Explainpaper vs Rayyan
Rayyan uniquely has 12 features · Explainpaper uniquely has 11 features.
| Explainpaper | Rayyan | |
|---|---|---|
| Company | ||
| Founded | 2022 | 2014 |
| HQ | San Francisco, USA | Cambridge MA USA |
| AI model | Advanced AI models (basic AI on free tier) | Proprietary (ResearchPilot™) |
| User base | 400,000+ | 1,000,000+ |
| Platforms | Web | Web, iOS, Android |
| Languages | 50+ | — |
| Pricing | ||
| Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | No — free tier available indefinitely |
| Starting price | $16/mo | $8.33/mo |
| Enterprise | Contact us | Custom pricing |
| Refund policy | 14-day money-back guarantee on initial Pro subscriptions | — |
| All plans | Free$0/moPro$16/moTeamsContact us | Essential$8.33/mo (billed quarterly)Advanced$13.33/mo (billed quarterly)Business/Academic$41.67/moEnterpriseCustom |
| Positioning | ||
| Best for | Professional research and academic paper comprehension | Systematic review researchers, academics, healthcare professionals, and research institutions |
| Differentiator | Math and figure explanations, Zotero import, whole-paper summaries, multilingual output | The world's most widely adopted systematic review platform with 1M+ researchers, offering AI-assisted screening, deduplication of up to 200,000 references, PRISMA diagram generation, and the new ResearchPilot™ AI for zero-shot relevance ratings and automated data extraction. |
| Competitors | Consensus, Elicit, SciSpace, ChatPDF, Semantic Scholar, Perplexity | Covidence, DistillerSR, Abstrackr, EPPI-Reviewer, Nested Knowledge |
| Features | ||
| AI Powered Screening | — | ✓ |
| Advanced AI Models | ✓ | — |
| Ask Follow Up Questions | ✓ | — |
| Blind Mode | — | ✓ |
| Conflict Resolution | — | ✓ |
| Follow Up Questions | ✓ | — |
| Math & Figure Explanations | ✓ | — |
| Prisma Flow Diagrams | — | ✓ |
| Saved Highlights | ✓ | — |
| Saved Highlights & Explanations | ✓ | — |
| Shared Workflows for Teams | — | ✓ |
| Smart Outlines & Key Point Extraction | ✓ | — |
| Whole Paper Summaries | ✓ | — |
| Zotero Import | ✓ | — |
| Zotero Library Import | ✓ | — |
| Zotero Import/Export (File Based) | — | ✓ |
| Academic Search | ✕ | ✓ |
| AI Summarization | ✓ | ✓ |
| API Access | ✕ | ✓ |
| Browser Extension | ✕ | ✕ |
| Citation Generation | ✓ | ✓ |
| Data Privacy | — | ✓ |
| Document Upload | ✓ | ✓ |
| Export Formats | — | PRISMA diagrams, audit trail exports, data extraction outputs |
| Fact Checking | ✕ | ✕ |
| Follow Up Questions | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mobile App | ✕ | ✓ |
| Multi Source Synthesis | ✕ | ✓ |
| Team Collaboration | ✓ | ✓ |
| Web Search | ✕ | ✕ |
| Integrations | ||
| API Access | ✕ | ✓ |
| Browser Extension | ✕ | ✕ |
| Google Docs Export | ✕ | ✕ |
| Key Integrations | Zotero | Rayyan API (Enterprise), mobile app (iOS/Android), reference manager imports (RIS/BibTeX) |
| Notion Integration | ✕ | ✕ |
| Zotero Integration | ✓ | — |