This Elicit alternative is for researchers whose work ends in a written document: a thesis chapter, a proposal or a manuscript. Elicit is excellent at structured extraction and screening. AI for Research covers cited answers, screening and extraction too, then carries the evidence into an editor with live citations, a Reviewer and Thesis Suite.
What Elicit is best at
Elicit is an AI research assistant built around tables and systematic workflows. It searches more than 138 million papers, offers unlimited summaries and chat with papers on its free plan, and generates research reports through a process it describes as inspired by systematic reviews [1][2]. Its Pro plan adds a dedicated systematic review workflow that can screen 5,000 papers and lets you add 20 extraction columns at a time; Scale raises that to 30 columns and adds figure extraction and real-time collaboration; Enterprise screens 40,000 papers [1]. Elicit says it can find up to 1,000 relevant papers and analyze up to 20,000 data points at once, and supports claims with sentence-level citations [2]. Screening runs title and abstract first, with optional full-text screening, and every decision shows source quotes you can override [3]. Reports export as PDF or Word and tables as CSV or Excel [4]. If your job is a large extraction grid or high-volume screening, Elicit is one of the strongest tools available. Our Elicit AI review covers it in depth.
Where AI for Research differs
The two overlap on search, cited reports and review screening. They differ on scale and on what happens after the evidence is in a table.
- Writing with the evidence. Open any research result in the editor with live citations and draft with cited autocomplete that draws on your sources and Library. Writing Studio drafts literature reviews (thematic, chronological, methodological) and IMRaD papers; whole drafts cost 15 credits.
- A Reviewer for your draft. Upload a thesis, proposal or manuscript, pick a level from undergraduate to PhD, and get each criterion scored out of 10 with comments that quote the passage and suggest a fix (10 credits per 10,000 words).
- Thesis and proposal tools. Thesis Suite builds research questions (FINER, PICO, PICOT, SPIDER), hypotheses, outlines with a word budget, a methodology and likely examiner questions, 3 credits each. Proposal Studio drafts research, grant (NIH, NSF, ERC, Wellcome) and ethics applications.
- Screening with two reviewers. In the Systematic Review workspace a project editor or the AI acts as second reviewer; conflicts are listed with Cohen's kappa and percent agreement, and the PRISMA 2020 diagram is drawn from live counts.
- Lower entry price. Plus is $12 a month for 750 credits; Elicit Pro is $49 a user a month billed annually [1].
Elicit vs AI for Research: comparison table
Checked on each product's own pages in November 2026.
| Elicit | AI for Research | |
|---|---|---|
| Best at | Extraction tables and high-volume screening [1][2] | Evidence to a written, reviewed document |
| Index | 138M+ papers [1] | 250M+ scholarly works |
| Cited reports | Research Reports; limited on Basic [1] | Deep Research: Summary 1 credit, Deep 15, Detailed 45 (paid plans) |
| Screening | Pro: 5,000 papers; Enterprise: 40,000 [1] | Title/abstract and full text; AI suggestions 1 credit per 25 records; free plan 1 review, 50 records |
| Extraction | 20 columns at a time on Pro, 30 on Scale [1] | 9 standard columns plus custom, risk-of-bias fields; AI fills from abstracts with quotes (3 credits per 10 studies) |
| Second reviewer and agreement | Dual review with conflicts and Cohen's kappa listed for Enterprise [3] | Editor or AI as second reviewer; Cohen's kappa and percent agreement |
| PRISMA diagram | Logs screening decisions "for PRISMA reconstruction"; drawing the diagram not described [3] | PRISMA 2020 diagram from live counts (SVG, PNG) |
| Citation styles | Not formatted; export BIB to a reference manager [4] | 10,000+ styles in the editor and exports |
| Writing and review | Not its focus | Editor, Writing Studio, Reviewer, Claim Check, Citation check |
| Reference import | Zotero import on Basic [1] | Zotero and Mendeley on paid plans; RIS, BibTeX, CSV, .nbib upload |
| Free plan | Unlimited search, summaries and chat with papers; limited reports [1] | 45 credits a month, unlimited paper search |
| Entry paid plan | Pro $49/user/month, $588/year [1] | Plus $12/month or $96/year (750 credits) |
Which should you pick for which job?
Pick Elicit for scale in extraction and screening; pick AI for Research when the evidence has to become your own cited, reviewed writing.
| Your job | Better fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Screen 3,000 records for a funded review | Elicit | Built for volume; Pro screens up to 5,000 |
| Extract 25 fields across 200 papers | Elicit | Wide extraction tables |
| A student systematic or scoping review with a supervisor as second reviewer | AI for Research | Shared project, kappa, PRISMA 2020 diagram |
| A literature review chapter in APA 7 | AI for Research | Editor with live citations, Word export |
| A scored check of your thesis before submission | AI for Research | Reviewer with quoted comments |
| A yes-or-no question answered quickly | Consensus | See our Consensus comparison |
How to use Elicit and AI for Research together
- Extract in Elicit. Build the wide table you need across your included studies.
- Export the papers. Export your Elicit Library as RIS or BIB, or a table as CSV [4].
- Bring them into a project. In AI for Research, create a Systematic Review project and upload the file, or save papers to My Library.
- Draw the flow. Record your counts in the project to produce the PRISMA 2020 diagram, then generate a methods draft (3 credits) and edit it.
- Write and review. Draft the results and discussion in the editor with live citations, then send the chapter to the Reviewer.
A worked example
Example (invented, for illustration). A master's student runs a scoping review on digital mental health apps for university students. She imports 640 records from PubMed and an uploaded Scopus RIS export; 112 duplicates are removed by DOI and title. AI screening suggestions on the 528 remaining cost 22 credits (1 per 25 records, rounded up). Her supervisor screens as second reviewer from the shared project; kappa is 0.78 on the overlap. Extraction of 31 included studies costs 12 credits, the methods draft 3. Total: 37 of her 750 Plus credits.
What AI for Research does not do
- It is not built for very large reviews. Elicit's Pro and Enterprise screening volumes are higher than a typical student review needs, and higher than we advertise.
- AI extraction reads abstracts, with the quoted words, and you confirm each cell. Elicit can extract from full text where it has it, and from figures on Scale [1]; we do neither.
- No meta-analysis or forest plot yet. Run those in R, Stata or RevMan.
- No Google Scholar, Scopus or Web of Science search. Upload their exports instead.
- Reviewers decide. AI suggestions are suggestions; every include and exclude is a person's call.
What it costs
Free: 45 credits a month, one review of 50 records. Plus: $12 a month or $96 a year for 750 credits. Pro: $29 a month or $228 a year for 1,500 credits. Team: from 3 seats, 2,000 credits a seat pooled. See pricing.
Who it is for
Master's students running a first review, see AI for a master's thesis. Health researchers working to PRISMA 2020, see AI for medical research. Faculty supervising reviews, see AI for professors.
Learn more
- Elicit AI review: features, pricing and limits
- What is a systematic review?
- Scoping review vs systematic review
- Cohen's kappa and inter-rater reliability
Also compare: Jenni AI alternative and Paperpal alternative.
Sources
- Elicit. Pricing. https://elicit.com/pricing (checked November 2026)
- Elicit. Homepage. https://elicit.com/ (checked November 2026)
- Elicit Help Center. Systematic Reviews in Elicit. https://support.elicit.com/en/articles/14759154-systematic-reviews-in-elicit (checked November 2026)
- Elicit Help Center. Export your data from Elicit. https://support.elicit.com/en/articles/14758189-export-your-data-from-elicit (checked November 2026)
Last updated 2026-11-12