A nursing student checking an intervention
- Ask whether an intervention improves an outcome
- Read the summarised findings
- Open cited papers to verify
free plan works
Consensus · AI academic search engine
Consensus
An AI search engine that answers questions using peer-reviewed research, with Deep Search for literature-review style reports.
- Provider
- Consensus
- Latest confirmed model
- Not applicable / not verified
- Pricing
- Free plan + paid
- Free plan
- Yes
- API
- Yes
- Status
- Generally available
- Last verified
- Oct 19, 2026
What is Consensus?
Consensus searches over 400 million academic papers and summarises what the research says about a question, citing the studies it uses. Pro messages give AI answers, and Deep Search runs longer, report-style reviews. Teams and enterprises can also use the Consensus Search API.
Finding reliable, evidence-based answers in scientific literature is hard without specialised search skills.
Why use Consensus?
Practical benefits
- Answers cite peer-reviewed papers
- Free tier with monthly Pro messages and Deep Searches
- Student discount
- Search API for integration
Who it suits
- Students
- Researchers
- Healthcare and science writers
- Universities
When another tool may fit better
- Full systematic-review screening at scale (consider Elicit)
- Analysis of your own documents (consider Gemini Notebook)
- Learning curve
- Beginner-friendly
- Skills needed
- Ability to evaluate study quality
Example workflows
- Ask a yes/no research question -> review cited studies
- Run a Deep Search to draft a literature overview
What can it do?
- Paper searchSearch across 400M+ papers.
- Pro messages Depends on plan10 per month on Free; unlimited on paid plans.
- Deep Search Depends on plan3/month Free, 15 Pro, 200 Deep, 50 per seat Team.
- Search API Depends on planPaper search with metadata and filters; credits included on paid plans.
Good for
- Checking what evidence says on a question
- Drafting literature overviews
- Adding cited research to internal tools
Where it runs
Pricing and plans
Free plan + paid 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.
| Plan | Price | Billing | Free trial / tier | Usage limits | Main inclusions | Model access | API access | Restrictions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | per month | Free tier | 10 Pro messages and 3 Deep Searches per month |
|
— | No | — |
| Pro | Price not readable on official page; annual billing discounted | per month | — | Unlimited Pro messages; 15 Deep Searches per month |
|
— | 500 API credits included | 40% off for 12 months for verified students |
| Deep | Price not readable on official page | per month | — | Unlimited Pro messages; 200 Deep Searches per month |
|
— | 2,000 API credits included | — |
| Team | Per seat, volume pricing | per month | — | Up to 200 seats; 50 Deep Searches per seat per month |
|
— | Optional, requires approval, rate limited | — |
| Enterprise | Contact provider | per year | — | Default 50 Deep Searches per seat |
|
— | Custom pricing and limits | — |
API and developer access
- Official API
- Yes
- Documentation
- API docs (opens in a new tab)
- Authentication
- Not documented
- Pricing model
- Per call beyond included credits
- Free API quota
- None documented — the free plan above (if any) is for the app, not the API
- Rate limits
- Not documented
- Context / input limits
- Not documented
- SDKs
- Not documented
- Streaming
- Not documented
- Batch processing
- Not documented
- Structured output
- Not documented
- Tool / function calling
- Not documented
- Commercial use
- See the provider terms
- Data retention & privacy
- See the provider privacy terms
Published API rates
| Item | Price | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| API call beyond included credits | $0.05 | per call |
A free Consensus account is not the same thing as free API access. Unless a free API quota is listed above, API calls are billed separately.
Advantages and disadvantages
Advantages
- Focus on peer-reviewed evidence
- Simple question-based interface
- Student pricing
Disadvantages
- Paid plan prices not visible in the official sources fetched
- Deep Search capped per month
- Not a full systematic-review tool
Real-world examples
A PhD student drafting a literature overview
- Run a Deep Search on the topic
- Review the generated report and sources
- Export references
free plan works
An R&D team adding research search to an internal tool
- Request API access
- Call the Consensus Search API
- Show papers with citation counts in the tool
needs API key
Consensus alternatives
Elicit
An AI research assistant that searches academic papers, extracts data into tables and produces research reports and systematic reviews.
Consensus vs ElicitGemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM)
Google's source-grounded research notebook, renamed from NotebookLM to Gemini Notebook in July 2026.
Consensus vs Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM)Khanmigo
Khan Academy's AI tutor for learners and free AI teaching assistant for teachers.
Consensus vs KhanmigoFrequently asked questions
Is Consensus free?
Yes. The free plan includes basic search plus 10 Pro messages and 3 Deep Searches each month.
What does Pro add?
Unlimited Pro messages, 15 Deep Searches per month and access to all research tools.
Is there a student discount?
Yes. Students get 40% off Pro for 12 months with a verified .edu or student email.
What is the Deep plan?
A higher tier with 200 Deep Searches per month for people who run frequent literature reviews.
Does Consensus have an API?
Yes. Paid plans include API credits (500 on Pro, Team and Enterprise; 2,000 on Deep) and extra calls cost $0.05 each.
How many papers does it search?
Consensus states it searches more than 400 million papers.