A Litmaps alternative makes sense when the map has done its job and you now need to screen the papers, extract data and write. Citation Map in AI for Research gives you recorded snowballing rounds and an export, and the same account holds the systematic review, Library and editor. It suits thesis writers and review teams. Mapping costs 0 credits.
What Litmaps is best at
Litmaps is a literature mapping tool that builds saved maps from seed papers and monitors your topic for new publications; its homepage names four jobs: Discover, Visualize, Share and Monitor [2]. Users describe its maps as a date-versus-citations layout, so classics sit high and recent work sits to the right [2]. Its standout feature is monitoring: the free plan sends a monthly summary, and Pro sends alerts on a schedule you configure [1]. Pro allows unlimited inputs, articles and maps for $10 a month, or $120 a year with an academic email, with country discounts [1]. A Team plan adds team-wide collaboration [1]. ResearchRabbit was rebuilt in 2025 in partnership with Litmaps [3].
For a three-year PhD where you want to hear about new papers every week, that is the right tool. Keep it for that job.
Where AI for Research differs
- A search you can report. Citation Map runs Backward, Forward or Both rounds across your set and tags each paper with its round. The CSV export includes the round, so your methods section can say what each round added.
- Ranked by your set. Candidates linked to more of your papers come first, a quick way to find the studies your key papers share.
- Reviews citing your set. One button lists reviews and meta-analyses that cite your papers.
- Map, review and draft in one account. Upload the RIS export into a systematic review for two-reviewer screening, extraction and a PRISMA 2020 diagram; or save the set to your Library and ask questions with page citations; then write in the editor with live citations.
- Free mapping. No input, article or map limits tied to a plan; Citation Map costs 0 credits.
Litmaps and Citation Map compared (checked November 2026)
From Litmaps' own pages and our code.
| Litmaps | Citation Map (AI for Research) | |
|---|---|---|
| Best at | Saved maps and new-paper alerts over a long project | Recorded snowballing rounds, then screening and writing |
| Map layout | Date against citations [2] | Years across, circle size by citations |
| Free plan | Basic search, up to 20 inputs, 100 articles per map, 1 or 2 maps (page shows both), monthly summary [1] | Unlimited maps, 0 credits; up to 10 seeds per map |
| Paid plan | Pro $10/month or $120/year (academic email): unlimited inputs, articles and maps [1] | Not needed for mapping |
| Alerts | Monthly on Free; configurable on Pro (page shows daily and weekly) [1] | None |
| Collaboration | None on Free and Pro; team-wide on Team [1] | Share the exported set; share a systematic review through a Project |
| Data source | Not stated on its pricing or home page | OpenAlex, Semantic Scholar as fallback |
| Export | Not stated on its pricing page | RIS, CSV with round |
| Next steps in the same account | Discovery and monitoring | Systematic review, Library, Deep Research, editor |
How Citation Map works, step by step
- Open Citation Map and paste a DOI, OpenAlex id or title, then click Map it. Or start From my Library with up to 10 papers.
- Read the Map tab: seeds in orange, papers in your set in dark blue, circles sized by citations. Click a circle to see the paper.
- Add papers to your set from the References and Citing tabs; filter by year, minimum citations or study type.
- Run a round with Backward, Forward or Both. Up to 60 candidates come back, ranked by links into your set.
- Click Find reviews citing the set.
- Export RIS or CSV, or Save to Library. The map stays in your History to reopen.
Example: from map to screened set
Example (invented, for illustration). A review team on school-based physical activity and attention has a Litmaps map of 45 papers built over six months. For the review they need a recorded citation search. They pick the 10 studies that met their criteria from database screening and start a Citation Map from the Library. One Both round gives 60 ranked candidates; 22 are linked to 3 or more included studies. They export the set as RIS, upload it into their Systematic Review as "Other database", where 9 duplicates of database records are removed by DOI and title, and screen the rest with the same criteria. Litmaps keeps sending alerts until submission.
Which should you pick?
| If you want to... | Pick |
|---|---|
| Keep a living map and get alerts for months | Litmaps |
| Build one map from many seeds and revisit it | Litmaps Pro |
| Report backward and forward citation searching | Citation Map |
| Screen the found papers with a second reviewer and draw a PRISMA diagram | AI for Research |
| Read the papers and draft with live citations | AI for Research |
How to use them together
- Keep Litmaps for discovery and alerts throughout the project.
- When you run the formal search, start a Citation Map from your core papers and record each round.
- Export RIS and upload it into a Systematic Review, or save the set to your Library.
- Before submission, add any papers your Litmaps alerts found and screen them the same way.
- Report both: alerts as an ongoing search with its end date, and the rounds as citation searching.
What it costs
Citation Map, exports and Save to Library: 0 credits. In the Systematic Review workspace, searching, deduplication, screening by hand, the PRISMA diagram and exports are free; AI screening suggestions cost 1 credit per 25 records. The free plan has 45 credits a month and covers one review of up to 50 records; Plus is $12 a month and Pro $29 a month. See pricing.
What Citation Map does not do
- No alerts or monitoring. This is the main reason to keep Litmaps.
- No shared live maps. Maps are saved to your own History.
- Direct links only. It does not suggest papers by text similarity; pair it with Find Papers.
- Limits per step. Up to 10 seeds per map, the first 25 set papers per round, up to 60 candidates per round.
- Coverage follows OpenAlex, thinner for books, some humanities work and very new papers.
- Sign-in needed. Citation Map is free, but it needs an account, and it is rate-limited for fair use.
Who it is for
PhD students running a long project, academics leading review teams, and health researchers who report citation searching. See AI for PhD students and AI for professors.
Learn more
- Connected Papers vs ResearchRabbit vs Litmaps: the three map tools compared.
- Citation snowballing: the method and when to stop.
- Connected Papers alternative: when a similarity graph is the better start.
- How to make a PRISMA flow diagram: where citation searching goes in the diagram.
- Next comparisons: scite alternative and Paperpal alternative.
Sources
- Litmaps. Pricing. https://www.litmaps.com/pricing (checked November 2026)
- Litmaps. Homepage. https://www.litmaps.com/ (checked November 2026)
- ResearchRabbit. Welcome to the new ResearchRabbit (20 October 2025). https://www.researchrabbit.ai/releases/welcome-to-the-new-researchrabbit (checked November 2026)
Last updated 2026-11-12