Best AI tools for research

Tools that search the web or academic papers and give answers you can check. Look for ones that cite sources, then open the sources.

Consensus
Good for a quick read on the evidence behind a claim, though an agreement score can flatten nuance, so read the key studies before you rely on it.
FreemiumBest for checking what the science says on a specific question
Elicit
Strong for structured literature reviews, but the free tier is limited and the paid plans cost more than most consumer research tools.
FreemiumBest for researchers doing literature or systematic reviews
Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM)
Excellent when the answers should come only from sources you supply, but it is less useful for open-ended web research and higher limits require a Google AI subscription.
FreemiumBest for making sense of a pile of your own documents
Perplexity
The quickest way to get a sourced answer from the open web, but you still need to click through, since a citation does not guarantee the source says what the summary claims.
FreemiumBest for fast, cited answers to everyday research questions
Semantic Scholar
A reliable free starting point for finding papers, but it is a search and discovery tool, not one that writes answers or synthesizes findings for you.
FreeBest for free, no-signup paper search across all sciences

Listed alphabetically. Sponsored notices, when there are any, sit at the top and are always labeled. Know a tool we should add?