Best Citation Manager · pricing · Updated June 2026

Mendeley pricing (2026)

Mendeley starts at $0/mo (Free), across 4 plans. Best for students. Every figure links to Mendeley's own page and the date we captured it.

At a glance

Entry price: $0/mo (Free)
Free tier: Yes
Compliance: HIPAA — · SOC 2 — · GDPR —
Best for: students; individual researchers; life sciences; Elsevier ecosystem users

Mendeley plans & pricing

All published Mendeley plans. Sourced per row; quote-only tiers show no price.
Plan	Monthly	Annual	Billing	Notes	Source
Free	$0	—	flat	Forever free. 2GB cloud storage, 5 Reading Assistant questions/month, PDF management, web importer, Word plugin, library sync. Confirmed on official page 2026-06-18.	mendeley.com
Plus	$4.99	−8%	flat	$4.99/month or $55/year (one month free). 5GB storage, unlimited Reading Assistant. Confirmed on official page 2026-06-18.	mendeley.com
Pro	$9.99	−8%	flat	$9.99/month or $110/year (one month free). 10GB storage, unlimited Reading Assistant, Compare Experiments, Ask My Library. Confirmed on official page 2026-06-18.	mendeley.com
Max	$14.99	−8%	flat	$14.99/month or $165/year (one month free). Unlimited storage, unlimited Reading Assistant, Compare Experiments, Ask My Library. Confirmed on official page 2026-06-18.	mendeley.com

Last verified 2026-06-18. Pricing re-fetched from mendeley.com/pricing on 2026-06-18 — Free + paid Plus/Pro/Max tiers VERIFIED live and corroborated by TrustRadius, Capterra, GetApp. GDPR not explicitly stated on a Mendeley-owned page — compliance.gdpr set to null. No HIPAA or SOC2 stated.

Capabilities

Integrations: Microsoft Word, LibreOffice, Chrome Web Importer, iOS, Android.

Key features: Free tier with 2GB storage and Word/LibreOffice plugins; AI Reading Assistant (PDF chat); Elsevier ScienceDirect integration for content recommendations; Owned by Elsevier — deep publisher integration.

Plan limits: Free plan limited to 2GB storage and 5 AI Reading Assistant questions/month; Google Docs not natively supported (third-party add-on only); Newer Mendeley Cite differs from legacy Desktop in plugin support.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Mendeley cost?

Mendeley starts at $0/mo (Free); it has 4 published plans. Verified 2026-06-18.

Is Mendeley cheaper billed annually?

Yes. Mendeley publishes a 8% discount for paying annually (on the Plus plan). Verified 2026-06-18.

What are cheaper alternatives to Mendeley?

Cheaper citation manager than Mendeley (entry $0/mo) include Zotero at $1.67/mo, Paperpile at $4.15/mo, Citationsy at $4.17/mo. Verified 2026-06-18.

Does Mendeley support HIPAA?

Mendeley HIPAA support: —. SOC 2: —. GDPR: —.

Does Mendeley have a free plan?

Mendeley free tier: Yes.

Mendeley vs alternatives

Compare all citation manager → · Mendeley alternatives → · Open data · MCP