Bibcitation vs CiteMaker

Bibcitation is a free web and browser-extension tool for creating citations, bibliographies, references, and works cited. It can automatically cite books, journal articles, and websites. Supported styles include MLA, APA, Chicago, IEEE, and more than 9,000 other formats, with CSL tools used for formatting. Users can copy a bibliography or export work to Google Docs, Word, and other popular formats. Add-ons are listed for Chrome, Google Docs, and Microsoft Word. The free plan costs nothing, and the homepage states no usage limits. Organizations can add a custom citation button to a webpage through a book ISBN link; that free integration currently supports books only. Bibcitation’s privacy policy says browser data may include browser type, language, referring site, requested pages, request time, and potentially IP addresses. Collected information is stored and processed in the United States. The policy is marked last updated September 24, 2020. Users must be at least 13, or older where local rules require it.

CiteMaker helps students and educators create bibliographies and reference lists, either automatically or manually. Citations can start from a book ISBN, website URL, DOI, or imported BibTeX. For ISBN searches, users can choose Google, ISBNdb, Open Library, or WorldCat. Listed styles include APA 6 and 7, Chicago, Harvard, MLA 8 and 9, Oxford, and Turabian, and the site offers forms for generative AI citations. Its guided forms flag required source details; as users enter information, CiteMaker creates in-text citations and sorts references alphabetically. Completed lists can be copied or exported to email, MS Word, Google Docs, or PDF. Registered users can save reference lists and retrieve them later. CiteMaker describes itself as online software for PC, iPad iOS, and Android tablets, and lists Android, iOS, and web platforms. A free plan and a 30-day trial are listed. The registration form says a yearly subscription fee applies after the trial. The site also provides Student and Educator registration options.