Trying to summarize long academic papers or research articles when you’re already juggling assignments and deadlines can be overwhelming.

AI tools help students summarize research papers fast and pull out the main ideas. They make studying and writing papers easier.

Tools like Scholarcy help, but they’re not the only option out there. Whether you need quick summaries, organized notes, or AI research help, there are several options worth checking out.

In this article, we'll list out the 7 best free Scholarcy AI alternatives students can use to summarize content and do research in 2025. Let's dive in!

What is Scholarcy AI?

Scholarcy is an AI summarizer and research assistant that helps you read and understand academic papers faster. It breaks down long research articles into key points, identifies important references, and generates flashcards for revision.

It’s often used by students looking to save time and stay organized during the research process.

Is Scholarcy Free?

Scholarcy offers a free plan, but it only includes 10 summaries. To get more, you have to upgrade to a paid plan.

This is why many students are looking into other AI tools. It never hurts to see your options and see if there are alternatives that work better for you.

How Can AI Tools Help With Research?

AI summarizers and research assistants can make reading and writing tasks less stressful. Here are a few ways they actually help during the research process:

Summarize Articles Quickly

AI research assistants can scan lengthy research articles and pull out the most important points. This saves time when you’re reviewing multiple sources.

By summarizing articles with AI, you get a snapshot of the paper without needing to read everything word-for-word.

Extract Key Concepts

Instead of hunting for main ideas, AI can proofread and highlight them for you. These tools identify key arguments, findings, and relevant quotes.

This can be useful when you're outlining a paper or preparing for a discussion.

Save Time on Note-Taking

Many AI research tools can turn full articles into simple outlines or lists of takeaways.

This reduces how much manual typing and organizing you have to do. It keeps your research more structured from the start.

Discover Related Sources

Some AI tools suggest additional articles, studies, or authors connected to your topic.

This can help you build a stronger bibliography or deepen your understanding of a subject. It’s especially helpful during the early stages of writing.

7 Best Free Scholarcy AI Alternatives

Scholarcy is helpful for summarizing academic papers and organizing research, but it’s not the only tool that can do the job. These alternatives give you different ways to simplify long texts, pull out key points, and manage your research more efficiently.

Here's our list of the 7 best free Scholarcy AI alternatives:

1. AI Blaze

First up on our list of the best free Scholarcy AI alternatives is AI Blaze.

AI Blaze is your personal AI research and writing assistant that helps you quickly generate citations, summarize text, articles, and PDFs, and streamline the writing process!

With AI Blaze, you can answer questions and generate summaries on any website (no file uploading necessary)!

Features

• Use AI to answer questions - Answer questions and get detailed explanations on any page or website. No need to upload files or copy/paste!

• Take notes & generate summaries with AI - AI Blaze helps you summarize PDFs & articles and take notes using AI!

• Streamline research with AI - AI Blaze helps you answer questions, improve your writing, check for mistakes, and even generate citations!

• AI Blaze works on any website! - Get help with homework on any website on Chrome.

• AI Blaze is free! - Forget about annoying licenses or subscriptions. AI Blaze is free for students!

2. TLDR This

TLDR This is designed for fast summarization of online articles and web content. You enter a URL or paste the text, and the tool returns a clean summary with main ideas highlighted.

Tools like TLDR This are simple to use and works well for students skimming through reading material. While some don’t support PDFs, they're good at handling short-to-medium-length research online.

3. SciSpace

SciSpace AI focuses on making academic papers easier to read by simplifying technical language and offering explanations. You upload a research PDF and can ask follow-up questions on any paragraph.

It’s built to support understanding rather than just shorten the content. Students often use it to read journal articles and prepare for academic writing like essays.

4. Consensus AI

Consensus AI answers research questions by summarizing findings from multiple academic papers. You ask a question, and the tool shows what the existing research says, pulled from real published studies.

This approach is helpful when you're trying to find evidence or define your stance on a topic. It speeds up early-stage research and helps identify gaps in the literature.

5. Unriddle AI (Anara)

Unriddle AI simplifies dense academic material by providing structured summaries and key highlights. It allows you to upload papers and extract the main points without reading every section.

The tool also identifies complex terms and offers context to help with comprehension. It’s useful when you’re reviewing new topics or handling unfamiliar subjects.

6. Scite AI

Scite AI tracks how research papers are cited and whether they’re supported or challenged by others. It’s less about summarizing content and more about assessing credibility and influence.

This helps students choose sources that are reliable and relevant to their work. It’s especially helpful for building citations and understanding scholarly impact.

7. Elicit AI

Elicit AI helps streamline research by finding relevant studies and summarizing them around a specific question. It breaks down each paper into its methods, findings, and takeaways.

You can compare multiple sources at once to build your argument or understand trends. It's useful for literature reviews or when you're looking for specific data from academic research.

Research Help Without the Headache

If you're tired of reading through piles of research papers, tools like these can make your life a lot easier.

Whether you need fast summaries, simplified explanations, or organized sources, each Scholarcy AI alternative brings something different to the table. Try a few and see what fits best with how you study and write.

To recap, our suggestion for the best Scholarcy AI alternative is AI Blaze. AI Blaze is your personal AI writing and research assistant that helps you summarize content and improve your writing anywhere you work. Plus, AI Blaze is 100% free for students.