Consensus
AI search engine that finds answers in scientific research
About Consensus
Consensus is an AI-powered academic search engine that searches over 200 million peer-reviewed papers to deliver evidence-based answers to research questions. Used by 10 million researchers, students, and clinicians, it features a Consensus Meter for visualizing scientific agreement, Deep Search for automated literature reviews, and Ask Paper for chatting with full-text studies.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Searches exclusively peer-reviewed literature — no web fluff, blogs, or unreliable sources
- Consensus Meter gives instant visual read on scientific agreement for yes/no questions
- Deep Search conducts automated literature reviews with structured introduction, methods, results, and conclusions
- Generous free tier with 25 Pro Analyses and 3 Deep Searches per month
- Trusted by 10M+ researchers and 170+ university libraries worldwide
- 40% student discount makes premium accessible for academic users
Cons
- Limited to academic and scientific topics — won't answer general knowledge questions
- No deep links into PDFs, requiring manual verification of specific claims
- Results can vary over time due to AI stochasticity — not fully reproducible
- May miss newly published or niche papers not yet indexed in Semantic Scholar
- Interface favors medical and health research domains over other fields
- No dedicated mobile app — browser-only experience
Key Features
Consensus Meter
Instantly shows how much scientific evidence agrees or disagrees on yes/no research questions with a visual breakdown
Deep Search
Automated literature review that builds a comprehensive search strategy, expands key terms, explores citation graphs, and synthesizes findings
Ask Paper
Chat with full-text papers to get in-depth answers with highlighted source locations within the document
200M+ Paper Database
Searches exclusively across peer-reviewed literature from Semantic Scholar, filtering out unreliable web sources
Study Snapshots
AI-generated summaries extracting key metadata, methods, results, and conclusions from individual papers
Advanced Filtering
Filter results by publication year, journal rank, citation count, methodology, field of study, and country
Threads
Contextual follow-up queries that carry conversation context forward without repeating yourself
ChatGPT Integration
ConsensusGPT plugin brings evidence-based research answers directly into ChatGPT conversations
Pricing
- Unlimited basic searches
- 25 Pro Analyses per month
- 3 Deep Searches per month
- 10 Ask Paper messages per month
- 200M+ paper database access
- Unlimited Pro Analyses
- Unlimited Study Snapshots
- Unlimited Ask Paper messages
- Unlimited bookmarks & custom lists
- Advanced filtering & sorting
- 40% student discount available
- Custom user limits
- Early feature access
- Complete data privacy
- Dedicated support
- Volume discounts for large groups
- 170+ university library partnerships
Best For
Academic Literature Reviews
Rapidly survey hundreds of papers on a research topic with Deep Search to build comprehensive evidence summaries
Evidence-Based Decision Making
Clinicians and healthcare professionals validate treatment claims against the latest peer-reviewed research
Student Research Projects
Students find, understand, and cite relevant studies faster for coursework, theses, and dissertations
Science Journalism & Fact-Checking
Writers and content creators verify scientific claims with peer-reviewed evidence rather than web searches
Grant & Proposal Writing
Researchers quickly find supporting evidence and identify research gaps when writing funding proposals
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