Explainpaper is an AI research paper reader that explains confusing passages, answers questions about uploaded papers, and generates summaries for students and researchers.
About
Explainpaper is a web-based reading tool that helps people understand academic research papers faster. Dense papers full of technical jargon are difficult to parse on a first pass, so Explainpaper lets readers highlight any confusing sentence and receive a plain-language explanation on the spot.
Users upload a research paper to the Explainpaper website, select text they find unclear, and a large language model generates a simplified explanation that takes the full paper's context into account. Beyond highlight-based explanations, the product supports a question-and-answer chat about the uploaded paper, automatic outlines, key-point extraction, and full-paper summaries. Explanations can be adjusted from beginner to expert level and are available in more than 50 languages. The site reports a user base of over 400,000 researchers and offers a free tier alongside a paid Pro plan.
Key Features
Pricing & Fees
- Pricing: The Free plan costs $0 per month and includes unlimited highlight explanations, follow-up questions, Zotero import, and basic AI models. The Pro plan costs $16 per month (a 25% discount is offered on yearly billing) and adds advanced AI models, full-paper summaries, clickable explanations for graphs, figures, and equations, saved highlights, and outlines. A Teams plan is priced by contacting sales.
- Free trial: Pro is available as a 7-day free trial, which requires a card on file; the free signup itself requires no credit card.
- Free tier availability: The Free plan is described as free forever and is positioned as suitable for exploring research papers.
- Language support: Explanations are offered in more than 50 languages.
- Billing: All plans are processed securely through Stripe, according to the vendor's pricing page.
Who It's For
Explainpaper is aimed primarily at graduate students, research scientists, and academics who need to read technical papers efficiently, particularly in fields such as machine learning and AI where jargon is heavy. It also suits practitioners and self-learners who want approachable explanations when entering unfamiliar research territory, as well as reviewers and team leads who need quick summaries of key findings. Research groups can use the Teams plan for shared access with administrative controls and priority support.
FAQ
What is Explainpaper?Explainpaper is an AI-powered research paper reader that explains confusing passages in plain language, answers questions about uploaded papers, and generates outlines and summaries.
Is Explainpaper free to use?Yes, there is a permanent Free plan with unlimited highlight explanations, follow-up questions, Zotero import, and basic AI models; a Pro plan costs $16 per month with a 7-day free trial.
Which languages does Explainpaper support?Explanations are available in more than 50 languages, so users can receive them in their native language.
What is the difference between the Free and Pro plans?Pro adds advanced AI models, full-paper summaries, clickable explanations for graphs, figures, and equations, automatic outlines with page references, and saved highlights; Free uses basic models without these extras.
Does Explainpaper integrate with reference managers?Yes, the pricing page states that users can import their Zotero library on all plans, including the Free tier.
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