Alternatives to Citationsy
Mobile-first citation and bibliography app with over 10,000 citation styles
Citationsy ranks #10 of 12 in Citation managers, with an Alt Score of 55. It is proprietary, sold by subscription from €49/year and available on iOS, Android, Web and Browser extension. 9 of 10 checklist rows are verified against a public source.
Citationsy is a subscription citation manager built around iOS/Android apps, letting users generate citations by scanning a book barcode or searching integrated book/paper/podcast databases, then export bibliographies in 10,000+ styles. It's aimed at students who work primarily from a phone rather than a desktop reference-manager library.
Students, researchers, and academics who need to build and format bibliographies for essays, theses, and papers. Citationsy also markets a collaborative option for co-authors working on a shared bibliography, and offers institutional licences for schools, colleges, and universities.
A cloud-based reference manager that generates citations and in-text references in over 10,000 citation styles, with mobile apps for iOS and Android (including book barcode scanning), a browser extension for citing web pages and papers while browsing, a Magic Import tool for pasting in existing reference lists, BibTeX import/export, optional Archive.org snapshotting of cited web sources, and export to Word, RTF, EndNote, RefWorks, and CSL-JSON. Projects can be shared with collaborators, and data is backed up automatically every 10 minutes.
Users create a project and add references by searching for a book, paper, or website (or by scanning a book's barcode in the mobile app, pasting existing citations into Magic Import, or using the browser extension while on a page), and Citationsy fetches the source details and formats them in the chosen citation style. References can be reordered into an in-text citation and bibliography, shared with invited collaborators, and exported into other word-processing or reference-management formats.
Where Citationsy stands out
Verified capabilities most alternatives don't have.
Why people leave Citationsy
Dashed reasons are sourced facts; the rest are opinions. Vendors can dispute.
Sign in to add a reason — new reasons go through moderation before appearing.
Ranked alternatives
Ordered by Alt Score. Click any score to see the breakdown.
ReadCube Papers (Digital Science) is a cloud-based reference manager built around an enhanced PDF reader, AI chat over libraries/individual papers, and shared collections for lab collaboration.
Citavi (now owned by Lumivero) is a Windows desktop citation and knowledge-organization tool that pairs reference management with task planning and outlining, and supports local or on-prem server stor.
BibDesk is a free, open-source native Mac application for managing BibTeX/BibLaTeX bibliographies, with PDF linking, autofile, and tight LaTeX/TeXShop integration.
Lean Library Workspace is the 2025 rebrand of Sciwheel (Third Iron), a browser-extension-driven reference manager offering one-click article capture, PDF annotation, shared/group libraries for journal.
RefWorks is ProQuest's cloud-based reference management tool, sold mainly through university and library site licenses.
Feature comparison
Rows come from the Citation managers checklist (14 rows). Human-verified cells only. ? means the value has not been verified.
| Citation managers checklist | Citationsy | Zotero | EndNote | Paperpile | ReadCube Papers | JabRef |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | ||||||
| Starts at | ||||||
| License | ||||||
| Platforms | ||||||
| Browser capture | ||||||
| PDF annotation | ||||||
| Citation styles count | ||||||
| Word / Docs plugins | ||||||
| Group libraries | ||||||
| Open source | ||||||
| Storage limits (free) | ||||||
| BibTeX support | ||||||
| Deduplication | ||||||
| Mobile app |
Every fact and feature listed for Citationsy is verified against its own pages. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.
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Starts at €49/year verified 2026-07-30
Cheapest advertised tier is Annual at €49/year. Other tiers on the same page: Monthly €9.99/month, Monthly (student, 50% off) €4.99/month.
Annual Get 2 months free €49/year Billed yearly. Cancel anytime.
https://citationsy.com/pricing -
License Proprietary verified 2026-07-30
We are the owner or the licensee of all intellectual property rights in our Services, including all source code, databases, functionality, software, website designs...
https://citationsy.com/tos -
Pricing model Subscription verified 2026-07-30
Pricing page shows only paid Monthly, Monthly (student), and Annual subscription tiers, each gated by a 3-day free trial; no permanently free plan was found on the pricing page.
Monthly ... Billed monthly. Cancel or suspend anytime. Start Free Trial 3 Day Free Trial
https://citationsy.com/pricing -
Platforms iOS, Android, Web, Browser extension verified 2026-07-30
iOS/Android confirmed on this page (download links to apps.apple.com/app/citationsy/id1335116120 and play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.citationsy.citationsy). Browser extension confirmed via t
Create citations from your book by just scanning the barcode with our iPhone and Android apps.
https://citationsy.com/features/apps -
Status active verified 2026-07-30
Pricing page also advertises a current 'Limited Time Deal', consistent with an actively maintained/marketed product as of research date.
Used by 528,208 students, researchers, and scholars at thousands of universities and institutions
https://citationsy.com/pricing -
Browser capture Yes verified 2026-07-30
Chrome extension 'Citationsy - Cite Websites and Papers', linked from citationsy.com's own homepage <head> via a chrome-webstore-item tag.
Reference websites and papers with a single click, powered by Citationsy
https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/citationsy-cite-websites/ananhmnkepfflgfdklgcdpgdngejokkn -
PDF annotation No verified 2026-07-30
This page enumerates Citationsy's full feature set (Cite Books, Cite Websites, Collaborate, Mobile Apps, Cite Papers, Archive.org, Referencing styles, Share bibliographies, Magic Import, Privacy, Impo
Citationsy comes with a bunch of features – see an overview here, and click a feature to read more about it
https://citationsy.com/features -
Citation styles count Yes verified 2026-07-30
10,000+ citation styles. Full browsable list at https://citationsy.com/styles.
10 000+ Referencing styles → Cite and export references in over 10 000 citation styles
https://citationsy.com/features/apps -
Word / Docs plugins No verified 2026-07-30
Citationsy exports bibliography files (including a Word Doc format) for manual import; no live Microsoft Word or Google Docs plugin/add-in was found on the site.
Export formats available include: EndNote, Refworks, BibTex, Word Doc, RTF, CSL-JSON
https://citationsy.com/features/export -
Group libraries Yes verified 2026-07-30
Citationsy is the only reference manager that allows collaborative referencing. Invite your co-authors to your Citationsy project and work on the bibliography together.
https://citationsy.com/features/collaborate -
Open source No verified 2026-07-30
No public source code repository was found for Citationsy (no GitHub/GitLab link anywhere on the site); Terms of Service assert ownership of all source code.
We are the owner or the licensee of all intellectual property rights in our Services, including all source code, databases, functionality, software, website designs...
https://citationsy.com/tos -
BibTeX support Yes verified 2026-07-30
Yes! Citationsy supports importing and exporting your references in BibTeX/LaTeX format. We also support importing and exporting to a variety of other platforms as well such as Word and more.
https://citationsy.com/help/getting-started/does-citationsy-support-bibtex-and-latex/ -
Deduplication No verified 2026-07-30
This page enumerates Citationsy's full feature set (Cite Books, Cite Websites, Collaborate, Mobile Apps, Cite Papers, Archive.org, Referencing styles, Share bibliographies, Magic Import, Privacy, Impo
Citationsy comes with a bunch of features – see an overview here, and click a feature to read more about it
https://citationsy.com/features -
Mobile app Yes verified 2026-07-30
Create citations from your book by just scanning the barcode with our iPhone and Android apps. It's never been easier to reference a book!
https://citationsy.com/features/apps
FAQ
Yes. Zotero, JabRef and Mendeley have a free tier or are fully free. Free-tier limits in the comparison table are verified and dated.
Zotero, JabRef and BibDesk — every license claim links its source.