Elicit Pricing 2026
Complete pricing guide with plans, hidden costs, and negotiation tips
Elicit pricing varies by team size and features, ranging from $120 to $780 per user/month in 2026. Your actual cost depends on the tier you choose, contract length, and negotiated discounts.
Use the interactive pricing calculator to estimate your exact cost based on team size and requirements.
- Free tier: Yes
- Billing: Monthly and annual (save 15-20%)
- Hidden costs: Add ~35% for implementation, support, and training
Elicit offers 4 pricing tiers: Basic, Plus, Pro, Team. Standard paid plans include Basic at $0/user/month, Plus at $12/user/month, Pro at $49/user/month. The Plus plan is independent researchers and grad students needing regular automated reports and systematic review support.
Compared to other ai research tools software, Elicit is positioned at the premium price point.
Elicit is an AI-powered research assistant designed to automate systematic literature reviews and evidence synthesis for academics, medical researchers, and policy analysts. Unlike general academic search engines, Elicit uses large language models to search across 138 million papers, extract key data into structured tables, generate automated reports, and support PRISMA-compliant systematic review workflows. It excels at structured research tasks including meta-analyses, data extraction, and paper monitoring with Alerts for tracking new publications on specific topics.
Pricing ranges from free to $79/user/month depending on usage and features. Basic is free with 5,000 one-time credits (not refreshed monthly). Plus costs $12/month or $10/month annual ($120/year) with 4 automated reports per month or 48 per year. Pro costs $49/month or $41.58/month annual ($499/year) with 12 reports/month and 10 concurrent Alerts. Team costs $79/user/month or $65/user/month annual ($780/year) with 20 reports/month per user (pooled) and a 2-seat minimum.
A critical consideration: Elicit's free tier provides 5,000 one-time credits (not refreshed monthly like Consensus's 10 analyses/month), making it useful for testing but not ongoing research. Most researchers will need Plus ($10/month annual) for regular systematic review support. However, Elicit's report limits are strict -- conducting more than 4 systematic reviews per month requires Pro ($49/month), a significant cost increase. Paper monitoring Alerts are only available on Pro and Team tiers, limiting literature tracking for Plus users.
In this 2026 pricing guide, we break down Elicit's four plans, calculate real-world costs for individual researchers and teams, expose hidden fees like one-time (not monthly) free credits and strict report limits, and compare Elicit to alternatives like Consensus, Semantic Scholar, and Scite to help you determine if Elicit is the right AI research tool for your systematic review needs.
All Elicit Plans & Pricing
| Plan | Monthly | Annual | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic Credits: 5,000 one-time (not monthly)Reports: None | Free | Free 0 | Students and occasional researchers testing Elicit's capabilities without ongoing commitment |
| Plus Minimum seats: 1Reports: 4/month or 48/year | $12 /user/month | $10 /user/monthSave 17% | Independent researchers and grad students needing regular automated reports and systematic review support |
| Pro Minimum seats: 1Reports: 12/month or 144/year | $49 /user/month | $41.58 /user/monthSave 15% | Professional researchers and academics conducting multiple systematic reviews and needing paper monitoring alerts |
| Team Minimum seats: 2Reports: 20/month per user (pooled) | $79 /user/month | $65 /user/monthSave 18% | Research teams, labs, and academic departments needing shared reports and centralized management |
View all features by plan
Basic
- 5,000 one-time credits
- Search across 138M+ papers
- Chat with Papers (limited)
- Basic table exports
- Data extraction from papers
- Mobile app access
Plus
- 4 automated reports per month (monthly billing)
- 48 automated reports per year (annual billing)
- Unlimited search across 138M+ papers
- Unlimited Chat with Papers
- Unlimited table exports
- Data extraction and synthesis
- Priority email support
Pro
- 12 automated reports per month (monthly billing)
- 144 automated reports per year (annual billing)
- 10 concurrent Alerts for paper monitoring
- Unlimited table exports
- Unlimited search across 138M+ papers
- Unlimited Chat with Papers
- Advanced data extraction
- Priority support
Team
- 20 automated reports per month per user (monthly billing)
- 240 automated reports per year per user (annual billing)
- 10 concurrent Alerts per user
- Pooled reports across team
- Unlimited table exports
- Unlimited search and Chat with Papers
- Centralized billing and account management
- Team collaboration features
- Priority support
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Frequently Asked Questions
01 How much does Elicit cost?
Elicit costs $0-$79/user/month depending on the plan. Basic is free with 5,000 one-time credits (not monthly). Plus costs $12/month or $10/month annual ($120/year) with 4 reports/month or 48 reports/year. Pro costs $49/month or $41.58/month annual ($499/year) with 12 reports/month or 144 reports/year, plus 10 concurrent Alerts. Team costs $79/user/month or $65/user/month annual ($780/year) with 20 reports/month per user (pooled) and a 2-seat minimum. Most individual researchers choose Plus annual ($10/month, $120/year) for regular systematic review support.
