Bookends vs Paperpile
Bookends
sonnysoftware.com
Paperpile
paperpile.comSide by side
| Figure | Bookends | Paperpile |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $1.25/mo | $4.15/mo |
| Free plan | — | — |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 4 | 3 |
| Spec score · Reference Management Software | 8.3 (#7) | 8.2 (#12) |
| Spec score · Citation Management Software | 8.3 (#7) | 8.2 (#11) |
| Integrations | The maker lists imports from EndNote, Papers, Sente, Zotero, and Mendeley; integrations with Microsoft Word, Mellel, Nisus Writer Pro, Tinderbox, DEVONthink, and Scrivener; and AppleScript support. | The pricing page lists Google Drive sync, Overleaf integration, browser extensions, academic database and publisher integrations, and OneDrive sync in beta. |
| Purpose | Bookends is a reference management app for students and professionals to collect, organize, annotate, cite, sync, share, and publish research. | Paperpile describes itself as a home for research papers and says its goal is to simplify collecting, managing, and writing papers. |
| Research discovery | The Mac app includes hundreds of built-in searches and can import references and PDFs from scholarly sources and institutional libraries. | The mobile app page says users can search 150 million articles across sources including PubMed, arXiv, and CrossRef and save PDFs with one tap. |
| Support | The maker offers a technical support request form and directs users to its FAQ, email, and user forum for help or questions. | Paperpile directs questions to [email protected]. |
Plans
Bookends
- Bookends for iOS Premium$14.99 a year
- Bookends for iOS Standard$14.99, paid once
- Bookends for Mac upgrade$49.99, paid once
- Bookends for Mac single-user license$74.99, paid once
Paperpile
- Regular$4.15 a month
- Expert$5.75 a month
- Enterprise and InstitutionsPriced on request
In their own words
Bookends
Bookends is a reference-management app for students and professionals working with research. It collects, organizes, annotates, cites, syncs, shares, and publishes references across macOS, iOS, and a browser extension. The Mac app includes hundreds of searches for scholarly sources and institutional libraries, and can import references and PDFs. Its reader combines PDF annotations, notes, deep links, and searches across reference records and attached file contents. Bookends can scan manuscripts, replace temporary citations, and create in-text citations, footnotes, and bibliographies using built-in or CSL styles. Imports include EndNote XML, RIS, BibTeX, PubMed, and SenteXML, with integrations for Microsoft Word and other listed applications. Bookends Bridge connects browsers to the Mac app. MCP-capable AI assistants can search references, read PDFs, add notes and highlights, locate citations, and create bibliographies. Mac and iOS libraries sync through iCloud and can be shared with colleagues.
Paperpile
Paperpile is a reference manager for collecting, organizing and writing with research papers. It can import references, extract PDF metadata, organize libraries with folders and labels, detect duplicates, repair metadata and search collections. Plans include unlimited storage for research PDFs. Citation support includes more than 10,000 styles, with plugins for Google Docs and Microsoft Word. Shared folders and libraries, access permissions, and collaborative PDF annotations and citations support group work. The Android and iOS apps sync with the web library and support highlights, notes and drawn annotations. Users can also search 150 million articles across sources including PubMed, arXiv and CrossRef, and save PDFs with one tap. Integrations include Google Drive sync, Overleaf, browser extensions, and academic databases and publishers. Regular costs $4.15 a month and Expert costs $5.75 a month, with all plans billed annually; a 30-day trial is available. New sign-ups are currently available on Chrome, while Safari and Firefox access is in beta.