--- title: ReadCube Reviews meta_title: 'ReadCube Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta_description: Filter 174 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how ReadCube works for a business like yours. aggregate_rating: rating_value: 4.4 review_count: 174 scale: '5' date_modified: '2026-07-12' parent_category: name: Education url: https://www.g2.com/categories/education --- # ReadCube Reviews **Vendor:** ReadCube **Category:** [Reference Management Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/reference-management) **Average Rating:** 4.4/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 174 ## About ReadCube ReadCube is an all-in-one research management software designed to empower researchers, academics, and professionals in organizing, accessing, and analyzing scientific literature more efficiently. With advanced AI-powered tools, ReadCube transforms literature workflows, improves discoverability, and streamlines literature management, enabling researchers to focus on critical analysis and breakthrough findings. Built for research-driven organizations, particularly in life sciences, healthcare, and pharmaceuticals, ReadCube's intelligent features support comprehensive literature review and seamless reference management. The platform's AI-enhanced search and personalized literature monitoring keep users updated on relevant studies, significantly reducing manual work and saving valuable time. Key features include: - Reference Management: Organize and sync references across devices, making it easy to access sources anytime and anywhere. - AI Assistant: Interact with individual PDFs or entire libraries to clarify complex terms, identify research gaps, translate content, and more. - AI-Driven Literature Recommendations: Discover relevant articles specific to your research interests, streamlining the discovery process. - PDF Reader: Annotate, highlight, and share insights within PDFs for collaborative research and review. - Literature Monitoring: Receive personalized alerts and notifications to stay updated on the latest publications in your field. -SmartCite: A user-friendly citation tool that connects your library to your writing platform, enabling seamless citation as you write. As part of the ReadCube ecosystem, Papers provides a sophisticated reference management solution specifically designed for academics and students. With Papers, users can organize, explore, and even engage with their references, ask questions, collaborate with colleagues, and cite effortlessly using SmartCite. ReadCube and Papers' AI-enhanced literature management solutions support thousands of organizations and millions of researchers worldwide, helping them get back to the breakthrough work that matters most. ## ReadCube Reviews ### 1. A great tool to manage and annotate references **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Research | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 14, 2020 **What do you like best about ReadCube?** A great tool to manage and annotate references in the OS system; easy to synchronize the references to other iOS devices; easy to cite references when writing a paper in Word. **What do you dislike about ReadCube?** Sometimes when reading the reference in the iOS app, text which was highlighted in the OS app appears to be shifted... **What problems is ReadCube solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use this app to sort and manage references in the field of analytical chemistry. It is convenient to import and sync references among multiple devices, which is very beneficial in literature management. ### 2. Great Reference Manger ... but some features still missing **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Biotechnology | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 17, 2019 **What do you like best about ReadCube?** ReadCube papers offers an online library, which in my view is a clear step up from Papers3 that I used previously. Everything is synced immediately between my computer and my other devices where I read my papers (including notes that I write in the documents) **What do you dislike about ReadCube?** The main thing I am missing in ReadCube papers is something really obvious that was readily available in previous versions of 'Papers': Alphabetical ordering of the 'author' column sorts the authors according to their last names, but the first name is displayed first. This is simply horrible. If I know that I'm looking for a publication from a guy with the last name Smith, I can't quickly find papers from authors with last name starting with 'S', because their first names are in the way. Papers3 had many options for displaying author names in list view, I don't understand why this didn't make it immediately in ReadCube papers. **What problems is ReadCube solving and how is that benefiting you?** What I really enjoy is that you can read a paper, and then display the figures (and legends) separately without having to constantly scroll up and down (and forget where you were in the text). This makes it so much more productive.... ### 3. Great software with a few imperfections **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ivan R. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 11, 2019 **What do you like best about ReadCube?** Cloud sync, automatic retrieval of metadata, annotation feature, ability to download the annotations. **What do you dislike about ReadCube?