Comparison of reference management software
The following tables compare notable reference management software. The comparison includes older applications that may no longer be supported, as well as actively-maintained software.
General
In the "notes" section, there is a difference between:web-based, referring to applications that may be installed on a web server, and;- a centrally hosted website.
| Software | Developer | First public release | Latest stable release date | Latest stable version | Cost | Free software | License | Notes |
| BibBase | Christian Fritz | 2005 | 2024-06-06 | ? | for students / Paid plan for others | Centrally hosted website, intended for publication pages | ||
| BibDesk | BibDesk developers | 2002-04 | 2024-10-18 | 1.9.6 | BibTeX front-end + repository; Cocoa-based; integration with Spotlight | |||
| BibSonomy | University of Kassel | 2006-01 | 2024-01-08 | 4.1.0 | Centrally hosted website | |||
| Bookends | Sonny Software | 1988 / 1983 | 2023-05-06 | 14.2 | Desktop & iOS synced via iCloud, integrated web search, PDF download, auto-completion, Word plugin, BibTex support, PDF annotations stored as notes | |||
| Citavi | Lumivero | 2006-02-13 | 2023-08-15 | 6.17.0.0 | Data can be saved locally on the computer, or, for team access, in the Citavi Cloud or an intranet Microsoft SQL Server; search databases from interface | |||
| EndNote | Clarivate Analytics | 1988 | 2025-04-22 | 2025 | US$299.95 | The web version is free of charge | ||
| JabRef | JabRef developers | 2003-11-29 | 2024-07-11 | 5.15 | MIT license | Java BibTeX and BibLaTeX manager | ||
| KBibTeX | KBibTeX developers | 2005-08 | 2020-04-26 | 0.9.2 | BibTeX front-end, using the KDE Software Compilation | |||
| Mendeley | Elsevier | 2008-08 | 2025-06-05 | 2.135.0 | Account required, app versions for web, Windows, Linux, macOS. Data synced automatically between clients and server. Usable offline. | |||
| Paperpile | Stefan Washietl, Gregorgy Jordan, Andreas Gruber | 2013 | Continually updated online | Web-app, integrates with Google Docs, collaboration & sharing features, currently only on Google Chrome | ||||
| Papers | ReadCube | 2011-10 | 2023-04-04 | v.4.35.2224 | Web-app, Desktop, Mobile. Microsoft Word and Google Docs add-in. Browser extension | |||
| refbase | refbase developers | 2003-06-03 | 2014-02-28 | 0.9.6 | Web-based for institutional repositories/self-archiving | |||
| RefDB | refdb developers | 2001-04-25 | 2022-02-13 | 1.0.3 | Network-transparent; XML/SGML bibliographies | |||
| RefWorks | Ex Libris / ProQuest / Clarivate | 2001 | 2024-07-09 | 4.6 | Web-based, browser-accessed, Word & Google Docs | |||
| Zotero | Corporation for Digital Scholarship | 2006 | 2025-11-20 | 7.0.30 | Native desktop and mobile applications and web browser connectors. Browser access through Zotero.org or cloud-based database folder on a user's computer. |
Operating system support
In the case of web applications, this describes the server OS. For centrally hosted websites that are proprietary, this is not applicable. Any client OS can connect to a web service unless stated otherwise in a footnote.| Software | Windows | macOS | Linux | ChromeOS | BSD | Unix | iOS App | Android App | Windows App |
| Bebop | |||||||||
| BibBase | |||||||||
| BibDesk | |||||||||
| BibSonomy | |||||||||
| Bookends | |||||||||
| Citavi | |||||||||
| EndNote | |||||||||
| JabRef | |||||||||
| KBibTeX | |||||||||
| Mendeley | | | |||||||
| Paperpile | | | |||||||
| Papers | |||||||||
| Pybliographer | |||||||||
| refbase | |||||||||
| RefDB | |||||||||
| RefWorks | |||||||||
| Zotero |
Export file formats
This table lists the machine-readable file formats that can be exported from reference managers. These are typically used to share data with other reference managers or with other people who use a reference manager. To exchange data from one program to another, the first program must be able to export to a format that the second program may import. Import file formats are in a table below this one.| Software | BibTeX | Endnote/Refer/BibIX | Medline | MODS XML | RIS | Other |
| Bebop | ||||||
| BibBase | ||||||
| BibDesk | ||||||
| BibSonomy | ||||||
| Bookends | ||||||
| Citavi | ||||||
| EndNote | ||||||
| JabRef | ||||||
| KBibTeX | ||||||
| Mendeley | ||||||
| Paperpile | ||||||
| Papers | ||||||
| Pybliographer | ||||||
| refbase | ||||||
| RefDB | ||||||
| RefWorks | ||||||
| Zotero |
Import file formats
This table lists the file formats which may be manually imported into the reference managers without needing to connect to one particular database. Many of these database companies use the same name for their file format as they do for their database. For the ability to retrieve citations from the particular databases, please refer to the database connectivity table that is below this table., CSL YAML is not supported by any reference management system.
