This table provides a comparison of major features for some of the tools we support. See Wikipedia’s Comparison of Reference Management Software for extensive comparisons of many other citation managers.
| EndNote Desktop | EndNote Basic | Mendeley | Zotero | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Requires individual purchase by user, research group or department. Educational discounts available through DoIT | Free; UW-Madison users have more citation styles available in accounts which use their @wisc.edu email | Free; option to pay for additional cloud storage or additional private groups | Free; option to pay for additional cloud storage |
| Operating System Requirements (for most recent version) | Windows and Mac | Web-based | Windows; Mac; Linux | Windows; Mac; Linux |
| Export data between citation managers | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Global find/replace editing | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Duplicate detection | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Journal abbreviation lists | 12 lists supplied but must be installed for each library | None | Abbreviations based on citation style selected; can be edited | Version 4.0 and later can automatically abbreviate journal titles in Index Medicus/MEDLINE format |
| Attachment limits | Max of 45 attachments per citation; no limit on file size or total cloud storage | No limit on attachments per citation; no limit on file size; total attachment storage limited to 2GB | No limit on attachments per citation; Attachment file size limited to 250MB; total (free) attachment cloud storage limited to 2GB | No limit on attachments per citation; no limit on file size; total (free) attachment cloud storage limited to 300MB |
| Retrieve citation information from PDF | Yes- uses DOI or PubMed ID fields | No | Yes- PDF text analyzed for information, DOI, Arxiv, PubMed, Crossref ids all used; Mendeley also uses it's own database to check citations | Yes - uses DOI or other extracted information from PDF; matches in Google Scholar |
| Add notes to references | Yes, in “notes” field | Yes, in “notes” field | Yes, via “notes” tab in desktop version | Yes, notes can stand alone or be attached to references |
| Annotate PDFs | Yes | No | Yes | No, but will sync PDFs annotated with 3rd party software |
| Full-text PDF search | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Direct search of online databases | Yes: List | Yes: List | Can search the Mendeley database (papers in the libraries of other users) | No |
| Direct export from online datbases | Yes: List (Connection files) | Yes, via Capture Reference importer | Yes, via web importer | Yes, via web translators |
| Filters for importing from online databases | Yes - list of over 500 | Yes | Import from supported websites and databases via web importer. | Imports wikis, websites, and databases via translators. Web snapshot retains the presentation of a particular web page. |
| Creates formatted bibliographies and in-text citations in a word processor | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Edit or create citation styles | Yes | No | Yes, via the Mendeley CSL | Yes, via Citation Style Editor |
| Collaboration and sharing | Free sharing of citations and attachments with up to 100 EndNote users |
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| Read-only sharing | Yes (Set library to read-only or locked status) | Yes (Read-only share “group” with anyone who has an EndNote Web account) | Yes (By “follow” option through web interface) | Yes (Via member settings within groups) |
| Mobile device applications | iPad app | No | iPad/iPhone app, Android app | 3rd party iOS and Android apps |
| Screen capture webpages | No | No | No | Yes |
| Storage in cloud and maximum number of records |
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| Number of reference types | 50 pre-defined(customizable); 3 user-created | 51 pre-defined | 20 pre-defined | 38 pre-defined |
| Auto-complete data entry | Yes, for author(s), keyword(s), and journal title | No | Yes, for journal title, tags, keywords | Yes, for author(s), journal title, tags |
| Spell check | Yes | No | No | No |
| Sorting capabilities | Any field | Author, title, year, and more | Any field | Any field |
| Field searching | Yes, any field | No - searches entire record only | Yes, by author, title, publication names, year & notes | Yes, any field |
| RSS feeds | No | No | Yes | Yes |