Buhos vs CADIMA

BBuhos9.4Visit CADIMA9.0Visit

Higher score B Buhos #1 in Literature Review Software 9.4/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 4 of 5 features Visit Buhos

vs

CADIMA #4 in Literature Review Software 9.0/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 5 of 5 features Visit CADIMA

• Buhos fits best

  Free, end-to-end systematic review teams

• CADIMA fits best

  Teams wanting a free structured review platform

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Side by side

Feature	BBuhos 9.4/10 Visit ↗	CADIMA 9.0/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.4	9.0
Ranking	#1 in Literature Review Software	#4 in Literature Review Software
Best for	Free, end-to-end systematic review teams	Teams wanting a free structured review platform
Pricing model	Free	Free
Starting price	Free plan	Free
Free plan	✓	✓
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Self-hosted, Desktop	Cloud
Platforms	Web, Windows, macOS, Linux	Web
Support	Email, Docs	Email, Community, Docs
Built for	Solo, Small business, Mid-market	Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Buhos 4/5 · CADIMA 5/5
Screening workflow	✓	✓
Full-text management	✓	✓
Systematic review tools	✓	✓
Collaboration	✓	✓
Evidence mapping	Not checked yet	✓ (best)
Specs
Discovery tools	Search	Not checked yet
Citation import limit	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Our review
Pros	Covers screening, extraction, quality assessment, reporting, and full-text review Imports BibTeX, RIS, PubMed/NBIB, JSON, and CSV references Supports collaboration with reviewer assignments, comments, tags, and messaging	Free access to systematic reviews, maps and literature reviews Covers screening, appraisal, extraction and duplicate removal Supports team roles, permissions and conflict management
Cons	Local or independent-server deployment requires technical setup Focused on systematic literature review workflows rather than broader research work Export options are limited to BibTeX, Excel, and GraphML	Web-only access limits platform choice No paid tiers for expanded capabilities Published site version is dated April 2023
Our verdict	Buhos is open-source software for developing and managing systematic literature reviews. It supports both individual and group-based reviews, making it suitable for researchers who need a structured process from literature discovery… Read the review →	CADIMA is a free, hosted web application for conducting and documenting systematic reviews, systematic maps and other literature reviews. It is aimed at research teams that need a shared workflow for organizing references, screening… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Buhos — where it wins

  • Covers screening, extraction, quality assessment, reporting, and full-text review
  • Imports BibTeX, RIS, PubMed/NBIB, JSON, and CSV references
  • Supports collaboration with reviewer assignments, comments, tags, and messaging

  Where it doesn't

  • Local or independent-server deployment requires technical setup
  • Focused on systematic literature review workflows rather than broader research work
  • Export options are limited to BibTeX, Excel, and GraphML

• CADIMA — where it wins

  • Free access to systematic reviews, maps and literature reviews
  • Covers screening, appraisal, extraction and duplicate removal
  • Supports team roles, permissions and conflict management

  Where it doesn't

  • Web-only access limits platform choice
  • No paid tiers for expanded capabilities
  • Published site version is dated April 2023

• BBuhos9.4/10 · Free plan

  A free, end-to-end workspace for individual and collaborative systematic reviews.

  Visit BuhosFull verdict →
• CADIMA9.0/10 · Free plan

  A free, structured workspace for collaborative literature reviews.

  Visit CADIMAFull verdict →