# Consensus

> Search peer-reviewed research and get cited, evidence-based answers in seconds

- Category: [Education & Research](https://finderatlas.com/categories/education)
- Pricing: Freemium
- Website: https://consensus.app
- Platforms: Web, Android
- API: available
- Mobile app: available
- Made by: Consensus NLP, Inc., Boston, USA
- Last updated: 2026-10-20
- FinderAtlas page: https://finderatlas.com/tools/consensus

## Overview

Consensus is an AI academic search engine that answers research questions using peer-reviewed literature. Users type a question in natural language, and the tool finds relevant papers, summarizes their findings, and links every claim back to a cited source. Its homepage states that it searches more than 400 million scientific papers and describes the product as a research workspace for finding, organizing and analyzing science.

## Key features

- Pro Search and Deep Search
- Consensus Meter
- Study Snapshots
- Ask Paper
- Threads
- Medical Mode
- Citation Graph
- Citation Export and Collections

## Pricing

- **Free** ($0): Basic paper search for free, without AI analysis
- **Pro** ($20/month): Unlimited Pro messages with cited AI analysis of peer-reviewed research
- **Deep** ($65/month): For researchers and clinicians doing frequent literature reviews
- **Team and Enterprise** (Custom): Plans for organizations, universities and research teams

## Best for

- Quick literature scans, finding citable peer-reviewed sources, checking what the evidence says on a yes/no question

## Who uses it

- Students
- Academic researchers
- Clinicians
- Librarians
- Biotech and healthcare research teams

## Strengths

- 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)

## Limitations

- 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

## Not recommended for

- Writing finished papers without checking sources, searching non-academic or paywalled full-text content, users who need an unrestricted free tier

## FinderAtlas editorial scores (out of 10)

- Ease of Use: 8.8/10
- Feature Depth: 8.2/10
- Value for Money: 7.5/10
- Performance & Speed: 8.3/10
- Documentation & Support: 7.2/10

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- [Gemini Notebook](https://finderatlas.com/tools/notebooklm): Google's Gemini Notebook, formerly NotebookLM, answers questions and builds summaries from your own sources ([compare](https://finderatlas.com/compare/consensus-vs-notebooklm))
- [Elicit](https://finderatlas.com/tools/elicit): AI research assistant for literature search, systematic reviews and evidence reports ([compare](https://finderatlas.com/compare/consensus-vs-elicit))
- [AnswerThis](https://finderatlas.com/tools/answerthis): AI research assistant that searches papers and drafts literature reviews with verifiable citations ([compare](https://finderatlas.com/compare/answerthis-vs-consensus))

## Recent updates

- 2025-11-20: Medical Mode
- 2025-11-20: Deep Search
- 2025-11-20: Threads and Consensus Meter 2.0

## FAQ

**What is Consensus?**

Consensus is an AI search engine for academic research. It finds peer-reviewed papers for a question and summarizes what they say, with citations.

**Is Consensus free?**

Yes. The Free plan includes basic paper search, 10 Pro messages and up to 3 Deep reviews per month. Pro costs $20/month and Deep $65/month, with about 40% off on annual billing.

**How many papers does Consensus search?**

The homepage says more than 400 million scientific papers. Its blog posts from November 2025 cite 200+ million, so the figure appears to have grown or varies by source.

**Does Consensus offer plans for universities and companies?**

Yes. It has pages for universities and for research organizations, both with a demo request, and a Team and Enterprise tab on the pricing page.

**Does Consensus write papers for me?**

No. It finds and summarizes sources. One student testimonial on the pricing page says it does not write for them but helps them gather peer-reviewed sources.