Compare Paperpile and ReadCube 
At a Glance
Market Segments
Small-Business (56.0% of reviews)
Small-Business (52.8% of reviews)
Entry-Level Pricing
$2.99 per month (billed annually)
Starting at $7.00 Per Month
Paperpile
Star Rating
(26)4.5 out of 5
Market Segments
Small-Business (56.0% of reviews)
Entry-Level Pricing
$2.99 per month (billed annually)
Browse all 2 pricing plansReadCube
Star Rating
(170)4.4 out of 5
Market Segments
Small-Business (52.8% of reviews)
Entry-Level Pricing
Starting at $7.00 Per Month
Browse all 2 pricing plansSummary
AI Generated Summary
AI-generated. Powered by real user reviews.
- Users report that Paperpile excels in its integration with Google Docs, allowing for seamless citation and bibliography management, which is a significant advantage for those who frequently use Google’s suite of tools.
- Reviewers mention that ReadCube offers a more robust PDF management system, with features like smart citations and the ability to annotate directly on PDFs, making it a preferred choice for users who prioritize document handling.
- G2 users highlight that Paperpile's entry-level price of $2.99 per month is more budget-friendly compared to ReadCube's starting price of $7.00, making it an attractive option for small businesses and individual users.
- Users on G2 indicate that ReadCube's ease of setup is rated higher at 8.7, suggesting that new users may find it easier to get started with ReadCube compared to Paperpile, which lacks a specific rating in this area.
- Reviewers say that Paperpile has a higher score in meeting requirements (9.2) compared to ReadCube (8.4), indicating that users feel Paperpile better fulfills their needs for reference management.
- Users report that both products have similar quality of support ratings, with Paperpile at 8.9 and ReadCube at 8.8, suggesting that users can expect reliable assistance from both platforms when needed.
Pricing
Entry-Level Pricing
Paperpile
ACADEMIC
$2.99
per month (billed annually)
All features included
For academic institutions, non-profits and personal use
ReadCube
Papers by ReadCube - Individual Licenses
Starting at $7.00
Per Month
Papers, by ReadCube, simplifies your research life by dramatically enhancing how you discover, annotate, collaborate and cite research. Eliminate wasted hours manually wrangling information and get back to research with the Papers reference manager.
With Papers across all of your devices (web, desktop & mobile), you can unlock a powerful suite of features that will streamline your research life and keep you one step ahead.
Academics take 40% off (academic email or ID required for discount).
Papers Essentials is $7/month, or $65/year if billing annually.
Papers Pro is $14/month, or $130/year if billing annually.
- Search & Download: Built-in search engines. Personalized recommendations. Related article feeds. Institutional proxy support. Web importing via browser. 1-click PDF downloads. Advanced search filters.
- Stay Organized: Easy importing tools from your desktop/other reference managers. Auto article meta-data matching. Full text library search. Advanced sorted & filtering. Manual & Smart Lists. #keyword tagging, labels & article ratings.
- Read & Annotate: Enhanced PDF viewing. Hyperlinked inline references, high-res figure browsers & auto-fetched supplements. Advanced article metrics (incl. citations, field & relative citation ratio, and Altmetric) Inline and sticky notes, highlighting and drawing tools. Text to speech tool.
Free Trial
Paperpile
Free Trial is available
ReadCube
Free Trial is available
Ratings
Meets Requirements
9.2
14
8.4
130
Ease of Use
9.1
15
8.5
138
Ease of Setup
Not enough data
8.7
53
Ease of Admin
Not enough data
9.4
6
Quality of Support
8.9
11
8.8
102
Has the product been a good partner in doing business?
Not enough data
8.3
5
Product Direction (% positive)
10.0
12
8.4
122
Categories
Categories
Shared Categories
Paperpile and ReadCube are categorized as Reference Management
Unique Categories
Paperpile has no unique categories
ReadCube has no unique categories
Reviews
Reviewers' Company Size
Paperpile
Small-Business(50 or fewer emp.)
Mid-Market(51-1000 emp.)
Enterprise(> 1000 emp.)
ReadCube
Small-Business(50 or fewer emp.)
Mid-Market(51-1000 emp.)
Enterprise(> 1000 emp.)
Small-Business
(50 or fewer emp.)
Mid-Market
(51-1000 emp.)
Enterprise
(> 1000 emp.)
Reviewers' Industry
Research
20.0%
Higher Education
20.0%
Education Management
20.0%
Hospital & Health Care
8.0%
Writing and Editing
4.0%
Other
28.0%
Research
40.0%
Higher Education
20.6%
Biotechnology
7.9%
Hospital & Health Care
4.8%
Mechanical or Industrial Engineering
4.2%
Other
22.4%
Most Helpful Reviews
Paperpile
Most Helpful Favorable Review
Jehn K.
Verified User in Education Management
The ability to merge files from various databases into one folder; makes research very easy!
Most Helpful Critical Review
Verified User in Legal Services
No dislikes yet for using paperpile software
ReadCube
Most Helpful Favorable Review
John M.
Verified User in Research
I love the annotaion function and that all pdfs are easy to find. A nice interface to use and works well on my Mac in an increasingly PC skewed software environment.
Most Helpful Critical Review
Verified User in Research
Every single aspect of the app is markedly worse than the original Papers App, ranging from the mark-up features, to the lack of narrating functionality, to just reading documents in the app. Just to take two examples: If I highlight a something in a...
Jehn K.
Verified User in Education Management
The ability to merge files from various databases into one folder; makes research very easy!
John M.
Verified User in Research
I love the annotaion function and that all pdfs are easy to find. A nice interface to use and works well on my Mac in an increasingly PC skewed software environment.
Verified User in Legal Services
No dislikes yet for using paperpile software
Verified User in Research
Every single aspect of the app is markedly worse than the original Papers App, ranging from the mark-up features, to the lack of narrating functionality, to just reading documents in the app. Just to take two examples: If I highlight a something in a...
Discussions
Can you use Paperpile offline?
1 comment
Official Response from Paperpile
Currently, you cannot use the full functionalities of Paperpile offline. However, the Paperpile for Word plugin is a desktop application that is available...Read more
What are things you can do using Paperpile as a citation manager?
1 comment
Official Response from Paperpile
A lot! Use Paperpile to collect, store, organize, and cite references. Since Paperpile is a web-based reference management tool, you can access your...Read more
Does Paperpile have an app?
1 comment
Official Response from Paperpile
Paperpile has a web app and a mobile app for iOS and Android. The Word plugin is a desktop app. Read more
How do identify articles that are not grouped
2 comments
DK
I do a search in my general library.Read more
Does Papers easily replace EndNote for the generation bibliographies, within Word documents?
2 comments
AH
Yes it does. The SmartCite plugin supports Word & Google Docs and supported 9000+ preset styles. Custom styles can also be used.Read more
How can I see pdf while editing bibliographic data?
2 comments
JM
You can use the Preview button in the bottom left of the app to see a preview of the PDF while you are editing metadata fieldsRead more
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