# Consensus vs ReadSmart

Consensus records 6,014,388 monthly visits with -1.2% month-over-month growth and Freemium pricing. ReadSmart records 0 monthly visits with — growth and Free pricing.

| Metric | [Consensus](https://openaitools.app/tool/consensus) | [ReadSmart](https://openaitools.app/tool/readsmart) |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Website URL | https://consensus.app | https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/readsmart/bkcaaaamfkchlkedibanlldbcmgeoieb |
| Categories | AI Search Engine, AI Research Tool, AI Papers, AI Article Summarizer | AI Summarizer, AI Article Summarizer, Large Language Models (LLMs), AI Assistant |
| Pricing Model | Freemium | Free |
| Monthly Visits | 6,014,388 | 0 |
| MoM Growth Rate | -1.2% | — |
| Primary Market | United States | Global |
| Direct Visits | 2,918,713 | 0 |
| Review Score | 4.7 | 1.6 |
| Saved Count | 31 | 0 |
| Supported Platforms | Website | Browser Extension |

## Consensus

Consensus works like a scholarly search engine supercharged by AI. Instead of returning a flat list of PDFs, you ask a natural-language research question and Consensus extracts claims from relevant papers, then shows you what the studies actually find. A Consensus Meter summarizes the weight of evidence for yes/no questions, so you can see at a glance whether scientists largely agree, disagree, or remain divided.

The platform indexes hundreds of millions of peer-reviewed papers spanning medicine, biology, psychology, economics and more. Answers link straight back to the source studies, and you can filter by study design, journal quality, sample size and publication year to separate stronger evidence from weaker signals. Features like Deep Search, Topic Synthesis and Skills let researchers build a working knowledge base over time rather than starting from scratch on every query.

Consensus is designed for researchers, clinicians, students and analysts who need trustworthy signals from the scientific record without drowning in irrelevant results. A free tier gives limited AI-powered searches each month, while paid plans unlock unlimited use, advanced filters and deeper synthesis.

**Pricing & Plans:** Freemium. A free tier offers a limited number of AI-powered searches per month; paid individual plans unlock unlimited searches and advanced research features, with discounted student pricing and team/enterprise options.

- **Evidence-grounded answers:** Ask a research question in plain language and get answers synthesized from peer-reviewed studies, with each claim linked to its source paper.
- **Consensus Meter:** A visual summary shows how the scientific literature leans on a yes/no question, indicating agreement, disagreement or mixed evidence.
- **Powerful filters:** Narrow results by study design, sample size, journal quality, publication year and more to prioritize high-quality evidence.
- **Topic synthesis and Deep Search:** Aggregate findings across many studies into structured summaries that map what is known and where the gaps are.
- **Research workspace:** Save papers, organize sources and build a persistent knowledge base for literature reviews and ongoing projects.

**Strengths:** Answers cite real peer-reviewed papers, so claims are verifiable; Consensus Meter makes it easy to gauge scientific agreement at a glance; Rich filters help separate high-quality evidence from weaker studies; Fast, clean interface designed around research workflows

**Limitations:** Free tier caps the number of AI-assisted searches per month; Coverage is strongest for STEM and health fields, lighter for some humanities topics; It guides you toward sources but is not a substitute for reading full papers

[Profile (Markdown)](https://openaitools.app/tool/consensus.md)

## ReadSmart

ReadSmart is a small Chrome extension whose single job is to make long web pages easier to get through. Once installed, it adds a button to the browser sidebar; click it on any page you are reading and ReadSmart sends the page text to a language model, then returns a condensed summary in place. The developer pitches it specifically at content-rich pages — news articles, blog posts, documentation — where the value is buried in a lot of prose.

The feature set is deliberately narrow. There is one-click summarization, page detection geared toward heavy text, and a history of summaries you have already generated so you can revisit something you skimmed earlier. The listing also notes that the extension works on top of your normal browsing rather than replacing it, which keeps the learning curve minimal.

ReadSmart is free to install, with the store listing indicating in-app purchases. It was last updated in November 2023 and has a small user base, so treat it as a simple utility rather than a full reading or research platform: there is no source collection, no writing assistance and no workspace. If you just want a quick AI summary of whatever page is open in front of you, that simplicity is the point.

