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Comparison

Sidenote vs SciSpace

SciSpace is an all-in-one platform you take your papers to; Sidenote reads the paper you already have open, where it lives, and cites the exact passage.

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Sidenote

Reads the paper where you found it: arXiv, journal sites, the open web. No upload.

SciSpace

An all-in-one research platform you take your papers to: search, review, write.

The short answer

Should you use Sidenote or SciSpace?

Choose Sidenote if…

You read papers where they live (arXiv, journal sites, the open web) and want answers in place, without uploading. Citations scroll to the exact passage, so verifying takes one click.

Choose SciSpace if…

You want one platform for the whole research workflow: searching a 280M-paper database, running automated literature reviews, paraphrasing, citation generation and AI detection.

Plenty of researchers use both. They sit at different points in the same workflow.

Compared honestly

Sidenote vs SciSpace: feature by feature.

CapabilitySidenoteSciSpace
Reads the paper or page you already have openYesNo
Reads arXiv & journal papers in-browser, no uploadYesNo
Works on private Confluence, Notion & SharePoint pagesYesNo
Works on web articles & live web pagesYesNo
Chat with PDFs you uploadYesYes
Citations scroll & highlight the exact passageYes Partial
Server-side citation check drops unsupported claimsYes Partial
One-click glossary of jargon & acronymsYesNo
Ask across many documents at onceYesYes
Search a 280M+ paper databaseNoYes
Automated literature review & synthesisNoYes
Paraphraser & AI detectorNoYes

Last reviewed: 3 July 2026.

Three rows go to SciSpace, and we are not pretending otherwise; see Where SciSpace is the better tool below. The cross-document chat row above is powered by Sidenote Collections.

The core difference

A platform you take papers to, or a reader that rides along.

SciSpace is a destination. You go to it, search its database or upload a PDF, and run literature reviews, paraphrasing and citation generation there. It's a broad, capable research suite, but it's a place you go to, separate from the papers open in your tabs.

Sidenote never asks you to leave. It sits in the side panel of every tab, reads the paper you already have open (an arXiv preprint, a journal PDF, an article) and answers in place. Click a citation and it scrolls the real document and highlights the exact passage.

And because Sidenote reads your own browser session, it works on places SciSpace can't reach: private research notes in Notion or Confluence, and any page behind a login.

The difference in one example

You find a paper on arXiv. With SciSpace you bring it into the platform to read it. With Sidenote you just read it right there on arXiv: ask a question, click the citation, and the page scrolls to the sentence that answers it. No upload, no second tab.

Giving credit

Where SciSpace is the better tool.

If these are what you need, SciSpace is a strong choice:

A vast paper database

SciSpace lets you search across 280M+ papers and millions of open-access PDFs in natural language. Discovery Sidenote doesn't do at all.

Automated literature reviews

It finds relevant papers, extracts findings and synthesizes trends and gaps across many studies. A whole review workflow Sidenote isn't built for.

A broad bank of writing utilities

A paraphraser and AI detector sit alongside the reading tools. Academic extras Sidenote deliberately doesn't build.

FAQ

Sidenote vs SciSpace: common questions

It depends what you need. SciSpace is an all-in-one research platform: a database of papers, literature review, a paraphraser, an AI detector and a citation generator, all in one web app you take your work to. Sidenote is narrower and lives in your browser: it reads the paper you already have open on arXiv or anywhere on the web, answers in place, and cites the exact passage. For reading and understanding papers where they live, Sidenote is the better fit; for running a whole literature review and writing workflow, SciSpace does far more.
No. SciSpace works on its own indexed paper database and on PDFs you upload; it can't sign in as you, so a page behind your company login or a private wiki is out of reach. Sidenote runs inside your browser on your own session, so it reads what's on your screen, including private Confluence, Notion and SharePoint pages.
No, and it doesn't try to. SciSpace searches a database of 280M+ papers and synthesizes across them, which Sidenote has no equivalent for. Sidenote is for reading the papers you've already found: open one on arXiv or a journal site and it reads, summarizes, explains and cites it in place, no upload.
Both cite sources. Sidenote adds two things: every answer is checked server-side against the passages actually retrieved, so unsupported claims have their citation dropped before you see them; and clicking a citation scrolls the real document to the exact sentence and highlights it, so verifying takes a second rather than a re-read.
Of course. Many researchers run SciSpace for discovery and literature review, then use Sidenote to actually read each paper in the browser, with scroll-to-source citations, once they've found it. They sit at different points in the workflow.
Both have a free tier. Sidenote's free plan covers everyday summaries, explanations and glossaries, with an opt-in 7-day Pro trial that needs no card; paid plans start at £10/month. SciSpace offers a free Basic tier and a paid Premium plan above it, with limits set by monthly credits.
Try it on the paper you are reading

Read anything. With citations.

Add Sidenote to your browser and ask the paper in front of you a question. No upload, no new tab. Just the answer, and the passage that proves it.

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7-day Pro trial · No card required · Free plan forever