What is Consensus?
Academic search engine that answers yes/no research questions by aggregating findings across peer-reviewed papers and showing a 'Consensus Meter' indicating how much the literature agrees.
Fast evidence checks on empirical yes/no questions.
Main features
- Consensus Meter showing agreement/disagreement across studies
- study snapshots with sample size, methodology and journal quality
- Pro Analysis
- Copilot for synthesised answers
- GPT-4-class summarisation of findings
- Semantic Scholar corpus of 200M+ papers
- filters by study design and rigour.
Practical use cases
- Answering 'does X cause Y' style questions with literature backing
- checking whether a popular health claim is supported
- quickly gauging scientific consensus before a deeper review
- sourcing citations for a claim.
Who is it for?
- Clinicians, evidence-based practitioners, health and nutrition researchers, science journalists, students.
Pricing, free access & limits
Freemium subscription; institutional licensing
Plans described in the source
Free tier with unlimited searches but limited AI credits per month. Premium around $8.99/mo billed annually (about $11.99 monthly) for unlimited GPT-4 summaries, Consensus Meter and Copilot. Enterprise/institutional pricing on request. Student discounts available.
Free plan
Yes - free plan with unlimited search and a capped number of AI credits monthly.
Free trial
Free tier acts as the trial; institutional trials via sales.
Usage limits to consider
Free tier limits AI-generated summaries and Consensus Meter uses per month; unlimited plain search remains.
Confirm current plans and pricing ↗Strengths & tradeoffs
These points summarize the supplied research, rather than hands-on test results.
Strengths noted in the source
- The Consensus Meter is an unusually honest interface - it shows disagreement rather than manufacturing a confident answer
- very cheap
- excellent for clinical and nutrition questions
- strong study-quality signals.
Limitations to consider
- Works best on empirical yes/no questions and poorly on open-ended or theoretical topics
- corpus is English-dominant
- does not do structured extraction like Elicit
- the meter can oversimplify a nuanced literature.
Platforms, languages & integrations
Platforms
- Web
- ChatGPT plugin/GPT
Languages
- English interface and predominantly English corpus
API access
Limited - contact for enterprise access
Integrations and exports
- ChatGPT (custom GPT), citation export, Semantic Scholar corpus
Evaluation notes
Treat the Consensus Meter as a starting signal, not a verdict - always read the underlying studies for anything consequential. Complements rather than replaces Elicit.
Explore similar tools
Other tools in AI Research Tools. Compare their specific features and limits for your task.
Frequently asked questions
What is Consensus best for?
Fast evidence checks on empirical yes/no questions.
What free access does Consensus offer?
Yes - free plan with unlimited search and a capped number of AI credits monthly.
What limits should I check before using Consensus?
Free tier limits AI-generated summaries and Consensus Meter uses per month; unlimited plain search remains.
Does Consensus provide an API?
Limited - contact for enterprise access
Sources & editorial notes
Based on the directory editor’s supplied research. The source does not provide a verification date for this row. Importing a record does not independently verify every product claim.
Additional references named in the research
consensus.app/home/pricing; Consensus help centre