Side by side
Consensus vs Elicit
A fact-based comparison built only from each tool's verified directory profile — pricing summaries, plan availability, platforms, and stated strengths and limitations. No rankings, no sponsored placement.
| Criterion | Consensus | Elicit |
|---|---|---|
| Category | AI Research Tools | AI Research Tools |
| In one sentence | An AI search engine that answers questions using peer-reviewed research, with Deep Search for literature-review style reports. | An AI research assistant that searches academic papers, extracts data into tables and produces research reports and systematic reviews. |
| Problem it solves | Finding reliable, evidence-based answers in scientific literature is hard without specialised search skills. | Literature reviews require finding, screening and extracting data from many papers, which takes weeks by hand. |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Developer API | Yes — docs | Yes — docs |
| Open source | No | No |
| Platforms | Web, API | Web, API, MCP |
| Pricing (summary) | Free plan with 10 Pro messages and 3 Deep Searches per month. Pro (15 Deep Searches), Deep (200 Deep Searches) and per-seat Team plans are sold monthly or annually; Enterprise is custom. Exact prices were not readable from the official pricing page. Checked 2026-10-19 | Basic is free with unlimited search, summaries and paper chat. Pro is $49 per user per month on annual billing ($588/year) and Scale $169 per month on annual billing ($2,028/year). Enterprise is custom. Checked 2026-10-19 |
| Strengths |
|
|
| Limitations |
|
|
How to choose
Both profiles link to the vendors' official pricing — plan details change often, so verify there before buying. Pick based on the criterion rows above that matter to your workflow, not on rankings: we don't rank tools, because the right choice depends on your needs.