Mendeley's own pricing page now sells an AI workspace called LeapSpace, and says nothing we could read about the price of a plain reference library or the size of its storage. Researchers who want a library with clear terms have ten options below, from nonprofit and open-source projects to paid desktop and web tools.
Short answer: Where a category has smaller vendors worth recommending, they occupy the first three places and the big brands come below them. For Mendeley users, the top three picks from our reference management software ranking are Zotero, JabRef and Paperpile. Pick Zotero if you want an established library with open terms and can live with paying for file storage. All 10 alternatives below are ranked products from Best Reference Management Software in 2026, and each says where it differs from Mendeley.
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Pricing: Paid AI subscription published monthly and yearly; organisation access quoted
Established in: Not stated by the vendor
Built for: Academics already inside Elsevier tools who want AI summaries over saved PDFs
Not for: Corporate teams and buyers wanting a vendor without a publishing business
01
Why buyers look past Mendeley
01
The price on the page is for the AI layer
Mendeley's pricing link leads to an Elsevier researcher page with three choices: a free LeapSpace trial plan at EUR 0 with starred features unlimited for 14 days, LeapSpace at EUR 24 a month or EUR 290 billed every 12 months, and an organisation plan on request. Existing Mendeley Premium plans are said to continue with LeapSpace access. Nobody reading it learns what basic library use costs.
02
Storage and ownership are hard to find
The page states one file limit, five PDFs per conversation in File Upload, and gives no storage figure for the individual plans. The Mendeley homepage itself names no owner, operating company or country, and links on to a LeapSpace page at sciencedirect.com. A researcher choosing where years of PDFs will live is left to infer who runs the service.
03
The plans are not for everyone
Elsevier's page says the plans are not for corporate use, and the organisation plan is described as unlimited access for eligible researchers, with its price withheld. Someone in a company lab or a consultancy has to contact sales to find out whether Mendeley is open to them at all.
your institution standardises on it or you need retraction alerts from Web of Science
#11
03
What each one does differently
1
Zotero
United States · Published
Zotero is developed by Digital Scholar, a nonprofit in Vienna, Virginia, which means no shareholder steers the roadmap. Syncing of data is free and unlimited, and file syncing starts at 300 MB, then 2 GB, 6 GB or unlimited on paid storage plans. Word, LibreOffice and Google Docs plugins ship with it. Large PDF collections outgrow the free allowance, or need a WebDAV server.
Switch from Mendeley if you want an established library with open terms and can live with paying for file storage.
JabRef is kept going by volunteers, among them PhD students, postdocs and industry researchers, and its home page promises it is and stays free open-source software. A library is a plain text file, so exporting later costs nothing. The page lists no hosted sync service; sharing between devices or co-authors goes through whatever file sync you already use.
Switch from Mendeley if you write in LaTeX and are happy to manage sharing yourself.
Paperpile LLC was founded in 2012 by three computational biologists and works with a Google account, in Chrome for now, with Safari and Firefox in beta. Two plans bill annually after a 30-day trial. Full-text PDF search, annotations and shared libraries belong to the higher plan. Only Google sign-in appears on the page.
Switch from Mendeley if you write in Google Docs and already live in a Google account.
Sonny Software makes Bookends for macOS 10.13 or later with a companion iOS app. The demo works fully except for a 50-reference cap; a registration code lifts it and covers two years of updates. The price sits on a separate Buy page, and the product page shows neither a Windows nor a Linux version.
Switch from Mendeley if you use a Mac and prefer a bought licence to a subscription.
BibDesk manages bibliographic data with attached files and web links, and presents itself as an open source project on SourceForge. It requires OS X 10.13 or later, leaving out Windows, Linux and mobile. The page names no maintainers or company and mentions no sync service, so judging how soon problems get fixed takes some digging.
Switch from Mendeley if you work on a Mac with BibTeX files and want something free and local.
Citavi is sold by Lumivero, with an address in Denver, Colorado, as Citavi Web, Citavi Desktop or both. A project can live in the cloud, on a local drive or on an institutional server, and Citavi DBServer lets a team stay within its own infrastructure. Prices depend on platform and licence type, groups of ten or more get quotes, and a trial is offered.
Switch from Mendeley if your team needs projects on its own server or your university already holds a licence.
MyBib builds a citation from a title or an identifier such as a URL or ISBN and downloads the bibliography to Microsoft Word or Google Docs. The home page promises no ads or trackers and over 10,000 styles. It is a generator, not a library: we saw no PDF storage, annotation or group libraries, and no company or country.
Switch from Mendeley if you need citations for a short paper and no long-term library.
