Avidnote vs Consensus: Evidence Search or a Research Workspace?
Short version: Consensus is a search engine that answers a question with a summary of what published studies say, with a meter for how much they agree. Avidnote works on the papers you have chosen: cited answers, notes, drafts, data analysis. Consensus tells you what the field thinks; Avidnote helps you read and write about it.
What Consensus does
Consensus searches a large index of peer-reviewed papers and returns an AI summary of the findings, a "Consensus Meter" for yes/no questions, and study details such as sample size and design. It has a free plan with limited premium features and a paid Premium plan; see its pricing page for current numbers. It is quick for "does X affect Y?" questions.
What Avidnote does
Avidnote is an AI workspace for research. You upload papers, ask questions and get answers cited to the passage they came from, take notes beside the PDF, draft with writing templates, analyse data and transcribe interviews. Data is stored in the EU and is not used to train AI models. The free plan includes 20,000 AI words a month; paid plans start at $19 a month.
Side by side
| Avidnote | Consensus | |
|---|---|---|
| Main job | Read, note, write and analyse with citations to your own sources | Answer research questions from the published literature |
| Works on | Papers you upload (plus paper discovery) | A large index of papers |
| Answers | Cited to a passage in your PDF; click to open it | Summaries across many papers, with study cards |
| Notes and library | Notes beside the PDF, tags, projects, workbooks | Saved searches and lists |
| Writing | Templates: literature review, discussion, rewrite, proofread; export to Word or PDF | No editor |
| Data analysis and transcription | Yes | No |
| Data and privacy | Stored in the EU, GDPR, not used to train AI | See Consensus's policy |
| Free plan | 20,000 AI words, 10 paper questions, 100 papers, 2 h transcription per month | Free plan with limits on premium features |
| Paid from | $19 per month | Premium; see pricing page |
When to pick Consensus
You want a fast read of the evidence on a specific question before you dig in, or you need to find studies that measured a particular effect.
When to pick Avidnote
You have moved from "what does the field say?" to "what do these twenty papers say, and what will I write?". That phase needs notes, cited answers you can check, and a draft that grows from your sources.
Can you use both?
Yes. Use Consensus to find and rank studies, then upload the ones you keep to an Avidnote project to read, note and write. Always open the original paper before you cite a summary.
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