The best ChatGPT alternatives for research are Paperpal for academic writing, SciSpace for methodology support, Elicit for evidence synthesis, Julius AI for data analysis, and Scite.AI for research-based queries.
We’ll look at each of these tools in detail and what sets them apart from all-purpose large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT.
5 Best alternatives to ChatGPT for research
| Research task | ChatGPT drawbacks | Use Instead | Why |
| · Polishing language
· Paraphrasing · Summarizing · Writing
|
· Hallucinations
· Fake citations and references · Inaccurate handling of complex terms · Risk of plagiarism |
Paperpal | · Discipline-specific and context-aware language suggestions
· Citations only from genuine, published literature · Check for plagiarism and AI-generated text |
| · Develop research design
· Extract complex technical data · Find information to support day-to-day laboratory tasks · Deep search |
· Possibility of bias
· Search includes unverified and non-technical sources · Hallucinations of fake data |
SciSpace | · Tools to search specific databases (ChEMBL, TCGA, Ensembl)
· Biomedical agent to support drug repurposing, target prioritization, patient gene prioritization, diagnostic reasoning · Tools to calculate pH of research solutions, prepare buffers, and calculate concentrations for serial dilutions |
| · Formulating a research question
· Identifying relevant studies · Appraising quality of studies · Summarizing findings |
· Known to produce fake citations and references
· Inaccuracy in evaluating studies · Loss of meaning in summarizing complex research |
Elicit | · Semantic search: find relevant papers based on questions, not keywords
· Summarizes studies in customized tables, extracting data like outcome measures or participant characteristics · Allows users to chat with uploaded PDFs to answer specific queries |
| · Cleaning and preparing data
· Analyzing data · Visualizing data
|
· Inaccuracies in replacing missing data or removing outliers
· Not secure for sensitive or confidential data · Requires multiple and detailed prompts for even simple tasks · Can handle datasets up to 512 MB |
Julius AI | · Automated data cleaning
· Can perform modelling and predictive forecasting · Data stays private and secure · Can handle datasets up to 32 GB
|
| Find answers to research-related queries (e.g., how to map whole-organism genetic comorbidities) | · Answers may lack scientific accuracy
· Limited proficiency in complex calculations · Hallucinations or fabricated data |
Scite.AI | · Gives answers from >280 million full-text journal articles, including paywalled articles
· Create and track dashboards from your searches to stay up to date as a field evolves · Identifies which papers support or contradict your statements |
Paperpal
What is Paperpal best for?
- Generating outlines
- Polishing grammar, punctuation, word choice, sentence structure
- Ensuring an academic tone
- Formatting citations and references per journal style
- Checking completed manuscript for plagiarism, AI-generated text, structure, inclusive language, disclosures, and general readiness for journal submission
Other useful features
ChatPDF: upload your own PDFs and extract answers, data, and summaries from them as you write
Q&A feature to get citation-backed answers to any scientific question
Runs on MS Word, Google Docs, Overleaf, and Chrome
Price
Free, premium version starts at USD 11.58 per month onwards
SciSpace
What is SciSpace best for?
- Deep review to extract data from systematic reviews and methodological studies
- Can identify research gaps and inconsistencies in methodologies across studies
- Searching databases like OMIM, ClinVar and NCBI Gene
- Troubleshooting failed experiments
- Optimizing laboratory protocols
- Automating primer design, CRISPR workflow construction, and plasmid management
Other useful features
- AI journal finder to find journals according to scope, indexing, open access policy, etc.
- Poster generation tool to design scientific posters
- Specialized patent search tool
Price
USD 12-90 per month depending on agents used
Elicit
What is Elicit best for?
- Searching the literature through actual questions, not necessarily MeSH terms and Boolean operators
- Extracting quantitative and qualitative data for systematic reviews and literature synthesis
- Testing and refining a systematic review protocol
Other useful features
- Provides Mini-PRISMA diagrams and tables of paper summaries
- Dynamic screening and extraction: refine parameters like study duration or patient age on the go
- Shareable link to the entire review process, including intermediate results (Elicit account is not required to view these details)
- Team plan to collaborate with other authors
Price
USD 10-49 per month depending on number of reports required
Julius AI
What is Julius AI best for?
- Cleaning and preprocessing datasets
- Performing correlation analysis, ANOVA, and other statistical tests
- Creating visual summaries of data through scatter plots, bar graphs, heatmaps, etc.
Other useful features
- Users can “chat” with their data in normal spoken language without knowing how to code
- Ability to intelligently select most appropriate chart type based on the characteristics of your data
- Can explain results of statistical analysis in plain language
- Generates visible Python code for analyses, for users who want to verify the results.
Price
Free, paid plans start at USD 20 per month onwards
Scite
What is Scite best for?
- Finding answers to research-related questions
- Fact-checking claims
- Identify retracted papers
Other useful features
- See how a paper was cited (i.e., whether subsequent studies support or contradict it)
- Dashboards to track specific topics so that you can stay updated on new research
Price
USD 20 per month onwards
Frequently Asked Questions
Am I allowed to use AI tools in my research?
Yes, most universities, institutions, journals, and publishers permit the use of AI to conduct research tasks. However, as an author, you should
- Be completely in control of all decision making (AI should not make decisions for you)
- Verify any AI output before using it in your study
- Accept responsibility for the entire study and research paper
Are AI tools accurate for research?
The tools we listed here have a good track record of producing quality output if they are used the way they should be. For example, Paperpal shouldn’t be used to generate an entire paper with one click, without you doing any research. Elicit reports shouldn’t be copy-pasted into your research paper without thoroughly checking them.
How to choose the right AI tool for research?
You choose the right AI tool by considering your needs: what tasks you have to perform and what you find difficult/tedious/time-consuming. Always choose tools designed for academic research; for example, Paperpal has been specially trained on a database of millions of academic research papers. You also need to consider ease of use and price.