** 1. Cannot search through all of my annotations and cannot choose what gets exported in the .csv. 2. Most of what I read are preprints. Papers is not able to extract titles, nor authors – it could do so if it would integrate with osf.io. Overall, integration with osf.io is badly missing. 3. Essentially no setting for anything. 4. The citing feature for Word does not work at all, the one for Gdoc (beta). Zotero is lightyears ahead. 5. Annotation feature does not work very well in some pdfs and sometimes, it even crashes the app. 6. No ability to set that the added papers download by default. 7. The reader could be faster. 8. Did I mention virtually no support for preprints? That is really annoying. **What problems is ReadCube solving and how is that benefiting you?** Using it for reading and annotating papers. ### 4. Provides a Fundamentally Deeper Level of Literature Research **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Nicholas F. | Research and Development Scientist II, Chemicals, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 12, 2019 **What do you like best about ReadCube?** The browser plugin is the best portion. Along with this the similarity to adobe in the way you can organize and analyze data in a simple and user friendly way. **What do you dislike about ReadCube?** I do not see the need for an internal search engine when you can use google patents and the plug in on the web browser. Also, a lot of relevant papers are in Japanese and it would be nice to find an easy translated alternative. **What problems is ReadCube solving and how is that benefiting you?** I develop customized porous filtration membrane surface modifications for use in the semiconductor industry. I specifically focus on modifying different polymer substrates with surface functionality through UV, EBeam, thermal and coating methods for use in the bulk chemical and point-of-use stages of semiconductor fabrication. These coatings are designed to remove particles, metals and any other impurities from the various steps of the semiconductor production line at levels as low as ppt. This is a fairly niche industry but lots of the technologies used are based in the methods developed by chemists and engineers in other industries which require the surface modification of plastics. I can use ReadCube to examine the findings of others while simultaneously organizing, categorization and analyzing different papers and topics that may be relevant to one another. ### 5. Great all-in-one reference manager **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Pamela K. | Portfolio Administrator, Real Estate, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 16, 2019 **What do you like best about ReadCube?** With ReadCube Papers I am able to keep up with my extensive library of PDFs. Instead of having all my files scattered around different folders and devices, RCP allows me to keep one main library that I've easily organized into tags and folders. I also like that I can access my library from any device. Since my work computer is a Windows and I have a Mac at home I like knowing my libraries will sync between each other. **What do you dislike about ReadCube?** I would like to have the ability to use SmartCite in other platforms, like Google Docs. **What problems is ReadCube solving and how is that benefiting you?** Unorganized library structure with PDFs saved throughout several folders. I don't download duplicates anymore because the Chrome extension tells me what articles I have already downloaded. ### 6. The Lit Reviewers Heaven **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** J.R. M. | Managing Independent Consulting , Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 23, 2019 **What do you like best about ReadCube?** Papers has a built-in reader which allows annotation, highlighting, underlining, and a plethora of other noting. Tagging facilitates organization and enhancing searching. Utilizing the library organizational structural makes everything nice and tidy. This software will make life so much easier and organized. **What do you dislike about ReadCube?** There isn't a single thing I dislike about this software. It's absolutely fabulous! **Recommendations to others considering ReadCube:** If you need a robust program that puts your literature at your fingers at all times, a beautiful catch-all solution to reviewing the literature and organizing, all packaged in apps that cross multiple platforms and have web access, this is the product for you. If you need support for any reason, support is amazing and ready to assist you at moment's notice. I highly recommend it and am elated to have found it for myself. **What problems is ReadCube solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have organized a ton of literature from coursework, research, impending comprehensive exams, and dissertation preparation. Having unlimited space with syncing to the cloud and across devices (with really robust apps on each platform) has made life so much easier and put critical information at my fingertips. Thank you! ### 7. Great but still has room for improvement **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Veterinary | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 17, 2019 **What do you like best about ReadCube?** I love that this reference manager is primarily cloud based so I can access my library anywhere. I have also been impressed by the ability of the application to automatically match and insert the correct metadata when importing new manuscripts. **What do you dislike about ReadCube?