Best Citation Manager · FREE
Best free Citation Manager (2026)
5 citation manager that offer a genuine free plan, ranked by entry price. Every figure links to the public page it was captured from — the vendor's own wherever the vendor publishes the number, otherwise the named public source — with the date we captured it.
Key takeaways
- Cheapest: BibGuru at $0/mo.
- Qualifying: BibGuru, Citationsy, Mendeley, Sciwheel (Lean Library Workspace), Zotero.
- Data current through: 2026-09-09. STALE marks a row with at least one plan we have not re-checked at its source in over 30 days. 1 of 5 rows below is marked.
Comparison
| # | Citation Manager | Entry price | Free | HIPAA | SOC 2 | Best for | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BibGuru | $0/mo | Yes | — | — | students | bibguru.com |
| 2 | Citationsy STALE · 2026-06-18 | $0/mo | Yes | — | — | students | spotsaas.com |
| 3 | Mendeley | $0/mo | Yes | — | — | students | mendeley.com |
| 4 | Sciwheel (Lean Library Workspace) | $0/mo | Yes | — | — | biomedical researchers | sciwheel.com |
| 5 | Zotero | $0/mo | Yes | — | — | students | zotero.org |