Skip to content
SPECIFICTION
Get listed

Qiqqa

jimmejardine.github.io

From $6.67/mo Free plan Open source WebWindowsAndroidSelf-hosted
Visit jimmejardine.github.io
Spec score 8.7 #2 of 23 in Citation Management Software

What it is

Qiqqa is a research and reference manager for finding, reading, and annotating PDFs and turning research into bibliographies. Its library tools include document previews, duplicate detection, automatic PDF import, OCR, and full-text search across multiple libraries. It imports references from Mendeley, Zotero, EndNote, JabRef, and other BibTeX-exporting programs. Expedition groups library contents into themes, while citation, author, keyword, and related-document tools help locate papers. The PDF viewer supports highlights, annotations, and free-form drawing, with reports that can collect abstracts, notes, and marked passages. Qiqqa InCite supports Microsoft Word citations and bibliographies using community-contributed styles, and can suggest papers from a library while writing. Users can share libraries, assign roles, and collaborate on annotations and metadata. A free Android companion app supports offline viewing, annotation, and highlighting. The open-source repository describes a Windows tool and says commercial Web Library cloud sync ended in 2021. Premium costs $6.67 a month; Premium+ costs $41.67 a month.

Spec sheet

Product
Qiqqa is a research and reference manager for searching, reading and annotating PDFs, reviewing research, and creating bibliographies.Read 7 Oct 2026 · jimmejardine.github.io
Integrations
Import is supported from Mendeley, Zotero, EndNote, JabRef and other BibTeX exporters, with Word, BibTeX and LaTeX export options.Read 15 Oct 2026 · jimmejardine.github.io
Privacy
The privacy policy says uploaded documents are not shared with third parties unless the user explicitly shares them, and that industry-standard techniques protect stored personal information.Read 7 Oct 2026 · jimmejardine.github.io
Support
The maker lists a support forum, manual, screencasts, and direct contact by email as help options.Read 7 Oct 2026 · jimmejardine.github.io
Android
The maker describes a free Android companion app for viewing, annotating, and highlighting documents offline.Read 7 Oct 2026 · jimmejardine.github.io
Android app
The Android companion is free, works offline and can view, annotate and edit highlights, although the manual says Android cannot add highlights.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
Annotation reports
Custom reports can combine abstracts, notes, annotations, highlights, inks and OCR text from selected documents.Read 15 Oct 2026 · jimmejardine.github.io
Brainstorming
Brainstorming provides mind maps whose nodes can contain files, images, text, documents and web links.Read 15 Oct 2026 · jimmejardine.github.io
Citation workflow
InCite inserts citations and bibliographies in Microsoft Word using thousands of community citation styles without a word-processor plug-in.Read 15 Oct 2026 · jimmejardine.github.io
Cloud discontinuation
The open-source README says Web Library cloud synchronization was removed and commercial cloud libraries were discontinued in 2021.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
Collaboration
Group libraries support administrator, contributor and viewer roles, shared metadata, discussion walls and private download links.Read 15 Oct 2026 · jimmejardine.github.io
Company incorporation
Quantisle Limited was incorporated in the United Kingdom on 26 March 2009.Read 15 Oct 2026 · find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk
Company size
A UK company profile lists Quantisle with one employee in its 2026 accounts and a London registered office.Read 15 Oct 2026 · companiesintheuk.co.uk
Developer build
Build instructions require Windows 10, .NET tooling, Visual Studio 2019, Git, Node/npm, submodules and a Release setup build.Read 15 Oct 2026 · raw.githubusercontent.com
Discovery
Expedition analyzes a library into themes and helps users identify influential or specific papers.Read 15 Oct 2026 · jimmejardine.github.io
Documentation
The project README says user documentation still needs substantial work and directs support questions to GitHub issues.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
Duplicate detection
Qiqqa alerts users when the same paper appears more than once in a library.Read 15 Oct 2026 · jimmejardine.github.io
Integrated browser
Its research browser can search multiple academic engines, import PDFs and convert web pages to PDF.Read 15 Oct 2026 · jimmejardine.github.io
Limit: AlternativeTo
AlternativeTo comments repeatedly mention stagnating development, glitches, weak support and non-Windows compatibility.Read 15 Oct 2026 · alternativeto.net
Limit: data recovery
A GitHub issue records a user reporting weeks of downtime, crashes and inability to access or synchronize a Web Library.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
Limit: G2 support and loss
A G2 reviewer reported a paid renewal followed by an empty account, loss of more than 3,000 annotated PDFs and no effective support response.Read 15 Oct 2026 · g2.com
Limit: release stability
The README warns that v82 prereleases were lightly tested and could contain bugs.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
Local network option
The maker describes Premium+ as suitable for organizations with data privacy restrictions because it can keep documents within a corporate intranet.Read 7 Oct 2026 · jimmejardine.github.io
Metadata
Qiqqa can infer metadata from document text and use a BibTeX sniffer to search Google Scholar for matching records.Read 15 Oct 2026 · jimmejardine.github.io
OCR
Built-in OCR makes image-based PDFs searchable and supports extracted abstracts and keywords.Read 15 Oct 2026 · jimmejardine.github.io
Open-source licence
The public repository identifies Qiqqa as GPL-3.0 software.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
PDF annotation
The viewer supports highlights, notes, tags, ratings, follow-up dates and freehand drawing.Read 15 Oct 2026 · jimmejardine.github.io
PDF libraries
Libraries can contain thousands of PDFs and provide document previews and separate work areas.Read 15 Oct 2026 · jimmejardine.github.io
PDF library
Qiqqa supports multiple libraries, document previews, duplicate detection, automatic PDF import, OCR, and full-text search.Read 7 Oct 2026 · jimmejardine.github.io
Platform and distribution
The open-source repository describes Qiqqa as a Windows tool distributed as a setup executable; its README says commercial Web Library cloud sync was discontinued in 2021.Read 7 Oct 2026 · github.com
Praise: AlternativeTo
AlternativeTo comments repeatedly praise OCR, tagging, full-text search, bulk PDF upload, BibTeX, theming and annotation.Read 15 Oct 2026 · alternativeto.net
Praise: Decide
Decide highlights PDF organization, automatic tagging, OCR, customizable annotation summaries and searchability as strengths.Read 15 Oct 2026 · decidesoftware.com
Praise: G2 metadata
A G2 reviewer praised metadata extraction, BibTeX, PDF organization, annotation and folder sharing.Read 15 Oct 2026 · g2.com
Product purpose
Qiqqa is a research and reference manager for searching, reading and annotating PDFs, reviewing work and creating bibliographies.Read 15 Oct 2026 · jimmejardine.github.io
Rating on AlternativeTo
3.8 out of 5 from 10 ratings.Read 15 Oct 2026 · alternativeto.net
Rating on Capterra
5.0 out of 5 from 1 review.Read 15 Oct 2026 · capterra.com
Rating on Decide
6.4 out of 10 from 14 ratings.Read 15 Oct 2026 · decidesoftware.com
Rating on G2
2.0 out of 5 from 2 reviews.Read 15 Oct 2026 · g2.com
Rating on Uptodown
5.0 out of 5 from 1 review.Read 15 Oct 2026 · qiqqa.en.uptodown.com
Reading and review
The PDF viewer supports highlights, annotations, free-form drawing, annotation summaries, and reports that can collect abstracts, notes, highlights, and annotations.Read 7 Oct 2026 · jimmejardine.github.io
Reference imports
It can import references from Mendeley, Zotero, EndNote, JabRef, and other programs that export to BibTeX.Read 7 Oct 2026 · jimmejardine.github.io
Research discovery
Expedition automatically groups a library into themes, and Qiqqa can help find papers through citations, authors, keywords, and related-document tools.Read 7 Oct 2026 · jimmejardine.github.io
Search
Full-text search supports ranked results, wildcards, fuzzy matching, proximity queries, Boolean operators and filters.Read 15 Oct 2026 · jimmejardine.github.io
Self-hosting route
The README directs users to migrate Web Libraries into intranet libraries and use Google Drive or Dropbox as a synchronization point.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
Storage and sync
The legacy service advertised online/offline synchronization with unlimited file and library sizes, while local-only storage was also supported.Read 15 Oct 2026 · jimmejardine.github.io
Tagging
The application provides automatic, hierarchical, document and annotation tagging with tag exploration.Read 15 Oct 2026 · jimmejardine.github.io
Terms: content rights
The terms grant Quantisle a worldwide licence to parse, index, transmit and store synchronized content while ownership remains with the user.Read 15 Oct 2026 · jimmejardine.github.io
Terms: service risk
The terms state that paid charges are generally nonrefundable, services may be suspended or cancelled, and the service is supplied as-is without broad warranties.Read 15 Oct 2026 · jimmejardine.github.io
Writing
Qiqqa InCite supports citations and bibliographies in Microsoft Word using community-contributed citation styles, and can suggest papers from a library while writing.Read 7 Oct 2026 · jimmejardine.github.io

