What is Consensus?
Consensus is an AI-powered academic search engine that answers research questions with synthesized, citation-backed evidence from peer-reviewed papers instead of a plain link list. Built on the Semantic Scholar corpus of 200M+ papers, it features the Consensus Meter (yes/no/possibly aggregation), Pro Analysis (GPT-4 synthesis across top results), Study Snapshots, Deep Search for iterative literature reviews, and an MCP connector that pipes the corpus into Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor. Free tier available; Pro at $15/mo ($120/yr) adds unlimited Pro Searches and 15 Deep Searches per month.
Key Features
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Every AI claim links back to a real peer-reviewed source (low hallucination)
- Large corpus of 200M+ papers via Semantic Scholar
- Usable free tier and a reported ~40% student discount
- Consensus Meter gives a fast evidence read on yes/no questions
- Connects into other AI tools via MCP
Cons
- Results are not reproducible: the same query can return different papers, unsuitable for systematic reviews
- AI-filtered with some randomness, so it can miss key papers and is not exhaustive
- You still have to read the sources to verify each claim
- Cannot analyze your own uploaded documents
- Skews toward recent, English-language work
GDPR and DACH Readiness
- EU data residency available
- Public Data Processing Addendum
- EUR billing with VAT-ID support
Notes
Keine personenbezogenen Daten, anonymisierte Speicherung, kein Training auf Nutzerdaten; EEA-Transfers via Standardvertragsklauseln. EU-Datenresidenz, DPA und EUR-Abrechnung sind 2026 nicht bestätigt (USD-Preise). ~40% Studentenrabatt nutzbar.
Assessment based on vendor documents reviewed 19 April 2026. Does not replace legal counsel.
Pricing
freemium model
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