Sidenote vs ChatDOC
Both let you ask a document questions and both cite their answers. The difference is where you work: ChatDOC loads a file or a fetched web page into its own reading viewer, while Sidenote is a browser side-panel reader that reads the page you already have open — including pages behind your login — and cites it in place.
A reader that rides along in your browser, on the page you're already on.
A document chat viewer you load files and fetched web pages into, then chat with them there.
Should you use Sidenote or ChatDOC?
Choose Sidenote if…
You read across PDFs, private Confluence, Notion and SharePoint pages, and live web articles, and you want answers in place — no separate viewer — with citations that scroll the real page to the exact passage and a server-side check that drops unsupported claims.
Choose ChatDOC if…
You want cross-file querying over unlimited files and folders, EPUB and Markdown support, or a developer API to build document parsing and chat into your own product.
Plenty of people use both. They solve overlapping problems from different ends — one is a viewer you load documents into, the other rides along with your reading.
Sidenote vs ChatDOC: feature by feature.
| Capability | Sidenote | ChatDOC |
|---|---|---|
| Reads the page or document you already have open | Yes | Partial |
| Works on private Confluence, Notion & SharePoint pages | Yes | No |
| Works on web articles & live web pages | Yes | Partial |
| Citations scroll & highlight the exact passage | Yes | Partial |
| Server-side citation check drops unsupported claims | Yes | No |
| One-click glossary of jargon & acronyms | Yes | No |
| Ask across many documents at once | Yes | Yes |
| Reads scanned PDFs with built-in OCR | Yes | Yes |
| Per-document Store / Discard retention control | Yes | No |
| Upload your own PDFs | Yes | Yes |
| Developer API | No | Yes |
| Reads EPUB e-books | No | Yes |
Two rows go to ChatDOC, and we are not pretending otherwise — see Where ChatDOC is the better tool below. ChatDOC's Chrome and Edge extension can open a local PDF or a web page you're on, which is why the top row is a partial rather than a no; but it loads that content into ChatDOC's own viewer to chat, whereas Sidenote reads and cites the live page in place. The cross-document row is powered by Sidenote Collections; ChatDOC earns its own yes there with unlimited multi-file and folder querying. The cross-document row is powered by Sidenote Collections.
A viewer you load documents into, or a reader that rides along.
ChatDOC is a document chat viewer. You give it a PDF, DOC, scan, EPUB, or a web page URL, it processes the content, and you chat with it inside ChatDOC's own reader — its TapSource footnotes tap back to the source passage in that viewer. There's a Chrome and Edge extension that can open a local PDF or the page you're on, but it still loads that content into ChatDOC to chat with it. It does that job well; it's just a separate reading surface from the documents in your day.
Sidenote never asks you to leave the page. It sits in the side panel of every tab, reads what you already have open — a PDF, a private Confluence runbook, a Notion doc, an article — and answers in place. Click a citation and it scrolls the real, live page and highlights the exact passage, not a copy inside another viewer. Every cited quote is validated on the server against the document, and anything it can't ground is dropped before you see it.
Take a private Confluence runbook behind your company login. ChatDOC works on files you give it or public web pages it fetches on its own servers, so a page that only exists inside your signed-in session is out of reach. Sidenote runs in your browser on your session, so it reads exactly what's on your screen — and cites it back on that same live page.
Where ChatDOC is the better tool.
ChatDOC is a genuinely strong, accuracy-focused document chat tool. If these are what you need, it's the better choice:
Developer API
ChatDOC offers an API — and a standalone PDF Parser — so you can build document parsing and chat into your own product or workflow. Sidenote is an end-user reading assistant, not a platform you build on.
Deep multi-file workspaces
Unlimited files organised into unlimited folders, all queryable together — upload a whole folder and chat across every file at once. Built for people who live inside a large document library.
Broad file support including EPUB
Alongside PDF, DOC and DOCX, ChatDOC's Pro plan handles EPUB, Markdown, plain text and scanned files, so e-books and other formats are first-class citizens.
Sidenote vs ChatDOC — common questions
Read anything. With citations.
Add Sidenote to Chrome and ask the document in front of you a question. No separate viewer, no new tab — just the answer, and the passage on the live page that proves it.
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