Sciwheel now carries the name Lean Library Workspace, with a 2026 Lean Library copyright on its sign-up page. It is pitched at students and researchers who write, cite and author, with the library at the centre. Sign-up without a card is offered, while the cost comes only after a demo request. No owner or country appears.
Switch from Mendeley if you are willing to ask for a demo to get a quote tailored to your group.
ReadCube Papers is described as a Digital Science solution, with copyright held by Digital Science & Research Solutions Inc. Essentials and Plus are priced per user per month or year, academics receive 40% off, and Enterprise adds unlimited users and single sign-on on quote. AI chat has daily limits on Essentials, and a 30-day Plus trial is offered.
Switch from Mendeley if you want published per-user prices and an academic discount.
EndNote 2025 comes from Clarivate and is sold to individuals through a Buy page, with no price on the home page; multi-user and site licences are quoted. It lists over 7,000 citation styles, AI summaries, PDF translation and retraction alerts based on Web of Science data. EndNote Fusion adds admin controls for librarians.
Switch from Mendeley if your institution standardises on it or you need retraction alerts from Web of Science.
Zotero: It is a project of Digital Scholar, with free unlimited data sync and 300 MB of free file sync before paid storage.
02
You write in LaTeX
JabRef: Libraries are saved in a plain text-based file, and the project says it will remain free open-source software.
03
You write in Google Docs
Paperpile: Sign-in is with a Google account, plans bill annually after a 30-day trial, and shared libraries sit on the higher plan.
04
You use a Mac and want to buy a licence once
Bookends: The demo is limited to 50 references, and a registration code includes two years of updates.
05
Your team needs the data on its own server
Citavi: Citavi DBServer lets teams work inside their own IT infrastructure, and a trial is offered.
04
When Mendeley is still the right choice
Mendeley remains reasonable if your group already works inside Elsevier's research products and wants the AI features that LeapSpace bundles with it. The pricing page offers a free starter plan at EUR 0 with no card, a monthly or yearly paid tier, and an organisation plan for eligible researchers. Where an institution already provides access, moving means exporting a library for little gain.
05
What moving off Mendeley involves
01
Export the library before touching the subscription
Create a full export of references and attached PDFs while your current plan is active, and check that the annotations come along. Do it before any downgrade or lapse of Premium.
02
Decide where the PDFs will live
Reference data moves easily; the files are the heavy part. Compare the file storage each alternative gives, or whether it points you to your own server, and count your PDF folder in gigabytes first.
03
Rebuild one manuscript as a test
Open a current paper in the new tool, rerun the citations and compare the bibliography with the old one. Styles are where small differences hide, so do this before the next deadline rather than during it.
06
Questions about replacing Mendeley
6 answers
Is there a free alternative to Mendeley for managing references?
Zotero, JabRef and BibDesk are free to use, and MyBib is free to get started. Zotero charges only for file storage beyond 300 MB, while JabRef and BibDesk keep the library in a local file.
Which reference manager suits LaTeX users?
JabRef stores libraries in a text-based file made for that workflow, and BibDesk does the same for macOS users. Zotero adds plugins for Word, LibreOffice and Google Docs for those who also write outside LaTeX.
What does Mendeley cost now?
The Elsevier pricing page we read lists LeapSpace at EUR 24 a month or EUR 290 per 12 months, a free plan at EUR 0 and an organisation plan on request. It does not price a plain reference library separately.
Can I use Mendeley at a company?
The page says the plans are not for corporate use. Paperpile, ReadCube Papers and Citavi publish or quote business routes, so ask them directly about team terms.
Which alternatives work on a Mac only?
Bookends and BibDesk are macOS applications, requiring 10.13 or later. Bookends also has a companion iOS app; neither page lists Windows or Linux.
Which alternative lets me keep data on my own server?
Citavi DBServer lets teams work within their own IT infrastructure, and Citavi projects can sit on a local drive or an institutional server.
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Sources
Checked 7 November 2026
Mendeley upgrade and pricing (Elsevier): LeapSpace plans at EUR 0, EUR 24 a month and EUR 290 a year, organisation plan on request, not for corporate use, five PDFs per conversation.
Mendeley homepage: No owner, operating company or country named, link to LeapSpace on sciencedirect.com.
Elsevier about: No location or ownership details given for Mendeley.
Zotero: Digital Scholar nonprofit, free unlimited data sync, 300 MB file sync, 2 GB, 6 GB and unlimited plans, Word, LibreOffice and Google Docs plugins.
Founder of The Knowledge Engineers and of 2 Steps Ahead, an AI search visibility agency. Editorially responsible for every page on this site; research and drafting are AI-assisted.
Written, edited and fact-checked by Sebastiaan Smits. Last reviewed 7 November 2026. How we review.