**Pricing & Plans:** ReadSmart is free to install from the Chrome Web Store. The listing states that the extension offers in-app purchases, so optional paid features may exist.

- **One-click page summaries:** Press the sidebar button on any page and ReadSmart returns a condensed summary of the page's text without you scrolling through everything.
- **Built for text-heavy pages:** Rather than dumping the whole page into a summary box, the extension detects the main textual content, which works best on news sites and long-form blogs.
- **Summary history:** Summaries you have already generated are kept, so you can return to a page you read earlier and jump straight back into the gist.
- **Sidebar workflow:** The extension lives in the Chrome sidebar, so generating a summary never pulls you out of your current tab or workflow.

**Strengths:** Free and quick to install from the Chrome Web Store; One-click summaries keep you inside your current tab; Summary history lets you revisit pages you skimmed earlier; Very low learning curve — one button, one output

**Limitations:** Narrow scope: summarization only, with no writing or research features; Small user base and last update in late 2023; Handles personal data and website content, so review the privacy policy before use

[Profile (Markdown)](https://openaitools.app/tool/readsmart.md)

## Frequently Asked Questions

### How do Consensus and ReadSmart compare in monthly traffic?

Consensus has 6,014,388 monthly visits, while ReadSmart has 0. Traffic estimates describe audience size, not product quality.

### How do their growth rates compare?

Consensus has a month-over-month growth rate of -1.2%; ReadSmart has —.

### How does pricing compare?

Consensus: Freemium. Freemium. A free tier offers a limited number of AI-powered searches per month; paid individual plans unlock unlimited searches and advanced research features, with discounted student pricing and team/enterprise options. ReadSmart: Free. ReadSmart is free to install from the Chrome Web Store. The listing states that the extension offers in-app purchases, so optional paid features may exist.

## Alternatives

| # | Tool Name | Monthly Visits | MoM Growth Rate | Pricing Model | Summary | Profile (Markdown) |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 1 | [Perplexity](https://openaitools.app/tool/perplexity-ai) | 88,310,223 | -3.7% | Freemium | Covers general web sources alongside academic papers, but lacks specialized scientific synthesis metrics and consensus ratings. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/perplexity-ai.md) |
| 2 | [Semantic Scholar](https://openaitools.app/tool/semantic-scholar) | 8,198,672 | +5.8% | Free | Completely free access to a massive scholarly index, but offers less automated natural-language evidence synthesis than Consensus. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/semantic-scholar.md) |
| 3 | [Kagi Search](https://openaitools.app/tool/kagi-search) | 4,647,605 | +3.2% | Free Trial, Paid | A paid, ad-free search engine that answers to its users | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/kagi-search.md) |
| 4 | [SciSpace](https://openaitools.app/tool/scispace) | 4,464,111 | +8.6% | Freemium | Provides deeper PDF reading and interactive literature analysis tools, but is less focused on quick evidence aggregation. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/scispace.md) |
| 5 | [Sider](https://openaitools.app/tool/sider) | 2,644,740 | -10.6% | Freemium | AI sidebar and browser agent for reading, writing and research | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/sider.md) |
| 6 | [Elicit](https://openaitools.app/tool/elicit) | 1,751,507 | +3.1% | Freemium | Performs advanced systematic review data extraction and evidence synthesis, but has a more complex interface than Consensus. | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/elicit.md) |
| 7 | [Jenni](https://openaitools.app/tool/jenni) | 1,498,133 | +5.2% | Freemium | The AI workspace where researchers read, write, and cite with every claim traceable to its source | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/jenni.md) |
| 8 | [Merlin AI](https://openaitools.app/tool/merlin-ai) | 1,382,634 | +13.1% | Freemium | One-click AI assistant for browsing, writing and research | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/merlin-ai.md) |
| 9 | [Rayyan](https://openaitools.app/tool/rayyan) | 1,116,437 | +7.9% | Freemium | AI-assisted systematic review software for screening, extraction, and evidence synthesis at scale | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/rayyan.md) |
| 10 | [Glasp](https://openaitools.app/tool/glasp) | 889,564 | -14.1% | Freemium | Highlight the web, learn in public, and build your AI clone | [.md](https://openaitools.app/tool/glasp.md) |

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Source: https://openaitools.app/compare/consensus-vs-readsmart

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