Bookends vs ReadCube Papers
Bookends
sonnysoftware.comReadCube Papers
about.readcube.comSide by side
| Figure | Bookends | ReadCube Papers |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $1.25/mo | $7.92/mo |
| Free plan | — | — |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 4 | 6 |
| Spec score · Reference Management Software | 8.3 (#7) | 8.1 (#13) |
| Spec score · Citation Management Software | 8.3 (#7) | 8.1 (#12) |
| Browser extension | Bookends Bridge connects third-party browsers to the Mac app for reference collection. | The browser extension imports articles from Dimensions, PubMed, Google Scholar and journal websites and can import associated PDFs when possible. |
| Purpose | Bookends is a reference management app for students and professionals to collect, organize, annotate, cite, sync, share, and publish research. | ReadCube is a platform to discover, read, organize and cite scientific literature. |
| Support | The maker offers a technical support request form and directs users to its FAQ, email, and user forum for help or questions. | Enterprise plans include dedicated support, training and onboarding, while the site provides a help center and support-ticket channel. |
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
ReadCube Papers
- Essentials$10 a month
- Plus$20 a month
- Essentials$95 a year
- Plus$185 a year
- EnterprisePriced on request
- TeamPriced 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.
ReadCube Papers
ReadCube Papers brings scientific literature discovery, reading, organization, and citation into a platform for individual researchers and teams. Its research answers draw on 165M+ publications and 182M+ patents. Readers can annotate PDFs with highlights, underlines, drawings, notes, and sticky comments. The AI assistant answers questions about a library and compares up to 20 papers, but is available only in the web version. Saved searches can add new papers to a library and send daily, weekly, or monthly alerts. For systematic reviews, it supports dual-reviewer screening, custom data-extraction forms, AI autofill, and PRISMA exports. A browser extension imports articles from Dimensions, PubMed, Google Scholar, and journal websites, with associated PDFs when possible. ReadCube can connect to Overleaf, and enterprise workflows can link libraries with systems including Veeva Vault, SharePoint, and Salesforce. It runs on Android, iOS, Mac, Windows, and the web, with an API and browser extension. Essentials costs $10 a month; Plus costs $20 a month per user. Both have a 30-day trial, and there is no free plan.