BibGuru vs CitePlain
BibGuru
bibguru.com
CitePlain
citeplain.comSide by side
| Figure | BibGuru | CitePlain |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $4.99/mo | $3.25/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 4 | 7 |
| Spec score · Citation Generator Tools | 9.3 (#1) | 8.7 (#4) |
| Spec score · Citation generators | 8.9 (#6) | 8.9 (#4) |
| Browser extension | The Chrome and Edge extension generates citations for webpages and online articles and lets users edit, copy and change styles in its popup. | The extension is listed for Chrome, Edge, and Firefox and reads metadata from the active tab. |
| Privacy | The privacy policy says BibGuru collects only the minimum information necessary or appropriate for the purpose of a user's interaction with its services. | CitePlain says saved references on the free tier live in browser local storage and never leave the device. |
| Support | Users can contact BibGuru at [email protected] with questions, bug reports, feedback, and feature requests. | Email support is handled by one person, with replies promised within one business day and often within a few hours. |
| What it does | BibGuru is an online bibliography and citation generator aimed at students and researchers. | CitePlain creates formatted citations for web pages, journal articles, books, tweets, YouTube videos and podcasts. |
Plans
BibGuru
- BibGuruFree
- BibGuru FreeFree
- BibGuru Plus for EducatorsFree
- BibGuru Plus$4.99 a month
CitePlain
- FreeFree
- Pro monthly$4.99 a month
- Pro yearly$39 a year
- Founder Lifetime$89, paid once
- Lifetime Founder$89, paid once
- Lifetime$199, paid once
- Lifetime$199, paid once
In their own words
BibGuru
BibGuru creates citations and bibliographies for essays and papers, through the web and browser extensions. It supports APA, MLA, Harvard, Chicago, AMA, CSE, and thousands of additional citation styles. Users can add websites, books, articles, and other sources by entering a URL or searching by title or author. BibGuru says it formats citations and corrects mistakes automatically. Its Chrome and Edge extensions can generate citations for websites and online journal articles, then let users edit or copy citations and change styles. The About page describes a curated database of 100 million journal articles and 30 million books. The free plan saves sources in the browser for seven days and displays ads. BibGuru Plus costs $4.99 a month and adds longer-term source storage, access on computers and phones, projects and folders, and an ad-free experience. A three-day trial is offered. Teachers and educators can request an access key to provide Plus to students. BibGuru was founded in 2019 and describes its intended users as K12 and undergraduate students.
CitePlain
CitePlain creates citations and bibliographies from web pages, journal articles, books, tweets, YouTube videos, and podcasts. It accepts URLs, DOIs, or ISBNs, and uses publisher citation and Open Graph metadata, with Crossref lookup for DOIs and Open Library for ISBNs. The free plan includes APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 17, Vancouver, CSE, and BibTeX, plus a bibliography builder for up to 50 sources per batch. The extension for Chrome, Edge, and Firefox can read metadata from the active tab and provide BibTeX with a stable cite key for Overleaf or Zotero. Pro adds 24 specialised styles, batch URL import for up to 50 sources, and cloud storage synced across the web app and extension. Free-tier references stay in browser local storage. Pro costs $4.99 a month or $39 a year. Lifetime options are listed at 89.00 USD once and 199.00 USD once. CitePlain describes its focus as individual citations rather than replacing a research reference manager.