** There are still several features that were present in Papers3 that are not present in ReadCube. Some of the sorting mechanics and list creation abilities are lagging behind. I also wish that the magic citation function was not tied into an add-on for Microsoft Word since my university edition does not allow for add-on capabilities. **What problems is ReadCube solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am organizing relevant literature for the treatment of veterinary cancer. This application allows me to organize important articles and easily retrieve them to find relevant information. ### 8. A powerful and intuitive reference management app **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Gael B. | Researcher, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 16, 2019 **What do you like best about ReadCube?** The app is simple and intuitive. It works online (web browser) and offline (desktop app) in a smooth and transparent way. Smart lists are also really useful in searching and categorizing references. The recommendations tool work properly. **What do you dislike about ReadCube?** The annotations tool need some improvement. **Recommendations to others considering ReadCube:** smart lists are powerful and really helpful keeping the library organized **What problems is ReadCube solving and how is that benefiting you?** The app help me keep organized lot of references and search quickly through them. The matching reference tool save me lot of time. ### 9. I tell everyone about this app **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Law Practice | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 04, 2019 **What do you like best about ReadCube?** It's very easy to use. I was not expecting to like it when I first started because I'd used other tools and had low expectations. Within 15 minutes, the PDF sprawl that have taken over my computer was gone, and I even had tags and folders set. I also really like that I can mark up research papers using my iPad and a stylus. Also - their support team is great. I had an issue thanks to my office firewalls and they jumped on a call with my IT group and got everything sorted within 15 minutes. **What do you dislike about ReadCube?** It would be nice to see more legal databases indexed, searchable through the apps. **What problems is ReadCube solving and how is that benefiting you?** I had so many papers and ended up creating a overly complicated combo of renaming files and clever folder structure became a real chore to maintain. I love how I can drag and from into the app and everything get identified, is searchable, accessible. ### 10. If you want to save time, you'll want to use ReadCube **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Aviation & Aerospace | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 02, 2019 **What do you like best about ReadCube?** Their browser extension is phenomenal. They let you import papers and live stream any papers you have in your library right on Google Scholar, Journal Sites etc. It's hard to explain but when you try it - you'll be hooked. We have a team license so the shared folders are also a great feature - easy to set up and are heavily used by everyone. **What do you dislike about ReadCube?** I wish there was a desktop app for Linux. I have Windows machine at word and Linux at home. The web app has most of the core features so I make it through. I'd prefer if it was free but it's without a doubt pays for itself. **Recommendations to others considering ReadCube:** Just try it. **What problems is ReadCube solving and how is that benefiting you?** It's not hard to find papers in your general area of interest. It is, however, hard to find the right papers when you are crunched for time. This new ReadCube Papers app is fast & filled with some unique things I haven't seen anywhere else - like contextual citations, a very solid recommendation engine and cool metrics and linked data. Their PDF reader grew on me - in part because having the supplements automatically load is great. ### 11. Import fail **Rating:** 1.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Brian Fisher B. | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 23, 2019 **What do you like best about ReadCube?** Interface is decent, company is independent (not owned by publisher) **What do you dislike about ReadCube?** Import from ReadCube desktop fails, concerns about quality of cloud, expensive **Recommendations to others considering ReadCube:** Consider carefully how to transition your existing references and documents to the system, be careful about signing up for an annual license **What problems is ReadCube solving and how is that benefiting you?** I had hoped to build a lab reference system for my students and me that was not based on a particular publsher's platform. **Official Response from Val Podbelski:** > Hi Brian, have you reached out to our support team (support@papersapp.com). We can help troubleshoot a few reasons as to why your import failed and make sure your library is up and running properly. ### 12. very versatile **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Kiki S. | Assistant Professor, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 17, 2019 **What do you like best about ReadCube?** I like the cloud storage of all pdfs, as it frees up a lot of computer space. Also the interaction with word is very easy to use. **What do you dislike about ReadCube?** it only works with google chrome, it might be good to make it work with safari as well. It would also be great to integrate with slack and/or evernote **What problems is ReadCube solving and how is that benefiting you?