Free plans compared: what you actually get without paying (2026)

Seven AI tools for researchers offer a free plan. They all say “free”, but the limits are very different, and they are counted in different units. This guide puts the limits side by side, as listed on each pricing page on 5 October 2026, so you can pick a free plan to try based on the job you have.

How to read this guide

• Every figure comes from the vendor’s pricing page, read on 5 October 2026. Nobody has run these tools for this guide.
• “Not verified” means the figure was not shown or we could not tell what period or unit it applies to.
• Paid prices appear only to show what comes after the free plan, and each is labelled billed monthly or billed annually.

Free plans side by side

Tool	What the free plan lists	Period or unit
Consensus	Basic paper search; 10 Pro messages; up to 3 Deep reviews	Per month
ResearchCollab	200 AI credits; 10 AI models; 40 PDFs (about 200 MB); no card required	Credits per month; PDFs as a stored total
Elicit (Basic)	Unlimited search, summaries and chat with papers; limited use of Research Agent and Research Reports	Research limits not shown as numbers; not verified
Jenni AI	10 AI autocompletes; 10 PDF uploads; 3 AI edits; 5 chat messages; 3 reviews; 3 workflow runs; unlimited citations in 10,000+ styles	Per day for autocompletes; the period for the others is not verified
Anara	Limited AI usage and uploads; Zotero and Mendeley connectors	Up to 20 MB or 120 pages per upload; AI limit not shown as a number
Litmaps	Basic search; up to 20 inputs; 2 Litmaps; 100 papers per map	Per account and per map
Paperpal	200 grammar edits; Lite plagiarism check; 5 uses each of Paraphrase, Trim, Translate and AI Review; chat with 5 files; 300 MB library	Per month for edits and files; per day for the 5 uses

What the limits mean in practice

The units matter more than the numbers:

• Per month caps (Consensus, ResearchCollab, Paperpal) reset, so a small steady task can fit. ResearchCollab counts in credits, and how many credits a task uses is not verified.
• Per day caps (Jenni AI autocompletes, Paperpal’s 5 uses) limit how much you can do in one sitting, not over a month.
• Per upload caps (Anara) limit file size. A long thesis or large scanned PDF may exceed 20 MB or 120 pages.
• Per map caps (Litmaps) limit how big one map can get: 100 papers on the free plan.
• “Unlimited” with a catch (Elicit Basic): search, summaries and chat are listed as unlimited, but the Research Agent and Research Reports are limited, and the numbers are not shown.

Which free plan for which job

Based only on the limits listed above, not on testing:

• Ask a few focused questions of the literature: Consensus lists 10 Pro messages and up to 3 Deep reviews per month; Elicit Basic lists unlimited search and summaries.
• Chat with your own PDFs: ResearchCollab lists 40 PDFs; Anara lists limited uploads up to 20 MB or 120 pages each; Paperpal lists chat with 5 files per month; Jenni AI lists 10 PDF uploads and 5 chat messages.
• Map related papers by citations: Litmaps lists 2 Litmaps with 100 papers each.
• Polish a manuscript: Paperpal lists 200 grammar edits per month. Jenni AI is a writing editor with 10 autocompletes per day.

When free runs out: what the next step costs

Tool	Cheapest paid plan, billed monthly	Cheapest paid plan, billed annually
Consensus	Pro $20	Pro $12
ResearchCollab	Starter $9.99	Not verified
Elicit	Pro $75	Pro $49
Jenni AI	Plus $30	Plus $12
Anara	Plus $10 (worked out from the VND display)	Plus $8 (worked out from the VND display)
Litmaps	Not verified	Not verified
Paperpal	Not verified	Prime $6 (struck-through $12 shown; end date of the lower price not stated)

Litmaps shows $10 per month for Pro without saying whether it is billed monthly or billed annually, so we do not place it in either column. Paperpal’s pricing page showed annual and multi-year prices but no billed monthly price. See each profile for the full plan list.

A short plan for trying free plans

1. Pick one real, small task, such as five papers you already know.
2. Use the free plan for that task and note how much of the cap it used.
3. Check every claim and every reference the tool gives you. The citation checking guide shows a routine.
4. Only then look at paid plans, and compare the same billing method across tools. The literature review guide shows where monthly and annual prices differ.

What this guide cannot tell you

It cannot tell you how fast you will hit a limit, whether results are good, or whether a vendor will change its free plan. Those need hands-on use, which has not been done here.