scite Pricing Explained: Plans, Costs and What You Get
scite Basic costs $12 a month billed annually, Pro costs $40. There is no free plan, only a 7-day trial. Here is what each plan includes and who it fits.
By Galactic News Editorial · Published 2026-11-13T04:23:42+00:00 · Updated 2026-11-13T04:23:42+00:00
scite is a research platform built around Smart Citations. It shows how later papers cite a study, and labels each citation as supporting, contrasting, or merely mentioning. That makes it a checking tool, not a search engine. The pricing is simple on the surface. Basic costs $12 a month billed annually, or $20 a month billed monthly. Pro costs $40 a month billed annually, or $50 a month billed monthly. There is no permanent free plan. There is a 7-day free trial on paid plans. The details below explain what each plan includes, and which one fits your work.
scite pricing at a glance
| Plan | Monthly billing | Annual billing | Key limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $20 a month | $12 a month ($144 a year) | 250 MCP credits a month; collections up to 1,000 papers |
| Pro | $50 a month | $40 a month ($480 a year) | 2,500 MCP credits a month; collections up to 10,000 papers |
| Team | $50 per seat a month | $40 per seat a month | Everything in Pro, plus shared collections and team analytics |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Unlimited users, pooled usage, SSO, regulatory datasets |
The pricing page shows annual prices. Monthly prices come from scite's own pricing documentation. Prices are in US dollars and exclude tax. Confirm the checkout price before you buy, since taxes and promotions can change it.
What each scite plan includes
Basic is the full platform plan for one researcher. It includes the scite Assistant, full-text search, Smart Citation reports, citation alerts, and dashboards. Collections hold up to 1,000 papers. It includes 250 MCP credits a month. MCP credits connect scite research data to outside AI tools. They are not the same as unlimited use of every feature. Basic also includes ChatGPT and Claude integrations.
Pro adds the pieces a heavy researcher needs. It includes everything in Basic, plus API access and a $60 API credit that scite labels limited time. MCP credits rise to 2,500 a month. Collections grow to 10,000 papers. Pro also adds patent, clinical trial, and grant datasets. That makes Pro the right tier for researchers who search beyond journal articles.
Team puts Pro access on one bill for a group. It adds private and shared collections, team usage analytics, centralised billing, and flexible seats. Self-service covers up to 15 seats. Each user gets the same 2,500 MCP credits a month as Pro. Enterprise is quote-only. It covers unlimited users with pooled usage, collections up to 50,000 papers, regulatory and safety datasets, SSO, and a dedicated customer success manager.
Is there a free scite plan?
No. The pricing page lists a 7-day free trial, not a free plan. The trial covers premium features. After it ends, you are automatically enrolled in the plan you selected at the start. You can cancel before the trial ends to avoid charges. One exception exists in the API documentation. A Free API tier at $0 covers public Papers and Tallies endpoints with no API key. That is an API-only offer. It does not give you the Assistant or the search product.
Students and academics can get a discount. scite offers discounts if you recommend scite to your institution. You email customer support and sales, and scite sends a discount code. The pricing page does not publish the discount amount, so ask before you buy.
What scite actually does for the price
scite searches more than 300 million articles, preprints, books, patents, and datasets. Its core feature is the Smart Citation report. Open a paper and you see the passages where later work cited it. Each passage carries a label: supporting, contrasting, or mentioning. That lets you check whether a finding held up, instead of trusting a citation count. Citation alerts watch papers you care about and tell you when new work cites them. The Assistant answers research questions and summarises literature. Treat its answers with care. User reviews have reported cases of hallucinated citations and wrong DOIs. Check any citation the Assistant gives you against the original paper before you rely on it. A citation label is not a reliability score. It can also be wrong. Use scite to find the passages, then read them yourself.
How to choose a scite plan
Basic fits most individual researchers. It covers the Assistant, search, reports, and alerts. The 250 MCP credits a month cover light use of connected AI tools. The 1,000-paper collection limit is the first ceiling you will hit. If your literature review runs past that, you need Pro. Pro fits researchers who need the API, bigger collections, or the patent and clinical trial datasets. The $60 API credit helps only if you actually call the API. Team fits labs and departments that share collections and need one bill. Enterprise fits institutions with compliance needs and large user counts.
Run the trial against real work. Pick a literature review you are already doing. Build a collection, run Smart Citation reports on your key papers, and set alerts. Seven days is short. Start the trial on a day you can actually use it. Cancel before it ends if the tool does not earn its price.
Bottom line
scite pricing is straightforward. Basic at $12 a month billed annually is the starting point for one researcher. Pro at $40 a month billed annually earns its price only if you need API access, collections past 1,000 papers, or the patent and clinical trial datasets. Team matches Pro per seat and adds shared collections and billing. There is no free plan, only a 7-day trial that auto-converts. If you check how later studies treated a paper, scite is worth the trial. If you only need to find papers, a cheaper search tool may do the job.