JSTOR vs CORE

JSTOR9.1Visit CORE8.5Visit

Higher score JSTOR #4 in Academic Research Databases 9.1/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 5 of 5 features Visit JSTOR

vs

CORE #10 in Academic Research Databases 8.5/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 5 of 5 features Visit CORE

• JSTOR fits best

  Full-text academic research collections

• CORE fits best

  Free open-access literature discovery

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Side by side

Feature	JSTOR 9.1/10 Visit ↗	CORE 8.5/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.1	8.5
Ranking	#4 in Academic Research Databases	#10 in Academic Research Databases
Best for	Full-text academic research collections	Free open-access literature discovery
Pricing model	Free plan + paid	Free plan + paid
Starting price	—	—
Free plan	✓	✓
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Cloud	Cloud, Browser extension
Platforms	Web	Web, Chrome extension
Support	Email, Docs	Email, Docs
Built for	Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise	Mid-market, Enterprise
Features JSTOR 5/5 · CORE 5/5
Full-text access	✓	✓
Advanced search	✓	✓
Theses and dissertations	✓	✓
Conference proceedings	✓	✓
Institutional access	✓	✓
Specs
Subject coverage	Multidisciplinary	Multidisciplinary
Content types	journals, books, book chapters, research reports, theses, dissertations, documents, images, audio, video, panoramas, serials	research papers, journal articles, preprints, theses, dissertations, conference proceedings, reports, books
Our review
Pros	Multidisciplinary access to journals, books, media, and primary sources Advanced filters support precise full-text research discovery Workspace and citation tools help organize saved research	Free search with open-access full-text research discovery Multidisciplinary coverage includes theses, dissertations, and proceedings API, bulk data, Chrome extension, and related-article tools
Cons	Personal reading plans limit PDF downloads Web access is the only listed platform Institutional pricing is customized by institution and classification	Institutional API access is tied to the Supporting tier Repository and compliance tools target academic organisations The broad collection may suit discovery better than narrow subject research
Our verdict	JSTOR is a digital research library for students, educators, independent researchers, libraries, and other institutions. Its collection spans academic journals, books, book chapters, research reports, theses, dissertations, documents,… Read the review →	CORE is a not-for-profit academic research database and open scholarly infrastructure service hosted by The Open University. It is designed for researchers, students, institutions, developers, and members of the public who need to discover… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• JSTOR — where it wins

  • Multidisciplinary access to journals, books, media, and primary sources
  • Advanced filters support precise full-text research discovery
  • Workspace and citation tools help organize saved research

  Where it doesn't

  • Personal reading plans limit PDF downloads
  • Web access is the only listed platform
  • Institutional pricing is customized by institution and classification

• CORE — where it wins

  • Free search with open-access full-text research discovery
  • Multidisciplinary coverage includes theses, dissertations, and proceedings
  • API, bulk data, Chrome extension, and related-article tools

  Where it doesn't

  • Institutional API access is tied to the Supporting tier
  • Repository and compliance tools target academic organisations
  • The broad collection may suit discovery better than narrow subject research

• JSTOR9.1/10 · Free plan

  A broad, full-text academic collection with flexible personal and institutional access.

  Visit JSTORFull verdict →
• CORE8.5/10 · Free plan

  A free, multidisciplinary route to open-access papers, theses, proceedings, and research data.

  Visit COREFull verdict →