Mendeley vs ResearchGate

Struggling to choose between Mendeley and ResearchGate? Both products offer unique advantages, making it a tough decision.

Mendeley is a Office & Productivity solution with tags like reference-manager, citation-manager, pdf-annotation, collaboration, research-sharing.

It boasts features such as Reference management, PDF organization and annotation, Collaboration tools, Citation plugins for Word and LibreOffice, Web importer browser extension, Suggested papers based on library, Mobile apps and pros including Free basic plan with 2GB storage, Intuitive interface, Large academic user base, Good collaboration features, Many citation style options.

On the other hand, ResearchGate is a Social & Communications product tagged with research, networking, collaboration, papers, scientists, academia.

Its standout features include Allows researchers to share and discuss research papers, Provides a question and answer platform for researchers, Helps researchers connect and network with others in their field, Allows users to follow specific research topics and scholars, Provides researcher profiles and publication statistics, and it shines with pros like Large user base of over 19 million researchers, Easy to connect with researchers globally, Discover new research and trends in your field, Get feedback on your own research, Increase visibility and citation of your publications.

Feature	Mendeley	ResearchGate
Overall Score	N/A	N/A
Primary Category	Office & Productivity	Social & Communications

Product Overview

Mendeley

Description: Mendeley is a free reference manager and academic social network that can help you organize your research, collaborate with others online, and discover the latest research. It provides tools to manage references and citations, read and annotate PDFs, and create online groups and networks to share research papers and collaborate.

ResearchGate

Description: ResearchGate is a social networking site for scientists and researchers to share papers, ask and answer questions, and find collaborators. With over 19 million members, it allows researchers to connect with others in their field and discover research from around the world.

Key Features Comparison

Mendeley Features

• Reference management
• PDF organization and annotation
• Collaboration tools
• Citation plugins for Word and LibreOffice
• Web importer browser extension
• Suggested papers based on library
• Mobile apps

ResearchGate Features

• Allows researchers to share and discuss research papers
• Provides a question and answer platform for researchers
• Helps researchers connect and network with others in their field
• Allows users to follow specific research topics and scholars
• Provides researcher profiles and publication statistics

Pros & Cons Analysis

Mendeley

Pros

• Free basic plan with 2GB storage
• Intuitive interface
• Large academic user base
• Good collaboration features
• Many citation style options

Cons

• Limited storage in free version
• No offline access in free version
• Less citation style options than competitors
• Collaboration requires all users to have accounts

ResearchGate

Pros

• Large user base of over 19 million researchers
• Easy to connect with researchers globally
• Discover new research and trends in your field
• Get feedback on your own research
• Increase visibility and citation of your publications

Cons

• Not all research content is open access
• Spam and self-promotion are common issues
• Interface and features need improvement
• Metrics like RG score are seen as unreliable
• Upload and sharing limitations for free users

Pricing Comparison

Mendeley

• Freemium

ResearchGate

• Freemium