Last updated: 2026-08-19
Consensus is an AI-powered search engine that indexes over 220 million peer-reviewed papers and answers research questions using citations pulled directly from the studies themselves, not general web content. Its Consensus Meter tags each answer as yes, no, mixed, or inconclusive based on the retrieved evidence.
About Consensus
Founded in 2021, Consensus built an AI search engine specifically for peer-reviewed research, after its founders concluded that general tools like Google Scholar and ChatGPT could not reliably answer evidence-based questions. The company has raised $16.73M in a Series A round. Consensus combines AI embeddings with traditional keyword search, then re-ranks results using citation counts, journal impact, and study methodology so the most credible papers surface first.
Consensus updates its index weekly and answers plain-English questions such as "Does X improve Y?" instead of returning a list of links to sort through. Every answer cites the specific papers it draws from, and additional filters let users narrow results down by methodology and quality signals before reading further. It is built for students, researchers, healthcare professionals, and policymakers who need an answer grounded in peer-reviewed evidence rather than a general web search.
Pricing
Free tier with 10 Pro Analyses, 10 Study Snapshots, 10 Ask Paper messages, unlimited searches. 88/year with unlimited features. 99/seat/month or $120/seat/year.
Enterprise with custom pricing.
| Tier | Monthly price | What it includes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | Free tier: 10 Pro Analyses, 10 Study Snapshots, 10 Ask Paper messages per month; unlimited searches |
| Enterprise | Free | Custom pricing for large organizations (200+ users), includes data privacy, custom integrations, and dedicated support |
| API | Free | API pricing starts at $0.10 per search call plus platform fee; available by application only with custom quotes |
| Pro | $11.99/mo | Unlimited Pro Analyses, Study Snapshots, Ask Paper messages, bookmarks, and custom lists |
| Teams | $12.99/mo | Per-seat pricing: $12.99/month or $120/year per user, supports 2-200 team members with centralized billing |
Key Features
- Consensus Meter: Visual indicator showing scientific agreement on yes/no questions by analyzing supporting and opposing studies
- AI Search: Natural language search interface that understands intent, returning relevant papers with AI-synthesized summaries
- Study Snapshot: AI-extracted metadata from papers including methodology, outcomes, sample size, and study duration
- Ask Paper: Chat directly with full-text PDFs to ask clarifying questions about methodology, findings, and specific sections
- Pro Analysis & Deep Search: In-depth automated literature reviews analyzing 20-50 papers with comparative insights and consensus analysis
- Advanced Filters: Filter by study design, methodology, sample size, publication date, country, journal impact, and other quality indicators
Pros
- Saves significant research time by synthesizing findings from dozens of papers into seconds
- All claims grounded in peer-reviewed literature with transparent source attribution
- Natural language query support makes searching intuitive and accessible to non-experts
- Quality indicators like citation count and journal impact help identify high-caliber research quickly
- The free tier's searches are unlimited, letting you fully evaluate Consensus's answers before paying for Pro Analyses, Study Snapshots, or Ask Paper access
Cons
- No deep linking to specific sentences within PDFs, requires full document reading to verify claims
- Application can become laggy or CPU-intensive when viewing PDFs or running complex analyses
- Limited to what exists in peer-reviewed literature; very recent developments may not yet be indexed
- AI-generated summaries, while grounded in sources, can occasionally misinterpret or over-interpret findings
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do you pay for Consensus?
Consensus has a free tier, plus Pro at $11.99/month ($107.88/year), Teams at $12.99/seat/month ($120/seat/year), and custom Enterprise pricing. An API is also available by application, starting around $0.10 per search call.
Does Consensus have a free plan?
Yes. Plain searches across the full paper index are unlimited on the free plan, alongside a monthly allotment of Pro Analyses, Study Snapshots, and Ask Paper messages. Paid plans exist mainly to remove those monthly caps.
What should you use instead of Consensus?
NotebookLM works better when you start from documents you already have, rather than searching an index of papers. Perplexity AI suits general, live-web questions with citations, not searches restricted to peer-reviewed literature. Gemini for Science is built for generating new hypotheses and running experiments, not just searching existing papers.
What separates Consensus from Perplexity AI?
Perplexity AI searches the live web and serves 45 million monthly users; Consensus searches peer-reviewed academic papers and nothing else. Everyday questions and current events sit with Perplexity. A claim that has to trace back to a specific study sits with Consensus.
What does it take to start using Consensus?
Go to consensus.app and create a free account, no credit card required. Type a research question in plain English, or search by topic to browse relevant papers directly. Upgrade to Pro only once you need unlimited Pro Analyses, Study Snapshots, or Ask Paper messages beyond the free monthly caps.
Top Alternatives
- NotebookLM: NotebookLM synthesizes documents you already hold; Consensus searches a peer-reviewed index from scratch.
- Perplexity AI: General live-web questions go to Perplexity AI. Answers that must trace back to a peer-reviewed study go to Consensus.
- Gemini for Science: Gemini for Science generates hypotheses and runs experiments, while Consensus searches and ranks the literature that already exists.
HokAI guides covering Consensus
- The Best AI for Research in 2026 Depends on the Job: Consensus, Gemini Notebook, Harvey and OpenEvidence each solve a different research problem in 2026. Here is how to match the right AI to your specific job.
- Best AI for Deep Research in 2026: What Each One Can Actually See: ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Grok each ship Deep Research, but they read different data and cap runs differently. Here is how to pick the right one.
- Best AI Search Engines in 2026: 6 Free Alternatives to Google: Perplexity, Bing Copilot, Komo AI, Andi Search, Consensus and Google Lens compared on free-tier limits, pricing and data handling for switching off Google.
- Best AI Search Tools in 2026: Match the Tool to the Job: Perplexity, Bing, and Glean all get called AI search tools, but only Glean searches a company's internal Slack. Here is how the category splits by job in 2026.