** for storing all my bibliography for work ### 13. Excellent citation manager **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Sabeen D. | Physician, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 24, 2019 **What do you like best about ReadCube?** Ease of use and user interface! Seamless integration across Word on difference computers. **What do you dislike about ReadCube?** It took me a few minutes to learn the interface (i.e. updating citations) but after learning it, it was totally fine, **What problems is ReadCube solving and how is that benefiting you?** I can write my research papers without a problem. ### 14. Still the best scientific paper management system but can be better **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Tom C. | Senior Scientist, Biology, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 16, 2019 **What do you like best about ReadCube?** Cloud-based. Automatic match and incorporation. Auto-populate the field, share function. Intuitive. **What do you dislike about ReadCube?** Interface can be better. Like old papers interface better **Recommendations to others considering ReadCube:** Help organize the literature and share with the colleagues. It does the sole function well and keep it that way. **What problems is ReadCube solving and how is that benefiting you?** Just like old Papers, which I used for almost 10 years now, it helps organize the literature effortlessly and efficiently. With cloud-based function now, it's easy to share across the entire office. ### 15. Incredibly intuitive scientific library manager **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Research | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 26, 2019 **What do you like best about ReadCube?** Intuitive, integrates smoothly with web browsers, and suggests relevant articles. Easily searchable libraries that can be shared with collaborators. Annotations are indexed in a side bar for convenient access. **What do you dislike about ReadCube?** I wish there were a way to directly email a single article in my library without having to download the PDF to my desktop first. **Recommendations to others considering ReadCube:** Do not hesitate to download this program if you want to save time and more effectively manage your library of scientific articles. **What problems is ReadCube solving and how is that benefiting you?** Saves me time while searching my library for specific information. I can access my library from any browser through the webapp or via my phone. ### 16. Overall good, still need some improvement **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Primary/Secondary Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 11, 2019 **What do you like best about ReadCube?** The app and desktop app is an effective way to manage articles, the ability to download to your computer is helpful. **What do you dislike about ReadCube?** the search features are far behind Mendeley and so is PDF viewer on the app. The browser attachment with Readcube is far better and you are able to send everything to your library. **Recommendations to others considering ReadCube:** Improve the search features and make the app more user-friendly, the PDF reader is far behind many others on the market. **What problems is ReadCube solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have found this to be a far more effective way to download articles off the internet searches and load them into other software for a more effective search feature. ### 17. More powerful than Papers3 **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Hospital & Health Care | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 16, 2019 **What do you like best about ReadCube?** Very powerful to find the informations related to every paper added in the account **What do you dislike about ReadCube?** The reference app to not work at all on office 365 if the account is institutional because it block the add-on **Recommendations to others considering ReadCube:** Very efficient. Wort it **What problems is ReadCube solving and how is that benefiting you?** More powerful overall. Still have some improvement to get: less user-friendly to organise our library as exemple. ### 18. Just works. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Pete B. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** December 10, 2019 **What do you like best about ReadCube?** All cloud base so can easily use across all my devices etc. Also it imported by papers repo with all the info and PDFs.... The search tools are generally good and I like the citation stats etc. which are automatically bought in. **What do you dislike about ReadCube?** I am happy with the system and I don't have anything which I specifically dislike. **What problems is ReadCube solving and how is that benefiting you?** Reference manager. ### 19. A great paper management tool with smart search **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Biotechnology | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 12, 2019 **What do you like best about ReadCube?** Besides providing an easy interface for managing papers, ReadCube Papers also offers a smart personal search. In addition, the Paper annotation tool is very handy and easy to use. The speed of ReadCube Papers is also much faster than ReadCube. **What do you dislike about ReadCube?** Remote proxy does not work. Does this provide a desktop version? **What problems is ReadCube solving and how is that benefiting you?