Zotero Alternatives for Linux

There are many alternatives to Zotero for Linux if you are looking for a replacement. The best Linux alternative is Mendeley, which is free. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to Zotero and 17 are available for Linux so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting Linux alternatives to Zotero are JabRef, Paperwork, WizNote and Research.

filter to find the best alternatives

Zotero alternatives are mainly Research Managers, but if you're looking for Academic Research Tools or Document Managers 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. Mendeley icon

    Mendeley

     293 likes
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    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...

    81 Mendeley alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium (Pay once)
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    Generate Bibliographies in Word and OpenOffice
     
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    45
    Comments about Mendeley as an Alternative to Zotero
    John Fastman
    Positive
    26

    Mendeley 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.

    Nick Scientist
    Positive
    2

    Mendeley is not open-source. After the migration to the Mendeley Reference Manager which has been a disaster in performance for the desktop apps, exhibit buggy behavior, are much more taxing to computers. Web plugin much better in Zotero too.

    Zotero Icon
    Mendeley icon

    • Most users think Mendeley is a great Zotero alternative.

    • Mendeley is the most popular Web-based, Windows, Mac & Linux alternative to Zotero.

    • Mendeley is the most popular free alternative to Zotero.

    • Mendeley is Freemium and ProprietaryZotero is Freemium and Open Source
  2. JabRef icon

    JabRef

     104 likes
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    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 (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Microsoft Edge
    • Vivaldi
    • Google Chrome
    • Mozilla Firefox
    JabRef screenshot 1
     
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    2
    15
    Comments about JabRef as an Alternative to Zotero
    Guest
    Positive
    3

    Open source, clean, robust. Works best with BibTex/Latex environment.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Guest
    Positive
    0

    Screen clear with all important informations easily readible. Avoid import of existing records and efficient merge compared to zotero !!! So no duplicate. We can create many librairies and we are not limited to one big with every records in, so quicker when you have a lot of references.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Zotero Icon
    JabRef icon

    • Almost everyone thinks JabRef is a great Zotero alternative.

    • JabRef is Free and Open SourceZotero is Freemium and Open Source
  4. Paperwork icon

    Paperwork

     41 likes
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    Paperwork is a personal document manager for scanned documents (and PDFs).

    33 Paperwork alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Flathub
    Paperwork screenshot 1
     
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    1
    Comments about Paperwork as an Alternative to Zotero
    Guest
    Negative
    1

    Paperwork is for personal documents, Zotero is for research

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Zotero Icon
    Paperwork icon
    • Paperwork is Free and Open SourceZotero is Freemium and Open Source
  5. WizNote icon

    WizNote

     82 likes
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    WizNote is a Note software, which is especially designed for Internet users and mobile Internet users. WizNote focuses more on notes of rapid collection, management, reading and sharing. WizNote is smaller, more stable, and more suitable for computers, phones and mobile devices.

    Cost / License

    • Subscription
    • Proprietary

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • BSD
    • Windows Phone
    • iPad
    Windows - Sticky Notes and Todo list in Chinese.
     
  6. Research icon

    Research

     5 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
    Research screenshot 1
     
  7. RefWorks icon

    RefWorks

     11 likes
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    RefWorks - an online research management, writing and collaboration tool - is designed to help researchers easily gather, manage, store and share all types of information, as well as generate citations and bibliographies.

    Cost / License

    • Paid
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
     
  9. KBibTeX icon

    KBibTeX

     9 likes
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    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
     
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    1
    Comments about KBibTeX as an Alternative to Zotero
    superluminar
    0

    Only an alternative if you use BibTeX/TeX/LaTeX.

    Zotero Icon
    KBibTeX icon
    • KBibTeX is Free and Open SourceZotero is Freemium and Open Source
  10. SCIENTILLA icon

    SCIENTILLA

     21 likes
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    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
     
  11. Paperlib icon

    Paperlib

     3 likes
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    An open-source and simple academic paper management tool.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Google Chrome
    • Mozilla Firefox
    • Safari
    Paperlib screenshot 1
     
  12. wizdom.ai icon

    wizdom.ai

     24 likes
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    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 (Pay once)
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • iPad
    wizdom.ai screenshot 1
    wizdom.ai screenshot 2
    wizdom.ai screenshot 3
     
  13. Refeus icon

    Refeus

     8 likes
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    Refeus is a software to simplify scientific work. Refeus supports the complete workflow from collecting and managing content and publications to write and publishing documents.

    Cost / License

    • Freemium (Pay once)
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
     
  14. bibus icon

    bibus

     5 likes
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    Bibus is a bibliographic database. It uses a MySQL or SQLite database to store references. It can directly insert references in OpenOffice.org and MS Word and generate the bibliographic index.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    bibus screenshot 1
     
12 of 17 Zotero alternatives