# Alfred Scholar vs Consensus: Which to Use in 2026 > Compare Alfred Scholar vs Consensus. Consensus searches peer-reviewed literature; Alfred Scholar is where you read, annotate and write from your papers. Source: https://www.alfredscholar.com/compare/consensus/ Comparison ## Alfred Scholar vs *Consensus*. Consensus is an AI search engine for peer-reviewed research, showing whether scientific evidence supports or contradicts a claim, and it now keeps a library of the papers you save. Alfred Scholar is built around the papers after that: reading and annotating them, writing the manuscript beside them, and checking originality before you submit. [Try Pro free for 7 days](https://app.alfredscholar.com/register) See the full table 7 days of Pro, free · no card needed · keep everything when it ends Side by side ### Feature comparison | Feature | Alfred Scholar | Consensus | | --- | --- | --- | | AI-powered research | Yes (your papers) | Yes (public literature) | | Upload and chat with your PDFs | Yes | Yes (library uploads) | | Citation management | Yes (full manager) | Library with RIS and BibTeX import | | APA, MLA, Chicago formatting | Yes (7 presets + custom) | Yes (bibliography generation) | | PDF viewer and annotations | Yes | PDF preview; no annotations found | | Manuscript editor | Yes | No | | Plagiarism detection | Yes (platform-wide, Beta) | No | | Weekly research digest (Loops) | Yes (your keywords) | No | | Team workspaces | Yes | Shared collections, Teams plan | | Scientific consensus meter | No | Yes | | Public paper discovery | Ask Alfred searches and imports; no browsable index | Yes | | Pro Analysis (search synthesis) | No | Yes (limited on free) | | Price | Plus ₹499/mo in India, $12/mo elsewhere; Basic costs nothing | Free tier; Pro $20/mo billed monthly, or $144/yr billed annually | Consensus pricing and capabilities as published in October 2026. Check their site for the current offer. Sources we checked - [help.consensus.app/en/articles/10087865](https://help.consensus.app/en/articles/10087865), read 15 October 2026 - [help.consensus.app/en/articles/10911197](https://help.consensus.app/en/articles/10911197), read 15 October 2026 - [help.consensus.app/en/articles/11954907](https://help.consensus.app/en/articles/11954907), read 15 October 2026 - [help.consensus.app/en/articles/15453733](https://help.consensus.app/en/articles/15453733), read 15 October 2026 Where they differ ### Different tools for different stages of research #### Consensus answers broad questions. Alfred Scholar works on your papers. Consensus is designed to answer questions like "Does meditation reduce anxiety?" by searching peer-reviewed literature and showing the scientific consensus, and it can now hold the papers you save. Alfred Scholar is designed for deep work with a specific paper collection. #### What Alfred Scholar adds after the search Annotations on the page, a manuscript editor that checks submission guidelines, an originality check before submission, and Telescope to compare papers question by question with every cell cited to the page. #### Use them together Use Consensus to find papers that support or contradict a hypothesis, then upload them to Alfred Scholar for deep reading, citation management, and manuscript writing. They complement each other well. Where to next ### Still weighing it up? Go deeper #### Literature Review Search, compare and synthesize across your own library, not a public index. Compare #### Alfred Scholar vs Elicit A second comparison, same table, same rows. What it costs #### Plans and pricing Basic costs nothing. Plus is ₹499 a month in India and $12 elsewhere, and Lab seats five. Every account starts with a trial of Pro. [vs Humata](https://www.alfredscholar.com/compare/humata/)[vs Jenni AI](https://www.alfredscholar.com/compare/jenni/) [All comparisons](https://www.alfredscholar.com/compare/) ### Go beyond discovery. Upload your papers and get AI chat, citation management, manuscript writing, and plagiarism detection. [Try Pro free for 7 days](https://app.alfredscholar.com/register) [See pricing](https://www.alfredscholar.com/pricing/) 7 days of Pro, free No card needed Afterwards, keep everything on the free plan Prefer to read first? [Read the Docs](https://www.alfredscholar.com/docs/v1.x/introduction/)