** Managing papers manually is difficult and inefficient. ReadCube Papers makes this process easy: a simple interface for paper management, a smart personal search, and a good annotation tool. ### 20. A cheaper way to manage references **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Research | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 11, 2019 **What do you like best about ReadCube?** Readcube Papers is a great tool to manage references across devices. It allows you to import files quick and one can access them anywhere with device sync option or on the web. Not heavy on your system like endnote but useful to curate than a bibliography for word add - ons. The interface is easy to use. **What do you dislike about ReadCube?** The add-ons don't work that efficient and there is no offline mode to work with, unlike endnote. It's a great cloud service but not quite there yet for citations. Cannot import folders to sync. **Recommendations to others considering ReadCube:** It's a great, cheap, easy tool to work with especially with student discounts and individual license. One can try for 30 days free and decide for themselves. I like it a lot. **What problems is ReadCube solving and how is that benefiting you?** Reference library can be shared among colleagues over the cloud which is very useful and it is a no-fuss interface for everyone to be on the same page! Since not a heavy software, we use from any kind of device to share PDFs across our labs. ### 21. Great reference manager **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Research | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 03, 2019 **What do you like best about ReadCube?** The recommendation engine is very good and the free version has already a lot to offers. **What do you dislike about ReadCube?** My institution is blocking the auto-download feature of the web application. **What problems is ReadCube solving and how is that benefiting you?** I can add the proxy of my institution and it makes everything smooth. Everything can be done through the app. ### 22. So far my best experience with reference manager **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** César A. | Research Associate, Research, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 01, 2019 **What do you like best about ReadCube?** Easy and intuitive, PDF enhancing is very good. **What do you dislike about ReadCube?** Still problems with big libraries but they are working on it, **What problems is ReadCube solving and how is that benefiting you?** Very dynamic when writing papers or grant applications. ### 23. Burdensome and unnecessary **Rating:** 0.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 26, 2019 **What do you like best about ReadCube?** Links to papers, customisable font size **What do you dislike about ReadCube?** Way too overcrowded by unnecessary features getting in the way of reading and assimilating the information. Constant bombardment with colours and rich text features **What problems is ReadCube solving and how is that benefiting you?** Font size customisation ### 24. Modern, beautiful literature manager **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Research | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 31, 2019 **What do you like best about ReadCube?** Ability to search pubmed within the app and then pull down papers/abstracts directly using my institutional credentials! Tagging and organizing papers by project! Recommendations feature sometimes useful, sometimes not. Automated citations you can copy into word, etc. **What do you dislike about ReadCube?** Readcube supports exportation of citations to a lot of services, but it would be great if they would include RefWorks too. **Recommendations to others considering ReadCube:** You can do just about everything with the basic/free version! The organization features are stronger than other similar products, in my opinion. **What problems is ReadCube solving and how is that benefiting you?** Clearly organize references for papers; keep up to date on topics in my field. ## ReadCube Discussions - [How can I see pdf while editing bibliographic data?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/40201-how-can-i-see-pdf-while-editing-bibliographic-data) - 2 comments, 1 upvote - [Readcube library format](https://www.g2.com/discussions/27563-readcube-library-format) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [In ReadCube Papers, are PDFs stored online *only*?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/in-readcube-papers-are-pdfs-stored-online-only) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [Is there a way to reorganize the interface?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/is-there-a-way-to-reorganize-the-interface) - 1 comment, 1 upvote - [How do identify articles that are not grouped](https://www.g2.com/discussions/30106-how-do-identify-articles-that-are-not-grouped) - 2 comments - [View ReadCube pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/readcube/reviews?page=4§ion=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-07-14+01%3A35%3A20+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=14886d94-042f-488a-a9d2-82229ff57291&secure%5Btoken%5D=d4ebfbf3428cffb253c42fc04800daa19250c56e20e1110963f55af29b3cb505&format=llm_user) ## ReadCube Integrations - [Chrome OS](https://www.g2.com/products/chrome-os/reviews) - [Microsoft Word](https://www.g2.com/products/microsoft-word/reviews) ## Top ReadCube Alternatives - [Mendeley](https://www.g2.com/products/mendeley/reviews) - 4.3/5.0 (248 reviews) - [EndNote](https://www.g2.com/products/endnote/reviews) - 4.1/5.0 (181 reviews) - [EasyBib.com](https://www.g2.com/products/easybib-com/reviews) - 4.6/5.0 (151 reviews)