SearchFreemium Last reviewed August 2026

Consensus

An AI search engine that reads peer-reviewed papers and tells you what the research actually says.

Visit Consensus Free tier (limited), Premium from around $9/mo

What is Consensus?

Consensus is a search engine built specifically for academic literature. Ask a question in plain English and it pulls findings from peer-reviewed papers, showing what share of studies agree, disagree, or land somewhere mixed on a given claim, instead of handing you a stack of PDFs to read yourself.

Consensus runs on a large database of academic papers paired with a model tuned to extract specific findings rather than merely relevant-sounding snippets. Its signature feature, the Consensus Meter, shows at a glance whether studies on a claim skew toward yes, no, or it's complicated — something a general search engine never attempts and few researchers have the hours to compile by hand.

Key features

  • Search across millions of peer-reviewed papers
  • Consensus Meter showing agreement across studies
  • Plain-English summaries of individual paper findings
  • Filters for study type, sample size, and publication year
  • Citation export for academic writing
  • AI-generated literature review drafts

Pros

  • Consensus Meter is a genuinely useful shortcut for gauging research agreement
  • Saves real time versus manually screening dozens of papers
  • Sticks to peer-reviewed sources instead of the open web

Cons

  • Coverage gaps exist in newer or more niche fields
  • Summaries can flatten nuance that matters in the original paper
  • Not a substitute for reading the studies that actually matter to your work

Best for

Students and researchers doing literature reviewsJournalists fact-checking scientific claims quicklyPolicy analysts needing a fast read on research consensusAnyone wanting to skip mainstream science reporting and go to source

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