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Elicit: plans, prices, strengths and limits
Elicit Basic is free, with unlimited paper search and limited monthly use of the Research Agent. Elicit Pro costs $75 a month, or $49 a month billed yearly, and Elicit Scale costs $375 a month per seat, or $229 a month billed yearly.
Prices for United States, before sales tax Data release 2026.11.07-2, Nov 7, 2026 Rules 2.5.0
- Made by
- Elicit Research, PBC
- Individual plans
- 3, one free
- Paid plans
- $75 to $375 a month
- Facts checked
- Nov 7, 2026
Hidden gem A smaller tool fewer people know yet. We list it after the main picks for each job its maker documents; we have not tested it. How we choose them
Quick verdict
Elicit is an AI research assistant that searches 138 million academic papers from Semantic Scholar, PubMed and OpenAlex, plus clinical trials, and answers with citations to the papers. Basic is free, with unlimited paper search and chat with papers and a limited monthly allowance for the Research Agent and Research Reports, at the Fastest effort level only. Elicit Pro is $75 a month, or $588 a year paid up front ($49 a month), and adds Systematic Reviews that screen up to 5,000 papers, Projects, Skills, Routines and API access. Elicit Scale is $375 a month per seat, or $2,748 a year per seat paid up front ($229 a month), with 5x Pro's usage, figure extraction and the Smartest effort level. These are Elicit's Industry prices. Its terms say fees are exclusive of taxes, while its help center says Elicit does not charge sales tax.
Elicit publishes no usage numbers. Basic has limited monthly usage, Pro a standard monthly pool and Scale 5x that pool, and on paid plans extra usage is billed in $100 steps up to a cap you set. Two decisive points are not verified: the terms say you keep rights to your content but give no explicit permission to use Elicit's output commercially, and the privacy policy does not mention model training on user content. The pricing page lists "No training on your data by default" only for Enterprise.
This verdict rests on what Elicit documents, not on our tests, which we have not run yet.
Strengths and limits
Strengths
- 138 million papers, searchable for freeEvery plan searches 138 million papers from Semantic Scholar, PubMed and OpenAlex, plus clinical trials, with answers cited to the papers. Paper search and summaries are unlimited, including on Basic.
- Cited reports from the Research AgentThe Research Agent plans its steps, searches beyond papers (the web, filings, press releases) and cites every claim with links back to the source. Research Reports export as PDF or Word on every plan.
- Systematic Reviews on Pro and ScalePro and Scale screen up to 5,000 papers in a Systematic Review, and a Chrome and Edge extension fetches full-text PDFs for it. Usage comes from the same monthly pool as the Research Agent and Reports.
- Reusable research setupsPro and Scale add Projects, which group sessions, files and artifacts with one linked paper collection, Skills, which are saved instruction sets for the Research Agent, and Routines, which run scheduled Research Agent work and email the results.
- Links to Zotero and other AI appsEvery plan imports papers from Zotero. Pro and Scale add the Elicit API and an MCP server that brings Elicit into other AI apps.
Limits
- No usage numbers publishedPlan limit. Basic has "limited" monthly usage for the Research Agent and Reports, Pro a "standard" pool and Scale 5x Pro, but Elicit gives no absolute numbers. Extra usage on paid plans is billed in $100 steps up to a cap you set.
- Commercial use of output not verifiedNot verified. Elicit's terms say you keep rights to your content but do not grant an explicit permission to use Elicit output commercially. The help center advises citing Elicit rather than copying its text.
- Training on your content not verifiedNot verified. The privacy policy does not mention model training on user content, and "No training on your data by default" appears on the pricing page only for Enterprise, which is not covered here.
- Models and context not namedNot verified. Elicit does not name the model behind the Research Agent or document a context size. Plans set the highest effort level instead: Fastest on Basic, up to Smart on Pro and up to Smartest on Scale.
- Web only, slides in previewWorkflow limit. Elicit runs in the browser; no mobile or desktop app is documented. Slides, downloaded as a PowerPoint file, are a preview feature on paid plans, and table exports to CSV or Excel are not on Basic.
Based on what Elicit Research, PBC documents for each plan, not on our tests.
