Scite review
A citation-focused research engine for finding papers and understanding how they are cited.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Scite is an AI-powered research platform for students, academics, researchers, and research-intensive organizations. It searches scholarly literature, including full text, and helps users evaluate how papers are cited. Smart Citations classify citation contexts as supporting, contrasting, or mentioning, while the AI Assistant generates answers grounded in peer-reviewed literature and links claims to source passages. Citation reports, Reference Check, collections, alerts, dashboards, and the browser extension extend its usefulness from discovery to manuscript and reference review.
The published plans follow a freemium model. Free includes 25 MCP credits per month, use in ChatGPT, Claude, and more, and access to a corpus described as 300M+ papers, but it does not include Assistant or Search access. Basic costs $20 per month when billed annually and adds full Assistant and Search access, 250 MCP credits per month, Article Smart Citation reports, collections up to 1,000 papers, citation alerts, and dashboards. Pro costs $50 per month when billed annually and adds API access, 2,500 MCP credits per month, collections up to 10,000 papers, and patent, clinical trial, and grant datasets. A seven-day trial is also available.
Scite fits research environments that need citation context rather than simple keyword discovery. Its web platform, Chrome extension, API, and integrations with ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, Zotero, and MCP-compatible tools provide several ways to bring literature and citation data into existing workflows. The API supports search, citations, reports, and Assistant workflows. Choose Scite if supporting, contrasting, or mentioning evidence matters to your research process, or if you need structured citation monitoring. It is less suitable for users who need mobile access or a free plan with full search and Assistant functionality.
Scite pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Smart Citations classify citations as supporting, contrasting, or mentioning.
- AI Assistant answers are grounded in peer-reviewed literature and source passages.
- API, browser extension, Zotero, and MCP integrations support research workflows.
- Where it doesn't
- The Free plan has no Assistant or Search access.
- Mobile apps are not available.
- API access and larger research allowances require the Pro plan.
Scite fact sheet, pricing and score →
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