Rayyan
AI-assisted screening for systematic reviews, free tier included
Overview
Rayyan is a collaborative platform for screening abstracts in systematic reviews, with blind dual review, duplicate detection and AI relevance ranking that learns as you label. It claims over a million users across 20,000+ institutions; a free tier covers three reviews.
Pricing
Pricing shown for reference only. These figures reflect RECATOOLS research as of 11 Jul 2026 and may be out of date or incomplete. This is not financial or purchasing advice — always confirm the current price on the provider’s official website before making any decision.
- 3 active reviews
- 2 invited reviewers
- Duplicate detection & AI relevance
- 9 active reviews
- 5 invited reviewers
- PRISMA flow diagrams
- Auto-resolve duplicates
- 9 active reviews
- 10 invited reviewers
- AI screening agents
- PICO data extraction
- 50 org-wide reviews
- 250 invited reviewers
- ResearchPilot AI
- Workspace roles
- Unlimited reviews & viewers
- SSO/SAML, API access
- Management console
- Dedicated support
Use cases
ASEAN Perspective
Rayyan in Southeast Asia
ASEAN-region availability and pricing notes coming soon. Drop the editorial team a note via /contact/ if you can supply local context (Singapore/Malaysia/Indonesia/Thailand/Vietnam).
Rayyan remains the default screening tool for systematic and scoping reviews: blind dual screening, duplicate detection, AI relevance ranking and PICO highlighting, with over a million researchers claimed across 20,000+ institutions. The free tier covers three reviews but withholds the PRISMA flow diagram and automatic duplicate resolution. Paid entry is cheap on paper — Essential from $4.99/user/month billed annually, Professional at $99.99/year — but there's no monthly billing, and the flagship ResearchPilot AI is restricted to institutional plans. Rayyan publishes no accuracy figures for any of its AI features, so treat the ranking as triage, not a substitute for human screening. For evidence-synthesis work it's still one of the best-value options available, including for ASEAN universities; outside that workflow it has no relevance.
What people say
The most common complaint about Rayyan isn't the software — it's the billing. There's no monthly plan: the cheapest paid entry in mid-2026 is Essential at $8.33/month billed quarterly (or $4.99/month billed annually), Professional runs $99.99/year, and students get their own tier at $59.99/year. And the feature people most want to try, the ResearchPilot AI assistant, isn't on any of those — it's restricted to institutional plans.
The core product has earned its position anyway. Since starting at Qatar Computing Research Institute in 2014, Rayyan has become the default screening tool for systematic reviews: blind dual screening so reviewers can't see each other's calls, AI relevance ranking that reorders the queue in real time as you label abstracts, duplicate detection, PICO highlighting, and a mobile app for screening on a commute. The company now claims over a million researchers across 20,000+ institutions in 190+ countries — a big jump from the 300,000 figure that circulated a few years back.
The free tier is workable for a first review: three reviews, but no PRISMA flow diagram, no automatic duplicate resolution, and the mobile app caps at 100 decisions. One caveat worth weighing: Rayyan publishes no accuracy figures for any of its AI features, so treat the relevance ranking as triage that speeds up screening, not something you can cite in a methods section. A January 2026 write-up in Doody's Collection Development Monthly shows how embedded it is in health-sciences libraries. For evidence synthesis it remains among the best value going; for anything else, it's the wrong tool entirely.
Summary of public user & expert reviews, compiled by RECATOOLS.
Notable facts
- Rayyan has processed over 50 million abstract screenings, making it one of the most heavily used academic research tools in existence.
- The platform was developed at the Qatar Computing Research Institute, making it one of the first major AI research tools to emerge from the Middle East.
- Rayyan's AI can reduce abstract screening time by up to 80%, potentially compressing a 6-month systematic review into 6 weeks.
Frequently asked questions
About this listing
This entry was compiled from publicly available data including Rayyan's official website, press releases, documentation, and reputable third-party publications. RECATOOLS is not affiliated with Rayyan unless explicitly stated.
Third-party AI tools update their pricing, features, availability, and policies frequently. Information here may be outdated by the time you read this — we make reasonable efforts to keep listings current, but cannot guarantee absolute accuracy.
For the latest details, please refer to Rayyan directly →
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