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 (usually requiring MySQL or another database and PHP, Perl, Python, or some other language for web applications), and; a centrally hosted website.
Software Developer First public release Latest stable release date Latest stable version Cost (USD) 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 2026-01-19 1.9.10 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 (Mac) / 1983 (Apple II+) 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 2026-06-03 7.3.1.30 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 1988 2026-01-30 2026 The web version EndNote Online (formerly, EndNote Web) 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 ChromePapers ReadCube 2011-10 2023-04-04 v.4.35.2224 Web-app, Desktop (MacOS, Windows), Mobile (iOS and Android). Microsoft Word and Google Docs add-in. Browser extension (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari) refbase refbase developers 2003-06-03 2014-02-28 0.9.6 Web-based for institutional repositories/self-archivingA centrally-hosted website is available at refbase.net. 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 2026-07-07 9.0.6 Native desktop and mobile applications and web browser connectors. Browser access through Zotero.org or cloud-based database folder on a user's computer (Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.).
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 (phased out as of 2021) (phased out as of 2021) Paperpile (requires Chromium) (requires Chromium) 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 (including Copac, CSA, ISI, Medline, Ovid, PubMed, and SciFinder). For the ability to retrieve citations from the particular databases (rather than the file format), 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
Citation styles Software APA Chicago/Turabian Harvard MLA Other Extension method Bebop BibBase BibDesk BibSonomy Bookends Citavi EndNote JabRef KBibTeX Mendeley Paperpile Papers Pybliographer refbase RefDB RefWorks Zotero
Reference list file formats EndNote is incompatible with LaTeX. Among other things, it does not provide for robust citation keys.
Software HTML LaTeX RTF Plain text RSS Other Bebop BibBase BibDesk BibSonomy Bookends Citavi EndNote JabRef KBibTeX Mendeley Paperpile Papers Pybliographer refbase RefDB RefWorks Zotero
Word processor integration Some reference management software include support for automatic embedding and (re)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 Detailed setup guide "Citavi + LyX". Citavi. Retrieved 2014-07-10. EndNote JabRef See JabRef FAQ: Field Mapping between MS-Office and JabRef. See JabRef FAQ: OpenOffice/LibreOffice integration. KBibTeX Mendeley Requires the Mendeley Cite Add-in Paperpile Papers Requires the SmartCite for Papers Add-in Can be used with SmartCite for Citekeys Pybliographer refbase Refbase can create a spreadsheet for import into an OO.o database to use the native OO.o bibliography tool. Refbase's MySQL database can additionally be used directly by OO.o . 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 Paperpile Papers Pybliographer refbase RefDB RefWorks Zotero
Password "protection" and network versions Some reference managers provide network functionality (N/A, not available, means the product has no networking, while "No" indicates it does but lacks an implemented feature). The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) is an open, vendor-neutral, industry standard application protocol for accessing and maintaining distributed directory services over an Internet Protocol (IP) network.
SoftwarePasswordedLDAPNetworking User-specific permissions Simultaneous write access Bebop BibBase BibDesk BibSonomy Bookends Citavi EndNote JabRef KBibTeX Mendeley Paperpile Papers via Shared library Pybliographer refbase RefDB RefWorks Zotero
Discontinued software
Software Developer First public release Latest stable release date Latest stable version Cost (USD) Free software License Notes Bebop ALaRI Institute 2007-11-08 2009-11-10 1.1 Web-based BibTeX front-end (Apache, PHP, MySQL) 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 (0.2) 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
Notes
References
Further reading