VerlumoAIAI search assistant that answers questions with cited sources.
View detailsOpenAlex is an open catalogue of scholarly papers, authors, and institutions. Built as a free, open replacement for Microsoft Academic Graph, it indexes over 250 million works and makes all of its data freely available through a web interface and an API — so anyone can search, analyse, and build on scholarly data without paying.
Key Features
- Free catalogue of 250M+ scholarly works
- Authors, institutions, venues, and topics
- Open-access status for every work
- Free API for developers and researchers
- Citation data and related works
- No account needed
Pricing
| Plan | Price | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Full catalogue and API access — no payment required. |
Prices as listed in 2026 research. Always check the official site for the latest price — plans change. Free plan: Yes — it has a free plan.
Best for: anyone who needs a free, open catalogue of scholarly papers, authors, and institutions.
Popular with: Students, Teachers, Developers
Popular with: Students, Teachers, Developers
How it works
The platform is completely free, with no account needed. It covers papers, authors, institutions, venues, and topics, with citation data and open-access status for every work. It is used by researchers, librarians, and developers who need reliable, open scholarly data.
OpenAlex is the best open source for scholarly data. It will not replace a search engine like Google Scholar for casual use, but for anyone who needs open, reliable data on papers and authors, it is the standard choice.
Pros and Cons
✓ Pros
- Completely free and open data
- Huge catalogue of 250M+ works
- Free API for building your own tools
- Open-access status for every paper
✗ Cons
- No AI summaries or citation tools
- Interface is built for data users, not casual search
- No PDF reading or reference management
Frequently Asked Questions
Is OpenAlex free?
Yes — OpenAlex has a free plan. Free
What is OpenAlex best for?
anyone who needs a free, open catalogue of scholarly papers, authors, and institutions.
What kind of tool is OpenAlex?
OpenAlex is a Research Tools tool on VerlumoAI.
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View detailsGoogle's source-grounded research assistant — ask your documents, get cited answers.
View detailsLast reviewed: November 2026