BibMe review
A broad web citation tool with strong lookup options and writing support in its paid tier.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
BibMe is a web-based citation generator for students and academic writers. It creates bibliographies and in-text citations across thousands of styles, including MLA, APA, Chicago, and Harvard. Source discovery covers keyword and URL searches, while ISBN and DOI lookup can identify sources from common academic identifiers. Citation guides, examples, saved citation management, and automatic bibliography creation make it suitable for users who need help moving from source collection to formatted references.
The free account includes basic citation creation, APA style, and citation saving for 7 days. BibMe Plus costs $9.95 per month and adds MLA, APA, Chicago, Harvard, and 7,000 more citation styles, along with an ad-free experience, plagiarism detection, expert help with papers, and unlimited grammar checking. The paid plan includes a 3-day trial. This structure makes the free account a practical entry point for basic APA work, while regular academic writing that needs broader style coverage or proofreading tools is directed toward the paid tier.
BibMe’s main strength is breadth: citation creation is paired with source lookup, format guides, grammar checking, plagiarism detection, and exports to Google Drive and Microsoft Word. That combination suits students who want citation and writing-support features in one web service. It is less suitable for users who need a free experience beyond APA, longer free citation storage, or access outside the web. Choose BibMe for broad citation-style coverage and proofreading features; consider an alternative if those free-plan limits are central to your workflow.
BibMe pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Supports 7,000-plus citation styles, including MLA, APA, Chicago, and Harvard
- Finds sources by keyword, URL, ISBN, or DOI
- Exports bibliographies to Google Drive and Microsoft Word
- Where it doesn't
- The free account supports APA citation style only
- Saved citations in the free account last for 7 days
- Grammar checking and plagiarism detection require BibMe Plus
BibMe fact sheet, pricing and score →
Advertiser disclosure: iTechGuides is reader-supported. Vendors can pay for top positions in our rankings and for a place on other products' pages, and we may earn a commission when you click some links. Bought places stand at the number bought; this page and our disclosure say so. Paying vendors may get a fuller, more detailed review from our editors, and that review can change their score. How we rank.
Last updated · How we research and update