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AnswerThis vs Consensus

Features, pricing, ratings, and pros and cons, side by side.

AnswerThis logo

AnswerThis

AI research assistant that searches papers and drafts literature reviews with verifiable citations

Freemium
Visit websiteView details

Verdict

AnswerThis is listed under AI Assistants and Consensus under Education & Research. Both have a free plan or trial. Only Consensus is available on Android.

Best overall

Consensus

  • Students
  • Academic researchers
  • Clinicians
  • Librarians

Choose AnswerThis if

  • You want a tool built for literature reviews with traceable citations, systematic reviews, managing a paper library, and drafting academic manuscripts.
  • Each claim links to a source passage, which makes citations checkable.
  • Free plan with no card required.

Choose Consensus if

  • You want a tool built for quick literature scans, finding citable peer-reviewed sources, checking what the evidence says on a yes/no question.
  • Every answer links back to cited peer-reviewed papers.
  • Consensus Meter gives a quick view of agreement on yes/no questions.
Best for beginners
AnswerThis
Best for business
AnswerThis

Features

16 features compared.

  • Literature Search
    AnswerThis
    Available
    Consensus
    Not available
  • Literature Review Drafting
    AnswerThis
    Available
    Consensus
    Not available
  • AI Writer
    AnswerThis
    Available
    Consensus
    Not available
  • Library and Canvas
    AnswerThis
    Available
    Consensus
    Not available
  • Systematic Review
    AnswerThis
    Available
    Consensus
    Not available
  • Meta-analysis and Evidence Grading
    AnswerThis
    Available
    Consensus
    Not available
  • Research Gaps and Citation Mapper
    AnswerThis
    Available
    Consensus
    Not available
  • Regulatory and Trial Connectors
    AnswerThis
    Available
    Consensus
    Not available
  • Pro Search and Deep Search
    AnswerThis
    Not available
    Consensus
    Available
  • Consensus Meter
    AnswerThis
    Not available
    Consensus
    Available
  • Study Snapshots
    AnswerThis
    Not available
    Consensus
    Available
  • Ask Paper
    AnswerThis
    Not available
    Consensus
    Available
  • Threads
    AnswerThis
    Not available
    Consensus
    Available
  • Medical Mode
    AnswerThis
    Not available
    Consensus
    Available
  • Citation Graph
    AnswerThis
    Not available
    Consensus
    Available
  • Citation Export and Collections
    AnswerThis
    Not available
    Consensus
    Available

Pricing

Plans as listed by each vendor. Check their sites for current prices.

  • Pricing model
    AnswerThis
    Freemium
    Consensus
    Freemium
  • Free plan
    AnswerThis
    Yes
    Consensus
    Yes
  • Starting price
    AnswerThis
    $0
    Consensus
    $0
  • Plans
    AnswerThis
    4 plans
    Consensus
    4 plans

AnswerThis plans

  • Free

    $0

    For students getting started with cited literature search

    • Deep search across 250M+ papers
    • cited answers and summaries
    • 5 saved projects
    • export to Zotero
    • Mendeley and EndNote

  • Pro

    Most popular

    $35/user/mo

    Individual researchers needing frontier models and systematic review

    • Everything in Free
    • frontier models with no rate caps
    • agent-led systematic review and PRISMA
    • AI Writer with full manuscript drafting
    • unlimited projects and tables
    • 48-hour support

  • Lab & Team

    $75/month

    Research groups collaborating on shared reviews and libraries

    • Everything in Pro
    • shared workspaces and projects
    • dual-reviewer screening
    • meta-analysis and evidence grading
    • centralized billing and admin
    • minimum 3 seats

  • Max

    Custom/custom

    Site licenses for institutions and libraries

    • Everything in Lab
    • campus-wide site license
    • SSO and LMS integration
    • librarian admin console
    • onboarding and training

Consensus plans

  • Free

    $0

    Basic paper search for free, without AI analysis

    • Basic paper search
    • 10 Pro messages per month
    • Up to 3 Deep reviews per month

  • Pro

    Most popular

    $20/month

    Unlimited Pro messages with cited AI analysis of peer-reviewed research

    • Unlimited Pro messages
    • 15 Deep reviews per month
    • All research tools
    • 500 API and MCP uses per month

  • Deep

    $65/month

    For researchers and clinicians doing frequent literature reviews

    • Everything in Pro
    • 200 Deep reviews per month
    • 2000 API and MCP uses per month

  • Team and Enterprise

    Custom/custom

    Plans for organizations, universities and research teams

    • Multi-seat access
    • Contact sales for details

Our ratings

Scored out of 10 by the Finder Atlas editorial team. Last reviewed October 2026.

