In one line: Consensus searches over 400 million scholarly articles, writes an answer to your question where every sentence links back to the paper it came from, and lets you search papers free forever, with 10 AI-powered answers and 3 Deep Reviews a month on the free plan.
What it is
Most AI chatbots answer health, science and "does this actually work?" questions from general knowledge, and it's hard to tell where a claim came from. Consensus works the other way around. It's a search engine first: you type a question, it searches over 400 million scholarly articles (including 350 million peer-reviewed papers, per its docs), and only then uses AI to read and summarize what it found. Every sentence in the answer links to a paper, and hovering a citation shows the exact quote it's based on. If nothing relevant turns up, it says so. Its docs say retracted papers are flagged and never used in answers. There are three levels: plain paper search, Pro messages (an AI summary of up to 20 papers from your search) and Deep Reviews (a literature review across up to 50 papers for bigger questions). Clicking the table icon on a paper opens a Study Snapshot with its methodology, sample size and study duration. You can also filter for recent studies, see where studies disagree, follow citations, save papers to a library and add your own PDFs, and it connects to ChatGPT, Claude and Copilot.
Who it's for
Students and researchers writing a paper, clinicians and health writers checking what the evidence says, and anyone who's tired of "studies show" with no study attached, like checking a supplement, a diet claim or a parenting tip before you believe it. It's less useful for questions research papers don't cover (product picks, news, how-to questions) and if you need a final answer without reading anything yourself.
Try this today
Go to consensus.app and sign up for free. Ask one question you've actually wondered about, phrased plainly, like "Does creatine improve memory?" or "Does intermittent fasting help with weight loss compared to regular dieting?" Read the summary, then hover two or three citations to see the exact quotes they're built on, and open one paper's Study Snapshot to check its sample size. A summary built on a few small studies deserves less trust than one built on large trials. Then try the recent-studies filter and see whether the answer changes. Save your 3 free Deep Reviews for a question you'd otherwise spend an afternoon on.
The catch
The free AI part is small. Paper search is unlimited on every plan, but the Free plan gives you 10 Pro messages and 3 Deep Reviews a month, so a curious afternoon can use up the month. Even on Pro, Deep Reviews are capped at 15 a month. And an answer is only as good as the research behind it: Consensus summarizes what the papers say, but it can't fix a field full of small or low-quality studies, and its own docs call it "a research assistant, not a replacement for reading." Check sample sizes and read the papers that matter before you quote it. On privacy, Consensus says it doesn't train models on your searches or uploads.
Pricing
Free: $0, with unlimited paper search, 10 Pro messages a month, 3 Deep Reviews a month and 30 API and MCP calls a month. Pro: $20 a month, or $144 a year, with unlimited Pro messages, 15 Deep Reviews a month and 500 API and MCP calls a month. Students get 40% off for 12 months with a verified .edu or student email. Deep: $65 a month, or $540 a year, with unlimited Pro messages, 200 Deep Reviews a month and 2,000 API and MCP calls a month. Teams: per-seat pricing for up to 200 seats, with 50 Deep Reviews per user a month. Enterprise: contact sales. Prices are in USD.
Pricing checked on Consensus's docs, pricing summary and help center on Nov 9, 2026.