Semantic Scholar vs The Lens
Semantic Scholar
semanticscholar.orgThe Lens
lens.orgSide by side
| Figure | Semantic Scholar | The Lens |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $83.33/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 7 |
| Spec score · Research Paper Discovery Tools | 7.5 (#19) | 7.7 (#12) |
| Founded | 2015 | The Lens says it launched in 2001, while its predecessor Patent Lens work began in 1999. |
| Headquarters | Seattle, Washington, United States | West End, Queensland, Australia |
| Purpose | Semantic Scholar provides free, AI-driven search and discovery tools for scientific literature. | The Lens connects scholarly and technological knowledge, including patents and scholarly works, to support discovery, analysis, decision-making and partnering. |
| Support | The librarian resources page directs users to the FAQ, a Contact Us form, and tutorial videos for help. | The Lens lists [email protected] and [email protected] as contact emails and provides a support request form. |
Plans
The Lens
- Academic / non-commercial accessPriced on request
- Individual commercial use$1,000 a year
- Academic WorkspaceFree
- Anonymous accessFree
- API TrialFree
- Individual Professional Workspace$1,000 a year
- API Member | Custom AccessPriced on request
In their own words
Semantic Scholar
Semantic Scholar has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
The Lens
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.