Who it suits
A good fit if you
- Searching and summarizing academic papers with citations, free on Basic
- Cited research reports that export as PDF or Word
- Systematic reviews that screen up to 5,000 papers, on Pro or Scale
- Researchers who keep their library in Zotero
Look elsewhere if you
- Knowing exactly how many reports you get: Elicit publishes no usage numbers
- Output you plan to reuse commercially: no explicit permission in the terms
- Working from a phone app: no mobile app is documented
- Images, video or code: outside what Elicit is for
Plans and prices
| Plan | Monthly | Yearly | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elicit Basic | Free | Nov 7, 2026 | |
| Elicit ProAnnual option billed as $588 a year ($49 a month). | $75 a month | $588 a year | Nov 7, 2026 Source |
| Elicit ScaleAnnual option billed as $2,748 a year ($229 a month), per seat. | $375 a month | $2,748 a year | Nov 7, 2026 Source |
Prices for United States, before sales tax unless a plan says otherwise. A yearly plan is paid up front and is not cancel-any-time.
Features by plan
What Elicit Research, PBC documents for each plan. A hatched mark means we could not verify it, which is not the same as "not offered".
| Feature | Elicit Basic | Elicit Pro | Elicit Scale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Models and limits | |||
| Top models included | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Context window | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Models from several companies | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| General-purpose assistant | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Research and sources | |||
| Web search with sources | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Deep research reports | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Research paper search | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Files and data | |||
| File and document uploads | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Spreadsheet and data analysis | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Coding | |||
| Coding agent | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Works in your code editor | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Code completions as you type | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Background coding agent | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Pull request review | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Images, video and voice | |||
| Image generation | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Video generation | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Real-time voice | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Image editing and design | |||
| Photo editing | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Background removal | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Text inside images | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Logo maker | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Vector (SVG) files | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Upscaling | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Diagrams from text | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Video editing and presenters | |||
| Photo to video | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Footage editing | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Avatar presenters | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Lip sync | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Automatic captions | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Clips from long videos | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Exports without a watermark | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| App building and hosting | |||
| Apps from a description | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Hosting and publishing | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Custom domain | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Database and sign-in | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Code export | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Music, voice and transcription | |||
| Songs with vocals | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Instrumental music | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Separate stems | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Voiceover from text | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Voice cloning | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Dubbing into other languages | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Sound effects | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Transcription | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Meeting notes | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Dictation into any app | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Writing and slides | |||
| Slides from a prompt | No | Yes | Yes |
| Grammar and spelling checks | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Paraphrasing and tone changes | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Projects and memory | |||
| Projects | No | Yes | Yes |
| Custom assistants | No | Yes | Yes |
| Memory across chats | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Integrations and agents | |||
| Connectors to other apps | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Inside Gmail | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Inside Google Docs | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Inside Google Sheets | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Inside Word | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Inside Excel | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Inside PowerPoint | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Inside Outlook | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Browser agent | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Privacy and control | |||
| Opt out of model training | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Export your data | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Shows ads | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Rights and licensing | |||
| Commercial use of outputs | Unclear | Unclear | Unclear |
| Apps and extras | |||
| Cloud storage included | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| Apps | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Usage included | Yes | Yes | Yes |
The details and sources of every row are in Compare two AIs and the data release.
What it documents for each use
- Research & Search Research a question with sources that hold up · Check claims against reliable sources · Get a research report from many sources · Find and read research papers
- Business & Productivity Connect AI to the apps I already use · Make a presentation
A use is listed when at least one plan documents every feature a task needs. Answer quality is a separate question: see below.
Using it day to day
Elicit is a web app for current Chrome, Firefox, Safari or Edge. A Chrome and Edge extension fetches full-text PDFs for Systematic Reviews on Pro and up. No mobile or desktop app is documented. You can upload PDFs to a Research Agent session and ask questions about them. Whether the Research Agent runs code on spreadsheets or CSV files is not verified, though paid plans can ask it for charts as artifacts.
Usage is one monthly pool shared by the Research Agent, Reports and, on paid plans, Systematic Reviews; it resets monthly. Research Reports export as PDF or Word on every plan and the Library exports as RIS, while table exports to CSV or Excel need a paid plan. The prices above are Elicit's Industry prices. Elicit also shows Academic prices for academic users and nonprofits: Plus at $19 a month or $132 a year, Pro at $69 or $468 and Scale at $149 or $1,068.
Privacy, data and ads
Elicit's privacy policy does not mention model training on user content, so whether your uploads and queries train models is not verified. The pricing page promises "No training on your data by default" only for Enterprise. Elicit says PDFs you upload stay private to your account. Whether Elicit shows ads is not verified. Read how we check vendor claims for what "not verified" means on this page.
Read the vendor's own page: Elicit privacy and data controls. We make no legal or compliance claim.
