scite Review, Pricing & Alternatives (2026)

scite is a scientific research platform founded in 2018 and acquired by Research Solutions in December 2023. Research Solutions announced the acquisition on November 27, 2023, and reported about 21,000 active subscribers and $3.6 million in annualized subscription value at the time. The company describes scite as a search and discovery product for evaluating research. Its defining feature is Smart Citations, which display citation statements and surrounding text, then classify later use of a paper as supporting, contrasting, or mentioning. That makes scite more useful than a citation count when a researcher wants to assess how a finding has been received. The product remains available under the scite name.

A typical workflow begins with a keyword or natural language search. Users open a result, inspect the statements that cite it, and review the surrounding passages before deciding which papers deserve closer reading. Collections organize saved papers for later monitoring, while Assistant answers questions against indexed literature and uploaded documents. Search can generate Boolean queries from plain language. Alerts track new papers and citation activity, and Zotero import supports personal, group, and lab libraries. Scite also exposes datasets covering patents, grants, clinical trials, drugs, devices, and safety records. Browser and workflow integrations extend citation context beyond the main web app, although the classifications remain a screening aid rather than a substitute for reading methods and results.

Scite analyzes full text from citing articles to identify citation statements and classify their relationship to cited work. Its documented current technology includes Smart Citations, Assistant, document uploads, Collections, Boolean query generation, and MCP connections for AI tools. In February 2026, Research Solutions launched Scite MCP for clients including ChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft Copilot, Cursor, and Claude Code, with access to more than 250 million indexed articles, chapters, preprints, and datasets. May 2026 updates added Pro, Assistant uploads, expanded regulatory data, and Collections improvements. August updates added one-click connections for ChatGPT and Claude, stronger Zotero imports, and feed improvements. The company does not document a named foundation model for these features.

The public individual plans are Free at $0, Basic at $20 monthly or $144 annually, Pro at $50 monthly or $480 annually, and Team at $50 per user monthly or $480 per user annually. Basic includes 250 MCP credits monthly, Smart Citation reports, and Collections for up to 1,000 papers. Pro and Team include 2,500 MCP credits monthly, API access, and Collections for up to 10,000 papers. Organization and Enterprise pricing is custom. A seven day trial is available. In October 2026, free accounts stopped receiving MCP credits. A Pro API key is for evaluation, while commercial Search use and evidence datasets require separate scopes or agreements. Rate limits vary by endpoint and account.

scite is strongest when a literature review needs citation context, support or contrast signals, and retraction awareness. Elicit focuses more on structured extraction and systematic review tables, Consensus on evidence summaries, and Semantic Scholar on broad discovery and citation graphs. Scite can be less useful for new, lightly cited, or poorly covered work, and automated classifications need human checking. The self serve REST API also does not grant unrestricted production or commercial rights. Choose Basic for individual citation analysis and MCP, Pro for API evaluation and higher usage, or Team and Enterprise for pooled access, SSO, confidentiality, and licensed datasets. Researchers who want citation relationships rather than general web answers should pick scite.