The Best AI Tools
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Best AI tools for

Research

AI research tools search the web or scientific papers and answer with citations. Always open the sources for important claims, as even the best tools make mistakes.

Filter Free plan No sign-up Open source Has API

Quick picks

Top pick

Perplexity

  • Freemium
  • Free plan
  • No sign-up

Quick research with sources you can check

Runner-up

NotebookLM

  • Freemium
  • Free plan

Studying and working with your own documents

Also great

Elicit

  • Freemium
  • Free plan

Academic and scientific literature reviews

Compare at a glance

#ToolPricingFree planAPIBest for
1 Perplexity Freemium Yes Yes Quick research with sources you can check
2 NotebookLM Freemium Yes No Studying and working with your own documents
3 Elicit Freemium Yes No Academic and scientific literature reviews
4 Consensus Freemium Yes No Evidence-based answers from scientific studies
5 ChatGPT Freemium Yes Yes Everyday questions, writing, brainstorming and file analysis
6 Gemini Freemium Yes Yes People who live in Google Workspace and Android

The full ranking

  1. #1

    Perplexity

    • Freemium
    • Free plan
    • No sign-up
    • API

    AI answer engine that searches the web and cites its sources

    Best for: Quick research with sources you can check

    • Cites sources for every answer
    • Usable without an account
    Details Visit
  2. #2

    NotebookLM

    • Freemium
    • Free plan

    Google's research notebook that answers questions only from your own sources

    Best for: Studying and working with your own documents

    • Answers grounded in your sources
    • Audio overviews are great for learning
    Details Visit
  3. #3

    Elicit

    • Freemium
    • Free plan

    AI research assistant that finds and summarises scientific papers

    Best for: Academic and scientific literature reviews

    • Built for scientific papers
    • Extracts data into tables
    Details Visit
  4. #4

    Consensus

    • Freemium
    • Free plan

    Search engine that answers questions from peer-reviewed research

    Best for: Evidence-based answers from scientific studies

    • Answers backed by studies
    • Shows level of scientific agreement
    Details Visit
  5. #5

    ChatGPT

    • Freemium
    • Free plan
    • API

    OpenAI's general-purpose AI assistant for writing, analysis, images and more

    Best for: Everyday questions, writing, brainstorming and file analysis

    • Very broad feature set in one app
    • Large ecosystem of custom GPTs and integrations
    Details Visit
  6. #6

    Gemini

    • Freemium
    • Free plan
    • API

    Google's AI assistant, connected to Search, Gmail, Docs and other Google apps

    Best for: People who live in Google Workspace and Android

    • Deep Google Workspace integration
    • Good free tier
    Details Visit