Elicit
AI research assistant for papers.
why this verdict
Downgrade — pay for the workflow, not the AI
ChatGPT and Consensus 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
- 3 of 3 listed replacements have a usable free tier: ChatGPT, Consensus and Perplexity.
- What the call is worth $144/yr
- $12/mo at the entry paid tier — $144 a year per seat.
- Threatened by
- OpenAI
- Since
- October 31, 2024
- List price
- $12/mo
- Per year
- $144
The backstory
Elicit is a research assistant that searches academic papers, extracts findings into tables and helps run literature reviews. General chatbots with search now handle casual paper Q&A, and ChatGPT can summarize a study on demand, so the easy questions leaked away. Elicit is wounded but holds a niche: structured systematic-review workflows, data extraction across many papers and citation-grounded tables are deeper than a one-off chat answer, and that rigor is what serious researchers still pay for.
Escape hatches
switching could free up $144/yrSearch and summarize papers conversationally
chatgpt.com open_in_newSearch engine that answers from research papers
consensus.app open_in_newCited AI answers with an academic focus mode
perplexity.ai open_in_new3 of 3 replacements have a usable free tier.