Elicit
Elicit is an AI research assistant for literature reviews and evidence synthesis. See 2026 pricing, the free plan limits, and the new Research Agent.
About Elicit
What is Elicit (2026 update)
Elicit is an AI research assistant built to automate parts of the academic and scientific research workflow, including finding relevant papers, summarizing them, extracting data into structured tables, and drafting literature-style synthesis reports. It searches across more than 138 million papers and is aimed at academics, medical researchers, and policy analysts who would otherwise spend many hours manually screening studies.
What is new in 2026
Elicit introduced a dedicated Research Agent in March 2026, which the company says surfaces more of the key considerations behind a research question than earlier single-pass search. On Pro and higher plans, the Research Agent can look beyond academic publications to pull in clinical trial data, regulatory documents, and press releases. In June 2026, Elicit moved the Research Agent from workflow-based usage limits to a monthly usage pool, and in July 2026 it released an Elicit API and MCP server so developers can bring Elicit’s search and extraction capabilities into their own agents and workflows. Elicit’s Report feature now generates literature-style synthesis in three modes, Fast with roughly 50 sources, Balanced with roughly 200 sources, and Comprehensive with roughly 500 sources, depending on how thorough the review needs to be.
Key features
- Unlimited search across more than 138 million academic papers, with unlimited paper summaries and chat
- Research Agent that runs multi-step research and, on paid plans, pulls in clinical trials, regulatory filings, and press releases alongside academic papers
- Systematic literature review workflows that can screen thousands of papers against inclusion criteria
- Data extraction tables with custom columns for pulling specific fields out of many papers at once
- Report generation in Fast, Balanced, or Comprehensive modes depending on how many sources are needed
- API and MCP server access for wiring Elicit into external research workflows and agents
Pricing in 2026
Elicit’s paid plans are billed monthly or annually, with an annual discount on every paid tier.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Basic (Free) | Free | Unlimited paper search, summaries, and chat with papers, plus limited Research Agent and Research Report usage |
| Pro | $49/month, or $588/year (35% off) | Standard Research Agent and Research Report usage, screening up to 5,000 papers, 20 table columns, extraction from 135 sources, 10 research alerts, API access |
| Scale | $169/month, or $2,028/year (39% off) | 5x the usage of Pro, figure extraction, live team collaboration, 200 data sources, 30 table columns, admin panel with usage tracking |
| Enterprise | Custom | Unlimited usage and alerts, screening up to 40,000 papers, 40 table columns, PRISMA-grade accuracy, SSO/SAML/2FA, dedicated support, unlimited API access |
Who should use it
Elicit is built for people doing serious literature review work, such as academic researchers, PhD students, systematic reviewers, and R&D or policy teams that need to synthesize a large body of published evidence quickly. The free Basic plan is fine for occasional paper search and summarizing, but anyone running a full systematic review or screening thousands of papers will need Pro or Scale for the higher screening limits and data extraction columns.
Limitations and alternatives
Elicit is focused on structured research synthesis, so it is not a general-purpose chatbot and is less useful for topics outside published research and related documents. The jump from Pro to Scale is a large price step, which can be a barrier for individual researchers who need more than Pro’s limits but do not need full team collaboration. As with any AI research tool, extracted data and summaries should still be checked against the original papers before being relied on for a systematic review. For alternatives, check the official site for current comparisons, but commonly cited options include Consensus for quick evidence-based answers, Semantic Scholar for free academic search, and Scite for citation-context analysis.
Frequently asked questions
Is Elicit free to use?
Yes, the Basic plan is free and includes unlimited search across more than 138 million papers plus unlimited summaries and chat, though the Research Agent and Research Reports have limited usage on this tier.
How much does Elicit Pro cost?
As of 2026, Elicit Pro costs $49/month, or $588/year when billed annually, which is a 35% discount versus monthly billing.
What is Elicit's Research Agent?
Research Agent is Elicit's multi-step research feature, launched in March 2026, that can pull in clinical trial data, regulatory documents, and press releases in addition to academic papers on Pro and higher plans.
Does Elicit have an API?
Yes, Elicit released a public API and MCP server in July 2026, letting developers use Elicit's search and extraction capabilities inside their own agents and workflows.
Information last verified: September 2026.
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