Test results
We have not tested Elicit yet, so this page makes no claim about answer quality, and we show no example outputs. Run the same kit in it and in the alternatives, in your own account:
- Summarize a report with traceable facts
- Analyze a spreadsheet and get the numbers right
- Edit an email without losing a detail
- Diagnose and repair a small program
- Research a question with sources that support the answer
- Make sense of documents that disagree
- Research a current question within a date window
- Edit an article without changing its facts
- Turn project notes into a report that agrees with itself
- Implement a small specification
- Refactor code without changing what it does
- Make a picture that follows a detailed brief
- Put exact text into a graphic
- Change one thing in a picture and nothing else
- Make a short clip that follows a brief
- Make a song that sings your lyrics exactly
- Read a script with names, numbers and abbreviations
- Design a logo with an exact name
Getting started
- Start on Elicit Basic: search papers and chat with them as much as you like, and try the Research Agent within the limited monthly allowance.
- Upload a PDF you know well and check the cited answers against it.
- If you run systematic reviews or need Projects, Skills, Routines or the API, choose Pro: $75 a month, or $588 a year paid up front.
- If you work at a university or nonprofit, check Elicit's Academic prices before you subscribe.
- Before you upload unpublished work, read Elicit's privacy policy, since training on user content is not addressed there. Compare research tools on our tools page.
Your fit
Tell Find my AI what you do and what matters; it checks every plan of Elicit against your priorities, next to the alternatives.
Alternatives
- Scite Scite Basic, at $20 a month or $144 a year, offers unlimited Assistant queries over 323 million full-text articles with Smart Citations that show whether later papers support or contrast a claim, and its privacy policy says it does not use customer data to train AI. About Scite
- Perplexity Perplexity Free puts citations in every answer and includes 1 Research query a month and 3 Pro Searches a day, and Pro, at $20 a month, lets you turn off AI data retention in Preferences. About Perplexity
Recent changes
- Elicit Scale added
- Elicit Pro added
- Elicit Basic added
Every change is in the change log.
Questions
Is Elicit free?
Yes. Elicit Basic is free, with unlimited paper search, summaries and chat with papers, plus limited monthly usage of the Research Agent and Research Reports at the Fastest effort level.
How much does Elicit cost a month?
Elicit Pro is $75 a month, or $588 a year paid up front ($49 a month). Elicit Scale is $375 a month per seat, or $2,748 a year per seat ($229 a month). These are Industry prices; Elicit's terms say fees are exclusive of taxes.
Does Elicit have academic pricing?
Yes. Elicit shows Academic prices for academic users and nonprofits: Plus at $19 a month or $132 a year, Pro at $69 or $468 and Scale at $149 or $1,068. Plus exists only under Academic pricing.
What is the difference between Elicit Pro and Scale?
Scale has 5x Pro's monthly usage per seat, figure extraction, the Smartest effort level and an admin panel. Pro goes up to the Smart effort level and includes Systematic Reviews, Projects, Skills, Routines and the API.
Does Elicit train on my data?
Not verified. Elicit's privacy policy does not mention model training on user content, and the pricing page lists "No training on your data by default" only for Enterprise.
Can I export Elicit reports?
Yes. Research Reports export as PDF or Word on every plan, and the Library exports as RIS. Table exports to CSV or Excel need a paid plan.
Sources
11 official pages, checked Nov 7, 2026. This page was written by the What the tech desk with AI assistance from the facts in our data release; no company paid for or reviewed it.
- Elicit's Research AgentElicit
- Pricing | Elicit: The AI Research AssistantElicit
- Where did Find Papers, Extract Data, and Chat with Papers go?Elicit
- ChangelogElicit
- Terms of ServiceElicit
- Elicit ProjectsElicit
- Skills in ElicitElicit
- Export your data from ElicitElicit
- Technical requirements & troubleshootingElicit
- Elicit's source for papersElicit
- Elicit's Scale Plan for TeamsElicit
About this page
- Published by
- What the tech, Helsinki, Finland
- Author
- What the tech
- Reviewed by
- Peyman Khosravani
- Review scope
- Checked that this page matches the facts in data release 2026.11.07-2: a check against documented sources, not a hands-on test of the product.
- Evidence
- Facts documented by each company, each linked to its official source and dated. Test results appear only where an editor ran the test.
- Data release
- 2026.11.07-2, Nov 7, 2026
Product ownership is separate from publication: What the tech publishes this page; Elicit Research, PBC supplies Elicit. Official Elicit website. Product names and logos do not imply endorsement of this publication.