Scite at a glance

Starting price: $12/mo (annual) (Personal)
Free plan: Yes
Platforms: Web, Chrome extension

What is Scite?

Scite analyses how a paper is cited rather than how often, classifying each citation as supporting, contrasting or merely mentioning the original work. That distinction matters enormously: a heavily cited paper may be famous because subsequent studies failed to replicate it, and raw citation counts hide that completely. For anyone assessing whether a claim has held up, or checking whether a source they plan to cite has been challenged, it answers a question no other tool in this category addresses directly.

Two things to know before committing. Scite does not offer a permanent free plan, only a trial, and pricing is largely quote-based, which is a barrier for individual researchers when several alternatives are free for basic use. Some sources report tiers around $12 to $20 monthly, so figures vary. Many universities hold institutional subscriptions, so check your library before paying personally.

Key Features

Smart CitationsSupporting and Contrasting ClassificationAI Research AssistantCustom DashboardsAuthor Impact TrackingJournal Quality IndicatorsZotero PluginBrowser ExtensionReference Check ToolAdvanced Search FiltersResearch AlertsCitation Context ViewerWorkspace OrganizationTeam CollaborationCitation Trend AnalysisInstitution-Level AnalyticsRetraction Watch Integration

How to Use Scite

1Sign up at scite.ai and start a free trial

2Search for a paper, author, or research topic

3Review Smart Citations to see how a paper is cited in context

4Use the AI Assistant to ask research questions with cited answers

5Set up dashboards and alerts to track your research area

Who is Scite for?

✅ Best For

Biomedical researchers and clinical scientists who need to quickly assess whether key studies supporting a treatment or hypothesis are being supported or challenged by subsequent research.
Grant writers and academic reviewers who need to verify the credibility and replication status of foundational papers in a proposal before submission.
PhD students building literature reviews who want to see at a glance which studies are well-supported versus controversial, without manually reading hundreds of citations.

❌ Not For

Casual researchers or students doing introductory reading who may find citation classification more detail than they need for a basic essay or homework assignment.
Users who need a broad web-based answer engine or general knowledge tool, since Scite is focused exclusively on indexed academic literature and citation contexts.

Reviews

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Pricing

Is Scite free? Yes, there is a free plan. Paid plans start at $12/mo (annual) (Personal).

Free Trial$0

✓7 days full access

Personal$12/mo (annual)

✓Smart Citations
✓AI assistant
✓dashboards
✓unlimited chats

TeamCustom

✓Volume licensing
✓institution-wide access
✓admin controls

Prompts to Try

How is this paper on the gut-brain axis being cited, is it supported or challenged?

Find contrasting evidence to the serotonin hypothesis of depression

Check the citation context for this clinical trial on mRNA vaccines

Use Cases

A PhD student in pharmacology discovers that a key paper supporting his drug hypothesis has 12 contrasting citations he was unaware of, prompting him to restructure his literature review and strengthen his methodology section before submission.

A grant reviewer uses Scite to quickly check whether the foundational studies cited in a $2M NIH proposal are being supported or disputed by recent research, identifying one retracted paper that was missed.

A science journalist uses Scite's AI assistant to find expert-level cited answers on the latest SSRI efficacy debates, producing a more accurate and nuanced article that references real study contexts.

A biotech company uses Scite dashboards to track how their patented compound is being cited in academic literature, discovering a new application direction from an unexpected citing paper.

A medical librarian uses Scite's browser extension to flag retracted or heavily disputed papers whenever researchers at her institution access them on PubMed or Google Scholar.