C 
Consensus
AI research search meets the assistants that added citations.
KINDA
why this verdict
Downgrade — pay for the workflow, not the AI
ChatGPT Search and Elicit cover the headline feature free, so the $12/mo is now paying for the workflow around it.
- A named launch, not a vibe named, unlinked
- ChatGPT Search over academic sources. OpenAI, October 31, 2024 — no announcement link recorded yet.
- How much of the job it covers headline only editorial call
- The headline feature, but not the workflow, data or integrations around it.
- Is there a free way to do it? yes
- 2 of 2 listed replacements have a usable free tier: ChatGPT Search and Elicit.
- What the call is worth $144/yr
- $12/mo at the entry paid tier — $144 a year per seat.
Reason composed from the fields above missing: announcement linked recorded: free replacement listed recorded: two or more escape hatches
- Threatened by
- OpenAI
- Since
- October 31, 2024
- List price
- $12/mo
- Per year
- $144
The backstory
Consensus searches scientific papers and synthesizes findings with citations. As ChatGPT Search and Gemini added grounded, cited answers, the general-purpose research question is increasingly answerable in a chatbot. Consensus survives on its academic-only corpus and study-quality signals.
Escape hatches
switching could free up $144/yr C 
ChatGPT Search Cited answers over the web.
chat.openai.com open_in_new E 
Elicit Research assistant with a free tier.
elicit.com open_in_new2 of 2 replacements have a usable free tier.