SciSpace

SciSpace is an AI research assistant for finding, reading, and understanding academic papers — chat with PDFs, run literature reviews, and pull data from studies. The free plan covers light research use without paying, and there's a 30% academic discount on paid plans.

Best for: Chatting with a PDF you don't understand

What you get

• Free plan: ~100 credits/month with limited literature-review searches and limited chat-with-PDF / AI Copilot actions
• Premium ~$12/mo billed annually (~$20/mo monthly): 1,200 credits, unlimited lit-review searches and paper summaries (check their site)
• Students/academics: 30% off with code SCI30 (IND30 in India); University Program offers free licenses for eligible students
• Separate writing/editor tool (formerly Typeset) has its own free plan with limited exports and document previews

How students use it

• Upload a paper and ask it questions in plain language
• Get the math and jargon explained inline
• Find and compare papers on a topic