AnswerThis
7.8overall
Consensus
8.0overall

AnswerThis leads in 2 categories and Consensus in 2, with 1 tied.

  • Ease of Use

    Consensus leads by 0.6
    AnswerThis
    8.2
    Consensus
    8.8

  • Feature Depth

    AnswerThis leads by 0.2
    AnswerThis
    8.4
    Consensus
    8.2

  • Value for Money

    AnswerThis leads by 0.1
    AnswerThis
    7.6
    Consensus
    7.5

  • Performance & Speed

    Consensus leads by 0.5
    AnswerThis
    7.8
    Consensus
    8.3

  • Documentation & Support

    Tied
    AnswerThis
    7.2
    Consensus
    7.2

Scores weigh documented features, plan value, platform coverage, integrations and user feedback. A missing score means we have not rated that area yet.

Pros and cons

AnswerThis

Pros

  • Each claim links to a source passage, which makes citations checkable.
  • Free plan with no card required.
  • Systematic review tooling with PRISMA, dual-reviewer screening and meta-analysis, which many general assistants lack.
  • Two-way sync with Zotero, Mendeley and EndNote.
  • States that user content is not used for model training.

Cons

  • Free plan is limited to 5 saved projects.
  • Pricing page shows conflicting figures (plan cards versus a credits table), and Max has no clear published price.
  • No mobile app or public API documentation found.
  • Independent academic evaluations note that AI literature tools can miss papers, so results should be checked against traditional databases.

Consensus

Pros

  • Every answer links back to cited peer-reviewed papers
  • Consensus Meter gives a quick view of agreement on yes/no questions
  • Export to RIS, BibTeX and CSV fits existing reference workflows
  • Medical Mode narrows results to top medical journals and clinical guidelines
  • Free search available without payment
  • Stated use by students at over 10,000 universities (company claim)

Cons

  • Deep reviews are capped (3/month free, 15 on Pro), so heavy literature reviews need the $65 Deep plan
  • Corpus size claims differ across the company's own pages (200M+ vs 400M+)
  • Focused on academic literature, so it is not a general-purpose assistant

Platforms

  • Web
    AnswerThis
    Supported
    Consensus
    Supported
  • Windows
    AnswerThis
    Not supported
    Consensus
    Not supported
  • macOS
    AnswerThis
    Not supported
    Consensus
    Not supported
  • iOS
    AnswerThis
    Not supported
    Consensus
    Not supported
  • Android
    AnswerThis
    Not supported
    Consensus
    Supported
  • API
    AnswerThis
    Not supported
    Consensus
    Not supported
  • Browser Extension
    AnswerThis
    Not supported
    Consensus
    Not supported

Integrations

AnswerThis

6 integrations
  • Zotero
  • Mendeley
  • EndNote
  • PubMed
  • Embase
  • Cochrane

Consensus

No integrations listed.

Company

  • Company
    AnswerThis
    AnswerThis
    Consensus
    Consensus NLP, Inc.
  • Founded
    AnswerThis
    2024
    Consensus
    Not listed
  • Headquarters
    AnswerThis
    San Francisco, CA
    Consensus
    Boston, USA
  • Listing
    AnswerThis
    Claimed
    Consensus
    Claimed

Frequently asked questions

Is AnswerThis better than Consensus?

It depends on your workflow. AnswerThis is built for literature reviews with traceable citations, systematic reviews, managing a paper library, and drafting academic manuscripts. Consensus is built for quick literature scans, finding citable peer-reviewed sources, checking what the evidence says on a yes/no question.

What are the key feature differences between AnswerThis and Consensus?

AnswerThis: AI research assistant that searches papers and drafts literature reviews with verifiable citations. Consensus: Search peer-reviewed research and get cited, evidence-based answers in seconds.

Does AnswerThis or Consensus have a free plan?

Yes, both do. AnswerThis is freemium and Consensus is freemium, and each has a free plan or trial.

Which is cheaper, AnswerThis or Consensus?

Both can be used for free. Paid plans differ in limits and features, so compare the tiers in the pricing table above.