What is EndNote used for?

EndNote is reference management software from Clarivate for collecting sources, formatting citations and managing research libraries, with an AI assistant. It is a good fit for citing sources in academic papers and sharing reference libraries across a research group.

How much does EndNote cost?

EndNote is a paid product with no free plan.

Is EndNote open source?

No. EndNote is proprietary (closed-source) software. Open-source alternatives to EndNote include Zotero and JabRef.

What are some alternatives to EndNote?

EndNote competes with Mendeley and Paperpile. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source EndNote alternatives.

EndNote: features, pricing and alternatives

About EndNote

EndNote is reference management software from Clarivate that helps researchers collect sources, store them in a library and format citations and bibliographies. It is aimed at students, individuals, teams and institutions that write papers and need consistent citation styles.

The current release, EndNote 2025, adds an AI research assistant that can summarize, translate and help explore a library, and a cloud-based EndNote Web alongside the desktop product. Pages on the site are organized for students and institutions, and for individuals, teams and enterprises, with a site license option and a legacy EndNote Online service.

EndNote is a commercial product sold through a purchase page, with a free trial and a sales contact for institutional licenses. It is available in several languages, and the vendor provides a help guide, webinars and a support hub.

Key features

Reference library for collecting sources
Citation and bibliography formatting
AI research assistant
EndNote Web for cloud access
Site licenses for institutions

Good fit for

→Citing sources in academic papers
→Sharing reference libraries across a research group

Tags: reference-manager; citations; bibliography; research; academic; clarivate; ai-assistant

EndNote: questions and answers

What is EndNote used for?: EndNote is reference management software from Clarivate for collecting sources, formatting citations and managing research libraries, with an AI assistant. It is a good fit for citing sources in academic papers and sharing reference libraries across a research group.
How much does EndNote cost?: EndNote is a paid product with no free plan.
Is EndNote open source?: No. EndNote is proprietary (closed-source) software. Open-source alternatives to EndNote include Zotero and JabRef.
What are some alternatives to EndNote?: EndNote competes with Mendeley and Paperpile. For open-source options, see Enlisted's ranked list of open-source EndNote alternatives.