Elicit
Research assistant that searches and extracts data from 138M papers.
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What is Elicit?
Elicit is an academic research assistant: you search a question and it combs through more than 138 million scientific articles, summarises the relevant ones and — this is its killer feature — extracts specific data from each into a comparison table (sample, method, result). It turns a literature review that would take days into minutes. Its free plan is surprisingly generous.
Pros
- Extracts data from many papers at once into a comparison table
- Free plan with unlimited searches and summaries
- A base of more than 138 million scientific articles
- Saves days of work on a literature review
Cons
- Big price jump between the free plan and Pro ($49/month)
- English-only interface
- Limited to academia: no use for general topics
What Elicit is like in practice
Where it stands out
It extracts into a table whatever data you request from each paper — sample, method, result — across dozens of works at once. For a literature review, comparing forty studies column by column saves days of manual work that until now had no alternative. It is the tool that gives most time back to researchers.
Where it falls short
Automatic extraction makes mistakes, especially with unconventional methodologies or badly structured papers, so anything you cite needs verifying. And like its category peer, Spanish coverage is limited. It is for narrowing down and prioritising what to read, not for replacing reading.
How its pricing works
It runs on credits with a free monthly allowance good for a small review. Paid plans scale by papers analysed. The useful comparison is not against other tools but against the hours building the same table by hand would take: there the calculation is usually obvious.
Is Elicit right for you?
Yes, if…
You do scientific literature reviews: it extracts data from dozens of papers into a comparison table — sample, method, result — which is what turns days of work into minutes.
No, if…
You want general or non-academic information: it only covers scientific literature. And the jump from free to Pro is $49/month, with nothing in between except the $12 Plus tier.
Frequently asked questions
Is Elicit free?
Yes, the Basic plan includes 5,000 credits with unlimited searches, summaries and chat, plus 2 automated reports a month. Paid plans start at $12/user/month.
How is it different from Consensus?
Consensus answers a question by synthesising the scientific consensus; Elicit is more geared to systematic review, extracting data from many papers into a table.
Where do the articles come from?
Mainly from Semantic Scholar, with more than 138 million articles indexed.
Compare Elicit head to head
Pricing, features and limits of Elicit against its direct rivals.
Where Elicit appears
Rankings where we have picked this tool.