A Rayyan alternative is worth comparing when screening is only one part of the job you have to finish. The AI for Research Systematic Review workspace screens records with a second reviewer and Cohen's kappa, and also holds the protocol, logged database searches, extraction table, PRISMA 2020 diagram and methods draft. It suits students and small review teams.
What Rayyan is best at
Rayyan is a collaborative systematic review platform built for fast screening, used by more than a million researchers by its own count [2]. Its free plan is generous: 3 active reviews, 2 reviewers, duplicate detection and AI relevance predictions, with limited mobile app access [1]. Its homepage describes AI-assisted prioritization, a PICO framework, full-text review, auto-generated PRISMA diagrams, a mobile app you can use offline, and a deduplication tool that handles up to 200,000 references [2]. Blind mode hides collaborators' decisions while you screen and is on by default [3] . Paid plans add PRISMA diagrams (Essential), the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale and MMAT risk-of-bias tools and AI PICO extraction (Advanced), and the ResearchPilot AI features (Business) [1].
If you need blinded screening at scale on a free plan, or screening on your phone, Rayyan is hard to beat.
Where AI for Research differs
The workspace covers what happens before and after screening.
- Before: protocol and search. Choose one of 8 review types, a PICO, PCC or SPIDER framework and your criteria; draft a protocol in the structure PROSPERO asks for (3 credits). Search PubMed, Europe PMC and OpenAlex inside the review with live counts, and upload exports from Scopus, Web of Science, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, the Cochrane Library or ERIC. Every search and upload is logged with date, string, count, records added and duplicates.
- During: screening with agreement. Title and abstract, then full text. Include, exclude with a reason from your review type's list, or maybe. AI suggestions with a reason cost 1 credit per 25 records. Cohen's kappa and percent agreement show on screen.
- After: extraction and reporting. A table of included studies with 9 standard columns and custom ones, AI fill from abstracts with the quoted words (3 credits per 10 studies), the PRISMA 2020 diagram from live counts (SVG, PNG), CSV and RIS exports, and a methods draft written from your log and counts (3 credits).
- And the rest. The papers of a Deep Research answer can become records; included studies can go to your Library and editor.
Rayyan and the Systematic Review workspace compared (checked November 2026)
From Rayyan's own pages and our code.
| Rayyan | AI for Research Systematic Review | |
|---|---|---|
| Best at | Fast collaborative screening, blind mode, mobile | Protocol, search, screening, extraction and report in one project |
| Free plan | 3 active reviews, 2 reviewers, duplicate detection, AI relevance predictions [1] | 1 review, up to 50 records; one other person on the project |
| Paid plans | Essential and Advanced priced per seat, from $4.99 a seat a month billed annually; Business from 5 licences [1] | Plus $12/month (3 people per project), Pro $29/month (10 people); up to 10,000 records per review |
| Searching | Import of exported references | PubMed, Europe PMC, OpenAlex builders with live counts; uploads RIS, BibTeX, CSV, .nbib |
| Duplicates | Detection free; auto-resolve on Essential; up to 200,000 references [1], [2] | Matched by DOI, PubMed id and title, logged |
| Blinding | Blind mode [3] | Not blinded |
| AI in screening | Relevance predictions; prioritization [1], [2] | Suggested decision with a reason per record; can act as second reviewer when you screen alone |
| Agreement | Not stated on its pricing or home page | Cohen's kappa and percent agreement |
| Risk of bias | NOS and MMAT on Advanced [1] | Three fields: randomization, allocation concealment, blinding |
| PRISMA | Auto-generated diagrams, Essential and up [1], [2] | PRISMA 2020 diagram on every plan |
| Mobile | App, offline use [2] | Web only |
How a review works in AI for Research, step by step
- Click New review and fill in the question, Type of review, Framework and criteria. Choose a Project if a colleague will screen with you.
- On Search, build a string for PubMed, Europe PMC or OpenAlex and click Run and add, or Upload an export and pick its source.
- On Screening, choose Title and abstract. Press I to include, E to exclude with a reason, M for maybe, and arrow keys to move. Click AI suggestions if you want a suggested decision on each record.
- Resolve disagreements under Conflicts, then switch to Full text.
- On Extraction, fill the table for included studies, by hand or with AI, and add columns.
- On Report, download the PRISMA diagram, export records, and draft the Methods section.
Example: a rapid review for a hospital committee
Example (invented, for illustration). A pharmacist runs a rapid review on deprescribing proton pump inhibitors in care homes. She searches PubMed (238 records) and Europe PMC (171) inside the review and uploads an Embase export (156): 565 records, 182 duplicates, 383 to screen. She is on Plus, since the free plan stops at 50 records. As the only reviewer she turns on AI as second reviewer; suggestions for the 383 records cost 16 credits, and she resolves the 41 conflicts herself. 29 reach full text and 11 are included. The methods draft (3 credits) states that AI suggestions acted as the second reviewer, which her committee needs to know. The findings go to a clinician for review before any decision.
Which should you pick?
| If you need... | Pick |
|---|---|
| Blinded screening by several reviewers | Rayyan |
| Screening on a phone or offline | Rayyan |
| Several reviews at once on a free plan | Rayyan |
| Searches run and logged inside the review | AI for Research |
| A protocol draft, extraction with quotes and a methods draft | AI for Research |
| One account for searching, screening and writing the paper | AI for Research |
How to use them together
- Write the protocol and run the logged searches in AI for Research; upload your other database exports there so duplicates are removed in one place.
- Export All records (RIS) and screen in Rayyan with blind mode if your protocol requires it.
- Upload the included records back into a review for extraction, the methods draft and your write-up, and enter the screening counts from Rayyan in your PRISMA diagram.
What the workspace does not do
- No blind mode. Decisions and AI suggestions are visible on each record.
- No mobile app.
- PRISMA limits. Records from other methods sit in the databases column; the removed-before-screening box shows duplicates only; full-text "maybe" counts as not yet assessed.
- Kappa limits. Between you and one other reviewer or the AI, across include, exclude and maybe, with no confidence interval.
- Simple risk of bias, no PDF viewer for full texts, and no meta-analysis or forest plot yet.
- Records from Rayyan arrive without their decisions.
- AI suggests; reviewers decide. In clinical topics, results need a qualified professional's review.
Who it is for
Students running a first review, and clinicians and academics doing rapid or scoping reviews. See AI for medical research and AI for a master's thesis. Use the screening decision log and inclusion and exclusion criteria templates alongside it.
Learn more
- What is a systematic review: the method, step by step.
- Systematic review search strategy: build the search you will log.
- Scoping review vs systematic review: choose the review type.
- Cohen's kappa for screening: report agreement.
- More comparisons: Covidence alternative, Consensus AI alternative and SciSpace alternative.
Sources
- Rayyan. Pricing. https://www.rayyan.ai/pricing (checked November 2026)
- Rayyan. Homepage. https://www.rayyan.ai/ (checked November 2026)
- Rayyan Help Center. Understanding blinding, labels, reasons and ratings in collaborative reviews. https://help.rayyan.ai/hc/en-us/articles/35305653554705-Understanding-Blinding-Labels-Reasons-and-Ratings-in-Collaborative-Reviews (checked November 2026; the page returned an access error to our checker, details as shown in search results)
Last updated 2026-11-12