| Software | BibTeX | Copac | CSA | Endnote/Refer/BibIX | ISI | Medline | MODS XML | Ovid | PubMed | RIS | SciFinder | Other |
| Bebop | ||||||||||||
| BibBase | ||||||||||||
| BibDesk | ||||||||||||
| BibSonomy | ||||||||||||
| Bookends | ||||||||||||
| Citavi | ||||||||||||
| EndNote | ||||||||||||
| JabRef | ||||||||||||
| KBibTeX | ||||||||||||
| Mendeley | ||||||||||||
| Paperpile | ||||||||||||
| Papers | ||||||||||||
| Pybliographer | ||||||||||||
| refbase | ||||||||||||
| RefDB | ||||||||||||
| RefWorks | ||||||||||||
| Zotero | , Endnote XML, others |
Word processor integration
Some reference management software include support for automatic embedding and formatting of references in Word processor programs. This table lists this type of support for Microsoft Word, Pages, Apache OpenOffice / LibreOffice Writer, the LaTeX editors Kile and LyX, and Google Docs. Other programs are able to scan RTF or other textual formats for inserted placeholders which are subsequently formatted. Most reference management programs support copy/paste or drag-and-drop of references into any editor, but this is not meant here.| Software | Word for Windows | Word for Mac | Word Online | Pages | Apache OpenOffice / LibreOffice | Kile/LyX | Google Docs | RTF scan | Other |
| Bebop | |||||||||
| BibBase | |||||||||
| BibDesk | |||||||||
| BibSonomy | |||||||||
| Bookends | |||||||||
| Citavi | |||||||||
| EndNote | |||||||||
| JabRef | |||||||||
| KBibTeX | |||||||||
| Mendeley | |||||||||
| Paperpile | |||||||||
| Papers | |||||||||
| Pybliographer | |||||||||
| refbase | |||||||||
| RefDB | |||||||||
| RefWorks | |||||||||
| Zotero |
Database connectivity
This table lists the academic databases and search engines which reference managers can import from. In some cases, a search and retrieval can be conducted directly in the reference manager. In others, a bookmarklet or Firefox extension will allow a site to be scraped.| Software | ArXiv | CiteSeer | IEEE Xplore | PubMed | Unpaywall | Other |
| Bebop | ||||||
| BibBase | ||||||
| BibDesk | ||||||
| BibSonomy | ||||||
| Bookends | ||||||
| Citavi | . | |||||
| EndNote | ||||||
| JabRef | ||||||
| KBibTeX | ||||||
| Mendeley | Various | |||||
| Paperpile | ||||||
| Papers | ||||||
| Pybliographer | ||||||
| refbase | ||||||
| RefDB | ||||||
| RefWorks | ||||||
| Zotero |
Password "protection" and network versions
Some reference managers provide network functionality. The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol is an open, vendor-neutral, industry standard application protocol for accessing and maintaining distributed directory services over an Internet Protocol network.Discontinued software
| Software | Developer | First public release | Latest stable release date | Latest stable version | Cost | Free software | License | Notes |
| Bebop | ALaRI Institute | 2007-11-08 | 2009-11-10 | 1.1 | Web-based BibTeX front-end | |||
| Biblioscape | CG Information | 1997 | 2015-06-22 | 10.0.3.6 | ODBC; web access in Pro ed; optional client/server; discontinued? | |||
| CiteULike | Oversity Limited | 2004-11 | Shut down on | Centrally hosted website | ||||
| colwiz | colwiz Ltd | 2011 | 2016-05-09 | Now combined with wizdom.ai | ||||
| Pybliographer | pybliographer developers | 1998-10-30 | 2018-04-03 | 1.4.0 | Python/GTK2 | |||
| Qiqqa | Qiqqa | 2010-04 | 2020-10-04 | v80 | From end 2020, Open Source | |||
| Reference Manager | Thomson Reuters | 1984 | 2010 | 12.0.3 | Network version; built-in web publishing tool; discontinued | |||
| Referencer | Referencer developers | 2008-03-15 | Discontinued | 1.2.2 | BibTeX front-end | |||
| RefME | RefME | 2014 | Shut down in 2017 | Web, iOS and Android; Chrome and Safari Extensions available; discontinued | ||||
| SciRef | Scientific Programs | 2012 | 2020-07-30 | 1.6.2 | 38.90 / Free trial version | - | ||
| WizFolio | WizPatent | 2008-06 | Shut down in 2017 | Avatara | / Free Basic version | Centrally hosted website; discontinued |