Zotero
Free, open-source reference manager from a nonprofit
Overview
Zotero is the free, open-source (AGPL-3.0) reference manager run by the nonprofit Corporation for Digital Scholarship. Zotero 10 (August 2026) added nested advanced search, batch editing, undo and a PDF Reading Mode after Zotero 9 brought Read Aloud. There is no built-in AI assistant; third-party plugins add one. 300 MB of file storage is free, with paid plans from $20 a year.
Pricing
Pricing shown for reference only. These figures reflect RECATOOLS research as of 12 Oct 2026 and may be out of date or incomplete.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.
- Unlimited data sync
- 300 MB file storage
- WebDAV for file sync
- 2 hours a month of standard Read Aloud voices
- 2 GB file storage
- Unlimited standard voices
- Up to 2 hours of premium voices a month
- 6 GB file storage
- Unlimited standard voices
- Unlimited file storage
- Unlimited standard voices
- Unlimited personal and group storage for the team
- Unlimited storage for an institution's users
Use cases
What you can produce with Zotero
- Save any paper, book or webpage with one click from the browser, with metadata and PDF
- Insert citations and bibliographies in Word, LibreOffice or Google Docs in thousands of styles
- Read, highlight and annotate PDFs and EPUBs, then insert annotations into documents
- Organise with collections, tags, nested saved searches, batch editing and undo
- Sync your library across desktop, iOS, Android and zotero.org
- Share group libraries so a lab or writing team cites from one pool of sources
- Listen to PDFs, EPUBs and snapshots with Read Aloud
Zotero remains the open-source benchmark for reference management: free on desktop, iOS and Android, with one-click browser capture, a built-in PDF and EPUB reader, and citation plugins for Word, LibreOffice and Google Docs. Three major releases in 2026 added Read Aloud, annotation insertion, nested search, batch editing and undo, so its stagnant image is out of date.
Caveats: free file storage stops at 300 MB, the best Read Aloud voices need an account and send text to external providers, and AI features come only from third-party plugins. For a durable, nonprofit-run library without lock-in, it is hard to beat.
What we found
Zotero is the free, open-source reference manager created in 2006 at the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University and now run by the nonprofit Corporation for Digital Scholarship, which presents itself as Digital Scholar. The desktop code is AGPL-3.0, and Zotero says its work is funded by storage subscriptions from individuals and organisations. The big change in 2026 is pace: Zotero 8 shipped on 22 January, the team moved to feature releases roughly every six to ten weeks, Zotero 9 followed on 10 April and Zotero 10 on 17 August, with 10.0.6 out on 7 October.
Those releases added real features rather than polish. Zotero 9 brought Read Aloud, which reads PDFs, EPUBs and web snapshots aloud, an Add Annotation button that inserts highlights straight into word-processor documents with live citations, and browser-based login that opens the way to two-factor authentication. Zotero 10 added nested advanced search, multi-collection selection, undo, batch editing of items and a reflowable Reading Mode for PDFs that still accepts highlights.
Read Aloud ties full quality to an account. Standard Zotero Voices are generated on Zotero's servers, with unlimited minutes for storage subscribers and two hours a month on free accounts; Premium voices are sent to external text-to-speech providers. Offline, it falls back to system voices.
On G2 Zotero scored 4.4 out of 5 from 99 reviews when we checked in October 2026. Of the ten reviews shown, five praise the browser capture and three call the interface dated, but all ten predate Zotero 8. Storage is the structural cost: data sync is unlimited and 300 MB of file storage is free, after which plans run from $20 a year, or you can use your own WebDAV server. There is no built-in AI assistant; third-party community plugins add one.
Compiled by RECATOOLS from public sources: vendor documentation and pricing, code repositories and published reporting.
About this listing
This entry was compiled from publicly available data including Zotero's official website, press releases, documentation, and reputable third-party publications. RECATOOLS is not affiliated with Zotero 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 Zotero directly →
Spotted something out of date? Suggest an update →
Related reading
Alternatives to Zotero
More in Research & Data
