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Consensus

consensus.app

  • Free plan
  • Web
  • iPhone and iPad
  • Android
  • Browser extension
  • API
8.0 Club score Visit consensus.app

What Consensus is

Consensus is an AI workspace and academic search engine for scientific research. It searches a database of over 220 million peer-reviewed papers, which the Help Center says is updated weekly. Search filters include publication date, open access, citations, journal rank, study design, population, sample size, duration, publisher, field, and country. Research Agent plans multi-step searches and can use citation crawling and DOI lookup to produce answers grounded in peer-reviewed research. Consensus says citations in AI summaries map to exact paper quotes, with the source section shown and PDF text highlighted when available. Medical Mode searches a curated group of about 8 million papers and 50,000 clinical guidelines. Users can import Zotero libraries and export CSV or RIS files for reference managers. Consensus is available on web, Android, iOS, and as an extension, as well as in ChatGPT, Claude, and Microsoft 365 Copilot. The Free Tier costs nothing and includes unlimited paper searches, limited Pro messages, 3 Deep reviews per month, 10 Study Snapshots per month, and 30 API and MCP calls per month.

Who it suits

Consensus suits researchers, students, and clinicians who want to search scientific literature and work with citations. Team plans are available for research groups, labs, and academic departments.

Good to know, and what to watch

  • Search covers over 220 million peer-reviewed papers.
  • Filters include study design, population, and sample size.
  • Medical Mode includes papers and clinical guidelines.
  • Users can import Zotero libraries and export CSV or RIS files.
  • AI summaries map citations to exact paper quotes.
  • The Free Tier limits Pro messages and monthly Deep reviews.
  • API and MCP calls share a monthly usage allowance.
  • Paid plans can add calls for $0.05 each, up to the plan limit.

Plans

Every plan and price

Enterprise

—

Teams

—

Free Tier

Free

Pro

$20/mo

Free plan

Getting started

  1. Open https://consensus.app/
  2. Choose the Free Tier, Pro, Deep, Teams, or Enterprise plan
  3. Use the web app, Android or iOS application, browser extension, API, or MCP access
  4. Import a Zotero library if needed
  5. Run a paper search and apply the available filters
  6. Connect Consensus with ChatGPT, Claude, or Microsoft 365 Copilot

Limits to check

The Free Tier includes limited Pro messages, three Deep reviews per month, ten Study Snapshots per month, and 30 API and MCP calls per month. Pro includes 15 Deep reviews and 250 API and MCP calls monthly; Deep includes 200 Deep reviews and 1,000 API and MCP calls monthly.

The verdict

Consensus combines literature search, filtering, and citation-backed AI research tools. Its plan allowances matter for users who expect frequent Deep reviews or API and MCP calls.

Questions people ask

Is Consensus free?

Yes. The Free Tier costs nothing and includes unlimited Papers searches, limited Pro messages, three Deep reviews monthly, ten Study Snapshots monthly, and 30 API and MCP calls monthly.

How much do the paid plans cost?

Pro costs $20 a month, or $144 billed annually. Deep costs $65 a month, or $540 billed annually. Teams and Enterprise use custom pricing.

Which platforms does Consensus support?

Consensus supports Android, iOS, web, an extension, API, and MCP access. It is also available in ChatGPT, Claude, and Microsoft 365 Copilot.

Can I use Consensus with reference managers?

You can import a Zotero library and export CSV or RIS files compatible with EndNote, Mendeley, and Zotero.

Does Consensus provide medical research?

Medical Mode searches a curated subset of about 8 million papers and 50,000 clinical guidelines from the top 1,000 medical journals.

Are API calls included?

API and MCP requests share a monthly allowance based on the plan. Paid plans can enable additional calls for $0.05 each up to their plan limit.

What the maker publishes

Advanced filters
Filters include publication date, open-access status, citations, journal rank, study design, human or animal population, sample size, duration, publisher, field, and country. source
AI integrations
Consensus is available in ChatGPT, Claude, and Microsoft 365 Copilot, and its API and MCP requests share a monthly usage pool. source
API limit
The API and MCP share monthly call allowances by plan, and paid plans can enable additional calls for $0.05 each up to their plan limit. source
API limits
API requests are rate-limited to one request per second, and API and MCP calls share the plan's monthly allowance. source
API overage
Paid plans can enable additional API or MCP usage at $0.05 per call after included credits, subject to plan maximums. source
Chat integrations
Consensus can be connected to ChatGPT, Claude, and Microsoft 365 Copilot. source
Citation grounding
Consensus says every citation in its AI summaries is mapped to an exact quote from the paper, with the source section shown and PDF text highlighted when available. source
Company founders
Crunchbase lists Eric Olson and Christian Salem as co-founders. source
Company founding and size
LinkedIn lists the company as founded in 2022 with 2–10 employees. source
Company headquarters
LinkedIn lists headquarters in San Francisco, California. source
Company legal name
Crunchbase lists the legal name as Consensus NLP inc. source
Consensus Meter
For yes-or-no questions, the Consensus Meter classifies retrieved studies as supporting, opposing, or possibly supporting the claim. source
Deep review
Deep reviews break a question into subquestions, run up to 20 targeted searches, screen more than 1,000 papers, and usually analyze up to 50 papers, sometimes up to 100. source
Document upload
Users can upload PDFs and other research documents, then ask questions about their contents. source
Founded
2021 source
Funding status
Crunchbase shows four funding rounds, including Seed, Series A, and Series B, but hides the total amounts. source
Headquarters
San Francisco, California, United States source
Independent criticism
CASRAI warns that the Consensus Meter counts retrieved papers without explicitly weighting study design, sample size, statistical power, or risk of bias. source
Independent limitation
CASRAI describes Consensus as a broad, continuously changing aggregator rather than a fixed, reproducible systematic-review database. source
Integrations
Consensus supports Zotero library import and exports CSV or RIS files compatible with reference managers including EndNote, Mendeley, and Zotero. source
Library access integration
The product advertises LibKey integration to connect users with institutional journal subscriptions. source
License
The public consensus-mcp repository is marked MIT licensed, while the hosted Consensus product is a commercial service. source
Limit: mobile performance
Google Play complaints repeatedly cite slow response times and difficulty opening thread or paper panels in the mobile app. source
Limit: organization features
Product Hunt review summaries mention user demand for better storage and retrieval of personal research. source

Checked against the maker's pages on 15 Oct 2026.