Plans and prices

Free Free $ 0 /month super charged PDF management · Annotation Reports · Expedition · ad supported · 2GB free online storage Read 15 Oct 2026 · jimmejardine.github.io
Premium $6.67 a month $ 6.67* /month; educational $ 3.33* /month no adverts · annotation report filtering · password-protected PDFs · more than 10 libraries · private intranet read-only syncing · 10GB free storage Read 15 Oct 2026 · jimmejardine.github.io
Premium+ $41.67 a month $ 41.67* /month Premium features · private intranet syncing · MS Word-to-PDF conversion · business-focused · 50GB free online storage Read 15 Oct 2026 · jimmejardine.github.io

Every Qiqqa plan and price →

Strong points and limits

Strong points

  • Supports OCR and full-text search across PDF libraries
  • Imports references from several BibTeX-exporting programs
  • Word citations and bibliographies via InCite
  • Free Android app supports offline document annotation

Limits

  • Commercial Web Library cloud sync was discontinued in 2021
  • Premium costs $6.67 a month
  • Premium+ costs $41.67 a month

Who it suits

Qiqqa may suit researchers who organize PDF libraries, annotate papers, and prepare Word bibliographies. Its sharing roles and intranet syncing option may also fit collaborative or privacy-restricted organizations.

Verdict

Qiqqa brings PDF research management, annotation, discovery, and bibliography tools together, with a free plan and paid tiers. Note the repository’s stated end of commercial Web Library cloud sync when considering its platform and storage options.

Where Specifiction places it

Alternatives to QiqqaAll alternatives →