BibDesk vs Zotero
BibDesk
bibdesk.sourceforge.io
Zotero
zotero.orgSide by side
| Figure | BibDesk | Zotero |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $1.67/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 8 |
| Spec score · Citation Management Software | 7.9 (#15) | 8.6 (#4) |
| Spec score · Reference Management Software | 7.8 (#19) | 8.6 (#3) |
| Collaboration | It supports sharing bibliographies with colleagues and exporting them to HTML and RSS. | Users can share a Zotero library with as many people as they like at no cost, and groups support shared collections. |
| Purpose | BibDesk edits and manages bibliographies, including bibliographic information and associated files or web links. | Zotero is a free, open-source tool for collecting, organizing, annotating, citing, and sharing research. |
| Support | The homepage links to a help book, wiki, user and developer mailing lists, bug reporting, and feature requests. | Most Zotero support occurs in the public Zotero Forums. |
Plans
Zotero
- 300 MBFree
- Free storageFree
- 2 GB$20 a year
- 2 GB storage$20 a year
- 6 GB$60 a year
- 6 GB storage$60 a year
- Unlimited$120 a year
- Unlimited storage$120 a year
In their own words
BibDesk
BibDesk has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
Zotero
Zotero is an open-source tool for collecting, organizing, annotating, citing and sharing research. Its browser Connector can identify research items during browsing and save them to a library. Collections, keyword tags and saved searches help organize material, while a PDF reader and note editor support working with documents. Zotero supports over 9,000 citation styles and integrates with Microsoft Word, LibreOffice and Google Docs. The desktop app stores research locally by default; syncing is optional. Zotero Storage can sync PDFs, images, web snapshots and other files across devices, with access through an online library. Libraries can be shared with any number of people at no cost, and groups support shared collections. The free plan includes 300 MB of storage; paid storage starts at $20/year for 2 GB. Zotero says synced data is encrypted in transit and newly created accounts' data is encrypted at rest with AES-256. The data server is in the United States. The data server software can be run locally, though Zotero says self-hosting is technically challenging and unsupported. Most support takes place in public forums.