02 Is Elicit free?
Yes, Elicit offers a Basic free plan with 5,000 one-time credits to search papers, chat with papers, and perform basic data extraction. However, free credits are one-time only (not refreshed monthly like Consensus), and the free plan does not include automated reports or systematic reviews. After exhausting the 5,000 free credits, users must upgrade to Plus ($10/month annual) or purchase additional credits at $1 per 1,000 credits. For ongoing research needs, the Plus plan is more cost-effective than repeatedly buying credits.
03 What is Elicit?
Elicit is an AI-powered research assistant designed to automate systematic literature reviews and evidence synthesis. It uses large language models to search across 138 million academic papers, extract key data into tables, generate automated reports, and help researchers quickly identify relevant studies for meta-analyses and systematic reviews. Elicit excels at structured research workflows including PRISMA-compliant systematic reviews, data extraction, and paper monitoring with Alerts. It is used by academics, medical researchers, and policy analysts needing rigorous evidence synthesis.
04 Elicit vs Consensus: which is better?
Elicit and Consensus have different strengths. Elicit costs $0-$12/month (Plus annual) and excels at systematic reviews with automated reports, data extraction tables, and PRISMA workflow support. Consensus costs $0-$8.99/month (Premium annual) and focuses on quick evidence-based answers with GPT-4 synthesis across 200M+ papers. Elicit offers 5,000 one-time free credits vs Consensus's 10 analyses/month refreshed monthly. Choose Elicit if you need formal systematic reviews, data tables, and automated reporting. Choose Consensus if you need quick evidence synthesis and are satisfied with monthly limits.
05 Elicit vs Scite: which should I choose?
Elicit is optimized for systematic reviews ($10-$49/user/month) with automated reports and data extraction, while Scite focuses on citation context and reliability assessment ($0-$20/user/month) with Smart Citations. Elicit helps you find and synthesize papers for meta-analyses, while Scite helps you evaluate how papers are cited (supporting vs contrasting) to assess research reliability. Choose Elicit if you're conducting systematic reviews and need structured workflows. Choose Scite if you're evaluating existing research and need citation context to assess paper credibility.
06 What features are included in each Elicit plan?
Basic (free) includes 5,000 one-time credits, search across 138M+ papers, and limited Chat with Papers. Plus ($10/month annual) includes 48 reports/year, unlimited search, unlimited Chat with Papers, and unlimited table exports. Pro ($41.58/month annual) includes 144 reports/year, 10 concurrent Alerts, and priority support. Team ($65/user/month annual, 2-seat minimum) includes 240 reports/year per user (pooled), 10 Alerts per user, team collaboration, and centralized billing.
07 How many reports does each Elicit plan include?
Plus includes 4 automated reports per month (monthly billing) or 48 reports per year (annual billing, equivalent to 4/month average but usable flexibly). Pro includes 12 reports per month (monthly) or 144 per year (annual). Team includes 20 reports per month per user (monthly) or 240 per year per user (annual), with pooled usage across the team. Reports are Elicit's automated systematic review documents that extract, synthesize, and analyze papers based on your research question.
08 Can I buy additional Elicit credits?
Yes, Elicit offers additional credits at $1 per 1,000 credits for users who exceed their plan limits. This pay-as-you-go option allows flexibility for occasional heavy usage without upgrading to a higher tier. However, frequent overage purchases suggest you need a higher plan -- if you regularly buy $10-$20/month in credits on top of Plus ($10/month), upgrading to Pro ($49/month) provides better value with 12 reports/month and Alerts included.
09 What are the alternatives to Elicit?
Alternatives to Elicit include Consensus ($0-$8.99/month for GPT-4 evidence synthesis), Semantic Scholar (free with 200M+ papers and AI recommendations), Scite ($0-$20/month for citation context analysis), Covidence ($40-$600/month for formal systematic review collaboration), and general-purpose AI tools like ChatGPT with web search ($0-$20/month). For free systematic review support, Semantic Scholar is the best option. For formal Cochrane-style reviews with team collaboration, Covidence is the gold standard. For quick evidence synthesis without structured workflows, Consensus offers better value at $8.99/month vs Elicit's $10/month.