Mendeley Reference Manager vs ReadCube Papers
Mendeley Reference Manager
mendeley.comReadCube Papers
about.readcube.comSide by side
| Figure | Mendeley Reference Manager | ReadCube Papers |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $4.58/mo | $7.92/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 7 | 6 |
| Spec score · Reference Management Software | 8.3 (#8) | 8.1 (#13) |
| Spec score · Citation Management Software | 8.3 (#8) | 8.1 (#12) |
| Offline access | The Reference Manager guide describes an offline mode that syncs library changes when the user reconnects. | Offline PDF access is available only on the desktop application version 4.37.xxxx. |
| Purpose | Mendeley Reference Manager is a free web and desktop reference management application for organizing references and supporting research workflows. | ReadCube is a platform to discover, read, organize and cite scientific literature. |
| Support | The download page directs users to the Mendeley Support Center and release notes for help and updates. | Enterprise plans include dedicated support, training and onboarding, while the site provides a help center and support-ticket channel. |
Plans
Mendeley Reference Manager
- FreeFree
- Plus$4.99 a month
- Pro$9.99 a month
- Max$14.99 a month
- Plus$55 a year
- Pro$110 a year
- Max$165 a year
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
Mendeley Reference Manager
Mendeley Reference Manager is a web and desktop application for organizing references and supporting research workflows. Users can import PDFs or folders into a library, read and annotate documents, and collect thoughts in Mendeley Notebook. Mendeley Cite inserts citations and builds bibliographies in Microsoft Word using a chosen style. Shared groups let colleagues, course-mates, or co-authors contribute references and annotate PDFs together. Web Importer saves papers, web pages, and other documents from search engines and academic databases; it is available for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari. Watched Folders can import PDFs placed in a selected desktop folder. Offline mode syncs library changes after reconnecting. Free accounts include 2GB of storage and five Reading Assistant questions. Paid plans start at $4.99 per month, with higher tiers listing additional storage and Reading Assistant features. Mendeley is available on web, Windows, Linux, macOS, and as a browser extension. The Windows download page lists Windows 10 and above as supported.
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.