Litmaps vs The Lens

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.

The Lens connects scholarly literature and patent records for discovery, analysis, decision-making, and partnering. Patent search offers Boolean, structured, biological, and classification queries, alongside filters and sorting. The Lens says its scholarly collection contains more than 200 million records and links scholarly works to patents through citations. PatSeq tools search, analyze, and share biological sequences disclosed in patents. Search results can be visualized in charts and dashboards, which users may save and share. Registered users can save collections and queries, add notes, and receive notifications when new indexed results match them. Lens Profiles combine author and inventor records and support ORCID linking and synchronization. Anonymous browsing is free, as is a non-commercial academic workspace for users with an academic institutional email. Individual commercial users need commercial-use permissions through a subscription or institution. The Individual Professional Workspace costs $1,000 a year. APIs support programmatic search and retrieval, subject to approved access and a token.