust. Works best with BibTex/Latex environment.
- Freemium • Proprietary
- Mac
- Windows
- Online
- Android
- iPhone
- Android Tablet
- iPad
TheBrain helps you organize all your Web pages, contacts, documents, emails and files in a context-driven visual map.
TheBrain vs Zotero opinions
TheBrain is a non-linear visual mapping tool. It is not first and foremost a reference manager. I own it, and use it, and it's never struck me as a good alternative to Zotero.
InfinitlyZeroSimply not a viable alternative.
- Free • Open Source
- Windows
- Linux
Paperwork is a personal document manager for scanned documents (and PDFs).
BibSonomy is a system for sharing bookmarks and lists of literature (BibTex format).
- Freemium • Proprietary
- Windows
A handy, intuitive reference-managing tool. Citavi researches in over 4800 databases and catalogs, organizes and structures your literature, references, quotes and idea collections and assists you with your documentation or publication.
Citavi vs Zotero opinions
altenativetoIt is sadly unstable software. It has of course more professional functions than zotero but also problems with stability. For Example: when I had my computer in standby, I have to restart the software.
Powered by the same technology behind Zotero, ZoteroBib lets you seamlessly add items from across the web — using Zotero’s unmatched metadata extraction abilities — and generate bibliographies in more than 9,000 citation styles.
