Rayyan vs Covidence

Rayyan8.8Visit Covidence8.5Visit

Higher score Rayyan #2 in AI Literature Review Software 8.8/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 3 of 4 features Visit Rayyan

vs

Covidence #4 in AI Literature Review Software 8.5/10 Paid ✓ 3 of 4 features Visit Covidence

• Rayyan fits best

  Mobile collaborative screening

• Covidence fits best

  Established review teams

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Side by side

Feature	Rayyan 8.8/10 Visit ↗	Covidence 8.5/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	8.8	8.5
Ranking	#2 in AI Literature Review Software	#4 in AI Literature Review Software
Best for	Mobile collaborative screening	Established review teams
Pricing model	Free plan + paid	Paid
Starting price	$8.33/seat/mo	—
Free plan	✓ (best)	—
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Cloud, Mobile	Cloud
Platforms	Web, iOS, Android	Web
Support	Phone, Tickets, Community, Docs, Live chat	Email, Live chat, Docs · 24/7
Built for	Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Rayyan 3/4 · Covidence 3/4
Screening workflow	✓	✓
AI paper summaries	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Full-text analysis	✓	✓
Systematic review support	✓	✓
Specs
Collaboration seats	1	Not checked yet
Export formats	RIS, BibTeX, EndNote, CSV	RIS, CSV, XLSX, XML
Our review
Pros	Imports references from RIS, BibTeX, EndNote, CSV, NBIB, XML, CIW, and PDF Combines blinded collaboration, conflict resolution, deduplication, and AI ranking Supports mobile and offline screening on iOS and Android	Imports references from major managers, RIS, CSV, and PubMed XML Combines screening, extraction, appraisal, annotations, and consensus workflows Exports to RIS, CSV, Excel, and RevMan for downstream analysis
Cons	Individual plan prices are displayed monthly but billed quarterly Business / Academic pricing starts at five licenses ResearchPilot features beyond Help Center mode are limited to institutional plans	Paid plans are required to use the product Organization pricing requires contacting sales The platform is available through the web
Our verdict	Rayyan is a web-based research collaboration platform for researchers, students, librarians, and review teams. It covers the main stages of a systematic review, including reference importing, duplicate detection, title and abstract… Read the review →	Covidence is web-based software for managing systematic, scoping, rapid, literature, and related evidence reviews. It is designed for researchers, students, universities, hospitals, evidence organizations, and review teams. The workflow… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Rayyan — where it wins

  • Imports references from RIS, BibTeX, EndNote, CSV, NBIB, XML, CIW, and PDF
  • Combines blinded collaboration, conflict resolution, deduplication, and AI ranking
  • Supports mobile and offline screening on iOS and Android

  Where it doesn't

  • Individual plan prices are displayed monthly but billed quarterly
  • Business / Academic pricing starts at five licenses
  • ResearchPilot features beyond Help Center mode are limited to institutional plans

• Covidence — where it wins

  • Imports references from major managers, RIS, CSV, and PubMed XML
  • Combines screening, extraction, appraisal, annotations, and consensus workflows
  • Exports to RIS, CSV, Excel, and RevMan for downstream analysis

  Where it doesn't

  • Paid plans are required to use the product
  • Organization pricing requires contacting sales
  • The platform is available through the web

• Rayyan8.8/10 · Free plan

  A collaborative screening workspace with AI ranking, PICO tools, and mobile access.

  Visit RayyanFull verdict →
• Covidence8.5/10 · Paid

  A mature review workspace with broad evidence-management and collaboration workflows.

  Visit CovidenceFull verdict →