Litmaps vs Scite

Litmaps is a web-based research tool that uses citation networks and advanced search to help researchers find papers and conduct literature reviews. Its search catalogue contains more than 270 million papers. A Litmap visualizes connections among articles through citations and references; users can annotate papers and change how the map is arranged. Topic monitoring sends automatic emails when new articles appear, and maps can be shared as images, public links, or with selected email addresses. The free plan costs nothing and includes basic search, up to 20 inputs and 100 articles, one Litmap, and a monthly summary, but no collaboration. Pro (Education) costs $10 a month, billed $120 / year - save 20%; it adds advanced search, unlimited inputs, articles, and Litmaps, plus daily or configurable alerts, and requires an academic email address. Litmaps Pro syncs Zotero collections with Litmaps Tags in both directions. Articles can also be imported from BibTeX, RIS, or PubMed files and exported in BibTeX, RIS, or CSV formats. Open Access PDFs are available to all users; other PDF access requires institutional access through LibKey.

Scite helps researchers discover and assess scientific literature through citation context. Its Smart Citations classify later citation statements as supporting, contrasting with, or mentioning a paper. Scite Search matches citation statements extracted from full text and supports citation chaining, filters, and alerts. Reference reports display citation text with filters for classification, section, year, or source type. Scite Assistant answers from peer-reviewed literature and links each answer to its source, while Reference Check examines manuscript references for citation context, retractions, editorial notices, and contrasting findings. Collections can import papers from Zotero, Mendeley, DOI CSV files, or search results and alert users to new citations and retractions. Integrations include an API, Zotero plugin, browser extension, institutional holdings, and MCP connections for ChatGPT and Claude. Scite reports indexing 317M+ articles and extracting 1.6B+ Smart Citations. It offers web, API, and extension access, with a free plan and paid plans from 20 /mo annually.